ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some unpublished texts from the 1960s which make clear the considerable level of his interest in opera, as well as demonstrating that this interest lies in the interface between the physical and the metaphysical. It turns to Musica ficta, a work addressing four receptions of Wagner; specifically, looking at Baudelaire's reaction and how for Lacoue-Labarthe it shows Wagner to have been understood as a representative of the metaphysical or speculative theses associated with German Romanticism. The chapter then looks at another unpublished text, 'La Naissance (?) d'un opera': part-way between a narrative and a critical reflection upon that narrative, this text makes clear how Lacoue-Labarthe associates opera with the conflicts in Greek theatre between 'ancient' and 'modern' which we saw in his writing on tragedy. The category of 'song' which emerges in this text provides the link to the final section, which looks at a text named 'L'"Allegorie"'.
