The Marriage of Figaro
Just got back from seeing The Marriage of Figaro by the Armonico Consort at the Warwick Arts Centre. With an excellent libretto by Kit Hesketh Harvey ” .. rock on…..its time to put your frock on”.
I once thought opera was silly, but now I realise that women pretending to be men pretending to be women is not just silly, its really funny. I thought opera was worthless and Mozart was really wussy. Many years ago I got into Wagner, and found that – well, this very unpleasant anti-Semite had created what looked like one of the greatest works of art ever conceived. He got a sound out of an orchestra which was fantastic, while starting the revolution in music which led to 12 tone serial technique. Eventually I had to admit that others (OK Britten) could write opera as well. And now – well Mozart for Godhood.
I could go all analytic, and observe that its weird because it depends on us making a judgement about what another character is thinking (being deceived by) a third character, while everyone involved knows its not true. And maybe wonder about Mozart and masonry and whether there is a deep symbolic message in the antics of Figaro and the Count and Suzanne etc. But I prefer to think that a Mozart opera is just a big lump of civilisation.
I remember studying Mozart at school and being blown away by the pure technique required to make any progress with anything of any consequence. Shortly afterwards I discovered a certain Mr John Lydons bunch of reprobates and found something so overwhelmingingly simple that by the time bought my first guitar I could play odds and sods of the pistols by ear in a couple of days. Somehow I have my doubts that anything I was capable of acheiving was going to be agreeable to anyone for 3 minutes, let alone a couple of hundred years.
Tastes change though. Whilst I always found that Mozart seemed to overdose almost on that same amazing technique, just like some modern day guitarists that ape his style, generally unsuccessfully, I found out about Wagner (ye gods….heavy metal almost), Benjamin Britten, Strauss, and in the modern era Philip Glass, all of whom proved to me that an orchestra is the most amazing instrument available to any human.
On the other hand, close friends will also tell of my comprehensive collection of mid to late eighties thrash and speed metal, my taste for stoner rock, guilty pleasures.
As a guy that grew up in the seventies and eighties, I also developed a taste for the music of the “two tone” ska revival. With news that the Specials are likely to be recommisioned for some gigs with their original lineup later this year I’ll finish up.
Well, that E major chord which is the basis of the Overture to Rheingold at the start of the Ring is pretty easy to play. Of course it gets a bit trickier after that, and it does go on for a while..