A revised and expanded version of the 1989 BBC Reith lectures. Other work by the author includes "Arpentage de la poesie contemporaine", and "Conrad and the West". Other work by the editor includes "America since 1920" and "Kissing cousins: an interpretation of British and American culture".

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) was the Shakespeare of opera, the composer of Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Aida and Otello. The chorus of Hebrew slaves from Nabucco (1842) is regarded in Italy as virtually an alternative national anthem - and the great tragedian rounded off his career fifty years later with a rousing comedy, Falstaff. When Verdi was born, much of northern Italy was under Napoleonic rule, and Verdi grew up dreaming of a time when the peninsula might be governed by Italians. When this was achieved, in 1861, he became a deputy in the first all-Italian parliament. While in his 20s, Verdi lost his two children and then his wife (many Verdi operas feature poignant parent-child relationships). Later, he retired, with his second wife, to his beloved farmlands, refusing for long stretches to return to composition. Verdi died in January 1901, universally mourned as the supreme embodiment of the nation he had helped create. Daniel Snowman was born in London, educated at Cambridge and Cornell and at 24 became a Lecturer at the University of Sussex, going on to become BBC Radio's Chief Producer, Features. Since 2004 has held a Senior Research Fellowship at the Institute of Historical Research (University of London). Recent books include a study of the cultural impact of the 'Hitler Emigres', a collection of critical essays on the work of today's leading historians and The Gilded Stage: A Social History of Opera, reviewed by Tim Blanning as 'A mighty achievement, by far and away the best history of opera available'.

Historian and author Daniel Snowman (b. 1938) writes of a Jewish child's memories of the War, gives colourful inside accounts of life in Cambridge, JFK's America (including Civil Rights) and the new University of Sussex, of the BBC in its heyday, choral concerts under the world's top conductors and extended visits to the Arctic and Antarctic. Daniel watches Churchill making one of his final speeches, interviews Harry Truman about Hiroshima, spends a week in Bayreuth with Wagner's daughter-in-law, meets Pope John-Paul II, Isaiah Berlin and Lord Snowdon, while getting to know Placido Domingo and the most famous among the 'Hitler Emigres'.

The Gilded Stage is a comprehensive tour of the world of opera. From its origins in the courts of northern Italy, to its internationally recognised position in modern culture, Snowman explores the social history of opera houses and impresarios, composers and patrons, artists and audiences. Even the most flamboyant composers could scarcely have imagined the global reach of opera in our own times. More opera is performed, financed, seen, heard, filmed and broadcast than ever before, and the world's leading performers are worshipped and paid like pop stars. Yet the art form is widely derided as 'elitist' and parts of the classical recording business appear close to bankruptcy. Pinpointing the scandals, forgotten history and key revolutions in the form with light erudition and a brilliant anecdotal eye, Daniel Snowman reveals that the world of opera has always known crisis and uncertainty - and the resulting struggles have often proved every bit as dramatic as those portrayed onstage.