Overtones of Opera explores the discourse of operaboth the art form and the social institutionin selected works of Whitman, Poe, Alcott, Chopin, Cather, James, and Wharton. For some, opera provided a powerful artistic medium for expressing a private aesthetic experience; in opera, they discovered the embodied voice of the artist. Others found not only the spectacle of opera but also its spaces, the opera houses and boxes, perfectly suited for displaying the class-based and commodity driven aspirations of Americas new aristocracy. This noteworthy study will inform and enlighten literary scholars, musicologists, and lovers of both opera and literature.