Thursday, September 4, 2008

First viewing of opera

WOW! I didn't expect to be viewing so many different types of opera. Having never viewed it before it was somewhat challenging to find interest in what was going on. I found myself somewhat confused as to what exactly was going on because of the different language the dialogue/singing was in. However, I did find myself intrigued in the opera Farinelli, because my immediate question was why the hell is a man playing a woman, and singing much better than any other woman I've ever heard?! Learning that, during this time period, men were castrated at a young age just to be able to put on an amazing show at the opera. I was truly amazed! Farinelli does portray to be the first true DIVA!

As the class proceeded I found the technology to be quite astonishing! "Deus ex machinae" (God's from the machine) was so unbelievable to watch. At the time there were so many challenges which faced these "behind the scenes people" yet they were able to put on a terrific show to the audience. One of my favorite parts of the opera Vatel was when tragedy strikes behind the scenes, yet the audience is left with nothing but joy. This truly revealed that the world is a stage, and not everything we see is true.

Until the next class... opera is confusing, yet beautiful at the same time...

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