129 new of 221 responses total.
I've heard this. I did an alta vista search +rossini +duet +cats and found that the Italian title is "Duetto Buffo di Due Gatti." Most translations into English read "Comic Duet for Two Cats," though I did find one source calling it "Duet for Two Cats". I realize there is a bit of redundancy there...
Not really. Of course a duet implies two participants but it's not at all clear that they need both be cats..
"Comic Duet for Cats" would be less redundant. Of course, the Italian original contains the redundancy.
Seems to me its a Trio for Voice Duet and Piano. In any case - meow us a few bars.
Should I provide the common English name, or an exact translation of the Serbian, which read duet of the cats? It is probably a moot point by now, as I sent the translation in yesterday evening. What did the duet sound like, anyway?
I guess exactly what form you use is up to you. "Duet of the Cats" is going to be instantly recognizable. The two singers are mimicing cats, if I remember correctly. I've just heard the piece done once at a concert, I don't have a recording of it but there seem to be plenty out there.
I've heard it done a few times. The first time, the two sopranos sported ears, tails, and (cat-style) whiskers, and emoted heavily. It sounded just as good and was a lot of fun. (This was in a church talent show.). Agreed that "Duet of the Cats" is quite an adequate translation, IMO. Actually, I think we (recently) acquired the sheet music. And Rane, it's a duet, accompanied. A solo accompanied by piano is not a duet for voice (or flute, trumpet, or what have you), it's an accompanied solo; the same goes for this. It's not a trio.
I agree that is usually the case. But I am sure there are works in which the piano is 'equal' to the instruments it is playing with, and is not just "accompaniment". I can't name one at the moment, but I do doubt that there are any with voice, though I don't know why there can't be.
We have the sheet music, with title in Italian and German but not English. "Duetto Buffo di Due Gatti (Buffo-Duett Zweier Katzen) per due voci e pianoforte" with parts for "Primo Gatto" and "Secondo Gatto". The words are all "Miau" except where they're "miau-au-au-au". FWIW, when we saw it done the performers were both sopranos; the second cat part goes down to the A below middle C, so I might have some trouble with it myself.
Re 100:
There are many, many pieces like that. Piano trios aren't called piano
trios because the piano plays the accompaniment. What oftentimes happens in
trios (at least the ones I've followed, which are all for violin, cello, and
piano) is that there are sections where the piano accompanies the violin
and/or cello playing a melody and there are sections where the violin and/or
cello accompanies the piano playing the melody, and there are also some
sections where there's a unison melody or perhaps even counterpoint.
random note on my part... really great English operas are those of Purcell... they're kind of neat.
I'm trying to remember if DIDO & AENEAS is a Purcell opera; we saw that in London, at the Royal Albert Hall, of all places; an odd opera venue, especially since we ended up seated behind the orchestra. ----- I am way behind on my casual reviews. It was about a month ago that we saw Opera Lenawee's double bill of PAGLIACCI and GIANNI SCHICCI. PAGLIACCI I found somewhat disappointing, both in the score and the acting; the villain who motivates the killings was particularly wooden. GIANNI SCHICCI, in contrast, was a delight, a reminder of why Puccini stood so far above his contemporaries. The singer acting Gianni Schicci had a great sense of comic timing. The big aria from this opera is sung by Schicci's daughter, who otherwise spends almost all her time being shoved offstage. ----- Upcoming opera in Ann Arbor: UM School of Music presents Verdi's LA TRAVIATA, at Power Center, November 12-15 1998. http://www.music.umich.edu but the web page won't tell you much more detail than I have just given you.
Opera Grand Rapids is doing Verdi's "A Masked Ball" this weekend. I don't really have time to go, but I've already got tickets, so I suppose I will..
"Dido and Aneas" (or however you spell it.) is Purcell.
#104's spelling of "Aeneas" is correct. Opera Grand Rapids' production of "A Masked Ball" was OK but not thrilling which was, I think, partly this production and partly the opera itself. I found the music surprisingly forgettable compared to other Verdi opera.
