Twas Brillig

Moving on with the now insanely long opera saga.  Blame Novey-Lu.  It’s all her fault.

In those first few days of the war, bombs were flying, air raid sirens ringing, and the security guards were working overtime at the BYU Jerusalem Center, making sure that no one came in or out of our fortress.  Including us.

Fortunately, our fortress had a library which was well-stocked with books and movies.  I read everything.  EVERYTHING!  From Jane Eyre to To Kill a Mockingbird to Byron’s Hebrew Melodies to every. single. Jane Austen novel.   I was 12, people, and I had now read everything people are forced to read in high school and college, and then some.  Some I read twice or three times.

And I watched every movie.  These were almost all art films or musicals or historical documentaries or whatever.

And then, he walked into my life.

It happened quite suddenly and unexpectedly, but somehow, I picked up two things from the library on the same day.   The first was a seminar-on-tape that I listened to.  The speaker was a professor of music who talked about the scientific research showing that listening to classical music (specifically Mozart) was linked to higher intelligence and greater problem-solving skills, along with better social skills, and more clarity and direction in one’s life.  This talk spoke to my very soul.  I was dying to be the smartest, friendliest, funnest, smartest, and smartest person.  :-D  I suddenly took a great interest in Mozart.

And, as it happened, the other thing I picked up that day was the movie Amadeus.  As I watched the movie, I not only fell in love with the bad-boy composer whose music would change the world, but I realized that I actually liked his music too.  (To this day, it’s one of my favorite movies.)

So, thought 12-year-old Brillig, I can be smarter and friendlier by listening to music I already like?

And… thus began the obsession with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  Daddy had a bit of his music collection there in Israel with us.  I found, however, that pretty much the only music he had was opera.  And so?  I delved into opera–but ONLY opera written by Mozart.

I started with The Magic Flute, because it was in German and I could speak German.  The storyline was great—both whimsical and meaningful all at once.  But the music!!  The music resonated with me in a way that nothing before ever had.  From there, I moved on to The Marriage of Figaro and then Don Giovanni.

I’m not quite sure how to explain what this music did for me.   It was like a spiritual experience.  Or like coming home.  Or like entering heaven.  It was like I finally felt understood by someone, something.  It completely consumed me.

My dad was thrilled, my mom confused, and my brother annoyed.  (Hahaha.  That sorta describes my entire relationship with the three of them on all levels, not just music.)

My dad was determined to show me that there were OTHER composers worthy of my attention, but I would hear none of it.  I was a Mozart kinda gal, and nothing BUT Mozart.

I don’t know if any of this would have happened if I hadn’t been trapped in that country, under those circumstances, searching for clarity and meaning and SOMETHING TO FILL THE TIME!  If I’d been outside, in my safe little Utah home, playing with my safe little Utah friends, I might have missed out on something that has become so very important to me.

Next time:  branching out.  Discovering that Verdi and Puccini weren’t the enemy.

(Plus, a lot of you have asked some really great questions about my time in Israel.  I promise I’ll get to answering those… at some point… even with linky-love, cuz I’m awesome like that.)