I’ve seen the Sistine Chaple (twice). No one ever says “I don’t get it” or “I don’t like it.” Not all opera is great. Just like other art forms, there is good and bad. My problem is that I hear others say they don’t like opera – yet they have never listened to any great opera. According to my students “The Phantom of the Opera” is Opera.

Even in denominations that observe Christmas, it was a relatively minor religious holiday until the last century or so – Easter, of course, is the big one. The big party at midwinter was more a way of cheering up at a very dark and depressing time of year than a religious tribute – as it still is.

I don’t know anything much about the Church of Christ, which doesn’t seem to have many if any members in my part of the world, but when I was a child, one spouse in a local family converted to a different denomination with similar ideas about Christmas, and those ideas appear to have caused as much strife within the family as the fact of the conversion itself, since there were young children in the family.

Cathy

And different at different times, too. I used to hate opera, not that I’d ever attended any; I was basing my opinions on recordings of operatic soprano arias, which are perhaps not exactly the most accessible forms of music. Recently, I decided more or less on impulse, to try out one of the HD ‘Met at the Movies’ productions, and now consider it a nice treat to attend – opera at about $25 a seat, with popcorn and soft drinks on offer! I can assure you no one dresses up! And I’m quite spoiled for choice in other concerts, since we have a music school, an active music and arts scene, and far more concerts than I can manage to attend.

But in spite of the cheapness and accessibility of these events (amateur choral or instrumental performances are far cheaper than the opera), I have to admit it’s still a minority taste, with most of my contemporaries paying far more for the latest aging rocker to tour here and much of the younger crowd headed out for a bar with a local band that might play anything from heavy metal to Celtic rock stuff.

But I’m wandering a bit, thinking of the delights to come and how many I can afford/squeeze into my schedule. Christmas is a particularly good time of year for music.

I’m saying that sometimes people’s tastes change over time. Some people might adore opera from childhood, others learn to like it as adults and yet others had it spoiled for them by bad experiences, and finally, you just have those who find it extremely tedious no matter how well it is presented and introduced. But I suspect opera takes some willingness to expose oneself to it long enough to have a chance to appreciate it, and that many people nowadays don’t. I remember reading some comment years ago from some teacher or other who insisted that children should be exposed to very simple rhythms. I think one example of what one should NOT let children listen to because it’s too fast and complex was something associated with a lot of the folk music I’ve adored since childhood – 6/8, maybe? – but if you’ve never heard much besides 4/4 (with a strong drum beat; you need both melody and rhythm, but I much prefer melody) you can’t expect them to instantly enjoy more complex forms.

On the more general question of taste, there seems to be a body of evidence that we respond well and possibly instinctively to certain things, from landscapes to various features of the opposite sex. And there is a range of things we have trouble with but can eventually get used to–or perhaps addicted to–such as cigarettes and coffee.

I suppose the first question would be whether some people take to particular aspects of the “high culture” on first exposure. If not, and the attitude does change, is this the result of repeated exposure or education–or, alternatively, have they been taught to DISlike the popular culture version? I’d want to see some thorough and careful studies. There might be quite a bit of variance among individuals, and the answer in graphic art might well be very different from the answer in music–and different again in dance.

I would also point out that the “high culture” is to a degree culturally defined. Because opera, ballet, oil paintings and orchestral music are all given to “openings” in formal dress, subscriptions and state subsidies we “lump” them, but our response on a DNA level mght be quite different.

Has anyone else seen some of the sexual attraction studies? We appear to be breeding ourselves to look more like manga.

But nativity sets. I’ve always loved them, perhaps because we never had one when I was a child, and they just appealed to me then maybe at least partly as something slightly exotic for a private home. I don’t think my parents had anything particularly against nativities, they just didn’t have any interest in them, perhaps because they were both from Protestant backgrounds. I got a cheap one as an adult, although I’d like to get nicer figures, expecially since a cat knocked over Joseph and he broke. But I can’t really afford the ones I’d really like, so I haven’t bothered.

They do come in all varieties, from the cheapest kitch to high art, though. The local RC cathedral has a collection of nativities that they put on display every Advent, and when I saw it, I was expecting, if not Botticelli, Botticelli-like figures, but there was an incredible range and variety, including a lot I probably wouldn’t want to have in the house!

I don’t know why saying that a liking for high art is always an acquired taste. I wouldn’t put it quite so strongly myself; I think some people simply become fascinated with some form of high art the first time they’re exposed to it, and that initial liking doesn’t seem acquired at all. But it takes exposure and practice/experience to develop a liking for a lot of things, from coffee to opera.