Five Centuries of Women Singers

This is unquestionably a scholar's book, recounting the lives of 20 female singers from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. While some names will be familiar to most readers – Nellie Melba, Jenny Lind – others will be known only to a few. The original project was for 50 singers from a range of musical genres. The reduction to 20 allows the author to deal in greater depth with individuals, bringing together material from a range of sources in different languages. These 20 are all classical singers. The author has chosen them for some particular individual achievement in the world...