In the article
’s four chapters (a.
“Introduction to an
art
”, b.
“Opera as a form of social communication in a city
”, c.
“The transformation of an art from allowance in services to a trading
article
”, d.
“The crisis of opera trading in Hamburg
”) is attempted an analysis of the
Hamburg
’s opera evolution from its court origins, through its transformation to a kind of trading, up to its development to a cultural institution, an outcome of the German
“Aufklärung
” (Enlightenment).
The interactions and changes that occurred during the operation of the Oper am Gänsemarkt are examined from several points of view: the politics and economy, as well as the psychology of the public and the social classes.
The article stresses on the role played by the lower classes in the formation of the
“modern
” urban public. The people, armed with imagination and revolutionary feelings, have, as it happened with the French Revolution, put into motion the historical
changes to be nevertheless excluded from the new social structures.