In the original dustsheet. Black cloth binding with gilt title on the spine.

• F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available.

(Amadeus). In previous books, John Steane has written about the art of singing as heard on records and “in the flesh” in opera houses and concert halls. Here, in a collection of essays that comprise the first in a continuing series of articles published monthly in Opera Now, he turns to the singers themselves — seeing how their art develops — with opportunity, chance, and design playing their part. Each study is a carefully worked vignette, and the book is illustrated throughout with photographs and memorabilia, many never before published. Singers of the Century will appeal to all who possess a love of singing and a taste for music writing at its best.

Review: John Steane as ever writes in a way that keeps your interest. He really knows about singing & singers. He is not afraid to criticize faults even one of his favourites. I have all three volumes now, it’s taken me a long time to find Vol.1, but it has been well worth the wait. A highly enjoyable read if ,as I do, you love opera & and opera singers.

John Barry Steane (12 April 1928 – 17 March 2011) was an English music critic, musicologist, literary scholar and teacher, with a particular interest in singing and the human voice. His 36-year career as a schoolmaster overlapped with his career as a music critic and author of books on Elizabethan drama, and opera and concert singers. Among Steane’s works are critical studies of Christopher Marlowe and Alfred Tennyson, and a series of books on music, concentrating on singing and singers. He contributed to a range of musical journals, including Gramophone and The Musical Times, and wrote articles for the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography