How Not To Review an Opera: Jay Nordlinger

 

Now, the National Review was founded by a guy who wanted to brand AIDS patients' a$$es and forearms, so you can't really argue with what they deem fit to be printed in the magazine -- it's okay. Still, it's somewhat perplexing that they took the trouble to send a guy all the way to Forth Worth, in the beautiful State of Texas, in this era of budget cuts, to write a 389-word review of a new opera.

The magazine actually gave more space to the piece -- 1935 words. But Jay Nordlinger used up almost all of it to instruct the reader on the cruelty of Che Guevara and the perfidy of nowadays liberals. He only had a few paragraphs left to mention, in passing, that he actually went to the opera that night.

It sort of makes one nostalgic for the voice-obsessed opera reviewers who don't listen to -- or care, or know about -- anything but the voices, and who relegate the conductor -- who's just the person in charge of the whole show, after all -- to the last paragraph, out of courtesy, in a (short) sentence or so. 

Re: William F. Buckley's ideas on the AIDS epidemic, one has to at least be comforted that, even if Reynaldo Arenas was indeed an AIDS victim, Nordlinger didn't mention government-mandated tattoo parlors in his review.

Comments

[patrick]

Well, it's the National review,after all.The Opera world is a communist homosexual cell?So that's where they all went..."The Cuban revolution is one of the most mythologized — i.e., lied about — events in modern history".Uh,like Ronald Reagan now being hailed as a great president, when In reality he was a senile bigot who dreamed of conquest?Mercy.One remembers the times when these fascists were not so emboldened.And,by the way,Jay, most people i know,who read neither the NR nor the NYRB think Fidel is a stalinist thug gangster asshole.And Franco was a fascist thug gangster asshole.....What the world needs, more right wing Opera?!Gadzooks

[qui]

I don't think it's very well written. To begin with, he rambles and rambles about politics, while the actual opera itself is given very little attention. Had I written something on this order when I was in my Advanced Expository Writing class in Undergraduate School, I would have received a D with an admonishment from my professor. A lot of students in Undergraduate School wrote like this, and I was no exception. This is what we used to refer to as a "snow job", which is a transparent device one uses when they don't know their subject very well.

Of course, this is only mine own very humble opinion.

[Kevin Edmund Youkilis 4MVP]

The National Review makes tabloids look almost respectable, they're just populist trash but NR it's a fascist magazine. Back in the Fifties, Buckley was just another segregationist looking for an outlet. He just built himself one.

[Doug D.]

I'm super-de-duper liberal, and so are all of my friends. I have never once heard anyone talk about the Cuban revolution or Castro or any of his policies as a good thing.

"The Cuban revolution is one of the most mythologized — i.e., lied about — events in modern history." The only myth in this article is the idea that "The Left," as Mr. Nordlinger so epithetically puts it, likes Cuban communism.

[Rogier]

This article didn't really do Arenas or Before the Night Falls any favors. Nice one, OC.

[Rachel R.]

At first read, I was happy that opera was allowed so much space to be discussed. But when you break the review out of the conspiracy padding: no. Sadly, even at 400 words it's still longer than what some of those other lowbrow rags print as opera reviews.

But really, what should we expect from a former speech writer of GWB??

[mproust]

And Quentin Crisp called AIDS a fad... I guess that opera reviews are now subject to political correctness. Jay Nordlinger said nothing one could object to, period. His opinions are his opinions and they are as valid as anyone's on OperaChic. If you are now going to pummel a reviewer because he writes for a specific (albeit rightwing) magazine, you are as narrow minded, shortsighted, and bigoted as you accuse him of being.

[Paul]

Patrick, I’d be interested to know which "Right Wing Operas" you’re talking about. “The Handmaid’s Tale”? “The Grapes of Wrath”? “Owen Wingrave”? “An Inconvenient Truth”?

Or could you actually be thinking of “The Council”? If not, maybe you should listen to it sometime.

[Bobby]

I noted last year after attending "Louise" that opera was mimicking our society. The artsy crowd that lures Louise (and sadly captures her) reminded me of Obama, and the family that wanted to keep her from the evil Bohemians reminded me of the America that we strongly protect.

Mr. Nordlinger and National Review is a serious magazine that has published serious opinions since 1955. Those who bash him for writing in a conservative magazine have taken their playbook from Mr. Alinsky. The Consul reminded me of Nazi Germany (but the story of the performance I saw was torn by the real-life tragedy of the soprano playing Magda).

http://hadleyblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/opera-as-metaphor-to-society.html

The Left worships every Communist figure from Lenin ("Earth Day") to Castro and Guevera. We have a President who fits the Communist philosophy. His playbook insults messages of Haydn's choral work Die Jahreszeiten (excerpts of which I've sung last year) and the values of God's Word that is in sacred oratorios and sacred hymns of the past; too many churches today are singing modern rock tunes that have no theology and fit the PC-ified churches today that I've blasted on the blog.

The Modern Left is deep into feelings and refuse to look at details. They don't look inside the numbers or look what's inside for information.