MUSIC, FAITH, CULTURE

JAMES MEENA THE VALUE OF MUSIC USIC, AITH, ULTURE M F C

Each of us hears music in our way, based on our own experieces, attitudes, development, and beliefs. Because that empathy is so highly individualized, it is impossible to measure the impact or even accurately describe why a piece of music moves us. It is human nature, good or bad, to use quantifiable metrics to determine value. “What job do you have?” “How much money do you make?” “Which schools did you attend?” - compared to someone else. But what metrics do we use for music when no objective baseline is possible? Is it simply the number of downloads a piece receives? Do we count the number of notes Mozart used compared to Shostakovich? Or, measure the decibels of applause? Instead, when we hear a piece of music, we are under the control of the artist who created it. We listen to what the composer thought and felt at the time of creation, and thus compels us to participate in the feelings and ideas expressed in the music. It is a brilliant form of hypnosis. Tastes in music change over time. To Mozart’s generation, Bach’s music was ‘old’ – revered, yes, but as an academic reveres a historical passage. When we discuss a work like Porgy and Bess, perhaps we can use historical and cultural context to determine its value: what did the piece mean when written, what does it mean today, and what of it matters to whom? Whether you like Porgy and Bess or not, it is valuable as a work that reflects the tea of the time. Created in the 1930s, Porgy and Bess steeped in debatable implications of that era in America. However, it is undeniably an essential work for the opportunities it presented, and continues to contribute, to black artists and directors. At the same time, it is a paradoxical work to approach for its demeaning stereotypes of the inhabitants of Catfish Row, which reflect the general attitudes of white America in the ’30s, even for a progressive artist like Gershwin. Opera Carolina’s production strives to respect the astute aspects of the story, of which there are many. Porgy and Bess is a work about an isolated community and the struggles it encounters. Yet, even the most reprehensible community members, Crown and Sportin’ Life, are part of the community. The pimp/drug pusher Sportin’ Life shoots craps with the boys, and when Jake’s boat capsizes and his wife Clara runs into the storm, only Crown risks his life to try to rescue her. A member of his community is in danger and he responds. There are lessons to be learned from the community in Catfish Row.

I hope you will experience Porgy and Bess not just for the great tunes but for the uplifting values of faith and community at its center. Respectfully,

James Meena

Artistic Director & Editor in Chief