This is Opera. No Thinking Allowed.

Yes, I mean no thinking allowed. Although thinking aloud is not a good thing to do at the opera, either—at least not in live performances. But this is about whether or not we are supposed to think when we view/listen to opera. Should we just turn off our brains and let the music wash over us? I don’t think so. And  here is why I bring it up today.

An argument was made the other day in comments on another blog that opera, as an art form, is intended to make people feel, not think. This writer also contends that all composers prior to "our modern age" would agree with him. This writer opined that any attempt to make opera more accessible (particularly singing it in translation) is patronizing (to whom, I am not sure...I guess patronizing to the patrons.) This writer also is either a plagiarizer, directly quoting another blogger verbatim without proper attribution, or actually is that blogger hiding under the ubiquitous moniker: Anonymous. (I am not sure which annoys me more!)

Not surprisingly, this prompted a lengthy response from yours truly. The following is a revised, edited, calmer version of the comment I posted on that blog.

Opera is Drama—it’s words, music, scenery, acting, dancing, lights, etc. (I think you'll find that some dude named Wagner felt this way, too) and if you don’t treat it as drama, you might as well put everyone in tuxes and do a concert performance. (Actually I've seen some pretty dramatic concert performances, as well as some pretty non-dramatic stagings, (KoffChristophLoyKoffKoff) too.)

I believe that the great opera composers want us to do more than just wallow in the pretty sounds. Verdi and Mozart worried their librettists continually to get the words right for their operas. Mozart occasionally lamented that he had to write flashy music for his singers to show off their voices, rather than supplying music to best fit the text. He must have wanted us to think, especially when he would undercut a cheerful-ish text with some anxious-sounding music. Le Nozze di Figaro was a social satire, even though the censors made da Ponte and Mozart clean it up. While Verdi also wrote to accommodate his singers, he was always striving to find the best way to make a dramatic effect, and he advised his singers on how he wanted the music and text presented.

When Verdi, Wagner, or Puccini (to name a few) bring back little themes and motives from Act 1 to underscore action in Acts 2 or 3, they probably would like us to notice and think about why they did that—well, think and feel. Opera works if you turn off your brain, but how much more there is to enjoy and appreciate, if you do decide to think. (Like many opera lovers, my introduction was through audio only, and it is a wonderful way to absorb opera. I still listen to audio recordings and enjoy them very much as "pure" music, as well as aural drama. But the visual element that, in fact, most opera composers expected us to have, can add so much to our overall experience.)

You may have noticed I've reached the bottom of the page without really talking about opera in translation, which is how the the "Opera: to think or not to think" discussion got started. Well, I think the discussion going on at the first two posts listed below is a good one. Plus I have already said most of what I wanted to say in the comments sections over there.  So, please check out these other posts that actually do discuss (or present) translated opera:

• Opera Ramblings: Opera In Translation
• Earworm: Opera in Translation
• Earworm: Wagner in English
• RnR: German Opera in Italian
• RnR: ItalianOpera in German
• RnR: Russian Opera in German