I hate that it's been a full week since I've posted anything. I'd like to blame the holidays and travel, but (as usual) I just need to improve my discipline.
But having said that: there's certainly plenty to report on (grammatically that should be "plenty on which to report but I'm hoping you'll cut me some slack when you read this later):
First, let's talk about your SECOND opera. Now, I'm not sure if you were kicking up a storm during Wagner's Parsifal because you were enjoying the music or because you couldn't believe your mother could sit in one spot and watch not a whole lot happen on stage for four hours and forty five minutes.
Either way, I would like to get on record that you were certainly active! Especially during the Second Act. Here's a photo of the staging done at the Lyric Opera in Chicago for that production of Parsifal:
The guy in the middle of this neon set is Klingsor who wants to capture - and defile - the pure Parsifal. Because it is through Parsifal's innocence and purity that he will reclaim the Holy Spear and the Holy Grail. (If you're ever interested, I'll tell you the whole story. Or we'll listen to the opera together.)
Now the scene you see captured above comes just before our hero, Parsifal, enters the Enchanted Forest and those ladies in white suddenly become beautiful flowers in the seductive garden. It leads to one of my favorite pieces of music in opera. Perhaps it's a bit kitschy, but I still find it beautiful:
The flower maidens sing: "komm', komm' o holder Knabe" which means "Come, come oh you pretty boy."
What I found interesting is that while you DID kick during this scene, you were more active in another one. I'll leave that for Part II.
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