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Exotic and irrational entertainment

...books, opera, Bollywood, and other indefensible obsessions

Monday, January 20, 2025

January 20, 2025

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Posted by Pessimisissimo at 9:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: In memoriam

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"...Italian opera, an exotick and irrational entertainment..."
—Samuel Johnson


"One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other."
—Emma in Jane Austen's Emma


"[Mozart's music] is as good an excuse for mankind’s existence as we shall ever encounter."
—HC Robbins Landon


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Licensed under Creative Commons

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Other favorite sites

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  • Guardian UK | Classical music & opera
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  • Open Magazine
  • Opera News
  • Opera Theater Unlimited
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  • Paris Review
  • Pocket Opera
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  • The Fantomas Website
  • The Nation
  • The New Yorker
  • Washington Classical Review
  • West Edge Opera