Really, this is going too far. I mean, innovation is all well and good, but — innovating opera? And at London’s  Royal Opera House? After all, is nothing sacred? Good heavens. Who in the world thought of this ghastly idea?

Someone had the idea of asking the public to submit “tweets” (to the Royal Opera website). One month ago, the Royal Opera website presented the public a sentence on which to build a story: “One morning, very early, a man and a woman were standing, arm-in-arm, in London’s Covent Garden.” Some 900 140-character messages were received.  Composers Helen Porter and Marc Teitler set the tweets to music. If they all were used, they would be a full seven-act opera — even beyond Wagnerian Valkerie proportions. So instead, excerpts will be used, making a twenty-five minute opera. It will be performed as part of the Deloitte Ignite arts festival.

The BBC Music Magazine’s deputy editor called the exercise “an accident waiting to happen”. He said: “Whenever there is a new fad you know somebody in the art world is going to grab hold of it by the horns. They should be careful that it doesn’t overtake the serious stuff they do.”

In response, Sara Parsons, the publicity officer for Ignite, says, “It’s about getting people involved and interested in opera — and it’s certainly done that.” 

Talk about breaking the rules. Opera is opera. It ends when the fat lady sings, not when the last thin Tweet ends. Give us a break!

However, here is my own Tweet contribution, following on to the lead sentence. 

“Let’s tweek the twats,” the man said, “and Twitter Aida! Pyramids, shmyramids!”.