The opera, often declared dead with a regretful or even triumphant expression, is today as vibrant as it was centuries ago. It is more present than ever: on the stages of our time, operas from all four centuries are showcased, albeit with varying frequency. Claudio Monteverdi, Francesco Cavalli, and Georg Friedrich Händel have established themselves as mainstays of Baroque opera in the repertoire, while Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, and Richard Wagner, as well as George Bizet and Giacomo Puccini, dominate the global performance schedules. Contemporary composers like Hans-Werner Henze, Helmut Lachenmann, Philip Glass, and Salvatore Sciarrino leave no doubt that opera has a future with the musical means of the present. Therefore, it is worthwhile not only for historically interested readers but also for today's opera-goers to appreciate the history of opera in its full breadth. Beginning with the pioneers of opera in the 15th and 16th centuries, the history of opera spans a wide arc up to the music-dramatic experiments of the immediate present. It tells the story of an art form that has produced an astonishing variety of genres and styles and has repeatedly reflected societal events. In the four volumes of this edition, the history of opera is presented in all its vibrancy, its peaks and crises, and in all its developmental lines with a level of detail that is unmatched in the book market. Volume 1: Opera in the 17th Century by Silke Leopold. Volume 2: Opera in the 18th Century, Herbert Schneider/Reinhard Wiesend (eds.). Volume 3: Opera in the 19th Century, Agnes Bohnert/Siegfried Mauser (eds.). Volume 4: Music Theatre in the 20th Century, Siegfried Mauser (ed.).