Re: [OPE] intermission: value of knowledge

> Why do operas survive - because there is a large and very expensive input
> of labour put into re-staging them.

Hi Paul C:

Operas have survived *despite* the high cost for staged performances,
not *because* of it. A huge percentage of those who love opera - a
majority, I think - have either never heard a live opera performance or
have attended a performance only once or a few times.This has been
the case for many decades: the popularity of this music form has continued
by virtue of people listening to it on various mediums (records, tapes, CDs,
DVDs, FM radio, online, etc.). Indeed, some of the most loved performances
were originally recorded in the mid-20th Century.

What would account, by your reckoning, for the fact that some operas
with huge overhead production costs fail while others (e.g. by Verdi,
Puccini, Wagner, and other dead composers) succeed? SURELY, it
has more to do with the music itself (and the plot) than the cost of
production.

In solidarity, Jerry

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Received on Tue Nov 17 09:11:08 2009