Melodramatic Musings

I'm currently working on a 10-15 minute chamber opera for a class at school. It's meant to be a learning experience, having the composer workshop an idea with the opera department over a period of only about six months (with the bulk of the writing happening in two to three months....ouch!). I can already say that I am learning a ton and am hugely enjoying the process, even if it is a bit stressful. But here's what I don't like: telling people about it.

Far too often I've made the mistake of actually admitting to others that I'm trying to write a small opera. Sometimes I hem and haw and try to come up with something else I'm working on, even if it's on the back burner (I'm preparing for my preliminary oral, I'm working on a fast piece, etc.). I'm not trying to be coy or aloof...I'm just getting tired of the typical reaction: the wide eyes, the amused and/or confused smile, and the statement, "Oh...um...really? An opera?" Or worse, "Well, that's ambitious!" I've gotten to a point with what I'm doing with my life where I usually just try to own it. Either people will understand (or will at least try to understand) or they won't. However, I've been surprised at how few people, musicians and non-musicians alike, seem to understand the opera concept.

I recently discussed these reactions with my brother (who is a non-musician) and he pointed out the obvious: opera, whether we like it or not, has long evoked an aura of consummate snobbishness. Very few other art forms can make this claim. Not only is opera epic in terms of its production (combining text, music, and staging), but it's also epic in its culture (the ball gowns, the President's box, and the upper crust with their opera glasses and cigar-filled intermissions). "Well," said my brother, "If you were writing a rock opera people would have a totally different attitude about it." Sadly for me, I'm not interested in writing an rock opera. At least not yet...

A few weeks ago I had railed about the snobbishness that exists in the music world toward "entertainment" music. Now I find myself on the other end of things, frustrated (again) that so many seem to view opera (and classical music in general) as obnoxiously elite. We just can't win, can we? 

Posted by Natalie