Operatic

I find myself consistently enamored with this overpriced record. Not the whole thing either—just Track #3, Disc 1. Mi Mancherai (il postino). I have no idea what that title or the lyrics mean. Matter of fact, I think I like the song better because of it.

Growing up in East Tennessee, Opera was something for opera houses, those lush centers of culture the likes of which I nor would any of my friends be caught dead in. “Opera,” as all of the young and ignorant protest, “is stupid.”

And hell, maybe it is. I don’t know. But I love this music and this track. The quote for yesterday’s Family Update came from Sarah Brightman's recording of Ave Maria. Another track I love for the same reasons I love the Groban track:

Beauty. Simplicity. Power.

In the classic three-tiered feature structure, you would be forced to pick two of these. However, you hit the jackpot with foreign operatic music. Based on the Wikipedia definition of Opera, this may not even be opera. But those details matter little. There is such beauty in the words, simplicity in the notes, and power beyond the voice, it’s hard to nail down its appeal. So tough, in fact, I’m shy from venturing beyond my own Groban Comfort Zone to see if I like anything else ‘foreign’ and ‘operatic’.

Speaking of the big show, I don’t know if I could sit through two hours of it, the costumes and wire rigs and the whole massive production of it all. Sometimes people create spectacle just for the spectacle of it. If you’ve ever been involved in a big production—the maddening corralling and scheduling of a large number of people—you know how easy it is to get wrapped up in it.

“Oh, the hell with it,” I can see an opera director shouting in frustration. “Just get that woman a goddamn viking cap!”

Am I the only guy who learned all of his opera primarily through Bugs Bunny cartoons? The big notes, the glass breaking, the big women? Until around the age of twelve or so, I thought no Opera was complete without a Phantom or a fat lady who sang at the end…in a viking cap, during a fake thunderstorm.

It’s not easy to describe sheer beauty in music. The moods and sounds and adjustments musicians and artists make which can spell disaster or brilliance. This very blog teeters on the need to be writerly but not pompous. To be personal but not critical. The idea in opera, to me, is to express raw emotion with your voice. And emotion at its purest is music.

And while I still get plenty of enjoyment from Tool and System of a Down, I think there’s plenty of room in there for Mrs. Brightman and Mr. Groban too. Diversity isn’t a personality bug, it’s a feature!

I cleared her head and made her wonder why
I helped her live and made her want to die