This landmark publication collects arias and role excerpts from operas by John Adams, Benjamin Britten, Carlisle Floyd, Richard Strauss, and many other composers published by Boosey & Hawkes. Includes extensive plot notes and translations. The soprano volume also includes ten arias for coloratura.

Contents for Soprano:J. Adams: Am I in your Light? (Doctor Atomic) - J. Adams: I don't daydream (Nixon In China) - D. Argento: The Widow's Aria (The Boor) - D. Argento: Though absent from these ears and eyes (Casanova's Homecoming) - D. Argento: Virginia's Aria (The Voyage Of Edgar Allan Poe) - L. Bernstein: Dede’s Aria (A Quite Place) - B. Britten: I'm full of happiness (Albert Herring) - B. Britten: Miss Wordsworth's Aria (Albert Herring) - B. Britten: The Dressing-Table Song (Gloriana) - B. Britten: The Queen's Dilemma (Gloriana) - B. Britten: Injurious Hermia (A Midsummer Night's Dream) - B. Britten: Let her among you without fault (Peter Grimes) - B. Britten: Embroidery Aria (Peter Grimes) - B. Britten: How beautiful it is (The Turn of the Screw) - B. Britten: Lost in my labyrinth (The Turn of the Screw) - A. Copland: Laurie's Song (The Tender Land) - C. Floyd: Rented rooms (Cold Sassy Tree) - C. Floyd: Curley's Wife's Aria (Of Mice And Men) - C. Floyd: Ain't it a pretty night! (Susannah) - C. Floyd: The trees on the mountains (Susannah) - C. Floyd: I've dreamt in my life (Wuthering Heights) - J. Gay (realised by B. Britten): I'm like a skiff on the ocean tossed (The Beggar's Opera) - J. Gay (realized by B. Britten): When young at the bar... Ungrateful Macheath! (The Beggar’s Opera) - J. Gay (realised by B. Britten): When Young At The Bar...Ungrateful Macheath! (The Beggar's Opera) - H. Purcell (realised by B. Britten and I. Holst): Oft she visits this lov'd mountain (Dido and Aeneas) - H. Purcell (realised by B. Britten and I. Holst): Thanks to these lonesome vales (Dido and Aeneas) - S. Rachmaninoff: Francesca's Aria (Francesca da Rimini) - N. Rorem: Emily's Aria (Our Town) - R. Strauss: Das war sehr gut, Mandryka (Arabella) - R. Strauss: Es gibt ein Reich (Ariadne auf Naxos) - R. Strauss: Kein Andres, das mir so im Herzen loht (Final Scene) (Capriccio) - R. Strauss: Da geht er hin (The Marschallin's Monologue) (Der Rosenkavalier) - I. Stravinsky: No word from Tom...I go to him (The Rake's Progress) Arias for Coloratura Soprano:J. Adams: I am the wife of Mao Tsetung (Nixon In China) - D. Argento: I see in you a looking glass (Miss Havisham's Fire) - D. Argento: Lady with a Hand Mirror Aria (Postcard from Morocco) - J. Beeson: Aurelia's Aria (Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines) - L. Bernstein: Glitter and Be Gay (Candide) - B. Britten: Come, now a roundel (A Midsummer Night's Dream) - B. Britten: Be kind and courteous (A Midsummer Night's Dream) - R. Strauss: Die Wiener Herrn verstehn sich (Arabella) - R. Strauss: Großmätige Prinzessin (Ariadne auf Naxos) - I. Stravinsky: Chanson du Rossignol (Le Rossignol)