Local youths sacrificed to the opera gods

The great sacrifice of die Jugend des Landes, the youth of the land, is coming up on Saturday, October 7, 10:00 a.m.. This sacrifice is also known as The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, usually called “The Met Auditions”. The auditions, which are actually a competition, will be held in Crill Hall on the campus of Point Loma Nazarene University.

Why have I bestowed the moniker of the great sacrifice upon this operatic rite of passage? One must attend in order to understand fully but I shall try my best to justify my position.

These young opera singers have been bathed and polished. They have been prepared for the day. They have taken their five arias in at least three languages and buffed them to as high a gloss as possible. There will be no spontaneity on this day. Every pitch and syllable has been carefully put in its place and that is where it must remain.

After months, nay years, of preparation, die Jugend des Landes come out, one by one, onto stage. They state their name and proceed to slit their throats and bleed out for the greater benefit of the opera world.

The opera gods are the old gods. They scoff at the notion of “the sacrifice of praise” which is so popular in neo-Christian models of religiosity. The sacrificial act of a paying compliment falls short of what the opera gods expect. The opera gods accept veneration but they do not confuse it with sacrifice.

A sacrifice is required or the opera gods will allow the forces of tyranny and oppression — well, hold on. The opera gods do not oppose the forces of tyranny and oppression. They oppose the kingdom of Kakania.

Kakania comes from the writings of Viennese satirist Robert Musil. Sustained and systematic mediocrity is the currency of Kakania. What is Kakania? It translates, roughly, as “shitland”. Also noteworthy is Musil's definition of a soul.

Yet who witnesses the sacrifice of die Jugend des Landes? The gathered include but a handful of voice teachers along with a few dozen opera druids who have notarized the sacrifice for decades. Should not more of us be present?

Why, opera gods, why is a sacrifice needed? Because there is no better way to imbue any endeavor with an air of existential gravitas than sacrifice.