| List of Contributors | |
| List of Illustrations | |
| The Pains and Pleasures of Liberation | 1 |
| Staging Verdi's Operas: The Single, 'Correct' Performance | 11 |
| Response: In Praise of the Pragmatic | 23 |
| Response: On Staging that Matters | 28 |
| Response: Lights ... Action | 34 |
| Response: 'Trust the tale, not the teller' | 38 |
| Response: Misinterpreting Verdian Dramaturgy: History and Grand Opera | 42 |
| Ornamenting Verdi's Arias: The Continuity of a Tradition | 49 |
| Response: On 'Exactly what is Written' | 81 |
| Response: A Rubber Band | 84 |
| An Avenue Unexplored: The Divertissement and the Opera-Ballet | 91 |
| Response: Ballet in Italy: The Background to Verdi | 103 |
| Response: Milan and Paris: A Lasting Dialogue | 107 |
| Response: A Conflict of Interests | 110 |
| Response: Drawing the Audience in: The Theatre and the Ballroom | 113 |
| Response: The Feminization of Ballet | 120 |
| Response: 'Reading' Ballet | 125 |
| Critical Editions and Performance | 133 |
| Response: Critical Performance | 147 |
| Response: On 'Traditional' Performance | 151 |
| Response: The 'Textualization' of Opera | 157 |
| App. A: List of Operas | 162 |
| App. B: Chronology of Verdi's Life and Times | 166 |