Mark at CityWoof recently went to hear his first opera. He writes in his blog he loved it and hopes to hear more. My excitement for him reminded me how much I enjoy the Opera. Let me tell you about opera before I drag Dr. Jung onto the stage.
Opera as we know it has been around for over 400 years. The earliest composers of opera were trying to recreate drama from ancient times. Ancient Greeks went to theater at religious festivals. They went as a community to participate in a ritual. The Greeks felt music could transcend a human soul, or interact with nature to alter both. The early opera composers were trying to recreate that experience.
“Opera” is a drama set to music and singing.
Music is beautiful; theatre is fun. The combination of the two, well, what is not to love?
Saying you enjoy opera is like saying you enjoy food. Like food, there are so many types – plain or fancy; nibbles or banquets, ‘old fashioned food’ or fusion cuisine. And then there are all the regional variations – German, French, Italian, etc.
Opera encompasses an enormous venue.
Some of the most beautiful music and memorable dramatic characters have been written for the operatic stage.
Music can do things that words alone can not adequately do. Often the words in an opera are rather simple – but when the composer as dramatist places them to a certain tone of music, they transcend to something spectacular.
“Whoever fears my spear will never pass through this fire!” hardly sounds moving on paper. Within the context of its music it is transformed into something beyond words.
In my attempt to blog about Jung and Opera I am getting into waters way over my head. There are books written on this subject; my little blog entry won’t do it half injustice.
”One might describe the theatre as an institution for working out private complexes in public.’
From a Jungian point of view, the reason Opera remains so popular is it draws upon the Collective Unconscious.
Opera is full of characters that touch upon the archetypes.
We have all known a ‘Carmen’, the Seductive Woman. We all know (identify with?) Madame Butterfly who waits patiently for her love to return, only to be disappointed. Peter Grimes captures the misfit in us all, rejected by the tribe for not fitting in.
In early works of opera - and in Wagner - the characters ARE archetypes.
We go to the opera to share our collective dreams and experience the numinous through the fusion of drama and music.
13 comments
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May 15, 2008 at 6:41 am
mo
I’ve never seen a Wagnerian opera on stage, but had to study the lyrics for my Jungian Theatre Interpretation class in college.
I know it seems “un-cool” to true opera buffs, but “Carmen” is my favorite opera. In grad school (for stage management) the best production I worked on was Carmen - and it holds a special place in my heart.
That, and I sing the Gilligan’s Island lyrics to Carmen often in my head!
May 15, 2008 at 6:44 am
Jay
Do you get the Metropolitan Opera at the High Definition Movie theater in your area. I have been able to “go” to the Met because of it. Popcorn and Pucchini. What more could one ask. j
Urspo - they are marvelous - particularly because i am ‘close up’ and can see the faces and movements. usually i am in the balcony and can only ‘hear’ the opera.
May 15, 2008 at 7:39 am
Seamus
I love Wagner, and of course “Madam Butterfly” - but I agree with Mo… my favorite is still “Carmen” (Bizet). It “rocks”… LOL
Haven’t been to the opera for about 30 years now…
Maybe it’s time again to start enjoying life.
May 15, 2008 at 7:57 am
TigerYogiji
The only time that I really don’t enjoy opera is when they sing in English. It seems to take all of the magic out of it!
If you ever get a chance, dig up a copy of “Kvetch” by T. R. Witomski (it is now, sadly, out of print). He wrote an article that is included in this volume called “Cruising the Met: It’s Not Just for Opera Lovers Anymore” or something to that effect! Hilarious!!
May 15, 2008 at 9:54 am
seriouslyflippant
One might more adequately, one might observe the particular attraction between Opera and Leather Queens.
May 15, 2008 at 10:25 am
DougT
I’ve always felt a sense of something akin to guilt that opers just has never done it for me. Can’t really say why, though I feel that it should.
I like your current heading picture. Is it from Costa Rica?
Urspo - No, it is a tea plantation somewhere in Asia.
May 15, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Tony
Sorry, I just can’t do opera. I love the music behind it but for some reason just can not cope with the singing. One of my favourite CD’s is Wagner without words. What can I say?????
May 15, 2008 at 2:01 pm
citywoof
It is so nice to be working for the opera…walking around the building, one can hear singers rehearsing all day long in different rooms. It’s a real pleasure.
May 15, 2008 at 4:34 pm
"Joe"
Turandot does it for me. The music, anyway. Maybe I’ll actually get to see it one day!
May 16, 2008 at 2:42 am
cedrorum
I played classical music in college. I love classical pieces of instrumental music but have never really seen or heard enough opera to really make a decision as to whether I really like it or not.
May 16, 2008 at 3:45 am
madhouse6
funny - we were just talking about this at work the other day - bunch of us decided this is the year we want to see opera for the first time.
May 16, 2008 at 4:32 am
BentonQuest
I have only seen the Magic Flute. I know, I am an opera newbie. But what about productions such as Rent, Phantom of the Opera, or JC Superstar?
May 16, 2008 at 5:07 am
interglossa
Before everyone is overcome with too much Bizet guilt I feel compelled to point out that Wagner heard Carmen in the 1870’s and was completed enthralled (”finally, something new!”). He listened to this and light music like Strauss waltzes as diversion from the composition of Parsifal, that Ur-mystic, crypto-racist masterpiece. - The business of opera and leather intersubjectivity does not surprise, as the leather world aestheticizes sex and opera fans eroticize art so they mirror mutually. It used to be a truism that the AIDS epidemic had broken generational continuity in the gay community, but I am not surprised to see it regenerate spontaneously over a prolonged timescale.