Tom Huizenga at NPR Music blog lists 5 pieces of classical music that attempted to be “sexy.”

He brings up a good point: we can find plenty of sex in other forms of fine art such as literature, films, painting, and sculpture, but not “in the classical concert hall.” Especially since classical music does not have lyrics that we can depend on, we usually have to guess the mood of the music with just our emotion and perception. If you don’t have much experience with classical music like myself, you are usually wrong too.

Among the examples that Huizenga shows on the post, I have chosen and done research on Thomas Ades’  “Come Here” which is the fourth scene of the first act of his opera, Power Her Face. The opera is based on Margaret Whigham, also known as “Duchess of Argyll” who was a notorious socialite and best remembered by her famous divorce in 1963 with her second husband. This particular scene describes Duchess seducing a waiter from the hotel she is staying at with her husband.

I picked this piece because this was the only piece that has words to it. (again, I’m not too good with the classical music) If the piece didn’t have any words, I probably would have thought this was a sneaky scene, like a robber sneaking around an empty house.

Anyways, She clearly seduces the waiter at the start of the scene by saying, “come here.” Although the waiter, who rejects her and says that he “has a wife at home,” and he “would like to keep my job,” Duchess insists, and says “no one will find out. You don’t need to worry.” She even says tells him that “her husband has no idea where I am” multiple times, trying to change the waiter’s mind.

In this scene, it seems that all she really care about having an affair with this waiter because she stops him when she was about find out his name. She quotes, “I never asked for your name. It doesn’t matter who you are and it doesn’t matter who I am.” She is indeed very seductive.

Even then, Powder Her Face did not really sound all that sexy in my opinion. Of course that is a subjective matter, but it probably has to do something with the fact that she is singing this in operatic style. The traditional style of opera kills the emotion that the dialogue is meant to project in my opinion. If she were to sing the song the same way but have different lyrics, I would not know the difference.

Popular music does way better jobs at least in being sexy. However at the end, that is just my perspective. Much improved technology, lighting, and even make up skills can cover up just about anything today. On top of that, music video brought “sexy” to a whole another level.

You can listen to the scene here as well as the other classical music pieces that Huizenga suggests on the post.