Speaking of saints, when I worked, all too briefly, in the Therapeutic Recreation Department of Florence Nightingale Health Center (tragically, they closed in July 2005, several months after I left), one of my favorite colleagues was the Catholic chaplain, Sister Alice Goldsmith, a lovely, indefatigable woman of at least 80 who was there ministering to patients virtually every day - and she was a volunteer! She was from one of the more liberal orders and didn't wear a habit. Because I was only there for three months replacing someone on maternity leave, I didn't get to know her quite as well as I would have liked. We could have had some marvelous theological discussions, I'm sure. I do remember being delighted when she was talking about the possibility of the Church naming someone to be the patron saint of the Internet - I don't remember who the candidates were.
And who is the patron saint of opera? St. Cecilia (no, not Ms. Bartoli, although she's close!), of course, is the patron saint of music in general, and I'm pretty sure St. Gregory, who was responsible for Gregorian chant, has some authority, but I'm not sure if there is another one for opera in particular. Although I imagine St. Ambrose ("Sant'Ambrogio"), the patron saint of Milan - opening night at La Scala is always on his feast day of December 7 - could also be a candidate. By the way, the new pope, who I disagree with on just about everything else, is at least a classical music fan.
The patron saint of this blog is Jussi Björling. Okay, he was a Lutheran, not a Catholic, and like many Swedes, not much of a churchgoer. But I don't doubt for a moment that he was a deeply good and spiritual man. And he sounded like ... well, to avoid being blasphemous, I'll say an archangel.
All frivolity aside, I wonder about proper Jewish responses to great music. There is a brachah (blessing) for just about everything: different kinds of food and drink, seeing beautiful or wondrous natural phenomena, meeting different kinds of distinguished people from kings (which these days I would imagine would also include presidents and such) to Torah scholars to secular scholars, receiving good news, even receiving bad news. One of my favorites is the blessing you're supposed to say when leaving the bathroom. But with the exception of the all-purpose blessing Shehecheyanu ("Blessed are You...who has sustained us, brought us to this time, and has permitted us to reach this season"), there isn't really a blessing for experiencing great art or music. I say this blessing:
a) the first time seeing an opera
b) the first time in a particular opera house
c) my first performance of the season, or after an otherwise very long hiatus
d) before a performance with a favorite singer that I've been looking forward to for a long time
e) after a really great performance, especially one that I wasn't expecting to be quite so good.
Still, I think instead of such a generalized blessing, which is generally used for any momentous event, there should be something a little more specific for art and/or music. I suspect there isn't one because the ancient and medieval rabbis feared that they might be glorifying paganism, especially when dealing with "graven images" like painting and sculpture. But if anything, I think saying a blessing for art or music, or meeting a great artist of any sort, reminds one just Who is the Source of all artistic inspiration, putting even "pagan" works in G-d's service. Hopefully it would also put one's love of the arts on a higher plane than, shall we say, some of the real ego, nastiness, snideness that goes on this world or the tendency of some fans to literally worship artists. Jokes aside, I don't worship Jussi Björling, or any other of the artists I have gushed or will gush about here.* My very favorite Torah portion is Parashat Vayekhel, the section of Exodus dealing with the building of the Tabernacle and how G-d inspired the two artisans Betzalel (after whom the main art school in Israel is named) and Oholiav with "divine spirit of skill" - thus the desire to create and experience art is holy (I'll write more about this when the parasha comes up this year, probably in March). I would like to see a blessing for encountering a great work of art that goes something like "Blessed are You...who invests human beings with the divine spirit of skill that you gave to Bezalel and Oholiav" (My Hebrew isn't good enough yet for a Hebrew version). This could also include music, but I might also like to see something involving King David, the sweet singer of Israel, for a music blessing.
Actually, one last bit of possible frivolity before I go. Since Bryn Terfel, in addition to being an incredible singer, is also the king of some eeny-weeny island off the coast of Wales called Bardsey, do I say the brachah for meeting a king ("Blessed are You... who shares your glory with mortals") when I next see him? He's only the king of five people and several hundred sheep, and I don't think the sheep had anything to do with picking him, but when am I ever going to get a chance to say that blessing in front of a "legitimate" king or queen (or even president)?
*I know of a fan who had an altar to Maria Callas. Literally. I think this is the same guy who started playing a tape recorder with Callas singing "Casta Diva" during one of Renata Scotto's Met performances - apparently to punish her for not being worshipful enough of La Divina. Also, there is another fan of a singer who I'd better not identify who has pictures of her plastered on all four walls and the ceiling of her room, and even had her sheets made up with the singer's face on it. The singer, not surprisingly, reacted in horror upon meeting this person. And last but not least is the rabid, vicious, anti-gay and anti-Semitic nutcase who stuffs any chatboard where he can get away with it with The Gospel of Cheryl Studer. A real pity, as Studer is a fine artist (the first singer I ever saw in recital, way back in 1995) who absolutely doesn't deserve this guy. With any luck, she doesn't even know he exists!
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