Classical music is dying. (Or may already be dead; just depends on who you talk to.) And so is opera. At least that’s what some people would have you believe. Brendan Cooke, the General Director of the Baltimore Concert Opera, an organization that rose from the ashes of the Baltimore Opera Company, believes it’s dying and will be giving a presentation on that subject at the next Ignite Baltitmore. There was, however, an interesting comment on Brendan’s Ignite proposal from a user named “Figaro”:
Just because the Baltimore Opera went under doesn’t mean the artform is dying. Surely you saw all the press—both good and bad—about Luc Bondy’s staging of Tosca at the Met? To me, this demonstrates how much life there is in opera at the present time. Good work starting the BCO but I think the premise of your proposal—that opera is dying—is completely false. No other form of fine arts has generated the amount of discussion and buzz as opera right now; and people aren’t talking about it because they think it’s dying.
I would tend to agree with that statement. Wait a second. Who am I kidding? I wouldn’t tend to agree with that statement, I do agree with that statement. I also agree with the tenet that any press is good press. Q: What’s the best way to get a child to do something? A: Tell them they can’t. So the same-old, same-old productions aren’t going to generate a buzz like a cracked-out new production that takes some risks and exercises perhaps more than its fair share of artistic license. I don’t claim to know the ins and outs of what’s up in the opera world, but it seems to me that far from sounding opera’s death knell, risky productions are doing far more for the art form’s visibility than would be possible with a business-as-usual model. The only harm being done seems to be in the minds of purists, who want to preserve tradition even if that leads to opera’s demise. I mean, it’s not pissing the composers off. They’re dead, after all.
Enter the news last week that new-indie-alt-post-un-pop classical darling Nico Muhly, along with playwright Craig Lucas, was awarded the first joint Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center Theater commission. As news of this landmark commission rippled throughout the blogosphere—sorry, I’m making this dramatic cuz it’s about opera—it touched off a veritable shitstorm in the comments section of a post at operablogsite Parterre Box. Here’s a particularly intelligent, thoughtful, and articulate one:
Terrible, indeed. The comment, that is. Who writes shit like that?! Oh wait, anonymous people! But anyway, unlike Luc Bondy’s Tosca, some people bitchy anonymous commenters think this thing is scandalous already! (Again with the kid metaphor. Parent: “You’re not going to listen to that devil worship music! I won’t allow it!” And guess what’s on that kid’s iPod?) As you might expect, other commenters ganged up on schweigundtanze, which prompted him/her to clarify his/her position:
Uhhhhhh . . .
For the record, I happen to be a big fan of Nico’s music. He’s one of a handful of young composers who’s actually doing what everyone has been talking about. Maybe I’ll even go out on an limb and call him the effing new music Jesus. I mean, you see the way he’s being crucified by some people, right? Maybe nowadays, when media is king, it’s good to have scandals around the operas themselves and not just in them?
[mouth image from the cover of Nico Muhly's Mothertongue album]
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When we lived in NY, we took my sister-in-law to her first opera, Luhrmann’s “Boheme” on Broadway. She loved it. Plenty of folks love to go to the theater to see the Met. John Adams is producing modern operas about modern problems that people want to go hear. The problem with the BOC was 1) terrible venue 2) tickets priced out of the range of most folks 3) lack of publicity.
Brian, it is an interesting question, and I have to be honest…you are getting me WAY outside of my comfort zone, but I am enjoying looking at this in a new light. A composer and proponent of new music is going to hate hearing this, but I really view opera singers (good ones) more in the “craftsmen” light, than the “artist” light. Are there artistic aspects to what we do, you betcha. There are millions of artistic choices that a singer can make, while also giving a “historically informed” performance, as Taruskin called it (love that term by the way). It is a matter of style…and “artistic license” should be taken within a certain historical context….the palette that Shoenberg and Webern worked with was a world away from Handel and Mozart, and to some extent even Puccini, so it’s kind of like comparing apples to oranges. I don’t know who is qualified to make the decisions regarding where we draw the line between composer’s intention and the performer’s imagination…but to me (whoever gets to draw it) it is likely going to be a different line for different composers. Too bad that many aren’t around to ask…which is why we need to be historically informed. We’re not going to sing Britten the same way we sing Bach…a fermata means something different in Bellini than it does in Puccini.
Thanks for getting me thinking…and asking some good questions…that we’ll never be able to answer!
Cheers!
@Rachel C Haha re the audience for opera is dying. Ouch. My favorite comment from the Parterre Box post comes from a user who calls him/herself Erdgeist: “I personally would’ve commissioned an opera from Richard Wagner, but seeing as he’s still dead, Nico Muhly can have it. I’ll listen to it, and then decide. I do hope he extricates the libretto from any ridiculous and outlandish plot elements, though. That’s just not something we’re used to seeing in opera.” In regards to building an audience for opera via education at an early age, what do you propose should happen in the interim, before all the young’uns mature and have jobs that’ll pay for their tickets?
@Brendan Thanks for your comments. You could say that a lot of composers go to great lengths to write on the page exactly what they want to hear and/or see, however. That would seem to leave very little to the imagination of the performers/producers. (I’m not just talking about opera here.) Where do you draw the line between artistic license and composers’ intentions? Who’s really qualified to make that decision?
There was a great article by Allan Kozinn last week in the NYT about this topic. He was talking about two very different and distinct interpretations of Schoenberg by the Vienna Philharmonic under the batons of Barenboim and Boulez. He went on to discuss the authenticity movement in early music, citing the publication of Richard Taruskin’s article “The Spin Doctors of Early Music” in 1990 as being a turning point in that whole debate. People argued a lot about “who was right” before that article. But after, the tone of the debate shifted from who’s right to what do you prefer.
Rachel C has a good point, and I’ll own up to that…it IS the audience that’s dying…but, if a tree falls in the forest…
I don’t think opera is dying, it’s the audience for opera that is dying. It is the poster child for bad public perception. ‘Regular’ folks who are willing to go to an occasional symphonic performance, or at least a Pops show are often unwilling to event attempt an opera.
People assume they won’t like it without knowing a thing about it.
If we can reach out to children and expose them to this beautiful art form, that might change. But I’m skeptical about convincing folks in their 30′s or 40′s who have no desire for it to really enjoy grand opera.
I mean, I’m a 30-year-old who loves opera, but that’s because I was exposed to classical music in middle and high school. My parents were never into such things, but my school offered orchestra and band and they encouraged mu siblings and I to learn an instrument.
It has to start there.
As far as Nico goes, more power to anyone writing new operas and having them performed these days. I’ve met him a few times, and I suppose his personality isn’t for everyone, though he seems like a fun, nice guy to me. I think the anonymous commenter has some kind of personal grudge against him. You know, there’s a new music group in Boston called Juventas (www.juventasmusic.com) that puts on new one-act operas every year written by composers 35 and younger. Things like this give me hope in the future of opera composition, but it’s the audience that worries me much more.
I’m a HUGE proponent of new opera. I wish that there were more of an audience for it, and I wish that there were more people writing…and, incidentally, leaving certain other things alone. We will never know if Puccini is pissed off about Luc Bondy’s rape of his score, because, as you point out…he is indeed dead. Anyone with the slightest bit of knowledge about the piece, however, knows that Puccini went to great lengths to put on paper the piece that he wanted the public to see. Call it old fashioned, call it a museum piece if you’d like, but I don’t think it’s our right to mess with it. Stage directions are in the manuscript, in the composer’s hand. Details about how the set should look (the opera’s action takes place in real places, in a real period of history) are painstakingly described.
I am unapologetic about being a traditionalist when it comes to quality art that should be appreciated within historical context. If Bondy wants to write an opera about an evil police chief humping a statue of the Madonna, I would probably go see it. I’d probably enjoy it…but it’s not Tosca. Push the envelope all you want, just don’t do it while disrespecting someone else’s hard work.
Is it nice that opera is getting some press these days? Absolutely. Sadly, mostly bad news about companies folding, then controversial chatter about crappy productions. There is one element that is continually left out of the press…the singing. It is my premise that as companies continue to water down the element that makes opera, well..opera…it becomes less effective. In an effort to make it more “accessible” and more “controversial,” it is losing it’s ability to impact an audience.
Hey, one guys opinion…and you know what they say about opinions…but when the average guy you meet on the street talks about opera by saying “Oh yeah, Bocelli and Susan Boyle are great opera singers.” or, “I love opera…like, Phantom of the Opera…” that is the death knell sounding loud and clear…unless we do something about it!
Looking forward to hearing your talk at Ignite5!
I really need to get familiar with Muhly’s music, since so many think he’s really the next thing in what we call classical music.
But I have to say the cover of the album just creeps me out. Probably because I’m old. & easily creeped out. Or is it supposed to? Do tell.
Anyhoo, he’s composing an opera? I’m all for new operas. Even if we can’t get audiences to come to them in our little town.