.,."Cowden has written an enthusiastic Preface that reflects a longtime interest in his subject. This interest has resulted in a bibiography of biographies on more than 700 opera and concert singers.... The ... bibliography requires a careful reading of the Introduction, since many abbreviations are used in the body of the work. The principal section (Part C) gives nationality, voice, and places and dates of birth for some 700 singers, together with citations to biographical sources, ranging from one source for Gabor Cavelli to more than fifty for Jenny Lind. Each entry includes citations to any of ten major encyclopedias or dictionaries, biographical articles in nine music periodicals, autobiographies, biographies, and cross-references. Part A is a list of more than 100 collective biographies of singers with brief annotations and Part B includes more than 150 related works.' There are two appendixes: a list of reference materials (Duckles, Ewen, etc.), and an index to singers in the latest edition of Grove's Dictionary, with the note that there are 217 singers in Cowden not found in Grove's.... Broad coverage of foreign titles and informative annotations will make this book useful in classical music collections."-Reference Books Bulletin
