The operetta world...

I have, of late, been playing a Pandora radio channel in my office. (It got hard to get my beloved KING-fm to work - I don't know if they had bandwidth or server issues or what, but anyway, their Evergreen channel just got too repetitive for me).

The basic channel I keep on is what I call the "Johann Strauss II Channel," which I set up by telling it I liked Strauss. (These days, I need something VERY LIGHT playing in my office, because there is so much that is heavy in life going on around me).

Recently, realizing I was getting the same little round of stuff repeatedly, I told it I also liked Elgar and Lehar.

So it's been feeding a lot of operetta and light opera music.

And I realized this morning, after hearing one of the songs (I don't know the operetta well enough to know which one) from Merry Widow yet again, I realized: in the world of operetta, it seems like everyone has much more fun than the real world. Yes, there are "horrible" things that happen but they tend to be more along the lines of your thinking the person you "LIKE-liked" is in love with another, when they are actually in love with you, and it all gets resolved in the third act. (Unlike grand opera, where everyone pretty much dies.)

As regressive as it may be, sometimes I think I'd like to live in that operetta world. As I said, everyone seems to be having more fun. There are more spontaneous parties. Men seem to laugh a lot. There's dancing, and everyone is a good dancer, and generally no one goes unpartnered.

(Okay, a tiny girly admission: though I don't watch it often, I do kind of like the couples' figure skating or the ballroom dancing competitions. I think I figured out why. It's the fantasy that it presents, and it's a very "girly" fantasy I think: the fantasy is that you have a partner, and he understands you and you understand him to the point that you can execute these complex moves without even talking. It's like it's this pure communication, or something. Oh, I know, in reality, it takes many agonizing hours of working through choreography to make it look good, and some "couples" are not only not actual couples, they don't necessarily like each other all that much. But still. It's an appealing fantasy, to have someone strong enough to lift you up and dip you and who will hold your hand and not be embarrassed about it.)

Or like old musicals. I sometimes think life would be better if people would spontaneously break into song, and that it was a song that was relevant to what was going on at that moment. (Of course, in this fantasy world, everyone could actually sing and dance). Or if there were production numbers. Or something.

It seems like enough of modern life is kind of grey and blah, we really need more fluffy waltzes and lighthearted songs.

Actually, one reason I love the Strauss (and other) waltzes is that in some respect, they're so unnecessary. Gloriously unnecessary. Their sole purpose (AFAIK) is to make people happy. They are kind of like whipped cream. Whenever I'm out somewhere and order chai tea or hot chocolate, they always ask if I want whipped cream. And I always say yes. (Yes, I know, I could probably do without the calories, but whatever: I almost never get chai or hot chocolate out). But the whipped cream (well, provided it's not that shaving-cream like oily stuff that some places cheap out and use) just makes it that much nicer, that much more of a treat.

It's not necessary, but it's nice.

I wonder, sometimes, if we've lost (in this current mood of economic malaise) some of the things that are not necessary, but are nice to have. I know I've had periods of going into hyper-frugality mode (out of some vague fear of how the tax structure may change, or whether we'll be asked to accept a pay cut this coming fall, or the price of food/gas/whatever spiking way up). Or like when I'm super busy and go down into what I call "survival mode," where I'm doing what needs to get done (the classwork, the research, the paperwork, stuff like laundry) but doing very little of the stuff I do for the simple joy of doing it.

And it seems like things get very grey and very sad quickly, and it's like I forget the possibilities of other things - the things I used to do or used to enjoy.

I think we all need some unnecessary but nice things in our life, and listening to Strauss reminds me of that.

but I still wish life was more like a comic operetta.