Quickie Post

I have about five minutes before I have to get dressed to leave, so why not write something? (The more I write, the more I'll be read, and the more I'm read, the more I'll be known.)

I watched Boris Godunov on tv last night. I haven't been to a live opera in over a year (money is tight, and I'd rather spend it on my voice lessons), and I stopped listening to the broadcasts when they changed the station. The reception is too poor to enjoy listening now.

I had never seen Boris before and it was quite a spectacle. I was interested in listening to/watching Marina, as this is a great mezzo role, albeit a small one. She is, of course, everything that I craved about opera and singing: sexy, mean, vain, passionate, a diva, with big hair. The music is less than memorable but my tastes tend to run to the oompah (a friend's disparaging catch-all put-down for Verdi and his immediate predecessors).

Patricia Racette was the host and seeing her got me back on a train of thought that I just can't let go of, namely, how different it is being a Lesbian who wants to sing opera now from what it was like when I was young, and I'm speaking of both sides of the equation. By "both sides", I mean Lesbians singing opera, most notably in romantic leads, are no longer considered outre, being out is acceptable, being out a looking like a lovely woman is acceptable, and being out and not being obsessed with deconstructing what it means to be a Lesbian is also just fine and dandy. And I think it's possible now to be a Lesbian singing opera, and have Lesbian friends, even a "community", who won't disparage you for participating in a "patriarchal" art form, or even for playing a love scene with (goddess strike me dead!) a non-woman!!

I was thinking about this again because (sounds like a non sequitur) I dropped out for all intents and purposes of the LGBT caregiving group I'd been going to. Ido need to talk about caregiving issues, but conversations there (especially with the women) always seem to deterioriate into aforementioned deconstruction, which just sends me into a blinding rage. One woman mentioned in passing that she didn't want to attend meetings (of another group) if there were any bisexual women there (which is how I now define myself) and I just wanted to tear my hair out. Not because I took it personally but because I am so sick and tired and then some of the Lesbian verion of fundamentalism. Really, if I wanted that sort of thing I'd become an Orthodox Jew or join the Assembly of God.

In other news, I think the portamento is working in "Condotta". I also dusted off the Mozart "Laudate Dominum" which has to be sung almost entirely pianissimo and has quite a few "high" Fs. This I can do, I just need to get in the groove. Actually, I don't know if I'll be singing it on May 22 - the choir director was annoyed that the other soloist took it upon herself to assign music for that service, on the other hand he had no objections to my singing the piece itself.

And for Ash Wednesday I'm back in the soprano section singing something with numerous Fs. This I can do, again, I just have to sing it into my voice.