ince Christmas is traditionally a time for telling ghost stories, I have been thinking about the extent to which ghosts dominate the classical music world. I don’t mean the sort of flitting-through-closed-doors ghosts that are said to haunt old halls and theatres, though there are enough tales around of spectral figures lurking backstage in places such as the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Nor do I mean operas famously featuring ghosts, such as Mozart’s , Britten’s and, of course, John Corigliano’s – in which the entire cast is dead from start to finish.
