Opera Quotes - page 18

Music would take over at the point at which words become powerless, with the one and only object of expressing that which nothing but music could express. For this, I need a text by a poet who, resorting to discreet suggestion rather than full statement, will enable me to graft my dream upon his dream - who will give me plain human beings in a setting belonging to no particular period or country. ... Then I do not wish my music to drown the words, nor to delay the course of the action. I want no purely musical developments which are not called for inevitably by the text. In opera there is always too much singing. Music should be as swift and mobile as the words themselves. (Claude Debussy)
She can turn anything into gold with that voice, here's the thing: if you speak to a good singing teacher about great opera singers, they will talk about consistency of tone. Or there's a book by Alfred Tomatis about why some people like certain people's voices and other people hate them, like Bob Dylan or me or whoever, some people say, 'Oh, I hate that voice', so there's a thing about people's frequency responses, what they are pleased by. Rihanna has this thick tone, so it's very hard to annoy anybody. View quote
Chris Martin
In a Scottish opera, it ain't over 'till the fat lady bitch-slaps you. View quote
Craig Ferguson
Life is like a movie. You go to a movie, give them your money and they give you a seat and start the film for you. Between eating popcorn and drinking Coca cola, you fall asleep. Now, you didn't pay your $5.00 to sleep in that chair did you? In exactly the same way, through previous karma, life is gained here. It is paid for! (You have earned it!) With Guru's grace, you did the Bhakti, and then God granted you a human body. It is earned, paid for and the title is clear. You can make it or mar it. It's your business. You've paid the money and now you are seated at the opera and the performance has begun. If you sleep and snore through it, who cares? View quote
Harbhajan Singh Yogi