Posted on 06/24/2007 3:42:55 AM PDT by BlessedBeGod
A 36-YEAR-OLD dentally challenged cellphone salesman wins a nationally televised talent contest in Britain, and suddenly, all sorts of questions are raised about the role of classical music in our world.
That is because the winner, Paul Potts, from Wales, triumphed with a rendition of “Nessun dorma,” the tenor aria from Puccini’s “Turandot,” at a contest with the trappings and audience — seemingly — of the mass entertainment world.
By the standards of music critics who ply their trade in opera houses and concert halls, it wasn’t a particularly earth-shaking performance.
“Mr. Potts is the sort of bog-standard tenor to be found in any amateur opera company in any corner of the country,” wrote Philip Hensher in The Independent of London. “His tuning was all over the place; his voice sounded strained and uncontrolled; his phrasing was stubby and lumpy; he made a constipated approximation only of the fluid sound of the Italianate tenor....”
On the blogs, many comments seemed to reflect resentment that the “snobs” of the opera world would look down on their swoon for Mr. Potts. On freerepublic.com, a conservative forum, dougfromupland addressed “all you opera snobs.”
“He may not be the greatest opera singer. But we who don’t know dip about opera like him and can’t wait to see him perform. We know what uplifts us and makes us feel good. Go away, snobs.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I read many of the posts here on FR regarding Paul Potts and his performance. I see the NYT was very selective in how they choose to quote. The great multitude loved his performance and linked to the performance on my tube.
Brilliant!
What the hell does that even mean?!?
IT means homer is a snob
And most of Wagner, for instance, was either the equivalent in its time of a summer action epic or a melodrama. Most often elements of both. But in opera -- or at least the ones that people still listen to often -- the libretto was often farce, but there was nothing cheap about the music.
I'm not a big fan of opera as an art form -- it's stylized and wrapped in its own conventions for my taste (which is just my taste, so don't pounce on me). But I love a lot of operatic music, both instrumental and vocal. I'm a fan of a concert performance of an opera or musical -- basically, no sets, no costumes, just folks in chairs. The focus is entirely on the music.
The line between a stage musical and an opera is blurry. To me, Les Miserables is an opera -- all the dialogue is sung, none spoken, which is at least one dividing line between the two.
I think much of why opera remains unaccesable to most americans is the language barrier. one of the funniest things I ever heard was an english version of Der Fledermaus.
When you've done enough reading -- and it doesn't take an advanced degree -- to get past the period language and to catch things like cuckold references, Shakespeare's comedies are hilarious. So are Moliere's farces. All you need is a director and a dramaturg who don't feel the compulsion to treat the text reverently and stage it like a religious service.
A lot of works that have a highbrow, unapproachable reputation -- opera in particular -- have it in part because the practitioners are too much in awe of this Very Important Work to admit that it has fart jokes.
Most current entertainment in the West is really tied to verisimilitude, meant to be more realistic than stylized, and I think that's why opera doesn't branch out more, and why musicals have faded as a major movie genre. Folks don't burst into song in the middle of a battle or on their deathbed. No gang has ever defeated a rival by snapping its fingers and dancing.
But there are, of course, exceptions. In recent years, there was the aforementioned Les Miserables; Rent, which was a major stage hit and a moderate movie success, is an update of La Boheme; Baz Luhrman's "Moulin Rouge" was a stylized opera for the mash-up era; and a lot of people seem to like Andrew Lloyd Weber, which makes me cry.
Why should it?
The NYT isn't publishing posts -- it's posting a brief quote from a published source, with proper attribution. That's well understood to be within the bounds of fair use.
The conditions that some media outlets place on Free Republic, in terms of excerpt length and how to link, might be vulnerable to court challenge, and some violations of same might be within fair use, but JimRob reached the reasonable conclusion that it's not worth the time, money and effort to fight that fight.
I know Gannett newspapers have some of the stricter rules as regards Free Republic, but there's no legal or ethical reason I can't write "'We do not need the Senate immigration bill to secure the border,' Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) writes in a Friday column for USA Today."
Or the reporter knew that FR was a reliable place to find a sharp and cogent opinion on just about any current issue, and that's where he went to take the pulse of the "blogosphere."
(I know FR is not a blog, but I still consider it part of the blogosphere, as it's a channel through which blog posts propagate and trends on the blogs gain momentum.)
Ping
Indeed I was going to reference shakespeare but you did it for me. Shakespeare is often just mesmerizing in the words alone, no sets, no costumes, just timeless themes
You are spot on in your perception of humanity
And even mentions us without some dig -- at least the part shown.
ping
Still going on with your criticism about Paul Potts I see.
Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauß is an operetta not an opera. It used to be may father’s favorite operetta
Way to go, man.
Opera can be rather dark but is still a bit of fun, like a good mystery
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