Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera" in SF

An opera neophyte's observations, part one of two!

It’s OPERA SEASON!

Here’s me at an Opera Brunch (at 3pm! haha) at the Westin, Madrid, with my then-teenaged daughter Olivia in 2016. I cried - especially after the second mimosa - and she thought it was hilarious and took a video and shared with her au pair friends who said I was “adorable” so maybe you DO have to be “mature” to feel some of the feels that opera provides!

When my dear friend and member of the SF Opera Chorus invited me to the dress rehearsal of Guiseppe Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera” (A Masked Ball) I was an immediate YES even though I could count on one hand the times I’ve experienced opera and still have plenty of fingers left.

As we were driving into the City in the usual sea of lava (red lights), I said, “You know, Eileen, me going to the opera with you is like you going to the Fillmore - or a rave - with me.” She laughed and said you’re right. What’s cool is that I know she’d be as game going out with me as I was going with her to this.

We were not dressed up the way people will be tomorrow (Friday night) on the Opening Night, but we did dress up pretty fancy in pink and red with some lace and paisley and well, frankly, we looked pretty gorgeous ;-).

Even though I am an opera neophyte, I do perk up when opera snippets come up in pivotal film scenes, mostly to underscore the protagonist’s depth of feeling in contrast to the stuffy old box-holders. The velvet curtains rise, the costumed goddess on stage is singing an aria to break your heart, and cut to the incredible yearning etched on the face of our earnest maiden, a single tear dripping down the corner of her eye towards her radiant decolletage showcasing a borrowed necklace. I eat that up with a big silver spoon, for sure!

Men apparently like opera, too!

The other thing I like about opera or Shakespeare is that it channels me to another era. I ask myself, what do I, as an audience member of almost unlimited sophistication (ahem! I know how to use Google maps, don’t I?), have in common with an audience member of hundreds of years ago, the vast majority of whom never traveled farther than 30 miles from where they were born, and where roads were identified by “The Tree with a Fork in it” or “The Place of Three Rocks” and “The Stream where the Willows Grow” and stuff like that.

Despite taxes to pay, chickens to feed, fields to plough and babies to birth, people back then - like us today - are willing to watch love and guts and glory and honor and ambiguous loyalties play out in some fantastical story that delivers the feels. Maybe, back in the day, some left the opera - which was in practically every town square in Italy playing every Sunday afternoon for centuries - going, “Well, that was ridiculous…” the way I sometimes turn off a movie thinking the same.

One of humanity’s most basic truths is that we’re all consuming, crying, loving, dying “meat skeletons made of stardust on a rock hurtling through space.” The rest of the quote says, “Fear Nothing” but it could also be “Fear Everything.” I think it’s pretty natural to flip flop a bit from Fear Nothing to Fear Everything just like it’s natural to sing out, “I’m so filled with joy” and “I’m so filled with suffering!”

When characters in the opera sing, they repeat the lines at least twice, sometimes three or four times. I imagine this is for an audience that had lots of patience, no microphone technology* and were often loud and raucous themselves. The lines are often simple and basic, such as Amelia singing something like “I’m so afraid. Even of the sound of my own footsteps.” Wow, right? Laying down some profundity!

The sorceress who apparently openly consults with Satan, sings (I paraphrase), “You who know no sorrow will definitely have it coming.” Over and over. Yep.

*Isn’t it amazing that opera singers of today still don’t need or use microphone technology? The pure technical feat of the human voice producing that quality of sound and volume is undeniably awesome. It’s like Olympic-level singing!

“A Masked Ball” is opening Opera Season in the City Friday night and here at the dress rehearsal, I quickly read the full page synopsis of the story before the show began. Wow! A lot happens in just the first paragraph. A king is in love with his right hand’s man’s wife and she is with him, but they must first declare their love, then refrain from acting on it, and then get caught, kind of, and then things go from there.

I happened to catch the interview with tenor Michael Fabiano (King Gustavo) on KALW yesterday afternoon. That was also really cool, to hear him talk about his life and love of planes and his musical mentorship program - ArtSmart. Also, Opera in the Park is this Sunday, free to all, in Golden Gate Park and what a very cool opportunity is that!

My next Substack will be more about Opera anticipating the new Maria Callas movie that’s getting rave reviews, and going back to the soundtrack of Maria Callas in the seminal film, “Philadelphia.” I hope you will join me! (Next Substack coming out a little later than usual - by 9/16 - as I will be doing a digital detox for a bit.)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++BOOK RECOMMENDATION: “Bel Canto” by Ann Patchett, opera lover and enthusiast who also has written a charming essay about her love for opera and the anticipation she feels when a filmed version of the Metropolitan Opera comes to a theater near her in Nashville.

THREE TREASURES CORNER: Ideas to honor your mind, body & spirit!

Today it’s all about how to deal with SITTING. Sitting is the New Smoking, as the saying goes. How do you deal with sitting for a three hour opera??? Especially when you’re a month out of hip replacement surgery as I am?? Well, I considered bringing an ice pack but decided against it because it didn’t fit into my cute opera-going purse.

Here’s what I did do. I stood and moved around before and after, during every intermission and during the pauses when the curtain is down but you’re meant to stay in your seat. I did stay in my seated area, but I stood up for those few minutes in the dark. Similar to when you are flying… Getting up and moving around for several minutes, at least once an hour, does help.