The Careful Use of Compliments by Alexander McCall Smith

Author:Alexander McCall Smith [Smith, Alexander McCall]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3, pdf
Published: 2010-11-28T20:51:29.451000+00:00

T H E C A R E F U L U S E O F C O M P L I M E N T S

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This, thought Isabel, is going to be difficult; perhaps they should have turned round on the stairway after all.

“Rosenkavalier has its moments,” said Jamie suddenly.

“Yes . . . ,” Isabel began. “I agree. I think . . .”

“I saw Carmen in London,” interjected Claudia. “English National Opera did it.”

For a few moments there was silence. Isabel smiled encouragingly. “Carmen is always fun,” she said. “Everybody loves it.”

Jamie shot her a glance. “Maybe,” he muttered.

Isabel persisted. “It’s like all the established repertoire,” she said. “People like the familiar in opera. Carmen fills the house.”

For a moment Jamie said nothing. Isabel noticed that his hands were clasped together tightly and that his knuckles showed white. When he spoke, his voice was strained. “Yes, but that’s the problem, isn’t it? All the old stuff leaves no space for anything new.”

“New operas,” said Isabel mildly, “can scare people away. It’s a fact of life.”

“So we shouldn’t perform them?” Jamie snapped. “Just the same old stuff? La Bohème, La Traviata? ”

Isabel glanced at Cat, who was staring up at the ceiling, perhaps to avoid looking at Jamie. She did not want to prolong the discussion that she had started and that had suddenly turned into an argument, but at the same time she found herself resenting Jamie’s deliberately provocative stance. She did not disapprove of new opera—he knew that—and it was unfair of him to portray her as a traditionalist. She was not.

“I didn’t say that there was no place for new operas,” she said firmly. “I didn’t. All that I’d say is that opera companies have to live in the real world. They have to sell tickets, and this means doing the things that people come to see. Not all the time, of course. But they do have to do them.”

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