Contes D’Hoffman

My grandparents on my mom’s side love classical music. Every summer since I was little, they would take to me to parks all over New York State to see free concerts. Just as the sun would set, the musicians would take their seats and begin to play. Sitting in my Barbie lawn chair, I would watch the sun set to a piece by some classical master like Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Beethoven, or Wagner.

Classical music was a big part of my childhood. It was always present on holidays. At Christmas especially, we would spend hours in front of a crackling fireplace listening to music and every night as I fell asleep I would listen to my tape of the Magic Flute, which I couldn’t sleep without. While most kids had nightlights or a teddy bear, I had Mozart.

So, despite the inconvenience of staying out late on a Tuesday, I was really excited to go to the opera. Contes D’Hoffman was, in my opinion, a great show. I was pleasantly surprised by my familiarity with a few of the songs and was blown away by the fantastic voices of the performers, especially the woman who played Antonia.

While I understand why the “bark & bark” technique is boring to some people, I think that in Opera, the music is good enough to stand on it’s own. Without moving, the Opera singer can invoke powerful emotions using only his or her voice.  In fact, I think that acting sometimes distracts from the beauty of the music. While watching Contes D’Hoffman, I found myself forgetting to listen because of the spectacle on stage and the subtitles on the seat in front of me. It might just be because I am not used to seeing opera performed, but I prefer to hear opera as I always have, lying on the plush carpet in my grandparents living room with my eyes closed in front of a fireplace.

The story of Contes D’Hoffman was extremely difficult to follow. After act 1, I was completely lost. I actually think that reading part of the story in Series 3 made it even more difficult to follow. The opera rendition failed to provide clear reasoning as to why the man selling barometer’s was so feared by Hoffman or present the Clara character that seemed to be, in the written piece, a big part of the story.

Sadly, I don’t think that opera speaks very well to the people of my generation. I think that unless you were raised to appreciate classical music, no teenager really appreciates opera, other that saying something like” “Yo, dude! That chick’s voice was crazy high!” Personally, I think there are two main reasons for the decline of opera: the length and the confusing story lines.

In a world were instant gratification is king; no one has the patience to sit for three hours and just listen. The temptation of modern technology is too great. With the world literally at your fingertips, few can resist the urge to check facebook or text during a three-hour block of time.  Also, with no modern scenario’s being portrayed and bizarre stories, opera is almost impossible to relate to on a personal level. Take Contes D’Hoffman for example, the plot is ridiculous. A man falls in love with a woman, who is made up of three women: a robot, a talented Opera singer, and a courtesan. Instead of appreciating the talented performers on stage, the majority of people spend the three hours either wondering what the hell is going on or give up completely and decide to text, daydream, or nap!