Books by Alexandra (Professor of Music and Cultural History Wilson

This cultural history of La Boheme traces its rise to global fame. It demonstrates how the opera's prominence in popular culture, the inventiveness of its directors and performers, and its enduring themes of gender, poverty, and nostalgia have captured audiences' imagination for more than 120 years.

Opera in the Jazz Age: Cultural Politics in 1920s Britain explores the interaction between opera and popular culture at a moment when there was a growing imperative to categorize art forms as "highbrow," "middlebrow," or "lowbrow." In this provocative and timely study, Alexandra Wilson considers how the opera debate of the 1920s continues to shape the ways in which we discuss the art form, and draws connections between the battle of the brows and present-daydiscussions about elitism.