Life in Lasne

Opera

You must admit that when it’s done well and everything works Opera is MAGIC.
This month we have being spoiled in Brussels: two Operas and both very well done.

First I went to La Monnaie, with my friend Bert from The Hague, to see “Il Viaggio a Reims” by Rossini at La Monnaie. Of course it was the legendary 1984 Ronconi and Aulenti production from Pesaro. What luck! What fun!

Then last night I went to the Bozar, with my nephew Stefan, to see “La Clemenza di Tito” by Mozart. Opera Concertante directed by Rene' Jacobs with the Freiburger Barockorchester. Well done!

I am not an opera critic but when you feel that you are looking a something very special you know it is good. Then if you are really lucky you get goose pimples on your arms and behind you neck. Opera gets physical.

There is much that can go wrong in an Opera:
a badly cast singer, an orchestra going every which way, a boring décor, stupid costumes, too dark or too much light, a confusing chorus, dull music and many many other details that will not make the Magic. I have been to Operas where it was too hot, too many people sick, where I could not read the libretto above, and so on and so on.

So you see when I tell you it was magic it means that nothing went wrong. Pure happiness!

posted by Unknown @ 12:45 PM