The Politics of Art & Authenticity

Opera is definitely one of my favorite forms of art.  I believe this is thanks to cartoons I watched as a child, such as “Rabbit of Seville” and “What’s Opera, Doc?” from the Looney Tunes series and, especially, “What’s Opera, Arnold?” from the Hey Arnold series.  These episodes made operas seem interesting, dumbing down the story lines for even a child to understand and enjoy.  “What’s Opera, Arnold?” is possibly the sole reason why I consider Carmen the best and most exciting opera.  The Hey Arnold episode mainly took from the storyline of Carmen with smaller pieces from other operas such as Wagner’s Ring Cycle and Pagliacci.  The episode starts with the students uninterested in the opera and when it begins they fall asleep and dream. They dream about themselves reenacting the opera Carmen, going through it with new lyrics to some of the more famous songs.  The episode not only attempted to widen the horizons for children but also explained the opera in a child friendly manner.

Arnold’s teacher summarizes, “I bet by the time we finish with this field trip I’ll make an opera lover of you yet…and this is what we’ll be seeing today, the classic tale of power and faithless love, the opera Carmen.  The story centers around the heroine Carmen the beautiful gypsy who flirts with the young Spanish officer Don Jose.  Don Jose is…uh…how would you say…charmed by Carmen and let’s her escape arrest for, uh, how should I put this?  Uh…causing harm to another girl.  But Carmen forgets all about Don Jose the minute she sets her gypsy eyes on the torero Escamillo.”

Entering the Met always fills me with a feeling of excitement.  It is much like the feeling I get when riding a roller coaster.  It doesn’t matter where I’m sitting because I know I’ll get the same experience wherever I am thanks to the way the Met is built.

The character I dislike and who annoys me the most is Micaela.  Her songs are all so long and drawn out and her soprano voice does not stand out.  Her voice seems average compared to everyone else’s however I suppose this suits her character.  Micaela is a staid character who never left home.  She is the country girl who Don Jose should have married had he followed the status quo.  I feel that if she had not been there to constantly remind Don Jose of his family then his relationship with Carmen may have lasted just a bit longer.  When the bugles played he might not have been so tempted to retreat scared he might shame his family name.

What I liked most was the ending where they compared Carmen’s death to the death of the bull.  I thought it was interesting how they rotated the stage to show Carmen, dead in the soon to be deceased Don Jose’s arms, and Escamillo with the dead bull beside him, the silent audience as if in mourning for the bull, and the red background to show the bloodshed.

I was less impressed with this version of Carmen than the first time I viewed it.  The opera I saw last night seemed to portray the leading female as weak.  This Carmen was on her back, on the floor, and being pushed and dragged down more times than the first time I saw the opera.  This Carmen also pushed the men around a lot more.  I also feel there was no real chemistry in this cast.  In fact I feel as if some of the opera singers were slightly rushing through some of their parts.  The first time I saw it, during Carmen’s Habanera there’s one note that was prolonged as if being stressed forcing the audience to not only hear something truly amazing but also to convey Carmen’s true emotions.  This time the singer went straight through the song without stressing or prolonging any words that should have been.

The set design had a lot of detail.  The way in which the stage continued rotating to show the different places made transitioning to the next scene easier.  The costume designs were also very interesting.  My favorites include Escamillo’s final outfit before the bullfight and the dress Carmen was killed in.

At the Met I found that the sounds of the orchestra seemed to reach the top of the theatre better than the voices of the singers.  I found the intros to the acts very fascinating in that they set the tone for what would happen in the act.  My favorite song above all others in this opera is the one that Escamillo sang, the Toreador Song.  This song was noteworthy due to the fact that it revealed how much Carmen’s voice truly stands out when compared to the others.  In this song all one mainly hears is the baritone Escamillo.  Then at the end Mercedes and Frasquita sing “l’amour” and at the very end, after two minutes of not hearing her voice, Carmen sings “l’amour”.  It is at this point that the viewers are able to truly tell Carmen’s voice apart from the others.

All throughout the opera I continued to remember everything Carmen music has been used in.  I thought of the opening of “Up!”, “Bad News Bears”,  “Babe”, and many commercials.  I believe this is the best opera to start off with considering it is used in so many different television works.  I cannot wait until I see my next opera.

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