things are better in threes

I thought it was interesting that the trio "I am a Maiden" from Princess Ida was set for trio male voices. I guess I was most surprised so see another "maiden" song for trio because of the trio that we just saw in the production of The Mikado. I would assume that the trio of maids from school is not really a coincidence. Again like the "maidens" of the Princess Ida the maids from Mikado also poke fun at what it is to be expected in their daily duties and how life is for a maiden from day to day. Again all of the responsibilities of these maidens seem to be trite and superficial. It is interesting after learning about the libretto that Princess Ida's revolves around a princess who is teaching the superiority of women to men at her women's university thus satirizing women's education that it seems to be the same stab at women's education in The Mikado. As this being my own first exposure to Princess Ida I also thought it was an interesting choice for both of the performances to include the "maidens" dancing about in a silly manner on the stage with the "graduation" regalia look. The plot really binds the director to this choice when it comes to staging so it began to make more sense to me for the strange choice. The men are supposed to be dressed up as maidens in order to scoff at their sister's college for women adding to the battle of the sexes. Again the plot is then making it "appropriate" that they would be acting ridiculous as "maidens." Although this is mildly offensive in one way, it is still done hilariously because in all honestly the men (as they point out themselves) know that their disguises are silly and will not fool anyone. Bringing in the concept of which sex is the "sillier" one of the two and adding to the overall hilarious satire of the opera. I wonder if the appearance of the three comic characters are a stab at grand opera. For instance, it brings to mind the three comic roles of Turandot, Ping, Pang and Pong. The concept of a comedic trio seems to resound throughout the times and even making its way into the 20th century with the hilarious Marx brothers.