Opera Obscura: A Wholly Improbable Selection of Impossible Opera
Many musical and theatrical traditions walk the very narrow path between the sublime and the ridiculous, but perhaps none more so than opera, which, while maintaining an elegant reputation, makes a show out of princes making romantic speeches to soft fruit, noses being accidentally cut off and woodpeckers performing wedding ceremonies.
Opera Obscura is a beautifully illustrated collection that contributes twenty-five brand new impossibly madcap operas to the canon of magnificent absurdities, along with the intricate blueprints for several incredible opera houses and information on of a whole range of almost unbelievably incredible instruments.
Peter Kent
Peter Kent is the author and illustrator of almost thirty books. After a short spell at art school, he honed his illustration technique as a history teacher, bringing eras to life on the blackboard. Having fallen in love with opera – the perfect soundtrack for hours spent at a drawing board – but unable to sing, play or compose music, Opera Obscura is his contribution to the opera world. Peter lives in Norwich, which, apart from naming a hospital after Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale, has yet to make its name in the operatic world.