I still need to write something about MOT's TURANDOT, but we'll skip ahead to tonight's LA TRAVIATA, from the UM School of Music. The show runs through Sunday. I enjoyed the Violetta in our cast, Jennifer Larsen, quite a bit. There was an interesting dance piece during the overture, which explains that rather incomprehensible drawing on the advertising poster for this production. We had front row seats, just a few feet away from the violins, so the orchestral sound was almost like wearing headphones, and we could glance over at the conductor any time we wanted. I gather that most people don't like such close seats, but we do -- they were available for us to buy on Thursday. Overall, an enjoyable evening.
Two student opera productions are listed in the February "Observer." Benjamin Britten's THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA, a chamber opera, performed at UM School of Music McIntosh Theatre, Thursday Feb 4 & Saturday Feb 6. This is probably going to be a laboratory-style production with minimal costuming and sets, is my guess. Rossini, THE ITALIAN GIRL IN ALGIERS. EMU's Pease Auditorium, Friday Feb 5 & Saturday Feb 6. I've never seen an EMU production.
Last Sunday Leslie and I saw a touring production of Verdi's OTELLO. The company was billed as the Italian National Opera, but it was just a patched-together roadshow. The orchestra was from Hungary, and one of the singers was a Michigan native. This was the sloppiest opera production I had seen in some time. The singer who performed Otello seemed to be having some problems with his high notes, and overall his tone had this warble to it which reminded me of opera singers on old 78 rpm records. Leslie said it may have been deliberate use of an older, out-of-fashion style of singing. Leslie said the Desdemona was really annoying, because if she hit the right note it was just a lucky accident. The orchestra and chorus were good musically, but the chorus staging was awful -- they didn't act or move, they just stood there and sung. The only really good performer on stage was the Iago. He had a fine baritone and a commanding stage presence. Even though Iago is the bad guy, we were rooting for him. But still, I had a wonderful time. I had never seen Verdi's OTELLO before. It's a remarkably sturdy show, and even after taking all the abuse Sunday's production heaped upon it, the opera acquitted itself well. Verdi turned to Shakespeare at the end of his life; after AIDA, he took 15 years off, then wrote his setting of OTHELLO. And after about another decade (?) he wrote his final opera FALSTAFF, based on THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. I place the end of Verdi's career in a magical, brief period for Italian opera. Wagner's ideas for a fully integrated music-drama had spread to Italy; composers such as Verdi, and Puccini to come, were getting past the model of opera as hit song/recit/hit song. So Wagner's ideas crossed with the glorious singing tradition of Italy: still a few years in the future were the 20th century's impact on popular classical music, and the collapse of the financial world of Italian opera. OTELLO flows in a way that I just love, rather than stopping all the time for audience applause. In the last act, Desdemona sings a prayer to the Virgin Mary; she knows that things have gone very bad in her relationship with. Sello, and the aira is full of foreboding. It comes to a quiet end -- and the MSU audience did not clap. Whew! It was an emotional, impressive moment.
Actually, I didn't say that the tenor was deliberately using an old fashioned style of singing, but rather that he *sounded* old fashioned. I believe that he has a faulty technique, with his larynx way high, which accounts for both his tremolo (goaty warble) and for all the cracking on high notes. And with the soprano, it's not that she didn't know what notes to sing, but rather that she sang so terribly off pitch that the occasional on-pitch note seemed like an accident. It really was a terrible production. I'll have to ask in the classical singer forum what people have heard about this organization. But I agree with Ken that the story and music are great, and it was worth enduring two terrible singers to see my first Otello.
Thursday I saw U of M's Comic Opera Guild's production of "Kismet" at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater.. While I can't recommend the production enthusiastically I had a decent time -- I've always enjoyed the music from Kismet and I thought several of the cast members were pretty good, especially the lead (the poet/rhyme merchant..) It plays over the weekend (i.e. until 2/28/99) if anyone's interested in catching it. Tonight I'm going to go see Opera Grand Rapids' production of "Tales of Hoffman", about which I know very little..
Mike, I hope you'll get back to us with a review of "Tales of Hoffman." Spring student opera productions: Michigan State's production of Verdi's LA TRAVIATA opens tonight. School of Music Auditorium in East Lansing. University of Michigan's production of Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE runs Thursday 3/25 through Sunday 3/28. This is going to be sung in the English Translation by Andrew Porter, according to the postcard we got. We're seeing the TRAVIATA tonight. UM's FLUTE is almost certainly going to get squeezed off our schedule, as Leslie is busy with a recital and a choral performance that week.
