On Opera brings together the writings on opera of one of the twentieth century’s most influential philosophers, Bernard Williams. A lifelong devotee of the art form, Williams wrote extensively on opera throughout his career, contributing essays, BBC talks, programme notes for the Royal Opera House and English National Opera, and entries for The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.
This collection gathers many of these previously scattered and hard-to-find works, including two essays published here for the first time. Spanning composers from Mozart and Wagner to Verdi, Puccini, Strauss, Debussy, Janáček and Tippett, the volume combines insightful reflections on individual operas with broader explorations of opera’s enduring appeal.
- Written with Williams’s characteristic clarity, wit and intellectual depth, these essays offer a compelling celebration of opera as one of the richest and most enduring forms of artistic expression, and a fitting final work from a thinker whose passion for opera matched his philosophical brilliance.
- Bernard Williams was Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy, Cambridge University, Monroe Deutsch Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley, and White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy, Oxford University. He was a member of the board of the English National Opera in London and author of many articles on music.
- Paperback book with 176 Pages, 15.5 × 23.4 cm
