Opera: Passion, Power and Politics is the first exhibition to be mounted in the V&A's new Sainsbury Gallery. Like the Pink Floyd exhibition (which was extended to run until 15 October (although I think all tickets have probably now been sold)), it uses a multimedia format with location-based audio playing out into a set of slightly too tight headphones (they're fine for the first hour or so, but after that I was finding my ears a bit squashed).
Unsurprisingly you get to hear a lot of opera. Fortunately for the casual listener to classical music, it's largely the better stuff stuff like The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves or The Marriage of Figaro.
The exhibition starts with the early history of opera in Italy, quickly moving on from its origins as an entertainment for the nobility to its early form of public entertainment in Venice, and its spread throughout Europe.
As well as displaying the artifacts relating to the operas, including various spin-offs, such as the miniature paintings of castrati (who were apparently the boy bands of the day), the exhibition also provides socioeconomic context, providing a glimpse into the societies that influenced opera, as well as the effect that opera had on society (including the Soviets banning Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, apparently because Stalin didn't enjoy it).
The final piece of the exhibition is a run-through of a number of operas running through most of the twentieth century up to the present day - some of which were great (Summertime from Porgy and Bess for the Gershwin lovers), and some of which were awful (which I've convenient blotted from memory).
Probably a good two hours is needed to properly go around the exhibition (potentially more if you go on a busy day, as I went on a Monday).
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