(no subject)

Part of a child's growing up includes, I suppose, testing the limits of parental authority. My children's pediatrician once told me that if you have a child who never disagrees with you, then you probably have a child who, quite frankly, isn't developing normally. In effect, disobeying, talking back, not listening—all normal because a child must, of course, develop his or her own sense of independent identity.


( More and illustration here )

Opera

The children hear a great deal of opera and other classical music, of course, though unfortunately various relatives as well as the world in general wish them to listen to commercial pabulum instead (there has never been any secret about the war waged on culture by commerce in this regard: 'roll over [in your grave] Beethoven, and tell Tchaikovsky the news [i.e. the gospel of rock music triumphant]).

About a year and a half ago I bought a CD of a drama made for children re-using music from The Magic Flute, called Mozart's Magic Fantasy or something like that. It made no impression on them at the time. Then about six months ago I happened to be listening to Purcell's Indian Queen and called Andrew's attention to a passage where the character of Envy sings an aria accompanied by a chorus of snakes (just hissing). He liked that, and soon began to demand to hear it over and over and over again. And he soon enjoyed hearing the whole Opera. On another occasion I was driving with him and happened to put in The Cunning Little Vixen which begins with a conversation between an adult and a child. I told Andrew that the child was a baby fox, the cunning little vixen of the title, which immediately affected him since his favorite stuffed animal not so long ago had been a baby fox. He demanded to listen to that several times until it had to go back to the library (the disc was badly scratched anyway).

The other day I tried out the Magic Fantasy on Madeline while Andrew was in school and, as soon as she perceived it concerned a princess and a dragon, she could not stop listening to it. And Andrew soon developed the same appreciation. I then played the Christie recording of the whole opera for them to equal effect and we've been watching clips from Bergman's film on You Tube (I don't think they could take the whole thing at once yet). Just this evening when Madeline came home she ran into my office demanding to see "the Evil Queen!" I think for Christmas they will get a DVD of the Met version redesigned for young children a few years ago.

But here is the strange thing. Andrew is so stubborn that we had the following conversation yesterday:

"Dada, I have a secret to tell you!"

"Yes?"

"I don't like opera."

"Really? But all we've been doing the last week is listening to the Magic Flute, and you surely like that."

"Well, yes, and the Hissing, but I don't like opera."

"And you like the Cunning Little Vixen?"

"Yes."

"So you like all of the operas that you've heard?"

"Yes, but I don't like Opera."

Madeline, for her part, was heard to attempt "Die hoelle Rache Kocht in meinen Hertzen" in the shower tonight.