Patrick Barbier
Patrick Barbier teaches at the West Catholic University in Angers. He specialises in the history of opera. He is the author of Venice: The Enchanted Mirror and The World of the Castrati.
Books by Patrick Barbier
Vivaldi's Venice
Patrick Barbier
Vivaldi and Venice are entwined. Vivaldi was the most influential composer, and the leading violinist, of his age and spent most of his life in Venice…
World of the Castrati
Patrick Barbier
One of the strangest episodes in operatic history is the story of the castrati. In their heyday they were the toast of Europe: idolised, fêted, a…