Jim Tobin writes:

>Also, a listener can hear--in a detached way--expressions of feeling as
>an element of music without necessarily sharing or feeling that kind of
>emotion him/herself, just as, in fact, a composer might write expressions
>of feeling that he/she was not necessarily experiencing at the time, but
>which had been experienced or observed in others at another time.  Thus,
>finally, individuals or whole audiences can listen to works like this
>without embarrassment.

This approach applies in spades to opera, (particularly C19th opera) where
many of the emotions expressed strike us as melodramatic in the extreme -
and yet the music lends them authenticity.  Which brings me to a paradox:
I do find Tchaikovsky's music somewhat "frenzied" at times (he is not a
favorite of mine), but I am bowled over by his operas - notably Eugene
Onegin and The Queen of Spades.  They seem to me more restrained than
some of his other music, and wonderfully coherent as drama.

Julia Werthimer <[log in to unmask]>
California, USA