Why is opera relevant to our society? Like all great art, this all encompassing art form has stood the test of time. It is the only art form that has always included music, words, acting and staging and often has a requirement for all of the aforementioned to demand the utmost of performers and those who produce and stage the spectacle that is instantly recognized as Opera. There is so much of the repertoire that has been ingrained in us and was used as the background music for much of my early life – think Bugs Bunny as the Barber of Seville doing a job on the head of Elmer Fudd.
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Never been to the opera? Do you remember the scene in Pretty Woman where Richard Gere takes his "date" Julia Roberts to the opera for her first time? By the end of the performance, Julia’s character is overwhelmed and flush with tears from this new experience. They were watching La Traviata, an Italian opera scored by Giuseppe Verdi some 150 years ago, about a prostitute who falls in love with a wealthy man. She succumbs to consumption and dies in his arms as the curtain drops for the last time. Hmm, sounds like the plot for a Hollywood film (except nobody can die at the end as it would affect the box office receipts)…
I remember my parents playing records of opera performances and being fascinated by these multi-record collections that had detailed inserts printed on glossy paper, biographies of the performers and containing the libretto in the language of the performance and its translation in English. The smell of the vinyl, each disk clapping away as it dropped from the spindle onto the platter to be played next. Even the packaging of the recordings was a work of art. These memories are from a time past and both the recording and the opera itself were from generations ago. They have stood the test of time - time being the surest and best critic of any art form. Only the best survives.
Operatic music to me was just classical music. When I was a youth, I understood without question, that classical music maintained a certain reverence attributed to it by my elders; my Italian grandparents, parents and music teachers. It was not until I was in my early teens that I experienced my first opera performance. It was at the Met in New York and it was a performance of Rigoletto that was part of music appreciation in middle school. In attendance were bus loads of kids from many school districts and it was a special matinee for youths from the surrounding New York suburbs. Between the groans and flying spitballs in the theatre, the overture began: Instant recognition! I still remember the English lyrics to La Donna Immobile we learned in music class in grade school (Regrettably, I didn't know what the words truly meant until I started dating in my teens… another one of life's lessons)... Maestro, lead in with the music - um, da, da, um, da, da, and now the tenor begins - La donna è mobile, Qual piuma al vento (Woman is fickle, Like a feather in the wind)…
One thing I remember taking away with me from the performance was how I was moved to tears by both the beauty of the music and how it was delivered by the performers. I remember to this day the moment it first happened during the opening act when Rigolleto's daughter, Gilda, sings the aria "Caro Nome (Dearest Name)". It still gives me the chills to hear that piece on recordings, forget about the emotional outpouring from a live performance!
Music and words, no matter which part of the world the composer is from or what language the lyrics are in, moves us. Sometimes there's just something in a song that has you so involved and drawn in, where a confluence of emotions take you over and your tears flow freely. A great performance in a movie can have the same effect as can the experience of seeing something created by nature where the beauty of it is overwhelming. I hold a special place in my heart for music as it crosses the barriers we impose on language, nationality and race. Music by itself, independent of words, carries great emotion. Ah, but include words and some acting to add overt expression to the mood being portrayed, enhances the music to such a degree it is almost overwhelming.
We need opera in society, for it allows us to feel emotions that might otherwise go unexpressed. That is the great power of hearing the human voice stretched to its very potential. The performers are akin to great Olympic athletes. Those athletes meet to compete once every four years but the dedicated practice and commitment to their "art" often require decades of sacrifice and hard work. The Olympics has a valid place in our society and we would be a poorer society without it. The same can be said of opera. Luckily we can experience opera more readily than seeing Olympic athletes perform on a world stage.
This blog will be continued with a discussion about why people hate opera and review of some operas I have seen recently staged by the Los Angeles Opera company. |
| Wish I could sit there... |
I remember my parents playing records of opera performances and being fascinated by these multi-record collections that had detailed inserts printed on glossy paper, biographies of the performers and containing the libretto in the language of the performance and its translation in English. The smell of the vinyl, each disk clapping away as it dropped from the spindle onto the platter to be played next. Even the packaging of the recordings was a work of art. These memories are from a time past and both the recording and the opera itself were from generations ago. They have stood the test of time - time being the surest and best critic of any art form. Only the best survives.
Operatic music to me was just classical music. When I was a youth, I understood without question, that classical music maintained a certain reverence attributed to it by my elders; my Italian grandparents, parents and music teachers. It was not until I was in my early teens that I experienced my first opera performance. It was at the Met in New York and it was a performance of Rigoletto that was part of music appreciation in middle school. In attendance were bus loads of kids from many school districts and it was a special matinee for youths from the surrounding New York suburbs. Between the groans and flying spitballs in the theatre, the overture began: Instant recognition! I still remember the English lyrics to La Donna Immobile we learned in music class in grade school (Regrettably, I didn't know what the words truly meant until I started dating in my teens… another one of life's lessons)... Maestro, lead in with the music - um, da, da, um, da, da, and now the tenor begins - La donna è mobile, Qual piuma al vento (Woman is fickle, Like a feather in the wind)…
One thing I remember taking away with me from the performance was how I was moved to tears by both the beauty of the music and how it was delivered by the performers. I remember to this day the moment it first happened during the opening act when Rigolleto's daughter, Gilda, sings the aria "Caro Nome (Dearest Name)". It still gives me the chills to hear that piece on recordings, forget about the emotional outpouring from a live performance!
Music and words, no matter which part of the world the composer is from or what language the lyrics are in, moves us. Sometimes there's just something in a song that has you so involved and drawn in, where a confluence of emotions take you over and your tears flow freely. A great performance in a movie can have the same effect as can the experience of seeing something created by nature where the beauty of it is overwhelming. I hold a special place in my heart for music as it crosses the barriers we impose on language, nationality and race. Music by itself, independent of words, carries great emotion. Ah, but include words and some acting to add overt expression to the mood being portrayed, enhances the music to such a degree it is almost overwhelming.
We need opera in society, for it allows us to feel emotions that might otherwise go unexpressed. That is the great power of hearing the human voice stretched to its very potential. The performers are akin to great Olympic athletes. Those athletes meet to compete once every four years but the dedicated practice and commitment to their "art" often require decades of sacrifice and hard work. The Olympics has a valid place in our society and we would be a poorer society without it. The same can be said of opera. Luckily we can experience opera more readily than seeing Olympic athletes perform on a world stage.