"Tales of Hoffman" was surprisingly good. The plot ties together three of Hoffman's short stories in a framework of lost love and the poet's relationship with his muse. The music was enjoyable and the performace itself was quite good, especially the vocal talent which was a step above the quality of last several Grand Rapids productions I've seen (particularly the female lead -- Kathy something.. Baker? I'll have to check the program)
No time to write a real review now, but Michigan State's production of LA TRAVIATA came off quite well. It is in the Auditorium -- the old monster Auditorium, not the Music Building Auditorium as I had written in resp:113. The show plays again Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Time & location details at www.music.msu.edu, on the "music events" link. You can feel safe driving to East Lansing without tickets: there are literally thousands of unused seats. But surprisingly the show holds together in the big old barn.
resp: 113 :: The Sunday newspaper ad from the U.Michigan School of Music reports that their production of MAGIC FLUTE is sold out. They will be selling tickets to a dress rehearsal, which I believe will be Tuesday.
Hmmm.. Can't figure that one out -- I didn't like "The Magic Flute" much at all, in fact it's probably my least favorite of the ones that I've seen performed (though Opera Grand Rapids don't stick their necks out and risk an unpopular or obscure work very often..) Anyway, as far as "The Magic Flute" is concerned I didn't care for much of the music and I got a bit tired of all of the masonic symbolism. I've always thought it was a particularly weird choice to be picked as an introductory opera for kids, which is how it sometimes seems to be promoted.
Spring professional season: I just caught the tail end of an ad for Mozart's MARRIAGE OF FIGARO at the Toledo Opera. It's probably this weekend. This is the final weekend for Michigan Opera Theatre's production of MADAMA BUTTERFLY by Puccini. Next up, in late May, is EUGENE ONEGIN.
Hmmm.. That sounds interesting..
The weekend after next is Opera Grand Rapids' spring production
("La Boheme" again..)
OK, I looked it up. http://www.toledo-opera.com MARRIAGE OF FIGARO runs on May 6 and May 8. Toledo is plugging their new theatre; next year they are moving into the restored Valentin Theatre, which seats only 900, down from the 2400 capacity of their current house. They are planning an Opera Gala 2000 for February, 2000, with Marilyn Horne, at the Toledo Museum of Art "Peristyle;" anyone ever been in that facility?
I've been neglecting this item: I still need to get in brief mentions for THE CONSUL and EUGENE ONEGIN. But I did want to mention that I have seen ads for opera DVDs. The Metropolitan Opera Guild has released three of them. If my feeble memory is accurate, it's two TV broadcasts from the 1980s, and a more recent gala concert.
I'm still behind, sigh. Adrian's Opera Lenawee company is doing Mozart's COSI FAN TUTTE this fall. UM School of Music is doing SUSANNAH, an American opera from the 1950s which is having quite a bit of a revival now. I don't have the dates in front of me, but none of you use this item as your opera schedule guide anyway. And the Michigan Opera Theatre really needs to get its web page updated for the current season.
Leslie and I travelled to Chicago to see Lyric Opera's second performance of William Bolcom's new opera A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, based on the play by Arthur Miller. The opera was very well done, with an old-fashioned plot and melodies, and a couple of good arias -- in contrast to, say, an arbitrary Philip Glass piece. It was quite the crowd pleaser, a rarity for a modern work in my experience. The story is set in Brooklyn in the 1950s, in a community of first-generation Americans of Italian descent, and one family's collision with its illegal immigrant cousins. Catherine Malfitano was the only cast member I'd heard of before -- she sang Aunt Beatrice, with a remarkably clear tone. We have four operas on our calendar this fall, none of which we've seen before -- that's unusual. Coming up next are Massenet's WERTHER at Michigan Opera Theatre, with the blind tenor Andrea Boccelli in his first stage role; then it's back to Chicago Lyric Opera for Handel's ALCINA. UM School of Music's SUSANNAH makes the fourth.
