When I was six years old, I saw the movie Going My Way. The habañera from Carmen
was shown as part of the story. I was smitten. I went on to study music at the University of
California (Berkeley). One of my professors was Joseph Kerman, who, while teaching me,
published a book titled Opera as Drama, in which he postulates that opera is, first
and foremost, drama. Music’s role is to enhance, uplift, intensify, and even create the
drama. To the degree that music does its job, good and even great opera results. To the degree
that it fails, the opera per se fails. That’s why Verdi’s Otello is
great opera, and Beethoven’s Fidelio, despite the glorious music, is not.
Posted below are links to the explorations of a number of operas
and essays on various aspects of opera.
TOM'S TALES