-a couple of hours at the opera-

I've committed a portion of the daytime hours

to a recorded performance of:

“The Gospel According To The Other Mary”––

a contemporary opera by the American composer, John Adams.

this was my second reading,

my first without consulting the libretto.

It always pleases me to unwrap an opera sung in english

accompanied by an english libretto.

I can’t always make out the words otherwise, particularly
with respect to throat-constricted countertenor singing
and if I pause to figure them out along the way, the music can rush by

without so much as a by-your-leave. so it's beneficial to have
an english language libretto accompanying an opera sung in english. 

In act 1, scene 3, Jesus calls out the dead Lazarus to:

“Come Forth!”––  he calls out more than once: “Lazarus, Come Forth!”

now comes music-making of the fiercest notation, deeply dark,
harrowing instrumentation, siren, far from worldly intonation, wailing

nearing "Elektra", building on parched, pungent outer-movements rumbling

in the distance an ultimate "HarumphHarumphHarumph.." 

why, it’s enough to knock a lesser man on his keister, or as with Lazarus,

wake the dead.

                                                                                             
3/27/17