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The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Opera. Ed. by Stanley Sadie. New York: Billboard Books, 2004. 320p. $45 (ISBN 0-8290-7721-7).
As one would expect of a book with "Billboard" in the title, this encyclopedia is filled with lush color photos and illustrations. In fact, only ten of its 320 large-format pages do not have illustrations. Although titled an "encyclopedia," I find that I agree with tenor Philip Langridge's statement in the foreword that the book "seems much more like a novel" (8). It is divided into eight chronological chapters from ancient Greece to the twentieth century, and each chapter (except the first) is further divided into six sections: "Introduction," "Genres and Styles," "Key Composers," "Other Composers," "Librettists," and "Singers." Each double-page spread has six computer-style "buttons" at the top: "Techniques," "Houses and Companies," "The Voice," "Performance," "Stage and Scene," and "Synopses." Furthermore, "a thematic entry is indicated by an active icon at the top of the spread" (6). An "active icon" is in a...