Judith Barger is independent scholar who holds a PhD in musicology from Indiana University and a PhD in nursing from The University of Texas at Austin.
An astonishing number of operas have characters who are or were nurses, ranging from the comic connivers of early operas to professionally trained caregivers in modern ones. Judy Barger traces this fascinating history, showing how these characters affect those around them and reflect the changing social functions nurses have served over the last four centuries. --J. Peter Burkholder, lead author of A History of Western Music Everyone knows a few prominent nurses in opera--in Die Frau ohne Schatten or L'Incoronazione di Poppea, for example--but this book demonstrates that the character is far more prevalent than we imagine. Drawing on meticulous research on both fictional nurses and nurses in real life, Barger offers a rich and fascinating study of an often-overlooked character. --Christina Fuhrmann, Baldwin Wallace University