# My wife caught me last night... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2008, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790 "2008-06-13T11:44:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/1 "2008-06-13T11:44:34Z")
The first time I tried it was this past weekend. My wife and **Li’lChief** were at the movies with one of his friends. I had three hours all to myself. There was nothing on TV, I stumpled over it, so I figured “what the Hell.” \*\*MrsChief \*\* had to take \*\*Li’l Chief \*\* to buy his summer reading books for school last night, so I decided to push my luck and do it again. I drew the curtains in the living room and turned off the lights. I unplugged the phone. And settled on to the couch. I may be hooked. I was so engrossed I didn’t even hear them pull in the driveway. It was like I was in another world. The lights popped on at about 9:15 (It’d been an hour and 15 minutes but it seemed like ten!). I snapped my head around and saw MrsChief and my son standing in the doorway to the dining room. “WHAT are you WATCHING?!!” my wife sheiked as she physically turned my 14-year-old boy around and bodily pushed him back into the dining room so he wouldn’t see. “Aren’t you embarrassed?!!” she screamed. “Um, Sweetie… there wasn’t anything on… and… uh…” “So you watch that?!!” “Um, yeah. It’s pretty good. It’s… uh… _La Boheme_ by Puccinni.” “Well, _I’m_ not watching it! I’ll be in the bedroom!!” And she huffed off slamming the bedroom door. Yes. 'Tis true. I watched (and really liked) the opera last night. I’d been flipping channels Sunday and as I swung past PBS I caught the famous line “Figaro! Figaro! FEE-GAH-ROH!!!” and stopped. Five minutes later I was laughing. Ten minutes later I was impressed. By the end of the first act I was (apparently) hooked. I’m not sure how you say it in Italian, but it was _The Barber of Seville_. And I loved every minute of it. Last night, I saw that PBS was airing _La Boheme_ and I knew that was a popular opera. So I tuned in again. It was another Met production like Sunday. And. It. Was. Awesome. I was actually tearing up when Mimi died at the end of the second act. So there it is. Out in the open. For all to point at and laugh at. Go ahead mock the Deadhead who likes opera. I hope PBS airs more… ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/2 "2008-06-13T11:59:08Z")
Earth people do not understand us opera fans. Carmen anyone? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/3 "2008-06-13T12:18:15Z")
I saw my first live opera, TOSCA, when I was in L.A. two weeks ago, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. LOVED IT! And next year, they’re gonna have DAS RHINEGOLD and DER WALKURE. Yep- if I can’t make both, I’m at least making that last one (the Magic Fire music when Wotan is singing his mournful sentence on Brunnhilde really gets to me). ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/4 "2008-06-13T12:22:58Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] Earth people do not understand us opera fans. Carmen anyone? [/QUOTE] Carmen Biryani? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/5 "2008-06-13T12:25:45Z")
[QUOTE=ChiefScott] I was actually tearing up when Mimi died at the end of the second act. [/QUOTE] So would I, wondering what the hell they’re going to do for acts three and four… 🙂 (She dies at the end of the fourth act). Anyway, welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/6 "2008-06-13T12:38:43Z")
You can watch Met operas at quite a few high end movie theatres throughout North America. My local movie house has an exceptional sound system, a huge screen and big comfy chairs, so the Met’s Live HD shows rock! ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/7 "2008-06-13T12:39:09Z")
[QUOTE=fachverwirrt] So would I, wondering what the hell they’re going to do for acts three and four… 🙂 (She dies at the end of the fourth act). Anyway, welcome. [/QUOTE] Excuse the novice, please. I thought it was Act I, scenes 1 and 2; then intermission; then Act II, scenes 1 and 2 (or 3 and 4). No? ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/8 "2008-06-13T12:48:17Z")
[QUOTE=ChiefScott] Excuse the novice, please. I thought it was Act I, scenes 1 and 2; then intermission; then Act II, scenes 1 and 2 (or 3 and 4). No? [/QUOTE] Intermission is generally between acts II and III (In Boheme, at least). Boheme’s a relatively short opera, so the acts are short. There’s no reason why your division wouldn’t work, but Puccini didn’t write it that way. Anyway, didn’t mean to make a big deal; opera can be confusing. Keep at it. You live in a pretty good place for being an opera fan. Check out some live performances; there’s really no comparison. ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/9 "2008-06-13T13:13:30Z")
No big deal, I’m just learning. So to get it straight, in opera there are no scenes just acts. What other operas should a novice catch? Didn’t Mozart write a couple? Are there any “comedy” operas? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/10 "2008-06-13T13:19:45Z")
