Bravo! Brava! Opera

We were reading Carmen when my 6y/o turns to me and says "Wait a minute. Wait a minute!--The girl didn't like the boy?"
"...No. She didn't like him anymore. She's one of those girls that is just never happy with something or someone for long"
"Why..?" and I could actually see the whole Disney Princess-story-arch-as template-for-real -life being brought into serious question right before my eyes. It looked almost painful. But as we listened to the lyrics, and talked about Carmen's character and when Don Jose made his first mistake--I realized that this was pretty heavy relationship stuff for a 6 and 9 year old, but a whole lot closer to reality than the bedazzled princesses that often end up being a girl's first introduction to "true love".
Ambleside Online has a rotation for studying classical music. We are doing opera this term. All I have done is read aloud parts of these books:

Random House Book of Opera Stories
Bravo!Brava! A Night at the Opera by Anne Siberell

                            


 then listened to the corresponding music from these cds;
The World's Very Best Opera for Kids
My Favorite Opera for Children

It has allowed us to understand cultural references which before just went over our heads and has been a lot of fun. I hear " we haven't learned about opera in awhile..." , many costume designs have spontaneously appeared, and even our 4y/o is humming bits as he plays.