At a time when there were limited opportunities to attend the opera house, and before the existence of recordings, the operatic fantasy proved a popular and ingenious way to spread great melodies to a wider audience. Some classics of the genre are heard in this second volume—not least Wilhelmj’s arrangement of Handel, and Kreisler’s beautifully tranquil arrangement of Gluck—but there are also memorable examples from Verdi and from Hubay’s piquant opera Le Luthier de Crémone, as well as two vivid contemporary examples that continue the genre into the twenty-first century.