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Alexandra Wilson

@amwilson.bsky.social

2K followers 1.3K following 360 posts

Academic | Author | Cultural commentator Opera. Classical music. Cultural history. The state of the arts today.

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · Jul 11

My author copies arrived! This is my sixth book and the one of which I am most proud: a sweeping history of the British relationship with opera over the last century.

Available in 🇺🇸 this month, on Kindle immediately, and in 🇬🇧 and Europe in October.

global.oup.com/academic/pro...

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Reposted by Alexandra Wilson

Lee David Bowen @leedavidbowen.bsky.social · 2d

Just got my copy of Someone Else’s Music, the new book by Alexandra Wilson — looking forward to starting it over the weekend.

More info: www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/someone-else...

#Opera

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Reposted by Alexandra Wilson

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 8h

'Now, Alexandra Wilson’s new book, Someone Else’s Music, unpicks the myth that opera is alien to the working class. For much of the past century, Wilson shows, opera was a hugely important thread in working-class lives.'

It’s not opera that’s elitist but the idea that art is to...

The myth that culture has not been for the masses is debunked in a new book

observer.co.uk

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Reposted by Alexandra Wilson

Mark Pullinger @larkingrumple.bsky.social · 12h

Luciano Pavarotti was born 90 years ago today in Modena. A great tenor – in all senses – his voice was like golden sunshine. I was lucky enough to see him three times, twice in Tosca – a wonderful Cavaradossi. He left so many great recordings. Your favourites?

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 9h

There's lots of really dodgy theory from the 1970s... I write in the book about some theorists who raged against opera and said that the working classes should be confined to "their culture", which they defined as...tiddly winks.

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David Benedict @eggsbened.bsky.social · 10h

EXACTLY!
‘Where once there was a yearning to be “exposed to something extraordinary”, today politicians and arts administrators are besotted by the notion of “relevance”, of the arts as something with which people must immediately identify or recognise.’ observer.co.uk/news/columni...

It’s not opera that’s elitist but the idea that art is to...

The myth that culture has not been for the masses is debunked in a new book

observer.co.uk

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 9h

Thank you. Writing another book which will have a lot more to say about this "relevance" idea and other silly notions that are doing the arts no favours.

Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 9h

Thank you! I had but please draw any other reviews or features you might spot to my attention.

Reposted by Alexandra Wilson

womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 1d

Tamara de Lempicka,
Blue Woman with a Guitar, 1929
Polish painter who created her work in an Art Deco style #womensart

Stylised painting of a white woman in a soft blue dress holding a round stringed instrument with a long neck on her lap and holding it as if playing

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you! Much appreciated.

Reposted by Alexandra Wilson

Patrick Allies @patrickallies.bsky.social · 2d

Under offer(tory)

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 2d

Today I’ve been visiting Reims (pronounced Rrrrass), a city in the Champagne region, about 45 mins from Paris on the train. Because it was hit hard by World War I, a lot of Reims was rebuilt in the Art Deco era, which means pleasing buildings galore. So here’s a thread 🧵

Cast iron window grating in the Art Deco style, from the Carnegie Library in Reims

Frontage of a random Art Deco building called the Hôtel de la Mutualité in Reims, built in 1927

Stained glass from the Villa Demoiselle, Reims

Stained glass from the porch of the former Cinéma Opéra in Reims

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 2d

Amazing! I went to Reims as a child but don't remember anything except the cathedral.

Reposted by Alexandra Wilson

Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 3d

I am delighted with this review of my new book in The New Statesman. The reviewer really gets what the book is all about.

www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...

When did opera become elitist?

Alexandra Wilson’s history of the art form in Britain shows how it used to appeal to everyone, from miners to lords

www.newstatesman.com

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks!

Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 3d

Indeed. And for once a reviewer who doesn't distort things or go on about what they would have written! 😂

Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 3d

Interesting!

Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 3d

I am delighted with this review of my new book in The New Statesman. The reviewer really gets what the book is all about.

www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...

When did opera become elitist?

Alexandra Wilson’s history of the art form in Britain shows how it used to appeal to everyone, from miners to lords

www.newstatesman.com

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Reposted by Alexandra Wilson

Dr. Mollie Carlyle @molliecarlyle.bsky.social · 3d

My new article is out in Nineteenth-Century Music Review! ‘Hearing London’s Sailortown in Shanty Repertoire’ explores how 19th-century sailors’ songs reflect the noisy, lively, often precarious world of London’s docklands. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

#MaritimeHistory #Musicology #SeaShanties

Hearing London’s Sailortown in Shanty Repertoire | Nineteenth-Century Music Review | Cambridge Core

Hearing London’s Sailortown in Shanty Repertoire

www.cambridge.org

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you.

Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you!

Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you!

Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 5d

Fear not, it is not about operas by British composers! (I mean, Britten gets a few mentions, but only in passing.)

Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 5d

Amazon link here: www.amazon.co.uk/Someone-Else...

Someone Else's Music: Opera and the British

Buy Someone Else's Music: Opera and the British by Wilson, Alexandra (ISBN: 9780197803639) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 5d

This book means more to me than any other book I have written. I want to get copies into the hands of everyone who cares about opera or is interested in the broader cultural history of our country.

Please consider buying a copy. Thank you. 🙏

global.oup.com/academic/pro...

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Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 6d

Durham Station Road, painting by Eric Thompson (b.1947). #NorthernArt

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