A View From The Bridge

My feelings about William Bolcom’s, A View From The Bridge, are rather ambivalent. Part of me thought the story was twisted and enticing, but NOT as an opera. Would I go out and read the book? Maybe, but I wouldn’t go out and buy a CD of the opera. Class, this semester, has been interesting because a lot of the 20^th Century operas we have looked at don’t fit the “classical” operatic story that you get from Mozart, Puccini, Rossini etc… Twentieth century composers have had to become more creative regarding the story line; how they write the music and the staging, which could be partially attributed to the evolution of time and society.

The Aspern Papers, The Death of Klinghoffer, Satyagraha, Candide, and A View From A Bridge all share something in common; they don’t succumb to the traditional mold of opera. Besides A View From a Bridge, love and deception don’t really come into play. I realize Candide shows the relationship between Candide and Cunegonde, but their relationship isn’t (to me) the forefront of the show. These operas present the idea of the hero in a non-traditional sense; the stories really hone in on real-life, and tangible situations, which deal with social, political and domestic issues. Additionally, none of these operas are particularly humorous nor do they conclude happily-ever-after. Do 20^th Century composers purposely want to highlight the negative aspects of life to bring awareness to our current situations? Is the goal of these operas to evoke a strong reaction, thus provoking thought? I really have no idea, but I do know that some of these stories work, whereas others definitely do not (I say this subjectively). I attribute this challenge to the story line and finding the ideal spot for a climactic moment that induces a response from the audience.

As a general, extremely broad, statement, many people really enjoy Mozart, Rossini, Puccini, and etc operas. Yes, there maybe certain ones that people don’t like, but overall, people tend to be very receptive to the ‘old chestnuts.’ Really folks, who doesn’t love Marriage of Figaro or Tosca???? Contrastingly, I have found, throughout the course of this semester, the class has had differing views on all the operas we have covered. For instance, A View From A Bridge, was well received by some of my classmates, while I was not a fan. This all goes back to whether or not a plot is going to work. I think it’s the combination of choosing a laudable story, but more importantly being able to set it musically. The Death of Klinghoffer was by no means traditional and it was exceedingly controversial, however the music added to the momentum of the story, thus making it successful in my opinion. Conversely, A View From A Bridge, had a horrible story and the music was a confusing mish mash of sound. I thought Bolcom tried to create music specific to each character, plus illustrate his or her emotions, plus create a contrast between the two nationalities, which ended up being a hot mess. I appreciated his ability to write in such a manner that lends well to acting and word inflection, but overall I wasn’t really thrilled with the whole thing, which only validates my opinion that he should have picked a different story!