"The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working." -Ernest Newman In Seventeen Famous Operas, renowned musicologist and music critic Ernest Newman goes beyond simply retelling the plots of the operas he has chosen to feature in this volume. Because for Newman, opera was theater-and he demonstrates that with his in-depth studies of the seventeen featured operas. Newman uses biographical, literary, and historical background to expose the reader to how each featured work came to be. These featured works include La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, Carmen, La Traviata, The Marriage of Figaro, The Barber of Seville, The Magic Flute and ten other famous works. Seventeen Famous Operas is a must-read for music librarians, opera lovers, and propagandists of music everywhere.