# Those Who Come Closest To The Essence Of Opera



## Xavier (Jun 7, 2012)

Here is a piece from 1992 in _The New York Times_ by David Schiff. He writes:



> "If they asked me, I could write a book called "Opera as Nonsense," a retort to Joseph Kerman's classic "Opera as Drama," to defend opera fans against scurrilous attacks by high-minded defenders of the art form.
> 
> [....]
> 
> ...


Read here:

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/02/arts/classical-view-opera-is-a-drama-b-nonsense.html

Any thoughts on it?


----------



## peterb (Mar 7, 2014)

My main thought is that it's poorly written. I don't mean that I disagree with it, but that I actually can't even decipher what it is he's trying to say. The article seems inchoate to me. Can someone translate? Critics are...bad? Good? Because opera should be drama? or because it shouldn't? I literally have no idea what he is trying to communicate.


----------



## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

^ he's saying critics don't let themselves feel it, man, feel the music. They think too much whereas groupies are all about the hysterics, like in a revival church.


----------



## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

We have too many critics these days; to the point where not enough people form their own opinions on art. It all just encourages non-think on the part of the audience!


----------



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Jobis said:


> We have too many critics these days; to the point where not enough people form their own opinions on art. It all just encourages non-think on the part of the audience!


Well, they can choose the critics they want to agree with and claim their view is well-supported, while dismissing all other critics as biased at best or soulless at worst.

Why do you need to think when you can just seek confirmation for what you already believed before thinking about it?


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Isn't this the third or so OP about exactly the same subject from the same poster?

Why not bump thread case 0 instead of replicating one's own threads?


----------



## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

Mahlerian said:


> Well, they can choose the critics they want to agree with and claim their view is well-supported, while dismissing all other critics as biased at best or soulless at worst.
> 
> Why do you need to think when you can just seek confirmation for what you already believed before thinking about it?


These days we already have enough reasons not to think for ourselves, in my opinion. It wouldn't hurt us to do a bit more discernment of our own.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

deggial said:


> ^ he's saying critics don't let themselves feel it, man, feel the music. They think too much whereas groupies are all about the hysterics, like in a revival church.


Interesting your remark about a 'revival church'. I always find it ironic that people can get all worked up into a frenzy about a ball game but if they show a little enthusiasm in church it's 'hysterics'!


----------



## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

_Rabid Groupie_ and happy to be ...


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

DavidA said:


> Interesting your remark about a 'revival church'. I always find it ironic that people can get all worked up into a frenzy about a ball game but if they show a little enthusiasm in church it's 'hysterics'!


People at ball games don't fall to the floor and then roll their eyeballs up and thrash around as if they were having a grand mal seizure, they don't babble in tongues, play with highly poisonous snakes -- there is a lot sports fans do that is a bit more than a little crazy, but I'd have to say they sports fans look rational next to some of the more ecstatic occasions and practices as found in some religions, which is why the cliche is in place, there is enough of it around to sustain the cliche


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> If they asked me, I could write a book called "Opera as Nonsense," a retort to Joseph Kerman's classic "Opera as Drama," to defend opera fans against scurrilous attacks by high-minded defenders of the art form.


If they asked me I could write an opera called "The Ring of Pitch-lungs", a retort to Richard Wagner's classic "The Ring of Nibelungs", to defend smoking opera-goers against scurrilous attacks by high-minded defenders of healthy lifestyle, so they could have a ring-shaped space in every opera house, in which smoking would be allowed.

They don't ask me, though.

I WONDER WHY


----------



## katdad (Jan 1, 2009)

I agree w. peterb, and let's face it, anyone who uses the word "inchoate" in a casual posting deserves a gold star!

Others here are right, too. Critics are a dime a dozen, they proliferate as quick as viral internet videos, and because a critical essay can be written online and not necessarily physically published in print (lots more costly, as the online only wastes electrons, ha ha), we've got a critic for everything. Each of us could likely have a faithful personalized critic to follow us around each day and comment cogently.

Regarding the subject matter, that there are rabid opera fans, sure there are. There are rabid fans for cockfighting, for pete's sake. The fact that we love opera doesn't make us rabid, however, unless we're talking about Wagner fans (just kidding!), and the vast majority of us are everyday people who like opera among other things, like baseball or chess or Roman history or quilt making. Critics can go take a flying leap at a rolling donut.**

** (as a mystery novelist, I am very acquainted with critics, believe me. Love 'em!)


----------

