The power of music

Yesterday's Hyacinths post got me thinking about the power of music. Today I'm sharing a clip from my favorite opera where music causes us to share in a character's despair and determination, and hopefully through that be moved to take action to see that no one else lives through that. Then there is a clip from one of my favorite movies where a character uses music to hold onto beauty and hope, and to avoid despair.

Magda in The Consul is my dream role and this amazing aria is one of the reasons I love this opera. The other reason I love it is because it is real. Yes, these characters are fictional, but the things they face are not. No specific time or place is given as the setting. It was written during the Cold War, but this story is still happening all over the world. Politics and bureaucracies and petty differences keep us from seeing that real people, real lives are at stake. Magda ends the aria with these words: "Oh! the day will come, I know, when our hearts aflame will burn your paper chains. Warn the Consul, Secretary, warn him. That day neither ink nor seal shall cage our souls. That day will come."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIB9cGlLkm0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The next clip is from Shawshank Redemption and pretty much explains itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKPVDjEkC0c&feature=youtube_gdata_player
-- Posted from my iPhone