As we gear up for Manitoba Opera's production of Verdi's Falstaff, British comedians Stephen Fry and Alan Davies get into the science of opera's psychosomatic effects with the help of another of the composer's masterworks: Simon Boccanegra.

 

Stephen Fry and Alan Davies are frequently panelists on a quirky and fascinating show on BBC TWO, QI. 

Hosted by avuncular polymath and National Treasure Stephen Fry, and ably hindered by resident dunderhead Alan Davies, the show also features three different top stand-up comedians each week.

Points are given purely for being interesting, rather than merely ‘right’, and the panel are heavily penalised for giving the ‘obvious’ answer - especially when (as frequently happens) it is also completely wrong. In this way, QI tries to rid the world of the flotsam of nonsense and old wives' tales that can build up in your mind. QI not only makes us look more closely at things, it encourages us to question all the received wisdom we have carried with us since childhood. Think of the program as a humorous cranial de-scaler.

QI isn't really about pointless information, or shoring up vast banks of trivia, It's about finding undiscovered connections and seeing hidden patterns, just like the best comedy. After all, curiosity is hardwired in all of us; we just lose the ability to indulge it. "The lust of the mind", Thomas Hobbes called it, "that exceedeth the short vehemence of any carnal pleasure".

In 2013, the avuncular polymath's curiosity and experimental spirit brought both him and QI's resident dunderhead to the Royal Opera House. They proceeded to hook themselves up to a whack of sensors to monitor their physiological responses to Verdi's political masterpiece, Simon Boccanegra. Why? Fry was trying to explain how the sound, the sight, and the story hit us in the most fundamental ways.

I invite you to witness their experiment and hear all about their findings in this Royal Opera House production: The Science of Opera.

 

 

If your appetite has been whetted for more Verdi, go see Manitoba Opera's production of Falstaff! It opens on Saturday, November 19, and plays Tuesday, November 22, and closes Friday, November 25 at Centennial Concert Hall.

Tune in every Wednesday for a fresh episode of Mid-week Musicology on Classic107.com!