Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Drama or music?

Highbrow musical sorts have sometimes debated whether opera is primarily dramatic music or musical drama. In other words, is it mainly drama or music. Where is the emphasis. To me that is easy to answer. If opera is drama, then it is terrible drama. It takes far too long for the plot to evolve, since it has to wait for the music. Also, who can understand what the singers are saying half the time? And who communicates by singing, anyway? If opera is not good music, then it is nothing. Sadly, in an effort to make it drama, many composers neglected the music and ended up with nothing worth having.

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