On the Spot: Alexandra Wilson
‘What’s the most important lesson history has taught me? That the same arguments come around again and again.’
Why are you a historian of music and opera?
I’m fascinated by the social, cultural and political contexts that shape works of art. I came to opera via a love of drama and all things Italian.
What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?
That the same arguments come around again and again. (Opera was ‘on its deathbed’ a century ago, too.)
Which book has had the greatest influence on you?
Carl E. Schorske’s Fin-de-Siècle Vienna and Jerrold Seigel’s Bohemian Paris introduced me to a type of interdisciplinary cultural history that struck a chord.
What book in your field should everyone read?
Marcia J. Citron’s Gender and the Musical Canon has much of wider interest to say about why we listen to the music we do.
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