Monteverdi to Mozart: the beginnings of opera -- Mozart: the father of modern opera -- Bel canto opera: nineteenth century Italian opera before Verdi -- Nineteenth century German opera before Wagner -- Wagner I: the early operas -- Verdi I: the first masterworks -- Wagner II: the music dramas -- Verdi II: the last masterworks -- Nineteenth century French opera -- Nineteenth century Slavic opera -- The great age of operetta -- Italian opera after Verdi: Puccini -- German opera after Wagner: Richard Strauss -- Opera in the twentieth century.