November 24, 2007
Oh, to be able to sing like that! To fling out my voice and have the neighbors who live several blocks away say, “There she goes again. . .the birds are all flying over here and the deer are fleeing as well”. Those were the kinds of huge voices that we heard last week at the Lyric Opera in Chicago in the presentation of “Die Frau Ohne Schatten” (The Woman Without a Shadow). This is a Richard Strauss opera that has fantastic music and a libretto that has to have been written by someone whose imagination was more than a little odd. (One can get the entire story on the web page of the Lyric Opera) The opera had gotten stellar reviews in the newspapers, and the huge orchestra made the music shimmer and shout. . . it was grand! There were however, unintended humorous moments – for example, the emperor (with the incredible tenor voice) came from the upper world to the human world on a life-sized white horse frozen in mid-stride with tail flying and one hoof suspended ready to gallop away. He descended from above, a journey of about thirty feet to the stage floor, and as he came, the horse swayed back and forth and you could see the death grip the man had on the guy wires while trying to look heroic and sing at the same time. One could easily imagine the conversation that took place prior to the event. . . “You want me to do what!!??” And so forth. The other event that drew unintended spontaneous laughter was the slow appearance of the ideal male from a well in the center of the stage. The dyer’s wife was being tempted by the other-worldly women who were trying to snatch her shadow and after describing her husband as uncouth and unworthy in glorious song, they attempted to seduce her with the ultimate male. He came up painted in a gold sheen and with a typical body builder’s body all abs and such and draped in a golden loincloth. While he stood there, arms folded and trying to look like the absolute beginning and end of male desirability, for some reason, we all began to giggle and laugh even while thinking, “Oh dear, this is not supposed to be funny”. Ah, but the music! It truly was a lovely, memorable evening.
We had uneventful travels last week, flying to Chicago and our daughter’s home on Sunday afternoon and coming back on Thanksgiving Day thus avoiding both the greater intensity of traveling people and an excess of turkey centered eating. Home looked wonderful even though there is now a dusting of snow; we left in autumn and returned in winter. We picked up an ecstatic Alphie yesterday and our life has now resumed its usual pace.
The fire burns nicely in our stove as I look out at a wintry afternoon sky – next week decisions will be made about the near future. To use a cliché, I believe I am between a rock and a hard place vis a vis viable options. As I said before, the chemotherapy that has worked seems to be at an end, and the options are to go on with a different type of treatment that is not a first choice or to do nothing. The outcomes are unknown in either case, so I choose to sit and think about supper and recycling catalogues and other mundane things. It seems that sanity lies in the calm moments – it is enough to say as early darkness comes, that this November 24th was a good day. Thanks be to God.