By Derik Lawler
As a first-time listener of opera, the open-air Opera Italian was absolutely outstanding. The environment of the Central Park bandshell, along with all of the pieces made for such an enjoyable and easy introductory experience for myself, who going into it had a shaky perception of what I thought opera was. My unfiltered expectation was that opera was more for the older generation, but I could not have been proven more wrong when seeing the crowd on the night of the performance. There were young families, old couples, and every age in between. It truly was an experience that was made for everyone no matter what you thought of the music going into it. It opened my eyes to the fact that I can enjoy music outside of my norm. What I did personally notice is that I seemingly enjoyed classical instrumental music more than I did the vocal singing, but with that said, I by no means did not enjoy the vocal or performance as a whole, I found my preferences lie more in symphonic music itself aside from the singing aspect. I think I felt this way because classical music, unknowingly, has played a role in my life in movies, in restaurants, and in small moments where I may have not even noticed. Listening to classical music alone while at this event and just in my life, makes me reflect. It makes me think clearly and internally and be more brutally honest with myself. Once the singing aspect comes into play for the music, it disrupts my thoughts and tunes me back into the music to be an active listener. With all this being said it shows me that I may enjoy being more of a passive listener when it comes to music and have it something to be in the background of my life or moments in my life.
As a new listener of classical music due to this class, the work I found most enjoyable on the program was the last, The William Tell Overture by Rossini. While writing this short paper I went back and listened to this piece and it reminded me how this was a fast final piece of the night to get the crowd back to their feet and excited for the end of an exciting night. This was the perfect piece to quite literally do that for me. After looking more into who Gioachino Rossini was, I very quickly realized this was his most famous piece and saw that it is still used today in movies, TV shows, etc. I can see why this is such a notable work from such a pivotal artist of the time. I also found that Gioachino Rossini was alive and creating music during the time of Beethoven, which makes sense as I found similarities in their music. This time in history was during the late Classical and early Romantic eras in Western European music and was on its own a pivotal time in history and in music where many famous artists and pieces stemmed from that are still listened to and used today. Hearing Rossini’s William Tell Overture at the concert is a perfect testament to that. Although a familiar piece was one of my favorites, the entire list of songs played was outstanding and something that cannot be replicated through a phone speaker or headphones. Something about the in-person feeling made this event and night that much more enjoyable and a great experience to push myself a bit outside of my comfort zone. If the vocal music portions were to be in English, where I may have a better understanding of what was going on and the story that is being told, I may have found myself enjoying the vocal parts more. Luckily there was a a host introducing each performance with a few words which did help me stay on track to at least understand where we were in the program and what song was being played at that moment.
Overall this class has not only opened my eyes to how much depth there truly is to other genres of music outside of my norm, but also the night at the open-air Opera Italian was a moment for me to settle in and enjoy. It helped me look inward at myself which is already something I like to personally do. The classical instrumental music portions gave me those moments to do just that and it also was able to show me where my preferences do lie when it comes to music. The vocal part of the opera was a bit harder for me to settle into as a first-time listener but It is not something that I would turn off if it were to come onto the radio. I would love to go to another night of an opera similar to this and honestly even a different type, I feel I have an open mind when it comes to trying things and would be more than willing to experience this again from a different set of performers who could maybe perform other pieces and at an even higher quality level than I have heard before. I would recommend others to do the same, I think nights like these are always worth the shot and you would be doing yourself a disservice to not try and at least experience these things once in your life.
WORKS CITED:
Wikipedia Contributors. “William Tell (Opera).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Oct. 2024.
earthatic. “Rossini: William Tell Overture: Final.” YouTube, 12 July 2008, www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7O91GDWGPU.
“Beethoven and Rossini – Popular Beethoven.” Popularbeethoven.com, 2024, www.popularbeethoven.com/beethoven-and-rossini/. Accessed 7 Dec. 2024.
