K. 51, La Finta Semplice, Marito io vorrei

As I have said, I have been chewing on Mozart's Opera La Finta Semplice for a spell. I'm trying focus. Trying to figure out what I want to write. "Can I devote enough words to one blog?" I've asked my self. No. So, I'll hit a few chunks here and there. A La Finta Semplice series is a'coming. This is a crucial benchmark work in Mozart's life. 

La Finta Semplice. 'The pretend simpleton.' Why pretend to be a simpleton? Wouldn't you want people to know you're smart? Hmmm. Children, until a certain age, are obliviously honest. They spit out whatever they're are thinking and feeling. And, they often surprise adults with their comprehension. Of course, this honesty makes it hard to get away with things. And, it also heaps expectations. I know if my kids are capable of something, I expect them to do it. Then, they turn the age where they learn to 'play dumb.' Oh, I see this tactic used all the time from the boys at the residency where I work. "Ah... Well... I didn't know that we weren't supposed... yada." Not buying it. Not buying it.

I can hardly blame them. I've done it. I still do. Even this blog is a shell of me playing dumb. From time-to-time I tell my lazy self, these post don't need to be perfect. I've out right declared that I'm a troglodyte. They expect me to be stupid. "So what, if I get something wrong?" 

And, poor Mozart. He laid all his talent aces on the table at a very early age. He lost any chance of being the pretend simpleton. And, he may have never had to have worried about it up to this work. A gob of effort poured into a full length opera. Never to be performed in the city having requested it. Maybe only a patronizing pity performance was later requested from the Archbishop a year later.

So, why pretend to be simple? I think sometimes, it simply makes life easier. Even in the realm of love. That's why I chose the aria marito io vorrei. A key motivator of simplicity (not the right use of the word, but I'm using it anyway).  Sung by Giacinta, this aria speaks of a woman who wants love. She has recently had a bit of a spat with her love. Realizing the work a relationship takes, she sings with a longing voice. A pining voice. A voice we have all bellyached within our lives. "I really really want something. I just don't want to deal with all the strife it takes to get it." Giacinta's actual words, "I want a husband, but without the work. To have him if he suits me, to leave him if he is troublesome... I just want him to do whatever I want him to do." No one today in our selfless society says such babble. 

And, we too want our life goals to come easy. I want my work accepted by the masses after the first draft. I want to create what I want to create, without catering or even seeking what others might be interested in. But, life is not that easy. I'm not that great that I can just whip out something without work and get others to like it. Even if I was that talented, it wouldn't matter. Mozart was, but he still couldn't get everyone to swoon over all his stuff. 

Sure, you can tell me we need to follow our happy-hippy dreams, but we can't expect them to come easy. And, we can't expect to be entitled to them. (I'm yelling at myself about this all the time.) It is hard. Most dreams won't come true by playing dumb. And so, I'm reminded of something I wrote from my book Schizic.