On Listening to Opera.
There are many opera scenes that deeply move.
Words sung to music set with stirring action
provide the ultimate in satisfaction,
as tears I shed when hearing them will prove.
Of all the highest forms of human art,
combining music, lyric verse and acting
with stagecraft, choreography exacting,
Grand Opera, unrivalled, stands apart.
Some of the most dramatic ones are sung
in Russian, German, French or Italian tongue
yet Englishmen can also prove their worth,
as Purcell in: “When I am laid in earth”
and, one that’s always sure to make me cry,
is “One fine day” from “Madame Butterfly”.
Hugh Wyles, July 15th.2009.
Author notes
I quote from Dido’s Lament: “Dido and Aeneas”
music by Henry Purcell (1689), libretto by Nahum Tate,
Poet Laureate (after Virgil’s Aeneid).
“When I am laid, am laid in earth,
may my wrongs create no trouble in thy breast.
Remember me. Remember me, but ah! Forget my fate.
Remember me, but ah! Forget my fate.”
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Comments
1 - 6 of 6
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Dear Hugh,
I know how much Opera touches your soul, you and I have spent many hours in your study listening to Opera and I sat there listening, watching you as you listen and sing the words with tears in your eyes, unaware of what was happening around you as you are reliving the scenes from the opera. It showed me the kind of man you are, a very tender compassionate man who is not afraid to show his feelings. You also taught me to appreciate opera also.
Very beautiful my dear friend.
Love Bea
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I gained more of an appreciation for opera and the level of training and skill it takes to perform, when my oldest decided to pursue classical voice training.
I miss hearing her practice in her room now that she's away at school. Sometimes I would stop what I was doing and stand outside her door, listening in awe to the sheer beauty of the song.
Even if the language is foreign to the ears of the listener, it still expresses understandable emotion.
Opera does stand apart as does your verse, Hugh.
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I'm not an opera fan but do like to listen to some of the Gilbert and Sullivan songs and music. I thought I'd read and commented on this then realized the same picture, or one very similar was with a poem about spotting her husband with another woman in a private box. Can't recall if you wrote it but it was very funny..
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Thankyou. I have NEVER taken a mistress to the Opera! LOL.
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Ah, Hugh, your love of the total operatic performance
in which you immerse yourself so fully, fairly sings
from the page as you describe your favorites!
Applauding the master!
M-C
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My mother said of Opera: "Tears come cheaply
and Hugh, you always feel things far too deeply."
Thankyou M-C. XXX (M-A.)
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