Adventure #019b - The Opera

One of my good childhood memories is my Mum's perfum when she was going out in the evening. Magie Noire by Lancôme. My parents would sometime go to the Opera or see a Ballet. And I loved Mum's perfum when she was kissing me goodbye. Still feel like a little girl if I smell it today.

She would sometimes tell me stories. Not fairy tales or children stories, but things about books she had read, life of people she liked, like Edith Piaf. The Opera Carmen was one of these. She had a CD by the Opera singer Montserra Caballe on which you could find a few songs from Carmen. We listened to this CD a lot and the music was beautiful. And Mum told me several times that when I grow up, she will take me to the Opera to see Carmen.



But well, it never happened. Seeing Carmen was still something I really wanted to do, to please the little girl in me. So when Martin told Angela that Carmen was playing at the National Opera and that we could find some cheap tickets, we decided to go.

The Opera House, as all Opera Houses seem to always be, was beautiful. Some people may think that it's "too much" with all the small details, crystals, and gold. I think it's part of the charm.

Each time I go in an old Theatre or an Opera House, I can't help myself thinking about how it was at the beginning, when people had to use candles to light these places, when you would go to the Opera as we today go to the pub, to see people more than a show. If I could go back in time, this is one thing I would do: go to the Opera in the 18th or 19th century.

Anyway, back in 2010, even with electricity and screens for subtitles, the Opera still looks really nice. And I was not disappointed by Carmen. I guess we could probably see a better interpretation but this one was good, as far as my poor knowledge of Opera music can tell. I was not totally satisfied by the man playing Don José. Not that he was not good a singer, far from that, but he was physically nothing like how I would have pictured this character. But the woman playing Carmen was amazing, with a voice full of emotions.

I had a really nice evening, and will definitely go the Opera again if I have the occasion.