First of all, I'd like to talk about a smart phone app that I really find to be underrated. It's kinda like Foursquare, the "places" feature on Facebook mobile, and Yelp. I am hopelessly addicted to this app called GetGlue that I have on my Android. It's really cool. Unlike Foursquare and FB mobile, you don't check into places but you check into stuff you're doing at the moment; e.g. reading a book or watching a cool movie. It's free and you earn stickers while checking into things, like Foursquare.
Now that I've got that off my chest, here's a topic I've wanted to share for awhile now. For those who know me really, really well, I'm into opera. No, not the software, the OTHER opera, y'know, the art form where singing is the only form of dialogue? I saw my first opera as a senior in high school but truly didn't get into it until about 4 years ago. Anyhoo, the specific opera I want to talk about is Richard Wagner's Tannhaüser (pronounced TANN-HOIZHER). I have a DVD of a 1980s performance of it. I even had a ticket to see the closing performance of it at my local opera house but I decided not to go because it was on Super Bowl Sunday (God forbid I miss the Super Bowl; I didn't even know about DVR at the time).
The opera itself takes place in 13th century Germany (well, in a principality, since Germany was not united at the time) and based upon the legend of a minnesänger (kind of like a roving troubador, if you will) named Tannhaüser who is torn between lust and Godly purity. He lusts after the goddess Venus and loves his on-again-off-again virginal (and seemingly perfect) girlfriend Elisabeth. The story deals with how Tannhaüser deals with his sins and desires and in one part of the opera, he goes off with a group of pilgrims to Rome to see the pope for absolution of his sins. Unfortunately the pope says his chances of salvation are slim because of his blasphemous actions (worship of Venus rather than God) and that leaves will sprout from his papal staff before Tannhaüser gets admitted into Heaven. Eventually, his sins are absolved, but only after the death of someone he loves.
The reason why I bring this up is because I see parallels with this opera and the Gospel. In my opinion (and this is how I "interpret" art, if you will), Tannhaüser represents every man and woman's struggle to remain pure, sinless, etc. etc. He tries to fight off his desires but they keep coming back. He tries to atone for his sins by hanging out with pilgrims going to Rome probably wearing sackcloth and/or rags and doing the self-flaegellation thing. Once Tannhaüser goes to Rome, the pope tells him that he cannot obtain salvation because of the sins he committed. First of all, no man, not even the pope, has ANY say in who gets to go to Heaven with God. That's God's judgement call, but the pope is right in that our sins keep us apart from God.
Unfortunately, someone Tannhaüser loves has passed away and he prays for that person to pray for his salvation and he is finally forgiven of his sins. Some people might dismiss this as Medieval Catholic doctrine and it is, in a way. However, I see it in another way: the person who died represents a Christ figure, someone who is perfect and pure to carry on the transgressions of a sinner in death. In a way, the opera represents mankind's struggle against sin toward perfection and that we, as a sinful human species, cannot obtain perfection and that salvation is through Jesus Christ, God's only Son, Who is perfect. I don't think that this was Richard Wagner's interpretation but, then again, art is objective and people can see different sides to it.
If this is confusing, I can totally understand.
Off to bed. Gotta get up early for work. Fin.
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