Opera and its Entrancement

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Attending the opera this weekend has me yet again wondering why I do not go to more performances like these. My roommate was one of the narrators (monks) in Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. It was a fascinating piece! I love that operas (especially those sung in different languages) challenges you to ruminate on the fuller meaning of what is going on in the piece-where you are not only listening to the lyrics, but are also being pressed to pay attention to voice fluctuation, body posture, facial expression, and acting. Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda was gripping and powerful. I love how they split the acting and vocal of the two lovers into different persons. It brought a whole other element to the performance. The facial expressions of the vocals was just as powerful as the acting of the actors. The storyline was wrenching, as it showed lovers who were also enemies, who fight and in the end one unknowingly kills the other. I personally think this is more terrible than Romeo and Juliet. But once they discover each is the other's lover, their last few moments of life together is beautiful and endearing, all the while being just as horrific and heart wrenching. AND this all culminated in 20 minutes. It must be a good piece if it can get you in a mere 20 minutes!

Comments

  1. Will BradyOctober 2, 2017 at 9:40 PM

    So there were two actors for each character? Being so forced to pay attention to actors' gestures and not just words, I wonder if it would be possible to tell a story like that with no lyrics at all— just acting and background music.

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