Cant think of a title...

I guess all I can do right now is to reminisce about class this week, and rethink the readings we did. Tuesday, we talked about the opera in Victorian times and what it meant to society. The idea of an opera box being a social status symbol was nothing new. It's been like that since the beginning. However, I did not know that it was such a meat market for singles back then. It makes sense to me since they are really showing themselves off and all the wealth that they have. I guess I thought it was only for notoriety. Another new thing I learned was that it was common to talk as loud as one might want to in the opera; like one would do at a rock concert or something today. That would make meeting people a lot easier, and the program would tell you the names of all the rich folks you might want to meet.
I want to go back to that one thing that I glazed over just now that really sticks out to me the most. Should we be so quiet today in opera? or should it be acceptable to ask a little socially in the opera today. There would almost certainly be no competition for volume. Maybe if the seats were spaced to have a little more room and all, whispers wouldn't reach so many people. (If would advocate the whisper room just to get my leg room.) Also, it seems like opera didn't have the reputation of being so boring back then, but it seems that way for most people now. I'm good at following the conventions of performance etiquette, but I wouldn't mind the social mingling at an opera. There is a high chance of meeting someone interesting and knowledgible about music at the opera. Personally, 100% concentration does not show me much more about music than 50% concentration. I give my brain a break at an opera, and I don't analyze or count or dissect; I enjoy it for what it is. I even normally talk if a friend and I are working together on a score study in real time with the music. As a personal preference, I like to multitask socializing with my work as is.