Classically Abby - March 04, 2020


IS OPERA STILL RELEVANT IN 2020？？ ｜｜ There's more to it than you think...

Hosted by
Abby Shapiro
Mentioned
Bugs Bunny Shakespeare Mozart Dorma
1917 HUSBAND VS. WIFE MOVIE REVIEW ｜｜ After 3 attempts, it's finally here! CLASSIC HOBBIES FOR YOU TO TRY ｜｜ Knitting, gardening, and more!

Episode Stats


Length

9 minutes

Words per minute

194.38

Word count

1,897

Sentence count

108

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, I talk about why opera is still relevant in 2020, and why you should definitely give it a chance, even in 2020. I give you some tips and tricks on how to get into the swing of it, and how to make the most of it.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Hello, beautiful ladies, and welcome to today's video where we're going to be 0.99
00:00:03.560 talking about why opera is still relevant in 2020.
00:00:10.160 So I know that opera is really something that I think most people think is out of their realm
00:00:14.800 and just isn't relevant to them in today's day and age. Most people haven't
00:00:18.440 listened to classical music at all, so why would opera be relevant to them? And I
00:00:23.080 know that it's so different that so many people think it's kind of silly sounding
00:00:26.360 and they pretty much only associate it with Bugs Bunny and that kind of thing.
00:00:32.220 Well, I'm here to tell you why you should definitely give opera a chance, even in 2020.
00:00:37.880 I want to preface everything I'm about to say with one thing, and that is that opera was never
00:00:42.380 meant to simply be listened to. People listen to opera on the radio and they think that that's
00:00:47.040 really all opera is, but opera was always meant to be performed on the stage, so seeing it is so
00:00:52.420 much more important than just listening to it. There's a whole other aspect of opera than just
00:00:58.180 the music. There's plot, there's staging, there's costumes, and if you're not actually giving yourself
00:01:03.240 the chance to experience opera in its entirety, then you're not really giving yourself the opportunity
00:01:08.240 to love opera. Listening to opera is great, but if you have the opportunity to rent a performance
00:01:14.060 or see Met in HD or go to a performance in person, that's what you should be doing because that's
00:01:20.080 always how opera was meant to be enjoyed. So reason number one that opera is still relevant today
00:01:25.540 is that opera has the most glorious music. I know it's really hard to get used to if you're someone
00:01:31.840 who's never listened to opera before at all, but let me give you a little trick for how you may be
00:01:35.840 able to kind of ease your way into it. Parotti is one of the greatest opera singers of all time,
00:01:40.940 and if you listen to his rendition of Ness and Dorma, I'm pretty sure you'll understand
00:01:46.260 why opera is so beautiful. But before you just go straight in and listen to it, first look up the
00:01:53.720 lyrics and see the translation, look up the context for why it's being sung, and then listen to it.
00:01:59.980 And after listening to it with the lyrics in front of you translated, try just listening to it with
00:02:04.900 your eyes closed. This is a trick my dad did on my mom when they were young, and I think it's a really
00:02:09.340 smart one, because the music itself has so much meaning, but if you don't give it a chance to
00:02:14.700 actually tell you what's happening in the story, it may not give you the same amount of meaning as
00:02:19.220 you would expect. So going through those steps will really make all the difference. But there are a
00:02:23.900 few reasons that opera is so intense. So the first is that operatic singing is done without a microphone,
00:02:30.120 and actually singing through a microphone can be difficult to do as an opera singer, because
00:02:35.340 you are used to creating so much sound and using something called formants, which are certain
00:02:41.820 registers and things like that to help your voice carry in large halls. So we actually sing in these
00:02:49.580 giant houses over an orchestra with no amplification. And getting an opportunity to just hear a voice
00:02:56.180 without any kind of electronic barrier between you, meaning you're hearing them through a speaker
00:03:01.320 or whatever it is, is a really raw experience. And opera gives you that opportunity. As well, opera
00:03:09.080 is done with a full orchestra. Now full orchestra means something different for every composer, because
00:03:13.720 a composer like Mozart had a much smaller orchestra as compared to Wagner. Wagner's was enormous. But in any
00:03:20.120 case, you're getting to hear a full orchestra with a singer, and that is just glorious. Getting to experience
00:03:27.240 opera is really fascinating as well. Because the reason that opera takes a little bit longer, I've
00:03:32.280 always thought, is that it gives you time to experience an emotional turn of events at the same
00:03:39.560 time that the character is. Because it's not happening super quickly, and you just have to kind of follow
00:03:44.760 along as the character changes. Rather, you're in the character's head with them a lot of the time. And that
00:03:50.520 is so cool. So you're getting to see them go through an emotional shift and hear them going through that
00:03:56.680 emotional shift. You get to experience it too. So going to the opera is an incredible experience
00:04:01.960 just for the musical aspect alone. Getting used to the way that opera singers sing might take you a couple
00:04:07.640 of times. But really, what you have to remember is that the way that we sing allows us to be heard
00:04:12.840 without any microphones. So that's why we sound the way that we do. Also, when you hear the kind of acrobatic
00:04:19.880 feats of the voice, and also just the beautiful length of notes that we sing, that kind of stuff
00:04:26.840 can end up being really impressive. So if you sort of look at opera at the beginning when you're just
