Peter Goldstein wrote:

>Opera is probably the least intellectual of classical music forms, relying
>as it does on spectacle and (usually) a loose musical structure, sometimes
>merely a succession of pieces related only by their relevance to an
>extramusical text.

I still tend to feel this way about opera.  The only exception I take is to
Wagner and those who followed him - by which I mean the likes of Schoenberg
(Moses und Aaron), Berg (Wozzeck), and Bartok (Bluebeard's Castle) amongst
others.  It's certainly not for nothing that Wagner preferred to call his
works 'music dramas'.  I agree with Pierre Boulez that what makes Wagner
remarkable is the unity of his quasi-symphonic structures.  I especially
like Boulez's comparison of Parsifal with Bach's St Mathew's Passion.
Interestingly I tend to take similar exception to Monteverdi, such that
Italian opera after him seems to be a betrayal of the high intellectual
ideals which had given birth to opera at its conception.  People will see
a certain consistency emerge in my views given that it is true that Mozart
as a composer always wrote in a very operatic style...

>I remember when I was in college (yes, in the Boston area), I used
>to denigrate opera, precisely because it lacked the kind of intellectual
>rigor I could find in the instrumental and vocal works of the great
>masters. In fact, I even remember arguing that the musical cultural level
>of a community was in inverse proportion to the respect with which it
>treated opera. It's only relatively recently that I've realized the error
>of my ways.

In general I have yet to learn the 'error' of my ways.  I really
do appreciate Wagner's polemics in which he attacks opera for its
superficiality and its tendency towards being an empty spectacle with
singing accompanied by a big orchestra guitar.  I think a lot of
pre-Wagnerian opera was the historical and social equivalent of cinema
where the most famous singers had the status of movie stars.  Although
I must say it is only when the glow of that old world culture which
glamourised its prima donnas and leading tenors began to fade that this
cinematic type of opera as an entertainment for the masses began to die.
Amongst the last exponents of this sort of opera was Richard Strauss, who
contrary to popular belief epitomises everything that Wagner set out to
oppose.

>I love opera now, but in most cases it takes a different listening
>approach than that to, say, The Well-Tempered Clavier or Beethoven's
>String Quartet Op. 131.

I can certainly see why people get excited about opera.  It can be
emotionally thrilling, or just plain entertaining - whether it be Mozart,
or Struass.  But it is always with a deep sign of relief that I turn back
to Bach, Bruckner, or Boulez (amongst many others).As far as vocal music
goes the polyphonists of the 14-1500's make me forget opera ever existed.
Maybe as I grow old and dotty I may start to want to repent for such sins
of my youth...  Till such sorry time may come I remain staunchly
unrepentant.

Satoshi Akima
Sydney, Australia
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