Why opera refreshes the archaeology other artforms fail to reach
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2015-06-18

Peter Morgan Barnes, Director

In the Nov/Dec edition of British Archaeology Peter Morgan Barnes wrote a joint article with Mark Redknap the Head of Archeology and Numismatics at Amgueddfa Cymru, The National Museum of Wales; this paper will expand on that article. Several operas have been commissioned in recent years to explore different excavations. Why opera? The paper explores why a story which is told wholly through music has an emotional and psychological resonance which is lacking when a story is told through a mixture of dialogue and music. Archaeology often has lacunae in the narrative it can present for a particular site. When that narrative is presented operatically, the very artificiality of the artform allows those lacunae to stand; in theatre the demands of the artform often insist on them being filled, thus moving the story further away from what can be proved or demonstrated.