Patricia Duncker: How I Fell in Love with Opera

Available for over a year

In an attempt to demystify this huge and multifaceted genre, five creative individuals examine their own encounters with opera. These personal essays reveal the variety of ways in which opera can seduce, fascinate, baffle, frustrate and excite. In the second essay in the series, academic and novelist Patricia Duncker examines the dangerous and seductive ways in which opera can overwhelm the senses. In particular she discusses the power of Benjamin Britten's Death in Venice. Patricia Duncker is the author of five novels including James Miranda Barry and Hallucinating Foucault. Her most recent academic position was as Professor of Contemporary Literature in the Department of English, American Studies and Creative Writing at the University of Manchester. How I Fell in Love with Opera, written and read by Patricia Duncker Produced by Jill Waters A Waters Company Production for BBC Radio 3.