I'll be seeing Opera Grand Rapids' production of "Turandot" in early November. I'll post with a review if reminded..
Darn. I'd be willing to drive to Grand Rapids for a TURANDOT performance if our calendar were not already so loaded. We're already seeing two operas, and maybe three, in the next week.
<...continues to find Ken's dedication impressive>
Ken, have you heard either of Philip Glass's two best operas, "Satyagraha" and "Akhnaten"? They both have some pretty dandy arias, beautiful and lyrical. True, they aren't designed to show off the singer's command of difficult notes, but I find the aim of doing so to be fairly inimical to beauty in music.
Haven't heard those two: I've heard large hunks of 'Einstein on the Beach,' and we saw the 'live' production of 'La Belle et La Bete' where Glass had a conventional structure imposed on him by the Cocteau film. Still behind: reports to be written on MOT's controversial WERTHER with Andrea Bocelli, and Chicago Lyric's staging of Handel's ALCINA.
"Turandot", as presented by Opera Grand Rapids this weekend, was quite
enjoyable.
The music from "Turandot" is fantastic and includes what's probably
one of the most famous arias in all of opera ("Nessun Dorma", which is
so famous you'd almost certainly recognize the melody even if you've
never seen an opera..) and the story is a classic fairy tail.
Highlights of the Opera Grand Rapids production included lavish costume
spectacle and better-than-usual acting from the main leads. The vocal
performances were mostly adequate but not exceptional, according to the
judgment from the my amateur ear and limited perspective) -- I've heard
better, even in Grand Rapids, but there was nothing seriously lacking.
It's just that with such a beautiful score, you really want every note
to be perfect..
Ken: "Einstein on the Beach" is not at all like any of Glass's subsequent operas: it's the least lyrical and the most hard-core minimalist, and I would certainly urge you, or any curious person, and in particular anyone who thinks Glass is tuneless neener-neener all the time, to try "Satyagraha" or "Akhnaten". There's a single CD called "Songs from the Trilogy" that samples all three.
U.Michigan's student production of SUSANNAH, by Carlisle Floyd, opens tonight and runs through Sunday. SUSANNAH is an American opera from the 1950s which has surged in popularity in the last five years, and some people are running around calling it The Great American Opera. I vaguely recall that it's about sexual repression in a religiously conservative Southern culture. The show is at Power Center, and my guess is that seats will be plentiful. UM student operas are your best bargain in live opera performances.
Instant review: after a bit of a ragged start the opera pulled together rather nicely. The setting of a religious revival meeting in the second act was a powerful thing. Ann Arbor opera fans should take the opportunity to see something different. :)
I think this Ann Arbor opera fan is going to take the opportunity to catch up on sleep and do nothing all weekend, but it does sound intriguing..
I have an instant review, I guess. We went to see UMGASS's production of
Gilbert & Sullivan's _Utopia_Limited_ this afternoon. I wasn't looking
forward to it very much; of all the G&S operas, it's my least favorite, in
terms both of music & of libretto. We wanted to start the kids (who've been
enjoying such recordings as we possess, plus reading the libretti) on G&S,
so we went. We all enjoyed it. It was very well done, with lots of business
to perk up the fairly lame dialogue. Act II especially was tight & moved
well.
The opera had been cut significantly. There was no overture. (I'm not
absolutely sure Utopia has one, but I *thought* it did.) The entire sub-plot
involving the two wise guys' (excuse me, wise *men's*) desire to marry the
princess was removed. This definitely was a good choice. It made the opera
shorter & snappier, removing complications without actually having any real
impact. The wise guys have quite enough going on without this. My sincere
compliments to whoever made this particular decision. There may have been
other cuts I didn't notice. There were a few updatings, all well chosen.
I noticed the following: Zara had been at Cambridge, not Girton; and instead
of:
King: ... You are not making fun of us? This is in accordance with
the practice at the Court of St. James's?
Lord Dram: Well, it is in accordance with the practice at the Court
of St. James's Hall.
the king asked for assurance that it was in accordance with the practice of
business, & was assured that it was in accordance with the practice of *show*
business. (I presume that Girton was used originally because women could not
matriculate at universities in England, at the time.)
