I love opera. Some of my friends think that’s an elite taste, but I demur. Opera is the whole entertainment package–drama, spectacle, plot, costumes, emotion, acting, dance. Music above all, and when the composer is Mozart, the music is incomparable.
If you’re not sure you like opera, watch this. This is the last scene of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.” It’s a spiritually rich moment. The count has behaved badly. Here he asks his wife’s forgiveness, she grants it, and the story ends with the lyrical chorus “tutti contenti”– “all will now be happy.” From repentance and forgiveness comes joy. Here’s what the words mean:
Countess, pardon me!
I am gentler,
and I grant it you.
Ah, all will now
be happy.
Click here to watch the video on YouTube.
I have been enjoying this website for a couple of months. I’m delighted to find that a piece from my favorite opera by my favorite composer, has also touched someone spiritually. I rejoice in music! What a gift!
Thank you for sharing the video clip; it was beautiful.
Opera an “elite taste”? My grandfather, who was an iron worker in the U.K. in the early 1900’s, enjoyed opera, and his six sons inherited a taste for it.
Stereotyping takes place with our faith, too, as we are sometimes branded with “religious” as a negative connotation. Perhaps we can take a lesson from this scene and live the joy of our faith, hoping it spreads to those around us as Lynda describes.
The biggest opera fan I know rides a Harley and sports tattoos. You can see great opera from the Met in New York broadcast into movie theaters this winter. Details here.
Opera does tend to interest the elite circles moreso than the rest of us — ever see a bunch of burly typess have a beer and listen to that? I don’t care for it myself but then I’m culturally hopeless to begin with. I did however enjoy Pavarotti and Forrester (sp?) and listened for two solid hours. I still can’t believe I did that but it was beautiful. Finally a female operatic I could enjoy. Bocelli too I love but opera is the only way I can hear his voice so I listened to it until the tape broke.
It was interesting to watch how the joy of the couple spread to everyone present. So it is in life when we have a positive attitude and meet life with peace and joy, this spreads to those around us and we are the salt and light.
This was beautiful. Thank you for sharing.