porphyry | 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.

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Mini-Common Reader doesn't know opera is called opera but he has strong opinions. He does not like Maria Callas. He likes bel canto.

If he doesn't like Maria Callas, that is reason to think he will be hetero-sexual.

He already has his wife picked out.

When I was at school music lessons were exercises in classical music appreciation. I'm afraid that my music teacher was such an unpleasant bully that it put me off classical music for many years and I've spent many years since blindly catching up on a subject I'd like to know more about but for which I lack a reliable guide.

Things move on, both my nephew and my girlfriend's son have been told at various times by their music teachers that opera is elitist. Lessons have been devoted to appreciation of "world" music with the message that it's just as good as western classical forms but that western hegemony means that people are blind to its charms. Recently my girlfriend's son had a class devoted to the appreciation of the singing of contestants on a Simon Cowell-run pop competition programme, "The X-Factor", where amateurs emote and gurn their way through a range of pop standards as part of a public vote.

When I was a kid I was fascinated by classical music. Mainly Mozart and Beethoven. I would listen to "Moonlight Sonata" over and over again. I also enjoyed "The Magic Flute" and "Requiem" by Mozart.

I recieved a fair amount of teasing from my buddies who all called me gay.
I also credit classical music for helping me get through college. Study time background noise.

I rather envy you. What my teacher destroyed in me for many years was the ability of classical music to offer that kind of emotional engagement. It's there now - but it took a long time.

I'm afraid that the musical soundtrack of my college years was punk rock. Hard to study to!

I'm sue the X-Factor will sustain his spiritual and intellectual well-being and happiness in years to come far more successfully than Mozart (especially the Magic Flute which was so elitist it was written to performed in a low dive of a music hall) could (and you thought your teacher was the bully?).

I'm sorry, but don't you realise that low dives of music halls were bastions of privilege, racial exclusivity and gender inequality? Mozart was a snob. He lived in Europe. Evidence enough, surely?

My teacher was, I am afraid, an extraordinary bully. He tormented us all. His class was a nightmare. By bizarre coincidence one of my former neighbours, who is a classical pianist by trade, was, years later, taught by him (he was a remarkably gifted concert pianist, unable to continue his career due to a medical condition, who now coaches aspiring concert performers). She broke up the partnership when she was experiencing difficulty playing a technically challenging piece by Chopin and he tried to strangle her. She had bruises to prove it! He must be in his late sixties or early seventies now, so it appears that he hasn't mellowed at all...

If you haven't already seen it, this Magic Flute version by Ingmar Bergman might interest your kids.

Missed above, I suppose:

"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)"

One thing is for sure--listening to Madeline attempting to sing an aria on her own was one of the most poignant moments I've ever had as her mother! I don't know why that touched me so deeply, but it did.

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I added them both to the wishlist, thanks. But we already have a Peter and the Wolf with Stephen Fry (is that the right name--the Oscar Wilde look-alike), and we'll see as Christmas approaches. The 1 cent discount Amazon offers on the Fielder is enticing.

I had hoped they would never have heard anything except classical movement (in the same way John Stuart Mill never spoke English but only Latin until he was 10--it was hard to find nursemaids for him), but it proved physically impossible.

Don't know what Snoop Dogg has planned, but over here, in a bizarre development, the King of drum'n'bass, Goldie, ended up at The Proms (http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/proms/article6708024.ece)

Snoop Dogg might have a symphony in him yet!

That's what I say. The minute you try to, in the grown-up view, protect your child from something, the sooner the kid perceives it as "forbidden" and therefore three times as attractive. I've tried to explain that to Malkhos more times than I can count.

Apologies, but the three Anonymous replies above were from me. I don't know why LJ logged me out, but it did.

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