Wednesday, January 26, 2005

End of Interim

Interim is over; it’s tragic.  And I’m not exaggerating, because my class was on Wagner’s Ring operas, and at the end, everyone burns up.  The hero, his wife, their horse, the gods, and a few others.  Tragic.

Interim flew by.  I guess it really is just fifteen class days—suddenly they’re gone, and I’m a little smarter and a little breathless at the edge of spring semester.  My Wagner class was a good one to have for this in-between time.  The operas are complex but fascinating—based on Germanic and Scandinavian myths, filled with giants and dwarves, treachery and love, and a talking dragon.  Much more fun than I expected opera to be, apart from all the smoke at the end. 

I actually signed up because I didn’t like opera.  I liked the idea of it—just the name “La Boheme” sounds like the height of culture.  And I love classical music—my sisters and I were raised with it, and I still enjoy it.  But the opera singers—the quavery sound of their voices in particular—I never could handle listening to that.  Plus it’s all in some other language…

But I really did like the Ring.  Part of that is because of the professor.  He retired about eight years ago but came back to teach this course.  On the first day of class, he told us that he was thrilled to get to share one of his “life-long passions” with us.  Wow.  Anytime a well-educated person says that, I lean forward.  And his enthusiasm filled our fifteen days together.  He brought in coffee for us in the mornings, played the piano to demonstrate musical themes, and paused the opera DVD again and again to point out changes in characters or themes.  And so, while I don’t love it quite as much as he does, his excitement pulled me in, and I honestly do like the Ring. 

He promised us on the last day of class that he would talk with the Grand Rapids Symphony to try and get tickets for us to see La Boheme.  It comes to Grand Rapids in February, and if I go, my opera training will be complete.  Make way for culture! –jl

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 01/26 at 11:18 PM
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