This Companion is a fascinating and accessible exploration of the world of grand opera. Through this volume a team of scholars and writers on opera examine important Romantic operas and trace the origins and development of a style created during an increasingly technical age. The volume analyses the grand operas by Rossini, Auber, Meyerbeer and Halévy, discusses grand opera in Russia and Germany, and also in the Czech lands, Italy, Britain and the Americas. The volume also includes an essay by the renowned opera director David Pountney.