Caio<< Also, I notice that people who are muscially more demanding ( mostly musicians ) don't seem to buy the emotional appeal in opera, and usually mock at it and wish they could shush the singer. >>
Judy:>Are you implying that music should not be emotional?
Not really. Opera is what it is and expresses what the cultural elite considered acceptable then ( like the religiousness in Barroque, when the cultural elite was religious ). What I'm diagnosing ( rather than saying what music should our shouldn't be ) is that those who are interested in more elaborated kinds of music nowadays don't seem to appreciate music that is emotional in the "Romantic" ( the movement ) sense of the word. It seems to me that the masses are more into that now ( but are not as demanding, that's why we have "Con Te Partiro" and the like ), while the cultural elite is always a step ahead ( and that's basically what elites are supposed to do ) creating and appreciating what will end up being assimilated by the masses sooner or later. For some unknown reason to me, that elite has failed to come up with an elaboration of what has been inherited from the previous centuries, and I believe that might "save" the style ( like the new Superman, different, but still super ).
Well, looking at the big picture now, that has happened in all areas: Modern and post-Modern elites have decided to rebuild culture at large from scratch, tabula rasa, by denying any achievement from the past. That's probably the key to understand the status opera has now and the fact that it hasn't developed eversince, but it still doesn't help us say "what's next" if there's a next whatsoever ).
Best wishes,
Caio
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