An aria in an opera – Handel’s ‘Ombra mai fu,’ for example – gets along with an incredibly small number of words and ideas and a large amount of variation and repetition. That’s the beauty of it. It’s not taxing to the listener’s intelligence because if you haven’t heard it the first time round, it’ll come around again. — James Fenton

Tags: #Time, #Beauty, #Words, #JamesFenton, #British, #Poet

Mini who’s who:

James Fenton : British Poet
Born:  April 25, 1949