Oh, the places you'll go!

[gingerrose]

GUYS I'm almost halfway done with the meme. I've been doing it since last year. I promise we'll get through it and I'll try to make them interesting so you're not rolling your eyes whenever you see that I've posted an entry.

Day 13: Somewhere you'd like to move or visitWell, I'm planning to stay on the East Coast in terms of moving, so that's

Comments

[saena17]

If you're into Russia, you should really read the book I just finished (before I started The Catcher in the Rye, which I'll probably finish tomorrow- do you want it when I'm done, BTW, or should I give it to the library?): The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight by Gina Ochsner. It's sort of magical realism, so it's not necessarily going to be true to the reality of the country, but it gives a really interesting portrayal of post-war Russia. The author works the struggles of that place & time in through the magical elements, so it's really interesting. I liked it a lot. :)

Haha, I think I like the really silly comic operas best. :P Although Don Giovanni was fun too, actually. I'm probably least a fan of the straight-up drama because it just doesn't connect with me much. I like La Boheme, but given the choice, I'd pick a comedy almost any day.

[seekingferret]

You don't like Marriage of Figaro? I'm not sure we can be friends anymore.

[gingerrose]

I had a feeling you in particular would say that. And I honestly can't say why I didn't enjoy it very much. I love Mozart opera! I wanted very very much to love it, and I felt like I was supposed to love it, because, well, everyone loves it. The music was great, as always, and the performance was very well-done. Actually I probably liked everything about it except that it was an opera buffa. :-P Most purely comic operas just feel too silly to me, which I guess makes sense because I don't much care for other media that's just straight-up silly as well. I think I'd see Marriage of Figaro again--maybe not Donizetti, though.

[seekingferret]

Figaro doesn't really feel like buffa to me. I mean it is, and I don't have anything against buffa, but Figaro is so loaded with political undertones and complicated character narratives. It's an incredibly meaning-filled, beautiful libretto and book. My college opera professor insisted that we read the libretto before watching it, because in his words, "It's as dense as a novel."

I think it especially stands up well when you set it next to Die Zauberflote, because both are stories about the Enlightenment and how knowledge is transforming Europe with egalitarianism, but Die Zauberflote is so clumsy and heavy-handed about it that really all you're left with that's salvageable is the music and the animals. In contrast, Da Ponte's story for Figaro gets the same message across in a hilarious opera buffa!

Also, Rosina is the most kick-ass operatic heroine I've ever seen, and Figaro the most charming operatic hero. They don't angst, they scheme. It's amazing.

[gingerrose]

This sounds like maybe I should read the libretto!