the force of destiny

hm. last week a couple of us decided to enculturate ourselves by attending the opera at the met. not just any opera: verdi's la forza del destino, which is apparently the opera for the serious opera-tor. four hours long. i was entirely expecting to be moved to tears, much like julia roberts a la pretty woman, when edward takes her to go see don giovanni. i even dressed up and wore stilettos. alas, no tears, though i was moved to a fit of giggles when leonora died in the most melodramatic fashion. i didn't NOT like it, and i was certainly impressed by the vocal talents of the performers. but i don't think that its true that, as edward lewis says, it is possible to appreciate the opera without also understanding what the performers are singing. next time, i am going to do some serious research prior to attending. the met has a cool feature in the seats that provide "subtitles" but it definitely distracted from the experience.