Volume 40, Number 8 · April 22, 1993
The Ridiculous & Sublime
By Charles Rosen
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
edited by Stanley Sadie
MacMillan/Grove's Dictionaries of Music, Vol. 4, 1,342 pp., $850.00 the set
The Queen's Throat: Opera, Homosexuality, and the Mystery of Desire
by Wayne Koestenbaum
Poseidon, 271 pp., $22.00
The most prestigious of musical forms, opera is also traditionally the most absurd, the most irrational. No musical dictionary could ever deal adequately with the nonsense of opera. It is true that other forms of musical activity—or of life in general—are equally shot through with absurdity: ridiculous jokes about violists and equally ridiculous but true stories about deranged conductors are a sufficient testimony. Nevertheless, in orchestral life competent violists are the rule rather than the exception, and rational conductors may be discovered, while a certain extravagant absurdity is inseparable from opera, and even helps to define it.
Review, 6644 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |