Music: The Musgrave Ritual

Romancing the woman who wasn 't there

As operatic heroines go, Ariadne is definitely not as sweet as Mimi, nor a resolute as Aida, nor as popular as either But composers from Monteverdi to Rich ard Strauss have invariably had a hard time resisting her charms. That is more than can be said for that noted male chauvinist Theseus, who simply dropped her off one day on a tiny Greek isle. Ariadne's latest operatic reincarnation might not be entirely to her liking either: she appears merely as the voice of a missing statue.

But everyone...

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