In 1763, just when Christoph Willibald Glueck was in the process of reforming opera and creating the art form as we know it today, Samuel Johnson described opera as "an exotic and irrational entertainment." Its irrationality comes from its inability to pay its way and its consequent need to be supported--first by the nobility, then by the Gilded society of a century ago, and today by a multitude … [Read more...]
Speight Jenkins on the art of Opera
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