Barton on opera
Sep. 2nd, 2008 09:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylToday's Guardian features a piece in which soi-disant rock-chick Laura Barton tries to develop a taste for opera. Unsurprisingly, given the things that she is sent to see — something that probably owes rather more to what was on at the time than to what might provide a decent introduction to the world of opera — she fails to fall in love.
I'm not surprised. I wouldn't recommend The Rake's Progress as a starter 20th century opera. Far better to go for something short and punchy like Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle or something genuinely frightening like Brittten's Turn of the Screw. And surely The Magic Flute provides an easier introduction to Mozart's operas than The Marriage of Figaro?
I'm not surprised. I wouldn't recommend The Rake's Progress as a starter 20th century opera. Far better to go for something short and punchy like Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle or something genuinely frightening like Brittten's Turn of the Screw. And surely The Magic Flute provides an easier introduction to Mozart's operas than The Marriage of Figaro?
