Italian Opera

May 08, 2013 21:00

Tonight we all went over to St. Mark's Church on the south side of the river to hear some excerpts of Italian opera. On the way, I attempted to take some shots of the city at night, but it proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated – I'll definitely have to work on night techniques. The city looks and feels entirely different at night. Italians eat dinner late, so there are still a lot of people out and for the most part, everything is lit pretty well. Although, I've noticed that Florence is not obnoxiously or excessively lit at night; rather, there is just enough light to illuminate the necessities. Also, hotels and restaurants seem to really like their neon signs.

The opera was fantastic. I think I might have been to an opera at one point – if not, I have certainly listened to some in music history courses – but this was by far one of the best performances I have seen. There were three singers (a man and two women) and a piano player who was also a humorous announcer. There is no way I can sufficiently describe the performance in words, but the singers' voices were really strong, and the small church was a perfect venue for the performance. I did recognize a few melodies, and I was intrigued by the fact that the singers were almost always in unison when singing together. I think there were only a few places in which the parts split.