Article
| Title: | On monotony of opera playbill and underlying economy |
| Author: | |
| Source document: | Musicologica Brunensia. 2018, vol. 53, iss. 1, pp. 65-78 |
| Extent: | 65-78 |
| ISSN: | 1212-0391 (print); 2336-436X (online) |
| DOI: | 10.5817/MB2018-1-5 |
| Type: | Article (English) |
| Stable URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/138329 |
PDF
Abstract(s):
The study explores modern opera theater repertoires and focuses on the strategy of opera offering. Statistics and data analysis reveal strong tendencies of monotony, sameness, and repetitiveness of repertoire across the biggest and most productive opera houses in the world. The two ongoing tendencies are that the majority of opera theaters resort to reproducing a shortlist of canonized masterpieces and that there are hardly any new works presented onstage since the middle of the 20th century. Opera is possibly the most complex art form that demands not only immense resources and skills from its producers but also incredible attention and loyalty from the consumers. Complexity and demanding nature of this art form is certainly amongst the shaping factors of modern opera economy. But do constant reproduction of monotonous repertoire and recycling of the same opera titles have ulterior motives?
Keywords:
opera production; playbill; repertoire; revival; remake; opera economy; audience
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