Today I’m going to finish up on the topic of “opera.”
The discussion began with a look at Dickinson’s poem “Answer July,” which led me to “The Parlando Project” (“where music and words meet”) – and that site made me wonder how many of Dickinson’s poems used the word “opera” (two – or three – depending upon the versions you read).
Then I posted a YouTube video of excerpts from a modern day opera called “Divide Light.”
For additional details, all of this is recapped HERE, and the excerpts from the opera are HERE.
Okay, Imma be honest – I’m not a big opera fan. There are operas I enjoy – Carmen, The Barber of Seville, a few others – but more often than not, you’ll find me in a symphony hall rather than an opera house.
That being said, I’ll admit that I found the excerpts from “Divide Light” to be tedious to listen to, and I really had little interest – but maybe you opera lovers out there will enjoy it?
The discussion began with a look at Dickinson’s poem “Answer July,” which led me to “The Parlando Project” (“where music and words meet”) – and that site made me wonder how many of Dickinson’s poems used the word “opera” (two – or three – depending upon the versions you read).
Then I posted a YouTube video of excerpts from a modern day opera called “Divide Light.”
For additional details, all of this is recapped HERE, and the excerpts from the opera are HERE.
Okay, Imma be honest – I’m not a big opera fan. There are operas I enjoy – Carmen, The Barber of Seville, a few others – but more often than not, you’ll find me in a symphony hall rather than an opera house.
That being said, I’ll admit that I found the excerpts from “Divide Light” to be tedious to listen to, and I really had little interest – but maybe you opera lovers out there will enjoy it?
| The title, “Divid Light” comes from Dickinson’s poem “Banish Air from Air,” and the poem is included in the opera. The video of excerpts opens with “I am afraid to own a body,” and it also includes “I am alive – I guess,” “To be alive is power,” “The loneliness one dare not sound,” “There is a pain so utter,” and “Take all I have away.” I found some of the music and the costumes interesting, but the singing and movements were banal, almost zombie-like – but those on the part of uninteresting zombies. To quote Dickinson herself, The Feet, mechanical, go round – A Wooden way. This to me was definitely 14 minutes of lead. Am I being too harsh? If you listen to it, let me know what you think. |  |
The title does say that it’s an “experimental opera,” but if this had been my introduction to opera and/or the poetry of Emily Dickinson, I would have walked away saying “no thanks!” The experiment would have failed.
RSS Feed
