STel GK 13 Across

[hadrianjeffs]

Did Jorn Utzon really design La Scala?

Rather like last week's one about Impressionism. Don't think Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe, Olympe, or the Bar at the Folies Begeres actually qualify as landscape painting. Unless your from Liliput, that is.

Nevermind me. Just being my curmudgeonly Eeyore self.

[Prudentia]

opera house

[roslyn251254]

designed sydney opera house

[hadrianjeffs]

Think you missed the point. I knew it was Opera House, but Sydney's not really the most famous of those, is it?

thank you for thinking of it anyway

[DaisyMae]

Actually hadrianjeffs, I think today's generation know the Sydney Opera House far better than La Scala, or indeed any other - It epitomises Australia and being so close to the Harbour Bridge it is evident even in their New Year fireworks display.

So Sydney Opera House is probably the most famous of them all if fame can be measured in outward appearance rather than in content or use. Debatable point though.

[columbus]

What the hell has La Scala got to do with this clue, never heard of it!

[hadrianjeffs]

Decided to check. According to Dogpile, Boston, Massachussetts's is the opera house with the most hits, with Sydney second. Unsurprising Sydney's hits almost entirely refer to it from the perspective of architecture, which is unsurprising because, until the recent refurbishment, the acoustics were generally regarded as lousy.

La Scala, Milan, is, in historic terms, the most significant opera house in the world, and is inextricably linked with the career of Giuseppi Verdi, whose final opera, Falstaff, was premiered there. The French, of course, maintain that everybody in the world will pass the Paris Opera at least once in their life (but then they're French).

The Telegraph, I recall, seem to have an almost obsessive concern with Sydney Opera House, as it has regularly featured in magazine & news articles in various Telegraph publications ever since it was built. My favourite, because it illustrates the decline in British journalists' literacy, was the news story about a yachtsman who had "collided into Sydney Opera House." in any case, as the accompanying photograph clearly showed, he was actually 100 yards short of even "colliding WITH Sydney Opera House."

I wonder what generation we're talking about? I'm 47, and I'd pick La Scala over Sydney everytime? I would agree that it is the most famous opera house in the world that's sited in Sydney Harbour, but that really wouldn't be much a clue, would it...?

[Catron]

You agree now that Sydney opera house is the most famous opera house in the world - and as 'opera house' is the answer required, what is the problem?

[hadrianjeffs]

No, Catron, if you'd read my answer, you would know that I don't agree Sydney Opera House is the most famous in the world, because it isn't.

I'm sorry, does nobody have a sense of humour on here? When something has deteriorated so badly as the Telegraph crossword, and when it's syptomatic of a general decline, surely the best thing to do is not treat it with the seriousness it doesn't deserve.

[Catron]

I would agree that it is the most famous opera house in the world that's sited in Sydney Harbour,

I quote from your own post!

Sorry but, whatever you may think, the world recognises Sydney as the most famous and the number of hits in a search engine does not take away from that.

[hadrianjeffs]

Nobody is qualified to speak for "the world". That's the sole prerogative of a god.

Frankly, that's one of the most absurdly arrogant things I've ever read, & if you're taking crossword clues that seriously, I think you should get out more.

[Prescott]

OK hadrianjeffs - I'm afraid Catron is a bit like that !!

[Catron]

What a charming reply! You are the one who should get out more! Go into your neighbourhood and ask them what the most famous opera house in the world is and I guarantee you, the majority will say Sydney - and that goes for any neighbourhood in the world.

You are the one who has not let the matter rest!