Figar-oh, no.
I agree with Jaimie. I couldn’t have said it better myself. But to reiterate, I will now explain why I didn’t like the opera.
I don’t deny the opera’s credibility as an esteemed, long-standing form of art. It is artistic and it is something to be admired for the amount of work that is put into it, but it is just too much. Maybe I am too simplistic, or maybe the opera is too refined for my tastes. Whatever the case, I have never been able to sit through and thoroughly enjoy every minute of the four hour long experience. This is not to say, however, that opera isn’t deserving of the hype it is given. In no way am I demeaning opera’s reputation. I am merely saying that I don’t like it. From movies such as “Diva” to commonly known things such as Pavarotti’s high-maintenance lifestyle and famous opera “prima donnas”, I feel like opera is pushing the envelope.
When you look at Broadway actors (with the exception of a few Hollywood has-beens who turn to the stage once California proves to no longer provide the stardom they’re looking for), you see people. Normal, everyday people. They’re talented, yet grounded. After seeing “Spring Awakening” in August we were given the chance to one-on-one pose questions and receive real answers from the cast; I could never imagine doing this with opera singers. I don’t mean to generalize, however, it is apparent that opera stars are more commonly seen as lavish than their Broadway counterparts.
Opera has for centuries been know as extreme. I am not the only person to argue its extremity in every aspect. In spite of this, though, I am perhaps one of the few unwilling to embrace its extreme nature. I consider myself to be a passionate person, yet cannot agree with Lindenberger in his book Opera: The Extravagant Art. While he presents the idea that opera, in its extravagance, becomes “the language of passion”(150) and that the “role of passion in opera, an insistence on opera’s affinities with extreme human situations recurs throughout the major commentaries of all periods”, I see opera’s passionate extravagance as unnecessary. Poems, literature, understated natural beauty is what for me renders passion. Not a “tenor lifting [his] sausage arms skyward, ignoring the soprano as he ardently professes his love to the grand tier.”(Isherwood)
It is this that initially turns me away from opera: its excessiveness, its frilly splendor. While in line for the bathroom Wednesday I wondered to myself how many people in attendance were actually there for the vocal talent and musical ingenuity of Mozart, rather than just for the status-quo appearance, to keep up with the joneses.
It is hard for me to pinpoint exactly what it is in opera that rubs me the wrong way. I undoubtedly consider myself to be a patron of the arts, and will continue to remain open to the idea of opera as an art-form. I, like Jaimie, “am sure that opera will enjoy a long full life, as society esteems opera well beyond its worth.”, however, I don’t know how many more performances I personally will attend.
I think opera is just like any other art form: modern art, classic art, ballet, modern dance, sculpture, etc, etc. Either you like it or you don’t. You can learn as much as you want about the art form and form a sense of respect for the art, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you come to like it.
Anyway, I appreciate having gone, and apologize for any disrespect that may have been sensed in my initial post. That was unintentional and simply a brash, unprecedented, and not very thoroughly thought out immediate reaction to Wednesday night. I just didn’t like it. It isn’t my cup of tea. But for those who do enjoy it, “bravo.”
-C. Detrow