At opposite ends of the scale

A book which opens in the bushes of a Venetian garden and ends, more or less, in the cafés of Parma with chocolate panettone and biscotti dipped in coffee knows how to command attention. Given that what unfolds between these sensory episodes is densely constructed and formidable in scope, this is just as well: Peter Conrad writes engagingly and lures his reader into a grand game of cultural chess. There is no winner or loser, but we need to be alert for fear of missing a wry connection or a devilishly clever move.

The oddity of the title hints at the awkwardness of the subject matter. Verdi and/or Wagner reflects our habit of pitting these two composers, one Italian, one German, both born in 1813 and dominating the entire century with their operatic achievements, against each other. They never met. Inevitably, however, by well-honed competitive instinct if not via gossipy publishers or press reports, they sensed each other’s every triumph and failure, often battling in ‘oblique dispute’, as Conrad terms it.