I am going to make a controversial statement: opera is fun.
"No!" cries every single person who's under 70.
One might very reasonably ask, "How can listening to people scream in a language I do not understand be fun?" or "How can I spend more than two-and-a-half hours watching this when I find a movie this long to be too long?"
I feel these common questions come from misunderstandings of how an opera would be presented today and what it fundamentally means to see an opera.
And with The Barber of Seville performed by the Atlanta Opera at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre on April 26 and 29 and May 2 and 4, coupled with cheap student tickets available at $25, now is a fantastic time to take a step forward and try something new.
First, the most pragmatic fear must be assuaged: you do not need to speak Italian, German or French to appreciate what is being presented on stage.
A contemporary, legitimate operatic presentation will invariably give its attendees a way to understand what is being said.
Most of the older opera houses will project the translated libretto, essentially an operatic script, over or under the stage (super- or subtitles, respectively).
The words follow just like subtitles in a foreign film. Some of the major opera companies, like the Met in New York, even have small screens on the back of all the seats that allow you to view the translation directly in front of you.
While many old-school opera enthusiasts say that these projections and translations detract from the experience, it has been an important movement in making opera more accessible to more people.
Not understanding the language is certainly not a fear that should keep you from the opera in this day and age.
The second most common fear I often hear is that going to the opera is a boring experience. This might not be unreasonable, but the problem with saying this is that it's a generalization.
Just as one might find a movie boring, one might find an opera boring: but just because one is dull does not mean all are bad, and just because one is exciting does not mean all are as invigorating.
While there are elements that make opera uniquely opera, each work is its own experience.
Watching a Handel opera is an entirely different experience than watching a Wagner one.
Handel's works have sparse instrumentation and feature the dry recitative, a form of dialogue in operas in which the singing is more speech-like while accompanied with only a harpsichord.
On the other hand, Wagner's works have massive pit orchestras playing almost non-stop music.
With Handel, I quickly grow bored, while I cannot take my eyes off of the stage with Wagner. Each work is wholly its own.
What positive comes from going to the opera? It gives you an amazing insight into Western culture that nothing else can. Everything from moments in "Looney Tunes" cartoons to the entire conception of incidental music in movies can be traced to operatic origins.
From a historic perspective, prevailing and progressive trends in European culture can be picked up much more easily (and often faster!) from an opera than from other primary sources.
Opera has often acted as a medium for social commentary.
And, as with most forms of classical music, it seeks to keep at least one foot in the past, thereby allowing the work to keep its original message.
The authenticity of an operatic performance is greater than that of a translation alone.
It is not simply the words that carry the message, it is the set, the music, the entrances and exits of characters.
Music conveys the listener to the past, and when combined with the power of the theatrical stage, you can be taken a world away.
It is a powerful exploration, safe and secure.
In conclusion, I would urge you to consider attending The Barber of Seville as put on by the Atlanta Opera, or maybe look at getting tickets to a staging next season.
The Barber of Seville is a particularly approachable work, and many of the gags you'll hear and see go right in line with what we laugh at today.
Blown-up egos, mistaken identities and drunken soldiers abound.
The Barber of Seville is one of my very favorites.
Simply be adventurous and open-minded, and it will pay off more than you could ever imagine.
– By Samuel Budnyk
Making a Case for the Opera
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
The Atlanta Opera, here pictured performing Lucia di Lammermoor, will present The Barber of Seville at the end of the month. The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre will host The Barber of Seville on April 26 and 29 and May 2 and 4.
