I spent last evening with some friends, Timmy and Liz, taking in an opera in Dublin, a production of La Traviata, reinterpreted and set in Nazi occupied Paris in 1943. Didn't work, and not a great production, unfortunately. I don't mind reinterpretations at all, it has become the norm with many operas and plays, and sometimes they can really make you focus on the themes of the work and how universal they actually are. A couple of successful adaptations: Shakespeare's Macbeth set in Stalinist Russia - good atmosphere; and La Boheme set in 1950's USA - it worked. Bad interpretations: Verdi's Don Carlo set during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II with a caricature of the pope as the Grand Inquisitor - disgusting. That one was a production by an Irish opera group in Dublin, and loaded with anti-Catholicism.
Art is universal, hence its importance for the Church and the preaching of the Gospel. Jesus used an art form in his preaching - the parable which is a stylised fiction aimed at teaching a truth. From early times the Church has used art as a means of preaching the Word - paintings, stained glass, architecture, music particularly hymns, stories, and eventually, drama, once it had been freed from its seedy reputation in the late Roman empire. Interestingly opera has not been seen as a tool for evangelisation, probably because many of the stories tend to be a little simplistic and repetitive: boy meets girl - they fall in love; boy gets in trouble, they separate, or girl abandoned; girl saves boy, they get back together; girl dies: end of opera. That's pretty much it for a lot of works (and I am an opera lover). It's the story of Tosca, Lakme, and the opera last evening, La Traviata.
A few composers have tried to produce Christian works to inspire, among them the wonderful Dialogue des Carmelites by Poulence, from the play of the same name by Bernanos. Now that opera is a classic - the last chorus and finale - a setting of the Salve Regina, sung by the nuns as they are being guillotined has to be heard to be believed. Contemporary composer, John Tavener's Mary of Egypt is also a masterpiece, although it takes patience to get into it. It has an duet lasting seven minutes long in which one word is sung - "Bless" - like I said, it takes patience to get into it. Messiaen has written a major work Francis of Assisi which is acclaimed - it's sitting on the shelf waiting to be listened to - it looks serious, so whenever I have time my hand tends to drift away to the Puccini section. Puccini is not the great transcendent work of a musical apostle, but those arias!!! Those duets!!! Those melodies!!! And get Carlo Bergonzi, or Renata Tebaldi, or even Callas on and your floating! As a former spiritual director of mine once said (quoted before, and always quotable): "Ah..sure, you'd go up in a blue light!"
Like drama, poetry, prose and cinema, music can be used to evangelise, and opera would be a great medium. The audiences tend to be cynical, and may not take to being preached at, and that's why we need good Christian composers to write excellent librettos and scores. James McMillen has written a couple of operas, and he is well placed as a great composer and committed Christian to take up this mission, but we need more. Say a prayer that God will inspire more composers.
And so, to brighten up your Monday, a little opera for you. With good intentions, I thought a piece of serious religious music, but as my mouse went in search for such delights, it veered in the direction of Puccini, and Callas herself, so who am I to argue? In memory of my beloved singing teacher Evelyn, whose anniversary occurs later this month, the aria she made her own:
And while we're at it, Bergonzi and Tebaldi, for my money, the definitive interpretation of La Boheme.
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