In praise of … operatic arias | Editorial

Musical progressives have often been high-mindedly disapproving about arias – the public, though, remains obdurately enrapturedDecades have passed since any composer wrote an operatic aria that has wormed its way inside the public's affections in the way that arias by Mozart or Puccini still do. The most recent, perhaps surprising, inclusion in Radio 3's "nation's favourite aria" list, unveiled yesterday after a listeners' poll, is 90 years old, from Korngold's Die tote Stadt. Musical progress...

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