Don Carlos and Company

Taking eight of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the repertoire as his starting point, the author searched for the historical facts on which operatic stories were based. His search for material led him into libraries all over Europe, exploring little-known corners of European history, often to discover that the real story behind the opera libretto is even more dramatic than its operatic counterpart. Writers and composers have frequently been inspired by relatively minor historical figures - Carlos, the son of Philip II of Spain, or Boccanegra, the Genoese doge, for example - and have turned them into operatic characters. The stories range from 14th-century Genoa to 19th-century Paris, and are accompanied in each case by a brief summary of the operatic plot.