Saturday, May 05, 2012

The Makropulous Affair



Once again Ken and Linda gave us opera tickets-- astounding generosity-- and I can see how people love this whole thing-- the whole red and gold, the soft carpets, the vastness of the hall-- a world of its own, and hard to return to ordinary houses and newspapers on the kitchen table and the coffee pot not washed.

We saw Karita Matilla at the Metropolitan opera as Emilia Marky in Janacek's The Makropulous Case-- a "modern" (1928) opera, and Matilla was wonderful as the the three hundred year old diva who can't decide if she wants more life: she is a combination of could-care-less boorishness plus seducing, insulting, lying down with her legs on the back of a couch-- her freedom tickled me. It was built on enormous desperation and the complete self-indulgence of the very old-- and she is extremely old, even if she appears young and beautiful. An opera with a kind of intellectual depth, or something comparable to it--

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