Belcanto represents an epochal design in which the taste, sensuality, and sharpened imagination of the Baroque are musically condensed. Guided by a poetics of the marvelous, Italian music theater shapes the fantastic counter-world of melodrama. On its stage, the hour of Belcanto strikes. Rodolfo Celletti, music critic and opera expert, journalist, and writer, distills the musical essence of Belcanto with both eloquence and expertise from outstanding vocal parts and their most impressive interpreters. His captivating essay reveals to the reader the lush, sensory richness of Baroque music theater.