Monday, March 29, 2004
Opera
My husband and I are going to the opera tonight.
I like opera, I guess. Or, rather, I like music. But I'd prefer to see Handel's Messiah than a Wagner opera. Maybe part of that is because Handel wrote Messiah in English and I can understand it.
But I think part of it is also because, for me, the story can get in the way of the music in opera. Messiah and other oratoria (I think that's the right term) are not linear stories -- dramatic creations with a plot, etc. -- but are musical vignettes based on a central theme.
And I say that just as I remember that I really loved La Traviata. I think I remember from college, though, that La Traviata had sort of the same cultural cache when it was written as soap operas do now. In other words, it was not highly regarded. Am I correct? Someone step in and tell me if I am wrong—please.
Anyway, the point of this post wasn't really to go off on opera or my ambivalent views of it, but to underline the fact that this outing was my husband's idea. He loves opera, Wagner in particular. (Yes, we're seeing Wagner tonight.) His Christmas present from me was the entire Ring of the Nibelung—all 14 discs of it. And he was delighted.
Sometimes his love of opera bemuses me. I'm not entirely sure where he picked it up. He was in band in middle school, but I doubt playing French horn at 12 guarantees a lifelong love of music.
Whereas I was a theatre major, a four-year chorister in college, but I never managed to develop a passion for opera. Honestly, sometimes I can barely stand musical theatre. I'd rather go to the ballet—but that husband of mine just doesn't get dance.
And that's where I think my bemusement gets strongest. An opera whose words he cannot understand completely engrosses him, but toss a girl in a tutu and pointe shoes on stage and his mind goes blank. Dance is just another language of musical interpretation. Why do we each appreciate something different? And how can we meet in the middle?
I like opera, I guess. Or, rather, I like music. But I'd prefer to see Handel's Messiah than a Wagner opera. Maybe part of that is because Handel wrote Messiah in English and I can understand it.
But I think part of it is also because, for me, the story can get in the way of the music in opera. Messiah and other oratoria (I think that's the right term) are not linear stories -- dramatic creations with a plot, etc. -- but are musical vignettes based on a central theme.
And I say that just as I remember that I really loved La Traviata. I think I remember from college, though, that La Traviata had sort of the same cultural cache when it was written as soap operas do now. In other words, it was not highly regarded. Am I correct? Someone step in and tell me if I am wrong—please.
Anyway, the point of this post wasn't really to go off on opera or my ambivalent views of it, but to underline the fact that this outing was my husband's idea. He loves opera, Wagner in particular. (Yes, we're seeing Wagner tonight.) His Christmas present from me was the entire Ring of the Nibelung—all 14 discs of it. And he was delighted.
Sometimes his love of opera bemuses me. I'm not entirely sure where he picked it up. He was in band in middle school, but I doubt playing French horn at 12 guarantees a lifelong love of music.
Whereas I was a theatre major, a four-year chorister in college, but I never managed to develop a passion for opera. Honestly, sometimes I can barely stand musical theatre. I'd rather go to the ballet—but that husband of mine just doesn't get dance.
And that's where I think my bemusement gets strongest. An opera whose words he cannot understand completely engrosses him, but toss a girl in a tutu and pointe shoes on stage and his mind goes blank. Dance is just another language of musical interpretation. Why do we each appreciate something different? And how can we meet in the middle?
