Operas of the Gods
Various cultures including the Greeks knew that there were many Gods who competed, played, fought, and loved together. In short, they openly and unashamedly endowed the Gods with very human characteristics. Yet, the Gods were left alone to work out their own issues. Today Hinduism is one of the few major religions where polytheism is practiced. For many centuries most religions posit one God may or may not have a close associates such as spirits or angels who assist them. Since each religions posit their own particular God (even though some began positing the very same God), humans have apparently taken on or been assigned the job of representing their particular God. Humans do the fighting, loving, arguing, cavorting, playing and other activity for the various Gods. There seems to be a constant battle for the role of the one true or the one supreme God. No two or more Gods will be allowed to occupy the same space or have exactly the same truths. Israel has long decided that their God should reign supreme in Jerusalem. The Palestinians have decided that their God should reign in at least a portion of Jerusalem.
Mr. Moore has decided that the one true God of Alabama must wielded power in the United States senate chamber in the Washington, D.C.
President Trump has decided that his Christian God who believes in the abuse of women and the ridiculing of other religions, sexual orientations, Democrats and many other groups shall reign in the White House. Obviously, his God is pleased that Christmas rather than a variety of holidays will dictate seasonal celebrations.
The world is literally ablaze with the behavior of the various Gods as represented in the likes of the Roy Moore’s, Donald Trumps, Israeli politicians, Egyptian government officials, various terrorists and Alt-right group members and various other representatives of “him”(It does seem as if they are all male hormonal teenagers). Planet Earth provides many stages of the various acts of these pseudo operas.
I experience them as pseudo operas because real operas always have:
The pseudo opera have none of these. Really! Check out the costumes of Roy Moore, any terrorist, Donald Trump or any alt right figure. Boring! Occasionally some Mid Easter political figure has a more interesting costume but, for the most part, they are the same as Donnie’s.
Sunday I attended a theatrical realization of Haydn’s Creation directed by Sam Helfrich and performed by the members of the Pittsburgh Symphony orchestra conducted by Manfred Honeck, the Mendelssohn Choir directed by Matthew Mehafffey, and soloists Rachele Gilmore, Werner Güra, and Alexander Elliott. There was also a video deigned by Greg Eme¨taz. The music was amazing. I was not wild about the staging or even the video but I was very clear that this was an operatic performance and not real life. There were no dead bodies, no emotional garbage, no jail cells and nothing was thrown at the audience. All the audience members were clear it was make believe even though there may have been audience members whose beliefs were consistent with the content. There was no assigned seating based on one’s religion, sexual orientation, gender or age.
I would like to recommend that if religious leaders and political figures are going to represent the gods of their understanding that they take some hints from those responsible for producing opera. Lets here it for better costumes, good music, and interesting set designs and make belief weapons.
Written December 6, 2017
Various cultures including the Greeks knew that there were many Gods who competed, played, fought, and loved together. In short, they openly and unashamedly endowed the Gods with very human characteristics. Yet, the Gods were left alone to work out their own issues. Today Hinduism is one of the few major religions where polytheism is practiced. For many centuries most religions posit one God may or may not have a close associates such as spirits or angels who assist them. Since each religions posit their own particular God (even though some began positing the very same God), humans have apparently taken on or been assigned the job of representing their particular God. Humans do the fighting, loving, arguing, cavorting, playing and other activity for the various Gods. There seems to be a constant battle for the role of the one true or the one supreme God. No two or more Gods will be allowed to occupy the same space or have exactly the same truths. Israel has long decided that their God should reign supreme in Jerusalem. The Palestinians have decided that their God should reign in at least a portion of Jerusalem.
Mr. Moore has decided that the one true God of Alabama must wielded power in the United States senate chamber in the Washington, D.C.
President Trump has decided that his Christian God who believes in the abuse of women and the ridiculing of other religions, sexual orientations, Democrats and many other groups shall reign in the White House. Obviously, his God is pleased that Christmas rather than a variety of holidays will dictate seasonal celebrations.
The world is literally ablaze with the behavior of the various Gods as represented in the likes of the Roy Moore’s, Donald Trumps, Israeli politicians, Egyptian government officials, various terrorists and Alt-right group members and various other representatives of “him”(It does seem as if they are all male hormonal teenagers). Planet Earth provides many stages of the various acts of these pseudo operas.
I experience them as pseudo operas because real operas always have:
- Amazing music.
- Elaborate costumes
- Amazing set designs
- Comfortable seating (most of the time)
- Pretend weapons if used.
The pseudo opera have none of these. Really! Check out the costumes of Roy Moore, any terrorist, Donald Trump or any alt right figure. Boring! Occasionally some Mid Easter political figure has a more interesting costume but, for the most part, they are the same as Donnie’s.
Sunday I attended a theatrical realization of Haydn’s Creation directed by Sam Helfrich and performed by the members of the Pittsburgh Symphony orchestra conducted by Manfred Honeck, the Mendelssohn Choir directed by Matthew Mehafffey, and soloists Rachele Gilmore, Werner Güra, and Alexander Elliott. There was also a video deigned by Greg Eme¨taz. The music was amazing. I was not wild about the staging or even the video but I was very clear that this was an operatic performance and not real life. There were no dead bodies, no emotional garbage, no jail cells and nothing was thrown at the audience. All the audience members were clear it was make believe even though there may have been audience members whose beliefs were consistent with the content. There was no assigned seating based on one’s religion, sexual orientation, gender or age.
I would like to recommend that if religious leaders and political figures are going to represent the gods of their understanding that they take some hints from those responsible for producing opera. Lets here it for better costumes, good music, and interesting set designs and make belief weapons.
Written December 6, 2017
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