The incredible advancements in technology has in some instances turned our world upside down; and I would dare any thinking person to dispute this allegation. Granted, some of the changes have been for the better; but others------------------------?
And the realm of classical music is no exception, especially that of the opera.
What do you think the ultimate evolution will be? Will the reality of a box for a live performance fade into only a memory? Loveeddd this film, especially the last segment in this video excerpt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN2i-XJo5鈥?/a>
Or is it more probable since the youngest generation seems to be early indoctrinated, and becomes an audio-visual couch potato right off the bat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXjcJ8Wfi鈥?/a> /// that a live operatic performance will no longer be commercially feasible to produce?
Alberich
BOX AT THE OPERA vs. an arm-chair/DVD: what will be the ultimate impact of technology on the world of opera?
More thought-provoking good questions, Alberich! We should pay you to post these. You have a way of keeping this forum interesting!
I think the live operatic performance hasn%26#039;t been quite commercially feasible for a long time now. Even in opera%26#039;s heyday it was heavily subsidized (by the monarchy and then by the state and now by both the state and private donors... you can have a sold out performance and the box office revenue it generates will still only cover less than 50% of the show%26#039;s expense. The rest has to be made up by private sponsors and grants). I think the evolution is moving toward more cinematic approach to opera staging. Already most of the A list singers have learned to act for the cameras as well as for the live auditorium audience.
With the pirates actively abusively posting too much of the commercially available opera DVDs on networking sites like Youtube, though, I think we will be seeing an increase in live (or taped) opera performance internet streaming (for a fee, like on the Met Player) rather than more commercial DVDs. I guess that would help keeping the opera houses the same size as they are now (rather than getting bigger to squeeze in more paying seats) as the opera houses can make up some revenue with paid access to its video archive online.
In my opinion, the technological advances will ultimately help opera survive even if it does foster unrealistic expectations from the audience (in the live opera house you don%26#039;t get close up shots of performers and you can%26#039;t crank up the volume like you could on your stereo. The show is also done in one go rather than being spliced from the best bits of a few recorded performances like you get in most opera DVDs or CDs). The Met is still selling the usual numbers of tickets even though it is doing HD broadcast of its shows to movie theaters (even in NYC itself). I%26#039;ve attended a performance or more of every opera done at my local company for the last 3 years and can say that the HD opera broadcast to the cinemas here have not negatively affect ticket sales to live performances.
If anything, I%26#039;m seeing more opera newbies going to see live opera now than I did a few years ago... and I should admit that these newbies make a more enthusiastic crowd than some overly critical old timers who are more bent on detecting flaws in a performance than they are in enjoying the show in all its gores and glories. I sat next to two newbies while attending Nabucco at the San Diego Opera last night and they were quite awed that the singers could sing such music so well and audibly over the really loud chorus even though they weren%26#039;t microphoned and were moving around quite a bit. Hardly anybody left the theater before the show was over (that%26#039;s 3 1/2 hrs of not very well known music). So... I%26#039;m not seeing the demise of the opera in the near future.
I think exposure is good. And the new technology is allowing opera more exposure than it had enjoyed since the mid 1900%26#039;s. Even though many opera fans dislike the idea of opera reality shows on tv and cross-over singers, they have really given the art form exposure to the audience that wouldn%26#039;t dream of giving %26#039;opera%26#039; a try in the first place. And, for all the bad singing involved in those shows, opera is really shown in a good light and it is making an impression on young non-opera fans that this music theater genre commands some respect for its technical difficulties and for how engaging and beautiful it can sound when done even half-competently.
Ultimately we need to keep drawing in new audience, a small percentage of whom may graduate into becoming opera lovers who will pay to attend performances and buy recordings, generating revenues that will keep this art form alive into the future. Listening and performing style will keep changing with each generation regardless. It has always been that way. It is useless bemoaning how the newer audience display a different set of priorities of what they enjoy in an opera performance than the older ones do. We did it to our predecessors, they will do it to us. In a way, it is refreshing to have things to argue with other opera goers about rather than having everyone enjoying everything the same way all the time, I think. ;)
BOX AT THE OPERA vs. an arm-chair/DVD: what will be the ultimate impact of technology on the world of opera?
Live has to survive in order to make broadcast versions available. I%26#039;ve stated before that I don%26#039;t like the contrived overproduced movies of opera. Opera needs to be presented on stage in an opera house.
... Real time, they can broadcast or record from there.
Of course live performances will survive. Every generation mourns the passing of something it held dear- when I%26#039;m older (at 17 I can%26#039;t make too many judgments about how the world used to be) I%26#039;m sure I%26#039;ll do the same. Yet, somehow, we all keep jogging along just fine. Despite the prevalence of portable music players, streaming Internet radio, Youtube, etc- there is still a thriving market for live concerts of popular music. People have been mourning the death of classical music for as long as there have been new styles, but it%26#039;s done a decent job of holding on.
