I went with my son to the opera. Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung for children. The performance was fully sold out. As I was late for purchasing the tickets, so I could only get to seats behind each other. My son does not mind. He is only five years old; however he already shares my enthusiasm for operas and music. He knows that he has to sit still and listen. But mostly not even that is an issue because he is fascinated anyway and his eyes are glued to the actors.

The performances for children in the Zurich opera house are fantastic. The costumes are colourful, the presentation and scenery are friendly and made with lots of love for detail and fantasy. Even threatening scenes such as when Siegfried, who does not know fear, is fighting against Fafer, who turns into a dragon, and chops off parts of his body, appear harmless and playful. Really made for children in order to win them as future listeners and paying audience.

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This time however it was not joy but pure torture. Behind me on the right was a family with two small children. Behind me on the left was a mother with her slightly older daughters. The music began and my son and I were looking forward to it. But both mothers continued talking without interruption. Both were speaking Slavic languages: One Russian and the other Serbo-Croatian. Both commented for their children what was happening on the stage. And they commented without interruption. It was infuriating. I felt like being at the train station, where one is engulfed in scraps of conversations of passersby mixed with announcements through loud speakers.

At first I had the slight hope that the two mothers would be silent once the actors start to sing. Then I had to realise with horror that the opera house had come up with a new idea. The sung text was projected on a screen high above the stage! A bad idea, as it should turn out later.

Never ever in my life I tried to understand during an opera what the actors are singing. What for? Now one of the mothers was providing a simultaneous interpretation at a volume, which made it impossible for me to concentrate on the singing. I was asking myself what the benefit would be for a 4-year old to know: “On rapturous lips my eyes look for pasture. With fathomless thirst my mouth is on fire that would soothe its want in their sweetness.” And similar, such as Siegfried was singing for his Brünnhilde. I was able to stand it for about 15 minutes, and then my patience was exhausted.

I turned around to her and politely asked her to stop talking. She suggested that I should sit somewhere else if it disturbs me. After all, this was a performance for children. For a few minutes I was dumbstruck and turned around again to the front. Then I made another attempt. I turned again to the mother and again asked her politely to at least whisper the text to the children but not to talk at normal volume to them.

On that she answered that I am a ruthless Swiss woman who has no understanding for children with foreign languages. The next time I should not attend a performance for children. And anyway, what am I doing here if it disturbs me and I don’t even have a child with me?!?

I did not say anything and turned again to the front. It was simply too stupid to argue with her during the performance and even worse in the opera house. At least then she was less loud and whispered with her children for the remaining performance. Later I had to realize that her two children did speak German. At least they talked in that language with their father, who also attended the performance. They were simply too young and could not yet read.

Once again everything is about tolerance and living together. Or to put it even simpler: The freedom of one ends where the freedom of another is limited. For me opera is a sensual experience, arising from the stage. Chatter of any kind in the audience during the performance is a mortal sin. But perhaps in the future these for me understood principles should be printed on the entry tickets:

“Please keep quiet during the performance.” – Also during performances for children.