The social life of opera

Abstract

This article explores the changing status of opera and seeks to challenge the idea that opera is `essentially' an elite cultural practice. I begin by considering the increasing social visibility of opera in contemporary UK and US society. I then examine the history of opera in terms of its invention in the late 16th century and its development as popular commercial entertainment in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Next, I explore how opera was turned into `high culture' in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Returning to the contemporary, I again discuss the increasing social visibility of opera, posing the question: is opera once again what it was for most of its history — an inclusive rather than an exclusive cultural practice?

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