"Warp" <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote in message 
news:472be699@news.povray.org...
>  "Bad acting, but good singing."
>
>  I think that quite aptly describes opera. :P
>

I was never able to enjoy opera, though I did give it a go.

I don't understand Italian or German, and they don't translate to English 
well.  So if I haven't read up on the story first, it's just a wash of 
sound.

"Recitative" style leaves me cold.  Why not just speak the words if you're 
already using ordinary prose for the language and seemingly-random notes to 
deliver them?

There is a popular (and I think egotistical) deliberate habit among some 
bel-canto (spelling?) singers to sing only "pure" sounds.  They'll sing only 
open vowels, seeking-and-destroying all consonants, and all intelligibility 
with them.  The only way to know what they're singing is to already know the 
opera before turning up.  I actually believed something was wrong with MY 
ears when I'd heard quite a few opera sung that way.  I was prepared to hear 
a foreign language and not understand it.  But I strained my ears and all I 
heard for the entire performance was "ooooooo-eeeeeeee-aaaaaaaa-awwwwww". 
Then I perchance heard a radio interview with an opera singer, and she 
explained it all.  It comes from an attitude that stooping to singing dirty 
consonants prevents them from showing off with their wonderful voices.  I 
don't like it when a theatre-person decides they are more important than the 
language, their role, the show, the rest of the cast, the original writer, 
and not least: the audience.

Because of the particular vocal exercise used to deepen and strengthen their 
vocal power, the majority of males all sound identical to me.  If I close my 
eyes, it could well be just one man on stage singing all the male roles.

The women's voices -- aargh sorry, but the head-piercing character of many 
literally make me so ill with severe headaches, that within a half-hour of 
starting, I have had to leave to go lie down.


Just my personal experience.  I'm not declaring opera to be rubbish, nor 
denigrating anyone's taste, who finds real pleasure in it -- as many do. 
I'm just not built for Opera, is all.

-- 
Brian

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