Dear Lloyd et al, Lloyd: The same president of Opera America said that what we need more of is "disposable opera" so we do not have to concern ourselves with the idea of a lasting or artistically important additional creative process/product with which to encumber the busy, un- attentive world. ******************* Ah, glad to read that you caught the same program! Wonderful wasn't it? I really enjoyed and welcomed that news. He also made the excellent point that when Verdi, Puccini and many others wrote their works, they had to have considered them as "disposable" since they often made reference to current events that they knew would have been seen as anachronistic by later audiences.
Mozart was a pops composer in his day. Everybody hummed his tunes (according to the recollections of his contemporaries). His stuff is still enjoyed today because it still communicates and connects with us. It's the same with any kind of art. If any work of art is to become a "classic" it will have to live beyond its era through the strength of its own virtue, without any predetermined calculation by its creator to force it. ******************* Lloyd: I am thankful for discussion groups such as this and the desire of its members to keep the creative juices flowing and the "importance" of art foremost. When one considers the remnants of all former civilizations it is their art that tells us the most about who they were. ******************* Bravo! Here's an AMEN for you too. Though here's nothing wrong with simple entertainment many of us crave more. Remember that scene from "Singing In The Rain"? The one where the starlet that can't sing addresses her audience? I always get a laugh when she says: "If we have brought one teenie-weenie, little ray of sunshine into your humdrum lives, our efforts ain't been done in vain fer nuthin'". Of course distracting us temporarily from our "misery" is not such a bad thing, but leaving us with something to ponder and maybe even changing the way we think about life is a much better pursuit (in my opinion).
Maybe this is another thread, but I very truly believe that singing is really story-telling. The music enhances the mood of the story and sometimes even IS the story, but basically, singing is still just good ol' story-telling or, more accurately, story re-telling. The way I see it, anything that causes distraction from telling the story should be avoided by a good singer.
There is an old saying that I have never, ever found to be untrue. It goes like this: "If it ain't essential, don't do it". It has served me well. Regards to all, Les
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