La Cieca would like to introduce a new feature to parterre.com in which questions on opera-related etiquette (and probably “life issues” and stuff) sent in by the puzzled, the concerned and, perhaps on occasion, the merely inept.

Our first question come to us from “Baffled By the Bay” —

I have an opera friend who never fails to bring up how Verdi injected his nationalism into his operas. This same friend overlooks Wagner’s abhorrent extra-musical tendencies. Could you please advise me on a polite way for me to tell my friend to shut his trap?

La Cieca thinks this sort of query is best done by crowdsourcing, which means she’ll let you, cher public, offer your suggestions.