[drewmassey]

I mean a real connection between the history of opera and programming is the conflict between opera as a courtly art (Eric Raymond’s “cathedral”) and its life as a public spectacle (“the bazaar”). There is an excellent essay by Richard Taruskin title “the history of opera from Monteverdi to Monteverdi” in his Oxford History of Western Music. Even if you aren’t a musicologist a read of the intro might reveal some analogies...