Opera as elitist is not a universal mindset. During and after the communist regime, opera was available to the masses of Russia. Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, you're just as likely to see a poor mother bring her kids to the opera as you are an oligarch.
(The above tidbit courtesy of my former Geopolitics of the Former Soviet Union prof, who lived in Russia and knows so many tidbits about life there that you can't find online normally.)
That's pretty neat! There's a European girl (I totally missed what country she's from) in my class who did mention that music conservatoire students wherever she came from could get into operas for free...without a seat, but it's still free.
Music conservatoire makes me think Vienna. From what it seems to me (and from tales my globetrotting profs tell), western Europe* on the whole has a much more accessible fine arts scene, especially those cities that became reknown for centuries because of the quality of their music schools and composers (e.g. Vienna, Florence, St. Petersburg, Munich, etc). Mind, it's not a universal mindset in the nations that make up Europe, but on the whole, the fine arts are more accessible and more... appreciated, I suppose, than in the US/Canada and other former colonies.
There are a ton of other factors, too, but my thumbs are now sore :(.
* While Russia isn't entirely Europe and likes to fight the western Europe cultural labels, the Moscow-St. Petersburg area is much more European than the rest of Russia.
I took four of my irish second cousins to the same exhibit during holidays. They found it quite interesting - they knew nothing about them because they jut don't get earthquakes in Ireland
Comments 7
(The above tidbit courtesy of my former Geopolitics of the Former Soviet Union prof, who lived in Russia and knows so many tidbits about life there that you can't find online normally.)
Reply
Reply
There are a ton of other factors, too, but my thumbs are now sore :(.
* While Russia isn't entirely Europe and likes to fight the western Europe cultural labels, the Moscow-St. Petersburg area is much more European than the rest of Russia.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment