Aida
‘Aida’, out of all the required performances, was the one I was the most excited about. Since we spent our last week talking about how magnificent and cultured an opera is and especially after Professor Cohen came in and educated us about the differences between an aria and a recitative and how all the major characters have different themes for them, my level of excitement reached its peak. Therefore, last Friday, Susu, Jackie and I organized a shopping trip to buy the perfect dress for this grand performance and by Monday we were all set to experience our first Opera.
The Lincoln center in itself was huge and the hall where ‘Aida’ was supposed to take place was even more impressive and enormous than I had imagined it to be. Although, we were seated way at the back, I still was awestruck by the overall ambience and was pretty excited for Aida to start. However, unfortunately, within five minutes of the first act I sensed that this was going to be a long night. For starters, I could not even see the faces of the performers. Secondly, I did not particularly like the orchestra except for Aida’s and Amneris’s jealousy theme and since Radames’s part of desiring to be the commander of the army was too prolonged for me, I settled on shifting my focus on my surroundings instead. Hence, I spent the entire first act looking around at who was sleeping, fidgeting around my seat or foraging for candy in my bag. Thus, it was no surprise when after the first act ended, I was more than enthusiastic to get out of my seat (partly the reason for my notorious fall) but thankfully I didn’t break anything and finally took the wise decision to pay more attention on the other acts. With new vigor, I took on the task of putting all my concentration on Act II and surprisingly, this was not as boring as the first one. I still did not particularly like the part where Amneris tricked Aida in confessing her love for Radames and personally thought that Aida could have done a much better job in both singing and acting. However, the triumphal procession part was somewhat more engaging and I actually enjoyed it. The set design, the ballerinas and the horses proved to be quite fascinating for me and at that point I felt as if, after all, the opera wasn’t so bad.
As the acts progressed, I felt more comfortable and at ease, and found Amneris’s parts to be the most captivating. Firstly, Amneris did a remarkable job in singing than both Radames and Aida and even though I could not see her facial expressions, I could sense her emotions through her voice. When I was reading the libretto, Amneris came across to me as the typical spoilt rich princess who was the reason behind the incomplete love of the two main protagonists. However, at the opera I realized that I could relate more to Amneris than to Aida, maybe because she acted out her part so well. I was truly captivated by the Act IV of the play, where Amneris tried to coax Radames in pleading innocent in front of the court. Even though, Radames had betrayed her and her country and had explicitly shown his love for Aida, Amneris still was not able to hate him. Her love for him was so strong that she was willing to sacrifice everything for him, willing to accept his treachery and plead for his life even though she knew that he did not love her. Although, Aida was supposed to be a tragedy of Radames and Aida, I found Amneris’s story to be more tragic and touching.
Overall, watching the opera at the Met was a great experience, and although the opera itself might not have been that entertaining, I still enjoyed the overall experience.
Posted: December 9th, 2012 under Opera, Reviews.
