For anyone who ever was intrigued by opera – Robert never condescends, witty and informative, blah. For beginners and those a step above, etc.
Now that full-length operas are available in movie theaters almost everywhere, it has turned into popular entertainment. Or I should say, “returned” to popular entertainment: in 17th and 18th century Venice, a city of less than 100,000, there were more than two dozen opera houses. And until a few decades into the 20th century, opera stars still garnered headlines.
In a way, it never left. It’s just been used differently. You already know plenty of arias and highlights. For example:
If you loved watching the unadulterated Cher and Nicholas Cage in “Moonstruck,” then you’ve heard Puccini’s “La Boheme.” (And probably cried.)
If you were moved by Tom Hanks in “Philadelphia,” you know the aria “La Mamma Morta” from Giordano’s Andrea Chenier, sung by Maria Callas. (And you probably cried.)
Enjoyed “A Room with a View?” That’s “O Mio Babbino Caro” from Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi.” (And you hummed it on the way home.)
Remember the crazy character played by Robert Duvall in “Apocalypse Now?” Remember the scene on the beach with the helicopters? It’s Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” from “Die Walküre.” (Be afraid – be very afraid.)
Wagner’s music is all over the fabulous 1957 cartoon, “What’s Opera Doc?” featuring Bugs Bunny. You can hear bits of “Die Walküre,” “The Flying Dutchman” and “Tannhäuser” and even the little-known “Rienzi!” All in seven minutes! (It’s still funny.)
Julia Roberts became truly famous in “Pretty Woman,” the story of a good-hearted prostitute and an upper-class man. It is based on Verdi’s “La Traviata” and you can hear parts of the opera’s most dramatic outburst throughout the movie. (You probably cried.)
As Glenn Close’s crazed character in “Fatal Attraction” sits dejected and dangerous, turning the light on and off, we hear the music Madama Butterfly sings right before she kills herself in Puccini’s opera. (Tears and fears.)
Years before Luciano Pavarotti made “Nessun dorma” (from “Turandot”) the world’s best-known aria at the World Cup, you could hear it in “The Witches of Eastwick.” (Winner takes all.)
Few excuses are left, but people have questions: Is opera a lifetime commitment, like marriage used to be? Why is it both mocked and perennially adored? If tickets are so expensive, how come everyone who loves it can somehow afford it? Why are there forty recordings of “Madama Butterfly” or “Don Giovanni”? Why do opera goers see—or listen to—the same opera dozens of times? Do I have to dress up to go to the opera?
Well, I won’t answer those questions right now, but I can say that if opera is, presumably, for stuffy types who lack passion, how come the world record for the longest applause ever was at the Vienna Staatsoper in 1991 in honor of Placido Domingo? One hour and twenty minutes of stamping and clapping and 101 curtain calls. Not to mention Pavarotti’s 165 curtain calls for one hour and seven minutes in Germany in 1988.
Let’s face it, twenty million people go to the opera yearly, and the fastest growing segment of the population is the 20 to 30 demographic – 18% over the last few years. The median age of opera goers is 48 – not exactly geriatric. And 11-year-old classical crossover singer Jackie Evancho is currently topping Amazon bestseller lists with her first full-length album, which features her version of “Nessun dorma.”
Opera in the movie theaters has leveled that playing field but one thing about the experience of hearing opera singers in the flesh remains immutable: since opera houses do not use amplification of any kind, there is a primeval thrill at the sheer sound of the voice and its ability to be heard, in all its glory, from the quietest whisper to the grandest roar, sometimes from the equivalent of a fifth-floor window. And when you hear a soprano or tenor voice riding over an entire orchestra and chorus, it goes right through you, it leaves you agog; you appreciate the craft, the work, the dedication, much as you would a superbly executed alley-oop in basketball. It’s a feat. Almost superhuman. Magic. Doesn’t seem possible.
One last thought: as long as there are people who love music, hysterical fantasies of murder, dominance, envy, obsessive love or lust, inexplicable moments of rapture, expressions of rage, and emotional rebirth or destruction, there will always be reasons to listen to the opera. And now there are supertitles, so you needn’t worry about those pesky foreign languages!
Robert Levine is a classical music and opera critic, and senior editor at www.classicstoday.com. He is the author of Weep, Shudder, Die: A Guide to Loving Opera; Maria Callas: A Musical Biography; and the children’s book The Story of the Orchestra, among other books. Now that full-length operas are available in movie theaters almost everywhere, it has turned into popular entertainment. Or I should say, “returned” to popular entertainment: in 17th and 18th century Venice, a city of less than 100,000, there were more than two dozen opera houses. And until a few decades into the 20th century, opera stars still garnered headlines.
