Viva la libertà!

by Anthony Arblaster

'Keep politics out of opera' has long appeared to be the maxim of most music critics, who present the art-form as essentially exotic and escapist, or as a vehicle for emotions which are purely individual. And despite ever-widening new audiences, and many innovative productions, such willful ignorance of history and music remains dominant. Almost incredibly, operas from Fidelio to William Tell, Rigoletto to Parsifal, Aida to The Bartered Bride, have been stripped of their political context and resonance. In this ambitious and wide-ranging book, Anthony Arblaster shows that such attempts to disregard or disparage opera's politics are at best delusory, at worst a political ploy. Writing with passionate enthusiasm, both for opera and for the ideals of freedom and justice it has so often represented, he uncovers the political dimension of a vast range of works, from The Marriage of Figaro to Nixon in China, including many of the most popular in the repertory. Beginning with an investigation