Opera etc

Oh, hello blog! Why, yes, I have been quite busy. What's that? Oh, ok, I will write about what has been happening then.

Mostly, I have been going out. Thankfully, unlike in London this means going to bars and actually talking to people, unlike going out in the first week at UCL, which appeared to involve bright lights and deafening noises in an attempt to unite us in collective shellshock. (Disclaimer: this may not be the actual aim of the delightfully named 'UCL Ents' team). On friday night we went out and drank in various bars in central Vienna, and then went to an underground club where I thoroughly enjoyed myself as stupid dancing seemed practically encouraged, and the music was pretty good. I may just be inexperienced, but I am not sure that disco remixes of the Pirates of the Carribbean main theme are in any way guaranteed when one enters a club. The most significant vent of the night for me though was definitely that at 3.30 am we went home on a nightbus called the N29, the same name as the trusty/crime ridden nightbus that has brought me home in London for the last 2 years countless times.

Saturday brought a failed attempt to vist a cafe with FREE BOARD GAMES (it was closed, but a pilgrimage will definitely be attempted again) , and a more successful stroll through the beguilingly sunny main streets of Vienna to locate an excellent dingy coffee house covered in posters and modern art. Here I was informed of a plan to visit the opera that very evening!

And so it was that, dressed in smart trousers and shirt but foolishly lacking any shoes except trainers, I had my first experience of opera in Wien. We went to the slightly cheaper and less architecturally baroque Volksoper, as opposed to the Opera in Vienna, the Staatsoper. Having waited in line until 5 minutes before the performance began, we finally obtained returns (Resttickets, I believe) for €12 each. The performance was of probably one of the most Austrian operas, Die Zauberflöte/Magic Flute.

As with my previous opera experience, I found some parts utterly fantastic, and other parts reasonably dull. My understanding of the plot was rather incomplete, as there were no subtitles (even german ones), and I stupidly forgot to look up the plot beforehand. That said, when I did look it up afterwards most of the transitions that seemed to have little or no reason behind them weren't relly explained there either, I think exposition in opera is pretty light in general. You can google the precise story, as for all its slight lack of logic, it is quite complex.

The hero was as usual the least interesting character, as he just had to be heroic, and the heroine only redeemed herself through amazing singing. The best character is a guy called Papageno, who is having none of all this grandiose questing and challenges rubbish, and just wants good food, wine, and an attractive and equally uncomplicated Papagena to love. The guy who played him was a good actor, and although he wasn't required to do any crazy vocal stunts, he still really made the whole opera for me, Papageno is just such a likeable guy. I thought he had some pretty good chemistry with the princess too, she could have done a lot better than generic brave prince with a flute.

The vocal stuff was stunning of course, Die Zauberflöte contains what are apparently some of the hardest vocal solos in opera for the character the Queen of the Night, and although you wouldn't recognise the name, I guarantee that if you hear them, you will recognise them. I have never ever heard a human voice used in such a way, and with such incredible power as well. We were right at the back and everyone on stage was still loud, despite being unamplified.

All in all, I would definitely see an opera again, but I think that the Magic Flute had a very good mix of beauty, humour, and welcome spoken word sections, and I do not think I will enjoy all or maybe many operas as much. It being sung in german helped, as I do love the language so much after all. I completely get what I was told by someone in the Macbeth opera I saw about english being a rubbish language to have to sing opera in. It is too hard to elongate the ends of words, so you have to maaaaaaaake do with the miiiiiiiiiiddle too much.

Sunday I did some work (!!) then went to a bar and hung out with more Erasmus people. Have not met more than one British person here, the largest proportions seem to be from Italy, Spain and Denmark, I know not why.