The Gilded Stage: A Social History of Opera

About this book

This is the first and only global social history the worlds most romantic flamboyant glamorous and politically influential art-form: Opera. Opera the most complex of all the performance arts inspires great passions. From its beginnings in the Renaissance cities of northern Italy it has spread across Europe America and beyond becoming a global business in the digital age. This book unfolds the story of opera in the social contexts in which it developed - through history and around the world. The charm and chaos of Mozarts Vienna Frederick the Greats Berlin the seductions of fin de siecle Paris the rough and tumble of the Australian outback where an opera house was a sign of civilization provide colorful backdrops to the always dramatic sometimes tragic on occasion hilarious stories that make up this fascinating story.