Falling in Love

Here's a big surprise!  I am totally falling in love with Werther, or rather with Charlotte.  Who would have believed it?  I have been listening to that opera for about five years, and it always left me cold.  Seemed a bit vanilla when compared with Carmen, Dalila, Amneris, and Azucena.

I think the part of me that has fallen in love with Charlotte and that sweet (but terribly sad - what a waste!) domestic story is the part of me that loves and cherishes my partner and my pets (my Siamese cat is named Charlotte - for Charlotte Bronte - by the way).

The fact that when Werther first meets Charlotte she is fixing dinner for her younger siblings is very touching, as is the fact that when the curtain comes up on her big scene she is reading letters.  Letters!  How civilized! And no doubt they were written by hand.  And I love the children singing.  If I can organize a concert version of the opera maybe some of the children from the church would like to sing.

Or maybe trying to do the whole opera is too ambitious.  I have to see if I have the stamina for all those high As.  When I was singing Azucena the As were like nothing.  All I was worried about was that B flat.  And I have sung the Judgment Scene from Aida.  I suppose if I just did that one scene it would make the most sense to have the opening scene from Faust precede it (which I wouldn't sing in).  Then there could be a "Goethe" theme of some kind.

In other news, because I was bored out of my skull,  I took a look at the Forum, which I had sworn I would not do, as I always end up feeling bad about myself when I post things (usually) because either people ignore me, or someone says something that makes me feel inferior and inadequate. But surprise! I actually found something helpful. A woman who helps musicians write mission statements. So I contacted her. I was pleasantly surprised that she wrote back to me and gave me a link to a tool that I could use to write a mission statement. The mission statement is for a group I would like to start, if I can only find the right people. I had posted something on the Forum about looking for these types of people, but no one understood really what I meant. They thought I just meant people to sing with, but that's not the issue. The issue is to find people my age at my level (preferably a little less skilled and less experienced) so that I won't feel at the bottom of the food chain, but people who have big enough voices (and egos) to want to perform solo arias or opera scenes or even art songs in a concert, not just choral music.

So for what it's worth, here's the statement:

My mission is to provide singing opportunities for late-starting nontraditionally trained classical solo singers age 50 and older through having performance classes that will culminate in an annual (or more frequent) concert.  As a result, I will feel empowered and will be able to provide performance opportunities for singers ignored in conventional settings. 

 So I will wait to see what feedback I get about it.