Opera

Ever since its beginnings in the late sixteenth century, opera has been preoccupied with death. Illness, murder, and suicide stalk countless libretti, from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Puccini’s Tosca to Berg’s Wozzeck and Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves. To the litany of horrific fates which have historically befallen the medium’s protagonists – stabbings, immolations, death by snake bite, poison and toxic mushroom, to say nothing of various wasting diseases and literal descents into hell – can now be added that most contemporary and shocking of demises: death by mass shooter.

Opera Australia’s appearances in Melbourne have an almost wistful quality these days, given the present closure of the State Theatre. Perhaps OA should take a leaf out of the songbooks of Melbourne Opera and The Australian Ballet and consider hiring the ineradicable Regent Theatre on Collins Street, where AB will soon present Christopher Wheeldon’s new ballet, Oscar (dutiful balletomanes are sure to be dyeing their carnations and perming their locks in preparation for the Wildean opening night on 13 September).

This year marks the centenary of Giacomo Puccini’s sudden death in Brussels while being treated for throat cancer. He was the most famous and celebrated living opera composer. However, Puccini’s posthumous reputation suffered in the latter half of the twentieth century; an infamous comment by renowned musicologist Joseph Kerman in 1952 describing Tosca as ‘a shabby little shocker’, was representative of much of academia’s attitude during this time.