The world of opera is one that should always be explored, researched, experienced. For those of us who are regulars, it seems almost habitual to go to the theater, and yet we are always looking for something that can amaze us, please us, inspire us, and, why not, strike the soul. We wondered, therefore, what motivated many people to go to the opera. We identified a list of five reasonable motivations.
1. Learn something new
There is always something to learn at the opera, especially when we go to see “rare,” that is, rarely performed works. We discover new music. We learn a new way of approaching genres that have been written in different centuries, styles and musical currents. We also always learn something from the history, the plot of the opera, and understand that music acquires a definite meaning.
2. A mix of arts
Opera is a mixture of arts: there is music, certainly, as the protagonist but there is also interpretation. The singers are simultaneously also actors and performers. Finally, the protagonists move in a very precise setting, delineated by sets based on ancient taste (think painted backdrops) or on the most modern technologies (projections, etc.). All guided by a direction that determines their actions and movements. There is everything on the stage, and everything is well blended together for the production of an opera that is not only musical but also ultimately a work of art.
3. The beauty of the locations
The theater is the place where the performance takes place, whether it is indoors or outdoors. In any case, there is the pleasure of arriving at a place that is also a “temple” of music and is itself a work of art, all the more so if it is a historic building such as Palazzo Santa Chiara. Theaters are treasure chests of true aesthetic beauty and lend an even more valuable patina to the show one goes to see. Historicity but not only that, size and vastness also help to fascinate the spectator.
4. Sharing
Going to the opera is beautiful, fun and stimulating especially if you go in company, whether you are a fan or not. It is also nice to be able to share emotions, feelings, and points of view about what you have seen. And sharing is the right ingredient that completes the final thought about the performance. Some points of view and some insights we pick up depending on our perception, our sensitivity, our experience. This aspect of sharing, really represents an added value to an evening at the opera.
5. A moment of levity
During and at the end of the performance we are aware that we have been surrounded by beauty, from different points of view. This creates a kind of “dopamine effect”: we feel fulfilled, we are more likely to catch something positive, the mood is better. That is, of course, if the performance met our expectations, but in the theater it is always good not to have any, so that we can make a judgment only after the fact. In any case, positive or not, going to the theater serves to temporarily distract us from the thoughts and problems of daily life. Opera also helps in this regard!