My sons, 12 & 9, enjoyed it thoroughly. We had taken the precaution of
reading the libretto in the last couple of days, which was as well - as usual,
some of the vocals were a bit hard to understand. (This goes back to G&S's
day, & is not really to be solved.)
A splendid time was had by all of us.
(Oh, one more update. The Utopian "strong language", the one that gets repeated, turned out to be "ting tang walla wanna bing bang". (I had to explain this to my family.) But obviously this was not what Gilbert originally wrote.)
who did that "Witch Doctor" song (with "ting tang walla walla bing bang")? Was that David Seville (of "the Chipmunks" fame)?
Unfortunatly, yes.
I remember singing along with that record for music class in First grade. What a wonderful music program Willow Run schools had. It was amazing coming to Ann Arbor from there... but I digress.
The "Court of St. James's Hall" song is by far the best number, musically, in _Utopia Ltd._, and I'm glad to hear it wasn't cut. I agree it makes sense to change the joke to "business/show business", as most people (including me) need a footnote to know that St. James's Hall was a theatre. At the time the operetta was written, Girton was a women's college attached to Cambridge University in most respects except officially, since officially Cambridge did not admit women. It's now a Cambridge college like any other, so it makes sense to say that Zara went to Cambridge.
Local notes: we just missed a Residential College performance of Mozart's COSI FAN TUTTE, oops. And this weekend we'll be missing more Mozart, DON GIOVANNI in Grand Rapids. Ann Arbor Comic Opera Guild is staging a CARMEN in late February. Toledo added some folding chairs to the room for their upcoming Marilyn Horne concert, so Leslie and I graduated from the waiting list. This appears to be Horne's farewell tour, so we're glad we'll get in to see it. And after that, the next opera on our calendar is Wagner's TRISTAN & ISOLDE in Chicago.
I'll be seeing "Don Giovanni" this weekend. I'll let you know how it went..
I sat through "Das Rheingold" with pleasure, but I think I'd rather have teeth pulled than listen to "Tristan und Isolde".
Opera Grand Rapids' production of "Don Giovanni" was pretty enjoyable. The acting was unexceptional, but the female leads sang well (in what seemed, to me at least, to be fairly demanding parts) and everything else was pretty competently handled. (Although the special effects for Don Giovanni's abduction to Hell were less dramatic, and more cheesy, than I would've liked) Overall the production failed to thrill me, but I suspect that's Mozart's fault, or mine. I've seen three of his operas (Marriage of Figaro, Magic Flute, and Don Giovanni) and haven't been swept away by the music in any of them. One of the things that I thought was interesting about the opera was how strikingly different the vocal parts are for the men and women -- much of the men's dialog is almost spoken but the women are always trilling away into song..
My, I am behind. The last two weeks have been swallowed up in a haze of THE MIKADO. This was, as most of you know, the spring production of the University of Michigan Gilbert & Sullivan Society, and I saw the show five times, beginning with the dress rehearsal two weeks ago. And the music has filled my head and driven out everything else since then, so I have not played a CD for two weeks. I suppose I should learn all the songs, so I could sing them for my own entertainment in my artless way. I've been trying for two weeks to think of something intelligible to write about the show, and I haven't come up with much. As for the production, I think UMGASS really nailed it. But then I'm prejudiced, as Leslie sang the part of Katisha, the elderly lady who the hero Nanki-Poo would rather not marry; and I helped drag in the set, tear down the set, and generally got lots of peeks into the backstage part of the show. One moment which I particularly loved is the contrast between the entrance of the women's chorus, which is written as a lovely serious number, and the entrance of Yum-Yum and the rest of the Three Little Maids, which seems straight out of vaudeville. I'm not quite sure how to characterize those harmonies, almost barber-shop-like. Anyway, it's been a fun two weeks, but it's probably time to get my head out of the MIKADO clouds. There's a pile of other CDs here to listen to, and we have tickets for ROSENKAVALIER this weekend at the Michigan Opera Theatre, so I should start doing a little studying for that.