The effect of technology on classical music will be a very positive one. I have family in the Midwest, in a medium-size town- where the Met%26#039;s live broadcasts to movie theaters regularly sell out. Technology is making classical music more accessible to the average person. When my uncle (who is now a church music director) was my age in Pensacola, he had to wait three months for a Deutsche-Grammophone record of Bach%26#039;s B-Minor mass to come in from Germany. Today, I have terrabytes of music accessible to me in a matter of minutes. Personally, I think that%26#039;s a change for the better.
Classical music will change and adapt to my generation- just as it did to yours, Alberich, and the generations before you. Much of what we think of as a long-standing tradition just has its roots in the 1960s, or 1940s- and music shouldn%26#039;t be a dead, dusty relic. Personally, I would like to see operas with more creative sets- don%26#039;t show me every last detail, let me fill in some of the blanks myself. This is a departure from the operas I have seen, but I think it would be a welcome change. Also, honestly, I would be okay with opera companies giving their singers a hand with some sort of amplification- orchestras today are bigger, and playing louder instruments, than for much of operatic history. With quality equipment, it could enable singers to have more comfortable and longer careers. I don%26#039;t think this should be mandated, maybe it wouldn%26#039;t work- but maybe it would help.
Point is, classical music will survive, evolve, and adapt, just like it always has.
And, as something of a side note, I%26#039;m getting rather sick of this view of my generation as dribbling mindless slaves to whatever new fancy touch-screen bit of technology that comes out. Sure, some people act like that, but that%26#039;s a personality type that%26#039;s always existed. Boudica%26#039;s husband had a shopping addiction- some people are just wired to always want the shiniest new thing. I own a cell phone, two computers (a desktop I bought and built myself, and a netbook) and had an iPod for quite a while- I hope to get a replacement player soon. My social circle is similarly %26#039;wired.%26#039; Yet, I have started a second instrument (the oboe) at 17, have been playing piano since I was 10, and hope to compose %26#039;classical%26#039; music as a career. A close friend of mine, just a few months younger than me, hopes to be an opera singer. Neither one of us was raised in households where it was expected we would take that route, yet we are both drawn to it. I have discovered much of the music I now can%26#039;t get enough of through Youtube. Sure, some people are stupid, materialistic slugs, but you can%26#039;t blame Nintendo for that.
Technology is merely a tool- people, for better or worse, stay the same.
Ask yourself this: Would you rather have armchair sex (voyeur porn) or the real thing? Would you rather have a real romance or watch countless romantic movies?
For many different reasons both have their place in life, just like either live music (rock, opera, symphonic, etc) or listening to recorded music. The truth is there will always be a specific number of people who will go to live performances (myself included when my budget allows for it) and technical advances will never replace live performances to this specific group of people. But you have to understand that the percentage of opera lovers in this country is quit small compared to lovers of other types of music and most opera lovers %26#039;have%26#039; to be armchair opera lovers because there just aren%26#039;t that many opera houses around the country. If you don%26#039;t happen to live in one of the larger metropolitan cities you%26#039;re not going to be seeing opera live unless you%26#039;re wealthy enough to travel, book reservations, get advanced tickets, plan on spending that time out of town.
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The local ballet company dismissed their orchestra in favor of recorded music to save money. The patrons decided to save money by not attending. One patron wrote to the newspaper %26quot;Live dancers plus live orchestra equals live audience.%26quot;
The local opera company has live singers and a live orchestra and is financially stable. They have reduced the number of productions this year in response to the economy.
The %26quot;Live from the Met%26quot; and other similar productions are great advertisements for the live performances. Potential patrons can decide either to change the channel after fifteen minutes or watch the entire broadcast and be inspired to purchase tickets for a local production.
Nothing, ever, beats the actuality, immediacy and experience of attending a live performance.
Look at the generations already used to video, virtual near everything, and how they flock to a live rock / pop concert, often paying for the priviledge of sitting in a stadium with a view so distant the performers appear so miniscule they have to be %26#039;enlarged%26#039; by overhead or upstage video. Attendees are often paying as much or more to attend these events than the cost of a prime seat in an Opera House or Symphony Hall.
Nothing, even living in a country at war, has ever stopped live performance; similarly, nothing has ever been able to stay the desire of people to %26#039;go out.%26#039;
I worry more about the %26#039;music museum%26#039; phenomena, where nothing new in classical is hardly ever performed, even early 20th century repertoire (Puccini excepted).
The younger generation unused to classical music is no more interested in classical music from 1886 than they would care for popular music from 1886. I%26#039;ve found I get a much more interested response from this crowd if they are first introduced to more contemporary classical music - after which they then can explore earlier repertoire, %26#039;moving back in time%26#039; at their own pace and following their own curiosity.
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