A very strange thing happened to me a couple of evenings ago - I became all emotional during a musical. The fact that I had a bit of a weepy wasn't particularly unusual in itself; the end of the film 'Finding Neverland' had me sobbing in the aisles. But a musical! They're utter tripe! Bilge! A pollution of the art of music making! I can think of nothing that can be said in their favour - 'The Sound of Music?' Bring on the vomit bags. 'Oklahoma?' 'South Pacific?' I'd rather spend a week up to my neck in wet fish. Anything by Stephen Sondheim? Stick my hands in salty water and plunge in the electrodes.There's plenty of music that brings on the tears (and none of it, Lee, is by Mozart). You can't beat a good requiem for a saline face-wash; try 'Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit' from the Brahms. 'Erbarme Dich'. Bach's 'St Matthew's Passion', is always good for a tear duct cleansing. Listen to the voice of the late Sandy Denny singing the folk song 'The Banks of the Nile' - sales of man-size tissues hit the roof.
But a musical. It's got to be some sort of hormonal thing, probably brought on by the aging process. I remember getting a bit worried when I started to like opera back in my forties - can't shake it off now; plenty of tear jerkers in that repertoire.
I wonder if I can find a cure before I get any older. I don't want the shame and degradation of finding myself queuing outside a theatre for a performance of 'Guys & Dolls'. Though I might for 'West Side Story'. That's were the song that triggered this disgusting lack of self-control came from, the 1984 performance of 'One Hand, One Heart', sung by Kiri Te Kenawa and Jose Carreras, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. I must make absolutely certain I never listen to that again. Unless I reclassify it as an opera.
I thought this image of a frozen moorscape in Yorkshire suitably illustrates my feelings.
3 comments:
Ah, Sandy Denny. Her music slowly perished in my attic, crumbling oxide shed from my quarter inch tape library. Whatever was the point of labelling everything so neatly?
I really must treat myself to a CD.
My favourite part of The Sound of Music is the constant movement of the Baroness Von Schraeder's (?) incredibly mobile eyebrows. That and those two lovely shots of Julie Andrews entering and leaving the Captain's house. Those doors. Those stairs. That ballroom. I'm afraid the nuns and Nazis pale in comparision to the decor. I must be lacking something.
Certain songs can bring me to tears easily. Certain notes can even do it, especially when heard live. Then again, I cry when I see an especially lovely cloud formation.
Have to agree with you on the Verdi, Lee. It's the majesty of it.
Peter, may be help you with your request - nudge, nudge, wink wink, say no more!
Blues Mama, I suppose I ought to watch the 'Sound of Music' all the way through one day so that I can slag it off with authority and not just rampant prejudice - but I bet I don't.
I can be in awe of cloud formations but I'm not sure they'd bring me to tears. Must be missing something there.
There's a version of Allegri's 'Miserere' somewhere in my CD collection sung by a church choir. The top note, from a boy soprano, is so exquisite that I hold my breath everytime even though I know it's coming. Absolutely magical.
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