That music (and beauty) makes us stupid

Listening religiously to the BBC3 series of complete Handel operas (what a worthy project to play them all, what a worthy project to hear them all!) I have had the opportunity to hear more than several interviews with conductors and performers regarding Handel's music. More than several praised his psychology, his deep understanding of and realistic, convincing representations of human psyche in action.

Which only proves that music, good music anyway, makes us stupid.

Handel had nothing to do with the writing of his libretti; but they are are all invariably hilariously unrealistic, wonderfully nutty, and, above all, written to a the same pattern: love quadrangle + disguise + vendetta + happy end (i.e. the square is squared). The music Handel wrote to these libretti is of course magnificent (if sometimes repetitive, but, hey, anything which is good to hear once is surely good to hear seventeen times, no?).

Personally, I love it. Indeed, listening to Handel operas is one of my most preferred ways to waste time. But let us not get carried away here: for all its wonder and beauty, the greatness of the music does nothing to improve the silliness of the libretti. Indeed, it is precisely in this fact that its greatness is revealed: Handel operas are utterly silly, and yet -- they are wondeful. This is because, as Rossini observed, great music can be composed to any text, a laundry list if need be.

So why do all these people think Handel's psychology is great?

For the same reason, I suppose, for which high school girls think their beautiful boyfriends are also incredibly smart and scholars spend their lifetimes investigating the supposed deep meanings of Giorgione's Philosophers. Some miswiring in our brain makes it difficult for us to grasp that perfectly beautiful objects may be in every other way perfectly worthless.