Ankh ankh, en mitak/ Yewk er heh en heh! I should be remiss not to mention a third distinct pleasure from opera: bits of it are hilarious. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, one must have a heart of stone to listen to the Funeral of Amenhotep III without giggling. And I say this as someone who liked Akhnaten.

And not just the unintentional bits! Ariadne Auf Naxos made me snort milk out my nose the first time I heard it. (Although I have a revised version of the actual opera section. See, the original Ariadne gets so upset that she storms off in a huff, leaving only the Composer to fill the role (so the character is now a woman dressed as a boy dressed as a woman). Ariadne and the comedy are still performed simultaneously, but Zerbinetta keeps getting the Composer/Ariadne all hot and bothered, culminating in an aria in which he (the Composer) sings of love and death, but she (Zerbinetta) keeps adding words to make it absolutely filthy. Bacchus descends but is abducted by Harlequin et al. He keeps rushing onto stage trying to sing with Ariadne and getting pulled off just before they can reach musical consummation. In the end Zerbinetta has her way with the Composer on stage, thus representing the reconciliation of the tragic and comedic impulses in mankind. Harlequin et al., Bacchus, and the Music Teacher come out to form a human curtain in front of the two, and sing of this happy day, rising in volume as necessary when Zerbinetta and the Composer start making too much of a ruckus. What? I have low tastes.)