This is a potentially exciting book. Its author is a professor of comparative literature and therefore has a wide range of historical and cultural material available with which to work.
Opera Now.
Tambling has an instinct for a topical subject ... His book is an argument not only for 'critical' stage production but, more importantly, for a 'self-critical' response from the public.
Patrick Carnegy, The Musical Times, February 1997
Tambling takes the texts of opera seriously. He is interested in why composers have chosen their subjects, and how these relate to their opinions and to the prejudices of the societies in which they lived. Tambling is courageously attempting to strike deeper, to suggest that audiences cannot allow themselves to be merely 'entertained' by operas and should be troubled by their subject-matter and sub-texts - and he shows real insight in bringing these to the surface.
Patrick Carnegy, The Musical Times, February 1997