For Christmas, Steve gave me tickets to go see two Metropolitan Opera broadcasts in HD at the comfy Gateway theater in Springfield. (No greater love hath a husband for his wife than to take her to the opera!) We saw The Tales of Hoffman with Anna Netrebko in December; today we saw Der Rosenkavalier with Renee Fleming and Susan Graham.
For those who don't know the opera, you can read the plot synopsis here, and see a slideshow of scenes here.
This was my dad's favorite opera. I'm told that when he was young he blew out a couple of speakers listening to Baron Och's Act II waltz. I also cherish the memory of listening to the entire opera on records one Saturday afternoon with my mother and father, the second and last time they visited us in Springfield. Now I have a wonderful memory of watching the entire opera in the Met HD transmission with Steve and Joanna.
Opera is the greatest of all art forms, because it unites them all: liberetto (poetry), score, voices, acting, orchestra, sets, costumes, lighting. But the bigger they are the harder they fall, or like grease in the bowl one uses to make meringue, all it takes is for even one part to be off and the entire thing can be ruined. Operas like Der Rosenkavalier are especially demanding, but when done right are especially rewarding. Today's Met performance used the classic sets by Nathaniel Merrill, now going on 40 years old. I remember seeing the front cover of an Opera News in the 70's, showing Octavian's presentation of the rose. The photo was all in shimmery silver and white and aqua, with three tall glass doors giving a view to the rococco hall and stairs behind, and I thought it was the most beautiful set I'd ever seen. Never in a million years did I expect to be able to someday see it, and yet, in God's good grace, here I have, today, with those I love most!
Truly, God gives us the desires of our heart. Ah, but Lord, help me to desire what is truly best, and most beautiful: help me to desire You.
No comments:
Post a Comment