Ouverture

Have you ever been to an opera? I have been there quite often both as a rather uninvolved viewer in the audience and as a contributor onstage, offstage and now here as a blogger. If you have never been to such an institution before, not because your country happens to be spared by this rather western cultural thing, this is probably not for you, even if provided that, in not doing so one day you want to become rich and famous and pay a considerable amount of bucks for one ticket only you could have also spent for more fulfilling free time activities such as sex, alcohol, knitting or languages depending on your concept of prioritizing things and on your country of residence... Nevertheless, I'm probably writing for you if you happen to have an aversion against this kind of cultural institution and hypothetically you would have access to it. You might get some valuable advise if you should keep avoiding this place or if you should dare and see if you share my glorifying impression (and be really angry about me if you don't).

I guess, there are more opera houses on earth than countries that have legalized prostitution or homosexuality. I'm telling you that because my concept of any of these institutions already assumes that both features exist within them. I sometimes even use the word "brothel" as a synonym for it (not only) from an onstage point of view and this is only one of the nicer descriptions. By the end of my life I'm looking forward to having proven a scientific approach of its interchangeability. I just don't want to disappoint you and besides I have wasted myself a lot of time for this rather passive leisure activity which I don't want to spare you either. I mean, you don't change the world if you create a production yourself. And I think you would agree, that you don't change the world neither by watching a performance nor crying bravo or booh at the end of the show even if a lot of opera and theater's self-conception is heading towards this perception. 

I don't claim that opera is not able to make you passive-aggressive, I rather support the idea that it is since I felt these symptoms myself. Right now, I just don't believe anybody who says "opera is my life", "I love opera" or any similar phrase, I don't even believe you if you told me that from a performer's point of view, I would rather recommend you to look for a shrink or to stop lying to me or I would stop talking to you right afterwards without warning. Maybe this is because of my personal history and I'm exaggerating like a diva myself or like a person who is just not good enough to be a true diva and therefore thinks it is necessary to behave like an asshole excusing it by the generally agreed perception of a diva's stereotype which is... just not like a real diva is like, and if she (or he) is he/she must be a really good performer but on the other hand deserves a couple of boohs from the audience if she (or he) has a bad day. In case of finishing the show Mr or/and Mrs Diva are still being well reimbursed with a lot of money, fans, illusions, flowers and chocolates or just money. In case they're not they cannot be true divas or they still have met the wrong people which also happens quite often - not only to divas. 

Anyways, what you're going to read here is my very personal impression of upcoming or recent shows all over the world depending on my schedule. It is very subjective and cannot be the only truth but having said that it is 100% independent. In case somebody is offering me money (or even free tickets) to stop telling my truth I'll let you know. At the moment, I have chosen to remain incognito in order to be able to do my own thing without any outside influences. In case you'll recognize me one day in a performance or by any chance when reading my texts feel free to get in touch with me and let's chat a bit about life and food. In the end it probably won't be too hard to do so because as you can tell from the name of this blog I'll probably buy the tickets myself before the show and I'll always try to get a good bargain, i.e. it's gonna be a cheap ticket. This also means that I'm not necessarily writing about the opening night of a new production but also about the 148th performance of "Die Zauberflöte" at the Staatstheater XY depending on my budget and the availability of cheap tickets for opening nights at the same theater :-).

A good start... (Sena Jurinac' interpretation of the Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos)