Crying at the opera

Today I was listening in the car to Wotan's Farewell in "Die Walkure" and it got me thinking of all the times I have cried at the opera.

That is funny because I have not been to the opera that many times in my life. We do not have an opera company in Buffalo. We are working on it though! It would be funny if at the same time opera companies are folding in other cities we get one in Buffalo. Could happen!

But I digress. I have been lucky enough to go to a bunch of operas up at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto and at the Metropolitan Opera a few times and a dozen or so operas at Chautauqua. And I have also been to operas in Vienna and Munich.

Twice I have seen "Tosca" and twice I cried during "Vissi d'arte." There is something about that aria that gets me. This woman backed into a corner. What do you do, where do you go, you thought you did everything right and now this.

We have all been there, in one way or another!

That part where she talks about bringing the flowers to the altar and bringing jewels to the mantle of the Virgin. That kills me.

So that is one opera I have cried in, "Tosca." Then there was "Tannhauser" at the San Diego Opera which I went to with Leonard Pennario when I was with him for those months in California. The reason I cried in "Tannhauser" was not all because of the opera, it was because of a whole lot of stuff, most of which will have to wait for the book. I was about to go home. That was one thing. Also Leonard was sitting next to me, and for months we had been talking about going together to this opera, and now here we were.

The part where she sings, "Dich, teure Halle." It felt as if we had reached the end of this long road. Here is a picture of the production.


The biggest cry I ever had at an opera was during "Die Walkure." I went to Toronto to see it, with my sister. We cried and cried. I have probably written about this.

All through Wotan's Farewell we were thinking about our own dad whom we had lost in an accident some years before. You know how you have complicated relationships with your parents. That is what that opera is about. It is what Father Owen Lee, who used to do those opera commentaries, wrote. Those Ring operas are not about gods and dragons, they are about us.

Would we have cried watching this recent "Star Wars"-like production by the Los Angeles Opera? I cannot be sure!

Well, the Canadian Opera Company production was not exactly attractive either. They had ladders and construction materials and stuff lying around everywhere on stage. I mean, I could have designed something better. But still. As Wotan put Brunnhilde to sleep with the Magic Fire Music, my sister Katie and I cried and cried. Sitting there passing this soggy Kleenex back and forth. When the opera ended we could not get up. We were just huddled there exhausted and devastated. I think we were the last people to leave the Hummingbird Centre. Finally we pulled ourselves together and went and got a glass of wine and something to eat.

And Wotan and Brunnhilde were eating at the next table! I will never forget that. They were eating Buffalo wings, too. Wow, that was funny. We went and talked to them.

What a night to remember!

I wonder if Katie and I are the only ones who cry at operas.

I somehow doubt it.