My husband, just as big an opera fan as he is a Mets fan, woke up this morning with what I thought was a very clever analogy.
Having gone to bed last night, frustrated once again, by the Mets loss to the Cardinals, he awoke thinking that it was a new day with another ballgame to look forward to and the opportunity for the Mets to improve in the NL East standings.
He compared it to a passage in the Puccini opera, Turandot, with which we are both very familiar.
Set in Peking, the opera tells the tale of an icy princess who invites potential suitors to participate in a game show of sorts. In the second scene of Act II of the opera, the title character asks the tenor lead–Calaf–three riddles. He has chosen to participate in this trial although many have tried to dissuade him from doing so. You see, if he incorrectly answers any of the three questions, he is to be beheaded as have all of his unsuccessful predecessors.
For round one, Turandot asks the contestant to name for her, loosely translated, a many-colored phantom that flies and soars over humans in the dark of night. It is called to. It is implored. At dawn, this phantom vanishes to be reborn in every heart.
“Every night this phantom is born anew, and every day it dies.”
Ogni notte nasce
ed ogni giorno muore!
“Hope,” Calaf successfully answers.
I love the metaphors: both Turandot’s for hope and my husband’s for the hopeful baseball fan.
As discouraged as some of us Mets fans get, we just can’t help but still hold out hope that they can right the ship.
Let’s see if we can split the series with the Cardinals!
Perfect Pitch 