Opera

18 January 2019

What's your favourite opera?

A few days back, we had some opera lovers in, looking for gifts. Of course we got talking about our favourite operas.

Our clients were big on Puccini's La Bohème and Mozart's Don Giovanni. These are grand operas in the traditional style, with story, drama, costumes, ceremony, and ... oh, everything!

Because I'm a simple sort of guy, I prefer a minimalist style, like Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass or Nixon in China by John Adams. The music is mesmerising and the story is ... bewildering.

My wife prefers operetta, like Gilbert and Sullivan - particularly the Pirates of Penzance. Just plain fun.

The customers bought a couple of saxon opera glasses, which are very small binoculars.

Traditional opera lovers are likely to favour the traditional designs. I think that John Adams would prefer the flat square ones through. They're higher magnification, too.

What's more, if you're attending the Australian Opera in Melbourne, you can use the opera glasses to move from the $287 seats in the circle to the $99 seats in the balcony. Makes sense!

Image: postcard of La Scala (of course) from about 1900. Public domain.