Æthelflæd

Andreas Stötzner

The idea of ‘modernizing’ a blackletter structure towards a more modern (Roman) appearance is actually a quite old one. I think it has been tried several times since the 1st half of the 19th centurey, more or less successfully. With the Anglosaxon and Irish letter models this has been undertaken much less, I’d say.

I did explore the possibilities of implementing Anglosaxon/insular or Irish genes into a basically ‘normal’ Roman type framework. A very interesting matter.

Peter Baker

Simon Cozens said:

Ooh, that is brilliant. I was kind of looking at things like the Cartulary and Customs of Abingdon Abbey. But I think this is the way to go.

I'm glad you like the Benedictional. I couldn't find high-res photos of the Abingdon cartulary, but it looks like a lovely protogothic. If your friend decides to do a musical based on, say, the reign of King John, it might be just the thing.

John Savard

Joshua Langman said:

Les Misérables, Once on This Island, and Hamilton, for instance, are all "sung-through" musicals with no spoken text. One could argue that this puts them in the category of opera, but the industry regards them as musicals, and they are performed in theatres, not opera houses.

I remember that the paleontologist and author Stephen Jay Gould noted that his father, on several occasions after being successful in business, then blew his fortune trying to start an opera house.

The reason why opera is so popular in Italy and at least some other places in continental Europe, but is a complete non-starter in the United States is, of course, obvious.

Very few of the mainstays of the classical repertoire of operas are in English, and audiences in the United States would see little point in sitting through anything else (except, of course, for a discerning few of high refinement and culture).

So it's hardly surprising that any commercial production in America would shy away from the use of the term 'opera' to describe itself. Unless it's 'space opera'.