It was a really good production - up to UMGASS's normal high standards. (We only saw one performance, Sunday matinee.) (I did not recognize Leslie, whom I think I met once or twice quite a while back, or the reference to krj in her section of the program notes on the cast.) Pooh-bah was played especially well, but everyone did well. There were times when we wondered if Ko-ko had a touch of laryngitis, but other times he sounded fine. The bit of business he & Leslie did with "Ah, shrink not from me" was particularly good - more extreme than I've seen it done before. We used to see all the UMGASS productions. When the kids were younger, we saw none. Now all four of us are really enjoying getting back to them.
BTW, there was one BIG improvement (relating specifically to Katisha) over the last UMGASS Mikado we saw. (Remember, there was over a decade's hiatus in this.) In that Mikado, Katisha was not merely elderly & ugly, but portrayed as almost demonic - sort of like what Walt Disney did to the wicked queen in Snow White. Bleah. In the production this month, Katisha was well done in something more like the part given in the opera. Personally, I get a bit tired of the endless stream of elderly-old-maid jokes in Gilbert's librettos. More than a bit. But in any one play, when it's well done (as this one was), I enjoy it fine. (My standard for doing this well is an old UMGASS production of Pirates - the one that was released as a phonograph record. Pretty much everything was especially well done that year.)
I once wrote a little poem about American Savoyards. (Present company excluded, just having fun, etc.) If you're anxious for to shine in an operettic line In a manner tried and true, Just appeal to every ass in the British middle class And the Yanks will fall for you. Though your doggerel be sorry and your politics be Tory And your tunes no joy impart, Still, your fan across the sea will imagine you must be The very flower of British art. And all his friends will say as he goes his dippy way, "If he's mad about those vulgar Brits who seem so dull to *me*, Why, what a very shallow sort of anglophile That shallow sort of anglophile must be.
Savoyards? Meaning's clear from context, but it's mildly appalling there's even a word for that..
"G&S cult members," as I understand it. I've been mildly irritated all my life by the various dentists, proctologists, boutique-owners, etc., who consider themselves enlightened liberal humanists and in the same breath claim to be mad about G&S. G&S's 19th c. audience consisted mainly of middle-class British philistines -- he same stateside dentists and shopkeepers who dote on their D'Oyly Carte LPs today -- a fact of which the boys themselves were well aware. Gilbert himself referred to his lyrics as "doggerel." Flanders and Swan did it so much better: "I've been a little maid from school Since I was just a tiny tot." "With Jack Point's gags I've played the fool Till I'm the only point they've got." "I've toured through all the English-speaking nations And can no longer play my part in Patience." For one man in his time Plays the same old part... Can you wonder then that I'm A little tired of D'Oyly Carte? Three little Savoyards are we, tra-la-la-la, tra-la-la-la, Started in 1893, tra-la-la-la-la-la. With Gilbert and Sullivan we've toured from dump to dump, tra-la-la-la And Sullivan and Gilbert can take a running jump (From year to year and dump to dump Can go and take a running jump). Three little Savoyards are we, tra-la-la-la, tra-la-la-la, Started in 1893, tra-la-la-la-la-la. "Dear little town of Nanki-Poo" (Smile, turn, pace to the right), "Canst thou believe my heart is true?" (Terrible house tonight!) "One that with tender passion fired" (Turn, pace, hand over heart)... Woe to the day that we were hired By D'Oyly Carte! Why is it so admired, This business first inspired By former artists long retired From D'Oyly Carte? Anything new is disallowed (Turn, pace, wait for the pause); Blasphemous change would shock the crowd Following in their scores! Novel approach is not required (Bounce, out of the part); We've done our best, But we need a rest From D'Oyly Carte. But the copyright's expiring in a year or two, no more, And then at last we'll have the chance to settle this old score. We'll buy back Covent Garden, and have the operas rewritten With new words by J.B. Priestley and new tunes by Benjy Britten. Till the end of this light operatic coma, We're going off to sing in "Oklahoma"! Tra-la-la-la-la-la!
md claims to be irritated by people who claim to be liberal humanists but who like Gilbert and Sullivan. Being one myself, I think I can explain. No hypocrisy is involved. You're not being asked to _vote_ for Gilbert, you know. That's beside the fact that Gilbert satirized everything he could get his hands on, and you really can't determine all his views from his work. Once, when complimented for the opinion expressed in a song, he said, "The views are not mine. They are those of the wrong-headed donkey who sings them." I'm more puzzled by the outbreak of G&S-bashing above. Nobody's forcing you to listen to this, are they? That Flanders and Swann song, btw, is directed specifically at the D'Oyly Carte Company, which, especially in the 1950s, was notorious for its extremely sterile productions. American productions (the copyright had already expired here) were much livelier and much better.