00:04:31.720 getting used to it, if you sort of look at opera like an Olympic feat, and then you can kind of
00:04:37.240 develop your love for the singing in and of itself, that might be the way to do it. Because opera kind of
00:04:42.920 is a feat if you think about it. We're singing for a very long time without any microphones, and over this
00:04:49.080 enormous orchestra. So getting to hear that, think of it as an Olympic competition, maybe the first
00:04:55.560 couple of times, and then you'll end up being able to appreciate it on its own. The second reason that
00:05:01.720 opera is still relevant in 2020 is the stories. Now of course there are some stories that are outdated,
00:05:07.720 that don't really work, that may not take some great stances in our political climate, but a vast
00:05:14.200 majority of opera stories are actually really, really relevant. And you can know that because a
00:05:20.280 bunch of musicals are actually based on the same stories that operas are written about. So you know
00:05:25.240 it's not just something crazy and out of left field. But most of the stories in opera really revolve around
00:05:30.680 human interactions and emotions and things that we go through today that they went through 300 years
00:05:35.720 ago. Love triangles. Wanting to marry someone and your parents not approving. Loving someone who
00:05:41.640 might not be right for you. Shakespeare stories. I mean everything across the gamut has been covered
00:05:47.800 by opera. If there is a story that you love, it may have already been made into an opera.
00:05:53.240 And there are also fairy tales. There are things that are appropriate for children. There are things
00:05:57.080 that are appropriate for adults. There are so many different options of stories, and I'm sure you can find
00:06:02.920 one that will appeal to you. And they all have this dramatic passion that you know people are already
00:06:08.600 longing for if you think about soap operas or any drama that you see on stage or in movies. And there's
00:06:14.040 just so much there that you will be able to dig through as a viewer. Number three is the experience.
00:06:21.400 Going to the opera is so cool. You get to dress up if you want to. You get to see a lot of other people
00:06:27.880 dressed up. You get to see live theater. And the sets and the clothing are usually so beautiful to
00:06:34.120 look at. It's an experience that you won't get anywhere else. It's so in a way elevated, but it's
00:06:40.360 really welcome to anybody. So I don't mean it in the way that only people who are fancier can go,
00:06:45.640 but more in the sense of you get this experience that's just so unique. And it's so worth doing.
00:06:51.000 So I mean one of the things that I think is great about the opera is that we have intermissions.
00:06:55.000 So the first half, you get to sit and just watch. And then you have a break. And during that break,
00:07:00.120 this is a great time to go on a date. You experience the first half. And then during the intermission,
00:07:04.440 you and your partner can just go out and talk about it. Then you sit through the second half.
00:07:08.440 And then afterwards, you get a drink. I mean, it's the perfect evening. Plus, you have an excuse
00:07:12.840 to put on a gown. Who doesn't want that? And just to answer any questions about why opera and not
00:07:19.240 musical theater and why opera and not a play. First of all, opera is an experience that is
00:07:24.520 entirely different from any other. So it wouldn't replace either one. Musical theater is really fun.
00:07:31.000 And I love it. It's just much more modern. And I don't think that it explores emotions in the same
00:07:36.600 way. It does explore emotions. Don't get me wrong. But it's a little bit more surface level sometimes,
00:07:41.000 depending on the show. And with opera, you have a sung through performance where people are literally
00:07:49.480 throwing their voice on the stage. It's just a different experience. Plus, like I said,
00:07:54.600 that raw emotional connection when somebody doesn't have a microphone on, you'll only get in an opera
00:08:00.520 house. Plus, in musical theater, you're not getting a full orchestra. And you do definitely get that
00:08:05.640 in an opera. And the stories are just very different. The stories in opera have really heightened emotions,
00:08:11.960 whereas in musical theater, I think it's more similar to what we experience
00:08:15.400 in our day-to-day lives. The reason that opera has so much more of a heightened, dramatic,
00:08:20.440 emotional experience is because seeing someone else experience the height of their emotions on stage,
00:08:26.680 I think, breaks the barrier between you and the performer and allows you to go through your own
00:08:31.960 experience as well while they are going through theirs. It reminds you of your own because watching
00:08:36.920 someone else go through it and to that level of really feeling how they're feeling, it kind of
00:08:45.000 breaks down that wall for you. Now, why is opera different than a play? There's something so special
00:08:50.360 about having music and the story tied together. Music, I think, amplifies everything that happens in a
00:08:57.080 play. I love straight theater, so that is not to put straight theater down at all. I just think it's worth
00:09:02.360 doing all three. Plays have a place, musicals have a place, and opera has a place. And you should be
00:09:07.880 able to enjoy all of them, but don't replace any of them with the other. Have you ever been to an
00:09:13.240 opera? If you have, what was one that you absolutely loved? And if you've listened to an opera but not
00:09:18.200 seen one, would you agree that it wasn't necessarily the best experience and that you would like to go see
00:09:22.920 one instead? Let me know in the comments below. Thank you guys so much for watching today's video.
00:09:27.720 Please subscribe to my channel and vlog if you haven't already. Head over to my Twitter,
00:09:31.640 Instagram, and Facebook, and follow me there, and I'll see you guys in my next video. Bye!