Viva LA Liberta!: Politics in Opera

Rating:
Summary: politics and opera mix well with Arblaster
Review: Anyone who doubts whether opera involves the particular politic of the day knows nothing about opera. Think of Mozart's three greatest"Don Giovanni" for one where an aristocrat commits murder within the first few minutes, not that it was never done, but never on stage, or Berg's "Wozzeck" an exposure of the a poor soldier's slow demoralization within an impassive society,who cares less of his survival. Arblaster's primary thinking is in left politics and you need someone like this to decipher who is where within the political spectrum, what forces are involved and bringing to light the composer's political persuasions. Politics has been a neglected dimension of opera and rightfully so scholars are too afraid of bursting their cloistered canonizations they invent to explain opera and to delve into this complex subject. Arblaster surveys the entire edifice of Western repertoire. And you do find weaknesses,like Belllini and Donizetti, their work seems more involved in pure melodrama and political intrigue than political argument but for drama it works well when politics is flattened in this way. But Arblaster is right on point and this makes fascinating reading, it places opera where it belongs, in reality even though(as Adorno) said opera is always a few steps away from a parody of itself.It's pointless now but someone should have written an opera after Bill and Monica(Lewinsky) there was villains and opportunism and a love affair, all you need.

Rating:
Summary: politics and opera mix well with Arblaster
Review: Anyone who doubts whether opera involves the particular politic of the day knows nothing about opera. Think of Mozart's three greatest"Don Giovanni" for one where an aristocrat commits murder within the first few minutes, not that it was never done, but never on stage, or Berg's "Wozzeck" an exposure of the a poor soldier's slow demoralization within an impassive society,who cares less of his survival. Arblaster's primary thinking is in left politics and you need someone like this to decipher who is where within the political spectrum, what forces are involved and bringing to light the composer's political persuasions. Politics has been a neglected dimension of opera and rightfully so scholars are too afraid of bursting their cloistered canonizations they invent to explain opera and to delve into this complex subject. Arblaster surveys the entire edifice of Western repertoire. And you do find weaknesses,like Belllini and Donizetti, their work seems more involved in pure melodrama and political intrigue than political argument but for drama it works well when politics is flattened in this way. But Arblaster is right on point and this makes fascinating reading, it places opera where it belongs, in reality even though(as Adorno) said opera is always a few steps away from a parody of itself.It's pointless now but someone should have written an opera after Bill and Monica(Lewinsky) there was villains and opportunism and a love affair, all you need.