A Night at the Opera

Garrett Lambur
Many people say they hate the Opera or that they do not like Opera. But my question to many of these people would be have you ever been to the Opera? I truly enjoy the Opera and had never been to one before this semester in Prague. I may have actually been in that group of people once before in my life but as always I was willing to try this new experience. The opera is a wonderful thing; it can combine dancing, singing and best of all music. I was impressed with the State Opera here in the Czech republic because it had subtitles for the opera in Czech and English. I had not expected to have subtitles for the experience and had gone in just expecting to enjoy the music, both singing and played. After seeing an Opera however I realized that even without the subtitles I would have understood the story unfolding before me. Again and again while experiencing the wonderful arts here in Prague I am impressed with the ability to convey a message in the performance, specifically without English. Sometimes I feel as if the performance might be diminished if they were singing in English because I would focus more upon the words they were saying than the art they were performing. The Opera is beautiful because it has communication without language. As our tour guide in Vienna told us, even when he understands the language he uses the subtitles to follow along, thus it can be hard to understand exactly what the singers are singing. Any of the stories if we were to just read them would not carry the same impact. I am incredibly amazed by the ability of the singers to convey the feelings within their voices so that without understanding the words you know the emotion. The music augments the singing because it can provide a back drop to help the emotion come out in full force, if the music is quiet then it can be easier for an emotion of pain or sorrow to be felt. If the music is loud, then an emotion such as anger or happiness will reveal itself better. I am amazed just thinking back on the Opera about the ability of it to communicate to the viewer without language.