Vision of the Night

Music is like Math to me. I know it’s helpful and beautiful, but I don’t understand it enough. I can recognize the G-Clef, the sharp sign, and the 4/4 signature on a music sheet, but I can’t play any instrument. Sure, I unleash my inner rock star when I’m taking a bath, but that doesn’t count.

Last week, I watched an opera called Vision of the Night with friends from work and from church. Had my knowledge of music been better than that of a two-year old, I would’ve made a comment on the important role of polyphonic tones in moving along the plot of the story. Or I would’ve talked about the subtle differences between the spinet and the grand piano, and which of these would have helped reveal the layers of the characters’ emotions. To do so now would only make me a fraud.

The man behind the opera.

So I will instead say this: I loved the show and enjoyed it immensely because it was based on the story of Job, and there isn’t a more fitting subject for an opera than the life of Job. It has everything: God’s grace and goodness in the midst of adversity, man’s struggle to look for answers, the epic destruction of property and death of kin, betrayal of friends, etc.

It’s like your regular staple of Filipino telenovela, except that it’s way better. And classier.

The person who wrote the music, Antonius Priyanto, is a gentle, amiable fellow that sits several chairs from me in church every Sunday. To hear him exalt God at the end of the performance is music in itself.

Now I want to learn how to play the piano. Is it already too late?

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Thank you Kuya Jayrus A. for the photos.

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