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Italy: An Operatic History begins with a brief Prologue that relates how opera began around the year 1600 and has developed in the years since. The nine chapters that follow provide a concise history of Italy from 1000 to its complete unification as the Kingdom of Italy in 1870. Interspersed with Italy’s rich history are more than thirty operas that personalize and illuminate historical events. Just as supertitles that translate lines sung in a foreign language into English have made operas more accessible and enjoyable, so also can the operas themselves help one better understand Italian history and the changes over time in its society, culture, and political structure. Operatic music has added a strong emotional background to the historic settings that aroused audiences’ feelings of nationalism. Opera has been, in fact, a driving force in the unification of the fragmented cities and city-states of Italy, so long divided and at war with each other. Opera literally helped make an Italy - and then, having made an Italy, helped make Italians. Opera continues today to help us understand social, cultural, and political forces of both the past and the present that can divide us. An Epilogue shows how operas today, while providing pleasure and enjoyment, can also make us think, at times prick our conscience, call our attention to wrongs, and help us do better. That is why opera has been called the ultimate art.
