Hoffmann and His Muse

Marc Eliot Stein, from the literary site Literary Kicks, hosts Lost Music: Exploring Literary Opera, a podcast that digs into the rich, often overlooked intersections where grand music meets great writing. The central question isn't just about historical appreciation, but a pressing one: why does this art form still matter now? Each episode unpacks a specific work, revealing the fascinating and vibrant world hidden within scores and librettos. You'll hear discussions that go straight to the curious heart of these creations, like debating whether Verdi's operatic Otello might hold its own against Shakespeare's original play, or considering the psychological state of the Moor himself through a modern lens. The show delights in the wonderfully tangled origins of these pieces, exploring what it signifies when a masterpiece like Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro is an Italian opera composed by a German Austrian with a Venetian Jewish librettist, based on a French play set in Spain. This isn't a dry lecture; it's a conversation that treats opera as a living, breathing collision of arts, history, and human emotion. By focusing on the literary DNA and the complex cultural journeys behind the music, this podcast offers a fresh gateway into an experience that is as much about storytelling and ideas as it is about soaring arias. Tune in to rediscover a lost world that feels surprisingly immediate.