Preface. Introduction. The opera houses: Teatro Olimpico (Vicenza), Margrave's Opera House (Markgräfliches Opernhaus, Bayreuth), Cuvilliés Theatre (Residenztheater, München), Teatro Comunale (Bologna), Teatro di Villa Mazzacorati-Aldrovandi (Bologna), Drottningholm Palace Theatre (Stockholm), Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles (Versailles), Teatro alla Scala (Milano), Teatro Mercadante (Napoli), Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux (Bordeaux), Estates Theatre (Stavovské Divadlo, Praha), Le Petit Théâtre de Marie-Antoinette (Versailles), Teatro Nacional de São Carlos (Lisboa), Teatro di San Carlo (Napoli), Théâtre de la Monnaie (Bruxelles), Teatro La Fenice (Venezia), Royal Opera House Covent Garden (London), Palais Garnier (Paris), Festspielhaus (Bayreuth), Semperoper (Dresden), Prague State Opera House (Státní Opera Praha, Praha), Palau de la Música Catalana (Barcelona), Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona), Opéra Nouvel (National de Lyon, Lyon), Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia (Valencia), Norwegian National Opera & Balett (Den Norske Opera og Ballett, Oslo).The book portrays 26 great European opera houses with stunning images by world-renowned photographer Ahmet Ertuğ. The book starts with Classical, Baroque and Roccoco theatres - miraculous early survivors - from Palladio's exquisite Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza, the forerunner of later theatres, to the charming court theatres at Drottningholm in Stockholm, and the beautiful Margrave's Opera House in Bayreuth as well as San Carlo in Naples. The grand nineteenth-century opera houses portrayed include the Paris Opera House (Palais Garnier), the rebuilt Teatro La Fenice in Venice, and the Prague State Opera. Finally, the book portrays recent architectural masterpieces by some of the world's leading architects including opera houses at Valencia, Lyon and Oslo. Accompanying Ertuğ's spectacular photography, is Michael Forsyth's text describing the architecture of each opera house and its social and musical history, including stories of human passion and intrigue that they can tell. Forsyth begins with an introduction that traces the rise of opera, the evolution of opera house architecture, and the musical and social demands of different nations and periods, with the remarkable effects these had on opera house acoustics. Ahmet Ertuğ trained as an architect in London before turning to photography. His artistry draws a deeply meditative energy and involves the observer in the intellectual content of his subjects. Michael Forsyth is an architect and historian and wrote the award-winning and widely-translated book "Buildings for Music: the Architect, the Musician and the Listener from the seventeenth century to the present day".