Monday, May 21, 2018

Tiger, Sharpen Your Claws: The music of Zaide

I wonder if Mozart ever got sick of it. The voices, pushing, pulling. His father. Colloredo. His fans. His critics. Salzberger’s. The Viennese. Fighting their wills, in order to pursue his own.

The world is full of people fighting for what they believe is right. Much of the time that means, in reality, they are fighting for what they want. Now, I’m not making grand claims saying that we should never stand up for anything, I just wonder if it would behoove us to reflect more over why were fighting, and what standards we use to determine what’s worth standing up for, before assuming we’re right.

Yet, sometimes we are placed in a position where we have to take a stand. One side or the other. The opera Zaide’s aria Tiger! wetze nur die klauen (Tiger, sharpen your claws) is a song that reflects such a dilemma. A powerful song of fist-shaking defiance, the aria starts right off saying, ‘this is enough.’ She’d lived in luxury, but at a price. A slave to a powerful man. Before this aria she had been beating her brows with guilt, saying, ‘I deserve this. Look at all the other slaves below me. I have it good compared to them.’ Then, she meets Gomatz and everything changes. She tries to escape, and is caught.

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Then, enters Sultan Soliman. A man who is fighting for what he wants. The love of Zaide. As a man, I can identify (not with the cruel tyrannical actions). But, who hasn’t had a crush so strong, that he thought he’d do anything to conjure romantic feelings? But, how far should one take that? Surely gobs of people are taking matters too far. And, Zaide has had enough… 

This is not a battle Zaide wanted. As illustrated by the slower, sadder middle section of the aria where she laments with regret. But as if she’s slapping herself in the face, the music transitions back to fist-shaking defiance. Standing boldly, she sings, ‘The only pleasure, you’ll willingly get from me is my death.’

I wonder if at the Zaide period of Mozart’s life, he believed a fight was inevitable. A fight with his father? Colloredo? Did he daydream about the eloquent words he would use, that would put either in his place? What would it take to get Mozart to stand up for what he wanted? Either way, it was not a battle he wanted to fight.

Now sometimes, people like to push others, to try to get them to fight back. I’m not sure what I think about the principle. I can see merit, but it still bothers me. Henry Ford was a jerk to his son. His son never stood up for himself, and eventually, died. Ford was devastated, and said something akin to, ‘I loved him. I just wanted him to stand up for himself.’ Who wants to be that person? I don’t get it. Yeah, maybe we need them... But if no one in the world was a jerk, would we need people to train others to stand up for themselves?

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