Neat on Suite: For the Love of Mozart...Are you an Opera Buffa?

Posted by Marci Hotsenpiller Jun 23, 2008

Would you describe yourself as an opera “buffa”?

Here on suite we definitely have an opera buff in our midst, in the form of writer Tel Asiado. Tel writes from her home base in Australia about opera, great writers, and classical composers on Suite101.com.

Her recent article on Mozart in the History of Operawas so compelling that the Washington Post mentioned it in their own article about Wolfgang Amadeus. How and where did Tel’s love affair with opera start? I decided to find out:

“Classical music (esp Mozart) with opera has been a lifelong passion. I would rather listen to classical music and opera than pop music. Speaking of opera, actually, it's not even Mozart but Bellini's Norma that initially hooked me (just listen to Callas's "Casta diva," and then Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci). Even as a young girl, I was deeply touched by the image of a clown who must laugh while his heart breaks. And yes, Mozart's Queen of the Night's famous aria in The Magic Flute, what a beautiful high F for the soprano. And also lots of arias in his three other best operas. Simply divine!

Perhaps all the emotions I found in my love for classical music and the opera can be explained by my being an only child... at day's end, solitary, pensive. True, all music can make an emotional impact, but to me opera, foremost, can demonstrate it as a language parallel to life itself - love, tragedy and passion."

“It maybe extreme but I see it as balancing my being. One challenges my intellect. I'm not only an IT professional but my education is science. The other nourishes my soul.”

(NOTE: Opera “buffa” refers to a style or genre of opera series. Others include “drama giocoso”, “opera seria”, and “singspiel” opera. To learn more about opera and classical music check out Tel Asiado’s other articles here on Suite101. )

-- Marci