Opera in Small Doses

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 532, 2 September 1949, Page 10

Opera in Small Doses

"'M afraid my .class-conscious hackles rose the other night when I listened to something called Opera for the People. Wot people? one asks; and _ echo answers, the poor illiterates of course, who must have their culture handed out to them in small doses, the prescriptions written in words of one syllable, It seemed all just a bit too condescending. The series presents an opera in two half-hour broadcasts. A few minutes are taken -up with announcements, cast names, etc., so I suppose we afe given a whole opera in little over 40 minutes. Quite a feat, you. must, admit. The method is to dramatise the plot and interrupt the spoken words with music -rather like those party sandwiches which are made up of alternate layers of bread and filling. Quite a good idea for a party, but not entirely satisfactory when it comes to opera, Operatic plots are pretty fearsome things at the best of times, but brought down to the lowest common denominator of banality by trite dialogue, they become plain awful. I heard the last half of La Traviata, and my rickety shorthand took down, something like, this: ‘I ask

only one thing, that you tell him the truth." "Very well, I will tell him." "No! No! It is a lie. It‘is a lie!" "She is holding on to life by the slenderest of threads." "Doctor?" "Yes, It is all over." "Oh Violetta! Violett-aH!" In between the words we have snatches of solos or duets, but never enough to more than start our interest. The people who speak are not the people who sing. Words and music are not blended in any way. She is, we feel, literally at her last gasp. Then a robust soprano voice takes up the tale and we are irreverent enough to murmur that there’s life in the old girl yet. Grand opera is so much a matter of sight as well as sound that the problem of how best to present it over the air is a difficult one, but I cannot fee] that this series has solved it in any way. True, it does give the story, an impression of the characters, and a hint of the music. If I had not known the story of Alfred and Violetta, my cultural darkness would have been lightened to that extent. Or perhaps the orchestra might have led me to think-oh, is that where that comes from-but I doubt if I would have been interested enough to follow it up in any way, Grand opera seems to me to be the interpretation of most of the human passions and feelings expressed through the medium of° voice and music. Through it we can at times (not always!) be transported to that plane of emotional tension, response and sympathy which in the creative artist can

be called inspiration. Plot is negligible, a mere excuse for the presentation. Music is all. So that concentration on plot with a soupcon of music thrown in for luck is sufely bringing grand opera down to the level of boufe or

soap.

Sycorax