In the first half of the seventeenth century, opera crossed the Alps and spread from its home in Italy to German lands. From the late seventeenth century to the first half of the eighteenth century, Bach and Handel laid a deep emotional foundation for German music. In the late eighteenth century, Mozart led the first peak in German opera. In the early nineteenth century, Weber opened a new chapter in German Romantic opera, and in the mid-nineteenth century, Wagner achieved the ultimate form of opera. By the twentieth century, Richard Strauss and the New Viennese School had shifted opera toward Modernism.

The book presents the course of German opera, the “gold” left shining in the bottom of the river. The life, art, and artworks of important composers, the birth and spread of German opera, the consolidation of its characteristics, its development to the present, and snapshots of various periods in German history tell the amazing story of German opera. We hope to bring readers on a journey through the vigorous and romantic music of the Rhine.