Censorship

The Guardian cries'Viva Verdi!' with a fascinating article about how Un Ballo in Maschera and Rigoletto were bowdlerised through censorship. I have tickets for both - Rigoletto, twice, and Ballo, on opening night - of a new production, four days after the wedding of a Royal adulterer and during a General Election Campaign.

After the unification of Italy, Verdi was free from troubles with the censors. But as we listen to his operas at the start of the 21st century, we need, perhaps, to reflect that his work, with its demands for governmental reform, democracy and human freedom, took opera to the political cutting edge of artistic expression. His operas were never safe in his lifetime - and we should, perhaps, never consider them to be so in ours.