On opera / Bernard Williams.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The nature of opera : entry for the New Grove Dictionary -- Of opera : Mozart's comedies and the sense of an ending -- Mozart's Figaro : a question of class? -- Don Giovanni as an idea -- Passion and cynicism : remarks on Così fan tutte -- Rather red than black : Verdi, Don Carlos and the passion for freedom -- Tristan and time -- The elusiveness of pessimism : responding to the Ring -- Wagner and the transcendence of politics -- L'envers des destinés : Pelléas et Mélisande -- Manifest artifice : the ingenuity of Puccini -- Comments on opera and ideas : from Mozart to Strauss / by Paul Robinson -- The Marriage and the Flute : Tippett and Mozart -- Janáček's modernism : doing less with more in music and philosophy -- Authenticity and re-creation : musicology, performance, and production -- Naive and sentimental opera lovers.