Because it was broadcast, there were English subtitles, and I knew exactly what they singing and what was going on in the plot, which is, to my mind, offensive. At the moment I' listening to a Youtube clip of the opera performed by the Wichita Opera Company, a production that probably cost fifty times less than the Metropolitan production. But it sounds pretty damn good.
What was the point in the mid-1920s, of writing an opera based on a Persian folk tale, transposed to China, about a princess who, to avoid marriage, arranged to have her suitors beheaded, until, along comes a hero who solves her three riddles and forces her to marry him? Did it mean anything to a continent recovering from a murderous war, on the brink of political crises that eventually led to another, even more murderous war? Did it have any plausible relevance then? or now? Are we to take this as a serious exploration of the myth of the femme fatale? Or is it just an operatic convention?
My take on it is that a serious exploration of the mythical dimensions of the plot would be a waste of intellectual energy. The ridiculous plot is merely an occasion for fantastic singing and musical performance. It's trivial.
But I'm not an opera fan. I find it astonishing that people are prepared to spend so much money on staging operas and attending them. That people train for years and years to become opera singers. That composers still write operas. I acknowledge that they are a significant part of Western musical and theatrical culture, and it's impressive that a city as small as Wichita, Kansas (fewer than 400,000 population) should have such a high level opera company.
Still, what's the point?
Later this year I'm going to attend a couple of more Metropolitan broadcasts. Maybe I'll be converted.
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