In truth, I had no clue whether I would enjoy the opera that we would be attending. I’ve never actually attended opera before so this experience was certainly a new one for me. However, my doubts soon disappeared after hearing Mark Ringer speak in front of the class about the opera that we were going to see. He was not only a very humorous and entertaining guest speaker, he touched on the idea of how the music of the orchestra and the changes in the tone of the opera singers can drastically affect the opera. Before, I was under the impression that all opera’s were basically the same, but now, I came to realize that music can play a very important part in an opera as a way to convey the true feelings of the characters in the opera.
Therefore, I came into the opera house with particular enthusiasm. I wanted to hear many of the things that Mark was talking about in Mozart’s arrangement of the orchestra and opera singer’s lines. It was slightly disappointing though that after the opera, I couldn’t notice many of the things that he did mention in class. However, I did notice that in the beginning, the music of the orchestra was very simple and very happy, which in Mark’s opinion, represented thoughtlessness and empty happiness of the characters. I noticed that the singers (pair of lovers) were oftentimes exaggerating their love for each other in their voices. However, in the conflicts that ensued, the music became a lot more minor (sad) at times, which reflected the change in the characters’ state of mind as they struggled to understand the true love that they were experiencing. As a result, their voices became a lot more genuine and while I couldn’t understand all of the words they were singing, many times, the opera singers managed to send chills down my spine. I marveled at how, even without a microphone, they could project their voices throughout the giant hall. As a result of watching the opera, I gained a better appreciation of the opera and of opera singers as a whole and really enjoyed the experience.
