How Al Gore is Ruining Opera

The Atlas Society -- Your Center for Objectivism ^ | 4/11/2007 | Edward Hudgins

[Ed Hudgins]

ehudgins@atlassociety.org

 

April 11, 2007 -- I love opera! Thus recently at the Kennedy Center I saw Die Walküre, the second installment of Richard Wagner's monumental four-part cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, about gods and goddesses, giants and dwarfs, and mortal human heroes. The music, singing and acting were superb. But the program notes seemed like Al Gore channeling Karl Marx.

 

Consider "dramaturg" Cori Ellison's description (bold in the original) of the opera's themes. First, nature:

 

"The despoiling of nature through greed and ambition begins even before the stage action does, with Wotan sacrificing his own eye to drink from the Well of Wisdom and then mutilate the World Ash tree to create his spear. The destruction of our nation's environment also began early in our history, with the violation of our rich natural resources and the pollution and disfigurement of our landscape, which will surely lead to our demise if left unchecked."

 

How terrible that someone had the wisdom to rip metals from the guts of Sacred Earth for the orchestra's horns, trumpets, trombones and tuba; to murder World Ash trees for violins, violas, cellos, basses and stage settings; and to extract marble--the torn-out teeth of Mother Nature--to build the KennedyCenter itself!

 

Next, love:

 

"Alberich's renunciation of love in order obtain riches is startlingly familiar; it is but the Ring's first visible example of the sacrifice of love and ethics on the altars of capitalism and temporal power. One need only read the newspapers … to see this theme played out daily in America."

 

Gee, not even a "Thank you" . . .

[Ed Hudgins]

Al Gore the Barbarian! I love it!

[Calvin Locke]

Who gives out the igNobel Peace Prize? Sweden or Norway? If it’s Norway, he’s in a heap of trouble.

[Calvin Locke]

I think Wagner’s music was banned in Israel for a number of decades.

[Borges]

Objective reality meaning one monolithic Meaning of something like a play or book? It’s never been that way. Author’s intentions being contravened go back a lot further then Postmodernism. Old school Marxists don’t even like Pomo.

[Borges]

It was an unofficial ban. People were free to listen to it at home it just wasn’t played in large measure in public.

[justshutupandtakeit]

It was after hearing Rienzi as a youth that Hitler became inspired towards a goal of world conquest. His friend described him as being in a state of ecstaty afterwards.

[N. Theknow]

Oh, Bwunhilda, you're so wovewy!"

"Yes, I know it. I can't help it."

[Ed Hudgins]

Sweden gives them out.

[The Shrew]

Ping!

[afraidfortherepublic]

How about the Bore-ring?

[Ed Hudgins]

For Gore, perfect!

[Ed Hudgins]

For the record, Anja Kampe as Sieglinde and Placido Domingo as Siegmund did an excellent job both of singing and acting!

[ichabod1]

“See, you bourgeois minds cannot understand this dialectic logic.”

Why does that remind me of "It's a black thing, you wouldn't understand." or, "Sometimes I want to go up to a white person and say, 'you can't understand this' and then slap'em upside their head."

[ichabod1]

See, I don’t like that, Locke. Wagner’s music is so glorious it MUST have come from God, regardless of how man has twisted it. Beethoven was well known to be an a-hole but he wrote the music of the angels.

[martin_fierro]

Just GOTTDAMMERUNG! ping

[aculeus]

“Richard Wagner’s music is better than it sounds.” — Mark Twain

[Ed Hudgins]

I don’t attribute beauty — in music or other arts — to a god but to the individuals who create the art. Wagner’s and Beethoven’s music is indeed glorious but let’s give them credit.

By the way, since you mention “music of the angels,” see my discussion of Beethoven using that phrase as well in this piece:

http://www.objectivistcenter.org/ct-1835-secular_spirit.aspx