1. When I wrote the cited paragraphs, I was writing about changes "in the last seven decades," i.e. since the late 1950s (when I began operagoing). Whether these changes have continued to progress in the last 20-25 years I couldn't say.
2. I was speaking about "historically informed stagings (i.e., stagings in the manner that the composer would have envisaged)." At least as used in MWI reviews, "traditional" tends to be a broader term, encompassing just about anything in period costume.
Compare the recent Joyce DiDonato Covent Garden Massenet Cendrillon with the 1970s Canadian telecast with Frederica von Stade. Both have been called "traditional," but one ventures much further from anything Massenet would have anticipated than the other.
Or consider the 2017 revival of Karajan's 1967 Salzburg Easter Walküre. The sets and costumes are exactly the same, but the stage action is very different, and much further from Wagner's script (not that Karajan had adhered minutely to it in the first place!).
Jeffrey's comments are, as always, fascinating, and raise all kinds of thoughts. I don't know how true this is, but I've often seen it said that older operagoers tend to prefer historically informed stagings, whereas younger ones are more likely to be attracted by contemporary Regietheater. (Of course there are exceptions in both directions.)
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