Opera once was an important social instrument—especially in Italy. With Rossini and Verdi people were listening to opera together and having the same catharsis with the same story, the same moral dilemmas. They were holding hands in the darkness. That has gone. Now perhaps they are holding hands watching television.
ATTRIBUTION:
Luciano Berio (b. 1925), Italian composer. interview in Observer Review (London, Feb. 5, 1989).
