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May 09, 2008

Perils of opera in a cross little town: Joan Sutherland as Satanist

51y4g3yvvjl_sl500_aa280_ This happened over a year ago but has just been picked up by the world opera blog; it was first recorded from local press by the blogger 'panda's thumb'.  (" the legendary virtual bar serving the community of the legendary virtual University of Ediacara somewhere in the Ediacaran hills of southern Australia,...a weblog giving another voice for the defenders of the integrity of science')
    The story is depressing enough: an elementary school teacher in Bennett, Colorado,was suspended for showing her class a 12-min portion of the opera Faust, according to reports in the Rocky Mountain News. Tresa Waggoner, showed part of a charming Joan Sutherland video which uses sock puppets to engage children.  The opera was Faust.  Parents accused Ms. Waggoner of devil worship and lesbianism.  Ms. Waggoner, herself an opera singer, describes herself as a Christian  and has two children.  She was, however,  explaining ”trouser roles” in opera. (In Faust , a young man in love with Marguerite is played by a soprano.) 
         It is all oddly reminiscent of the occurrence in Orwell's A CLERGYMAN'S DAUGHTER when a teacher is pilloried for reading Macbeth with the children; not because of the violence but because of the line about Macduff being "from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd".  The word 'womb' caused parental panic.      On the bright side, the mayor of Bennett reportedly  resigned over the incident , saying that the town has a ”mean streak” that she can no longer tolerate.

Posted by Libby Purves on May 9, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Email this post

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Libby Purves

  • Libby Purves is a Times columnist, novelist and Radio 4 broadcaster. Her interest in the glories, inspirations and eccentricities of world religions and cultural traditions was fuelled by an upbringing in Bangkok, Israel, Africa, France and a series of convent schools.

    Bess Twiston Davies works for the Times Register section and is a regular contributor to the Faith page and Times Online. She studied Hispanic studies and English at Sheffield University and has a journalism diploma from The Robert Schuman Institute, Angers, France.


    Contact Libby or Bess at: faithcentral@timesonline.co.uk

    You might also enjoy Articles of Faith, Ruth Gledhill's wonderful blog about religious affairs.

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