**ChiefScott** , my great-uncle José Luis was a Baroque music specialist. He could drill a hole in your ears explaining the myriad ways in which the movement from camera music to big theaters brought over by the popularization of opera trashed, trashed I tell you, the world of vocal training. Say Verdi and he’d just melt into a happy puddle, though 😛 For “comedy” operas, try The Merry Widow (by Franz Lehar) or The Bat (Strauss) ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/11 "2008-06-13T13:29:29Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] Earth people do not understand us opera fans. Carmen anyone? [/QUOTE] I guess I’m an alien in more ways than my residency. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/12 "2008-06-13T13:41:16Z")
I’m not a big opera fan, but one night one of the HD channels I flipped by was showing a performance of whichever that one is with the clown - Pagliaci? (See, told you I knew nothing). I was captivated and couldn’t turn the channel. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/13 "2008-06-13T13:41:19Z")
[QUOTE=ChiefScott] So to get it straight, in opera there are no scenes just acts. [/quote] Not necessarily. There’s no hard and fast rule for divisions. That’s just the breakdown for _Boheme_. Others are broken down into Acts and scenes. Some, like _Das Rheingold_ are broken down into scenes with no acts (it’s technically a two and a half hour one-act opera). Really, it’s just up to how the composer chooses to divide things. If you define “Act” as “something which has an intermission after it”, then I suppose _Boheme_ does (normally) have two acts, but if you look in a score, Puccini divided it into four. How things are broken down in actual performance is going to depend upon the director and other factors (like how much money the company has; most companies can’t afford to have their shows go too long, as the orchestra union starts charging overtime after three hours). The only way to really be sure of these things is to look at the score. > [@](#): > > What other operas should a novice catch? Didn’t Mozart write a couple? More than a couple. He wrote opera continually through his whole life. The Big Four are _Le Nozze di Figaro_ (which is, sort of, the sequel to _Barber of Seville_, although Mozart set the opera thirty or so years before Rossini did his; there is another setting of _Barber_ which predates _Figaro_ by a couple of years; they are based on a trilogy of plays by the French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais), _Don Giovanni_, _Cosi fan tutte_, and _Die Zauberfloete_ (I’m too lazy to properly code my diacriticals today). Of these, the most accessible is Zauberfloete; the others feature a great deal of [recitative](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recitative), which turns some people off. > [@](#): > > Are there any “comedy” operas? Tons. You already saw one (_Barber of Seville_). Gilbert and Sullivan is considered “light” opera or operetta, and is generally comedic. Puccini has a one-act comedy, _Gianni Schicchi_ and Verdi has a couple, although the only one worth seeing (or listening to) is _Falstaff_, based on Shakespeare’s _Merry Wives of Windsor_ (with some _Henry IV_ thrown in). Technically, all of the Mozart I listed above is comedy, although rarely is it laugh out loud funny (especially _Don Giovanni_). Opera buffo (comic opera) describes a form more than it does actual content. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/14 "2008-06-13T13:53:07Z")
[QUOTE=ChiefScott] What other operas should a novice catch? [/QUOTE] Wagner. [Der Ring des Nibelungen.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Ring_des_Nibelungen) I include a [satire link.](http://elmaltes.blogspot.com/2006/03/anna-russell-ring.html) [QUOTE=ChiefScott] Are there any “comedy” operas? [/quote] [Die Fledermaus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Fledermaus) is funny; I’ve not heard it. Gilbert and Sullivan have a lot of comic opera. ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/15 "2008-06-13T13:54:14Z")
Thanks for the info, **fachverwirrt**! And thanks for the linky. I’ll now be spending my spare time today surfing Wiki for more operatic info! I checked the PBS website and next weekend “Great Performances at the Met” is airing four 1 act plays by Puccini. One of them is probably the comedy you alluded to. ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/16 "2008-06-13T13:55:46Z")
You know mods, if’n you guys feel this thread has gotten all Cafe Society-y, you may send it there… ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/17 "2008-06-13T13:56:57Z")
Just this a.m. my wife asked me if I wanted to go see Tosca. I promptly responded “No.” Pushing slightly she observed that someone we know will be in it. I told her that I had recently been stricken by my apparent decreasing ability to even politely tolerate things I do not like. As I know for a fact that I do not like opera, I am unwilling to submit her or anyone else to my childish, petulant behavior were I to go. I think she appreciated my honesty… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/18 "2008-06-13T14:13:52Z")
My wife caught me watching Wagner’s Rings once and she was pretty upset. Now she tolerates my rare indulgances only as long as she does not have to be in the same room. For four short Puccini pieces I might have to “suggest” an extended visit with her mother though. \*“But most of all you’ve got to hide it from the kids. And here’s to you Mrs. Robinson, heaven holds a place for those who pray, hey hey hey.” \* ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/19 "2008-06-13T14:28:48Z")
Moving thread to Cafe, That’s what I do today… [sub]Say it to the tune of “La Donna è Mobile.” It sorta works.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790/20 "2008-06-13T14:34:48Z")
That exact same thing happened to me, only instead of an opera, it was a porn movie. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-caught-me-last-night/452790.md?page=2)