subject: Gianni Truvianni's "New York's Opera Society" Chapter 27 [print this page] Gianni Truvianni's "New York's Opera Society" Chapter 27
Intermission came, the part I had been waiting for, to see what Gosia had to say not only of the performance but of the place my friends and I considered to be the cathedral of opera. This due not only to its sheer size but by that sense of being a part of opera history that accompanied us every second we spent there.
I knew I was not alone in wanting to know Gosia's first impressions and just as I was about to ask Gosia what they were, it was Amanda who beat me to it. "Gosia, I am dying to know something, what do you make of our opera house? Was it as grand as we said it would be?". I could tell from the look on the faces that this was the question which had been on everybody's tongue. I could see that Gosia had noticed all eyes (mine included) on her waiting to hear what she had to say.
Gosia, who was standing next to me with the rest of our friends standing in a circle looked at me with restrained joy coupled with emotions of bliss which were overwhelming her. It was this which I saw in her face and the way her body shuttered that told me that the whole evening had been to her total satisfaction and as she tried to subside her feelings, just long enough to articulate her thoughts, she did so by saying "You know I had always heard people talk about this place, saying that it was the greatest opera house in the world (these words turned our attention into an anxiety, similar to those who are waiting for a judge's decision hoping to favor from it) and I see that they were right to say that.". Gosia with what she had said gave us a certain pride and relief, as she went on much in the same way a child describes his or her first trip to an amusement park. "I have been to "La Scala" in Milan and "Convent Garden" in London but this place is so special that I can say that this is my favorite opera house but not only because of this place but because all of you are here with me." this last part of her comment made everyone of my friends, who had really taken her in feel the warmth of her friendship.
This was one of the things that I liked about Gosia and that was how she managed to express herself (specially at times like this) through her facial gestures, which gave the impression of telling more than her or anybody's words could ever do. How could I not see the faces she made when playing the piano and the way her body movements seemed to be guiding her fingers, which somehow managed to paint emotions so vividly through the music she was releasing via the sound waves that were coming out of her piano. This was in sharp disparity to Amanda, who expressed herself through carefully chosen words that had subtle meanings while keeping her facial features unchanged.
"I have read about your city's opera house, I believe it is called "Teatr Wielki" which I think in your language means great theatre?" was Arturo's question to Gosia to get her to talk about the opera house in her home town. I could tell by the look on Gosia's face that she was glad that someone had taken the time to read about the opera house in Warsaw, leading her to respond in the form of "Yes, that is right.".
As Gosia began her description of "Teatr Wielki" I started looking at her and the way she had dressed for this particular occasion and I could see she was wearing a new dress which was probably the one she and my mother had chosen. This was the dress that Gosia had not wished me to see her in till the opera and now I could see why she had wanted it so. It was only now that I was looking at her and how her new dress accentuated all her feminine sensuality that still attracted me. Mine was not only connected to carnality but something deeper which I am not sure if it could be called love but something that went definitely deeper than sex, which I had always considered to be a mere act only capable of reliving certain tensions in the body through an act called intercourse; very much in the same way a vowel movement did for the stomach. No, the feelings and emotions that ran between this Slavic lady and myself were those that came from the very essence of who we were. Ours was what did not always need to be manifested trough the act of fornicating but through ways that might be incomprehensible to any other couple who only associated desire, sensuality and longing with carnal knowledge and not with a mutual desirability. This being that which went beyond words that did not always need to be expressed through sexual acts but through the vibrations we gave one another.
The bell for us to go back rang just as Gosia had finished telling everybody about her first trip to Warsaw's Great Opera and strangely enough with all the excitement encompassing that particular evening's performance; nobody had given Gosia the word that it was Amanda's father singing the role of Marcelo.
