THE PRICE OF BEAUTY THE ORIGINS OF THE OPERA, A CHALLENGING FACTOR FOR THE GENRE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE COVID PANDEMICS CRISIS

Abstract

The high cost of opera productions is the first of a triad of existential problems that haunted and still haunts the genre until today, and it correlates directly with the third one. The second problem is a problem of the present: the loss of cultural capital value. The third problem is Baumol's law or Baumol's cost disease. Opera did not adapt to the mass production evolution. Unfortunately, the virus impacts more severely people with comorbidities. As we showed, the Opera has three. With Sars-Cov-2 in play, the interruption of the concerts and representations put operas in difficulty, everywhere.