Opera? What??

One of the highlights of any Creative venture is listening or viewing the venture in its own surroundings.

All bundled up for the Wisconsin winter, I watched my grandson shoot trap with his local club last Saturday. Visitors must wear some sort of protective sound gear, so I brought along my trusty headphones, complete with FM radio (I love mowing in the summer to classical music… no commercials …)

Digressing early I see …

So as I watched orange clays being popped by various members, I also listened to WPR Radio, which at the time was broadcasting opera from the Metropolitan Opera.

Now I imagine most of you would rather listen to Smooth Jazz or Country or something more familiar to the masses. Normally I would, too. But I hate commercials, and since this was a simple device with a simple FM connection I often turn to public radio.

Saturday the Met was rebroadcasting an Opera from 1985, Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, written in 1912.

I never knew Richard Strauss wrote operas.

Again I digress.

I had happened to tap into the discussion between scenes where the announcer and other guests talk about opera, the opera itself, and the actions to come. It wasn’t the opera per se that caught my attention – it was their enthusiasm and familiarity with the craft that blew me away.

The hostess happened to be on a Face Time call with the three “nymphs” (other characters in the opera), and they all enthusiastically praised the lead diva, the late Jessye Norman, for the way she worked color into her performance.

(According to Wikipedia), The New York Times music critic Edward Rothstein described her voice as “a “grand mansion of sound”, and wrote that “it has enormous dimensions, reaching backward and upward. It opens onto unexpected vistas. It contains sunlit rooms, narrow passageways, cavernous halls.”

Whether you appreciate opera or not, look at those words describing the singer’s craft. 

The nymphs used similar language to praise their lead soloist, and I was touched by their use of the words “color” and “dimension” to describe someone’s voice.

I began listening to the opera, and when practice ended, I slid back into my Saturday routine of seeing the grandkids when possible, folding laundry, baking cookies, and getting into some form of Art.

But I think I will wander back to the Metropolitan Opera Artist’s Choice series on Saturdays. Not that I will listen long and hard – it would be more to listen to artists glow and gloat about their trade.

Something we ALL should be doing!