A conversation earlier today brought this memory to mind.
Some of you will know that I studied opera and classical voice. For quite some time I believed I
was headed for a professional career in opera. (I wasn’t, it’s not a sad story, it’s just what it is.) I love opera, and when I was studying I especially loved sharing opera with young people. Children can be some of the best audiences a performer will ever know.
This particular memory is not exactly about children, but sort of. And it is one of my most favorite opera experiences - as an audience member. A couple of years ago, we had the opportunity to take in Michigan Opera Theater’s production of Elektra. Elektra is a Richard Strauss 1 act (one behemoth act!) opera that was premiered in the early 1900s. It is a telling of the Greek mythology story of Elektra, but is typically quite modernized in its production. Spoiler alert: I’m about to share the most insufficient and shortest synopsis ever of Elektra’s plot, and it will include the ending!
This opera focuses on the aftermath of the murder of Elektra’s father Agamemnon by her mother Klytaemnestra, and mom’s lover Aegisth. Elektra is driven into madness, consumed with the need for revenge. There is a brother who’s been banished, a sister who is happy & princess-like and servants and others who gossip about Elektra. The opera is quite dark and bloody, and somewhat dissonant and chromatic. Revenge happens in the form of the murder of mother & lover at the hands of banished brother. In the end, Elektra is freed from her madness. She dances and sings. And then she dies. The End.
Soooo... Not an opera I would recommend as a child’s introduction to the art.
When we sat in the audience a group of 4 friends, perhaps in their 70s, were seated next to us. The woman next to me told me excitedly that she and her friends were seeing their first ever opera! She started asking questions immediately and we chatted happily until showtime. There was a scrim hung in front of the curtain with a giant maniacal sketched-out family tree from the Greek mythology Elektra’s story comes from. I explained what parts I could. A young couple (he was quite tall) was seated in front of my new friend. And then it was showtime!
My new friend did not seem to enjoy her experience. When the lights went out, I was suddenly sitting next to a petulant five year old. She sighed and fussed with whatever things she could get her hands on. She spoke audibly about her disappointment with the tall gentleman in front of her. She seemed not to be following the story.
Then Elektra died. The stage went black. The audience leapt up in applause. And my new friend said “Did she just die?! Why did she die?! Why did she die?!?” I tried to explain that in the myth, Elektra came to live only for revenge. Revenge happened, her father’s murder was avenged, and she no longer had anything to live for - so she died. “Why did she die?! But why did she just die?!?”
I’m not a pro, but my suggestion? Start your five year old on some nice melodical Mozart. The Magic Flute, maybe?
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