Well, just so md won't feel lonely you can add me to the list of people who (a) don't much enjoy G&S, and (b) think that many people who profess to like it do so for reasons which are not particularly related to its musical or theatrical merits.
Well, not forced to listen, exactly, but I have been played The Mikado as if I were being educated in the finer things in life. That, and the presumption that my reluctance can only mean that I've come from listening to Bob Seger, rather than Pelleas et Melisande, irritates me more than G&S's words and music. You might never learn what I was listening to -- or if you do, it won't be from my mouth -- but I do reserve the right to have a little private fun in verse.
Hmm. I meant to respond to this, too, & never got around to it. I'm not a Savoyard, but I like G&S really well, both words & music. (But I'd put the words first.) There are plenty of things that I think are wrong with Gilbert's lyrics - including one whole opera, pretty much - but on the whole I judge them to be clever, well-written, & often to the point. (On this last, let me hasten to add that I'm not one of those md specifically referred to, so I don't personally have to worry about being accused of hypocrisy.) If you're going to judge G&S according to the social ideas embodied, it's only fair to be just as hard on grand opera - which (somehow) people who criticize G&S on this particular point normally aren't, somehow.
Can great light opera, or great art of any kind, be cruel, racist, fascist, whatever? I think the answer is yes, absolutely, whether we like that fact or not. What Auden said, regarding literature: "Time, that is intolerant Of the brave and innocent, And indifferent in a week To a beautiful physique, Worships language and forgives Everyone by whom it lives, Pardons cowardice, conceit, Lays it honors at their feet. Time, that with this strange excuse, Pardoned Kipling and his views, And will pardon Paul Claudel, Pardons them for writing well." G&S can be anything they like, for all I care, so long as the art is good. They do have a witty lyric here, a hummable tune there. I'm not anti-G&S by any means. (I know I must sound like one of those people who say you can like something but you have to like it for the right reasons [ie, my reasons]. Don't mean to.)
I agree with Auden. What were the contemporary faults of G and/or S, or of any artists whose lives and times are now long gone, are all irrelevant today, except as instructive history.
md may well be right about the bulk of G&S aficionados: having spent much time in their company, I've noticed that it appears that many of them are not musical in any other respect. What those individuals see in G&S is not at all clear to me. As for _The Mikado_ being presented as if it were one of the finer things in life ... it is, it is. But if you can't name of the top of your head half a dozen "finer things" that you have no taste for, then your sense of discrimination is highly undeveloped. I don't much like most high opera myself: the only operas I've ever fully enjoyed are "The Barber of Seville", "Carmen", several Mozart comedies, and (odd one out in this bunch) "Das Rheingold". (Yes, I have heard the entirety of the Ring.) Not surprisingly, in view of the bulk of that list, the part of my brain that's wiggled by G&S is the same part that's wiggled by musical comedy of the Broadway variety, and that's where I keep it in my head, though with notation for Sullivan's infinite superiority as composer and especially as arranger over most Broadway musicians, and for Gilbert's very different style as lyricist. As for offensiveness ... if I only allowed myself to listen to vocal music with which I agreed with every sentiment, my CD collection would be tiny indeed. Wagner was a monster, but he's dead: he won't be earning any royalties when I go to hear Rheingold. If I like the music, and can ignore the words, I'll listen to it.
Offensiveness of the lyrics isn't an issue for me personally. I think what you're hearing in me is ego being offended by the cultish American Savoyards you mention who assume I don't respond to G&S because I can't elevate my taste, when the truth - unknown to them and untellable by me - is that I can't lower it. There's also the uncomfortable spot this puts me in of feeling less than the Whitmanesque democrat I know in my heart I am. But it's all in a good cause, I guess: not being like *them*. ;-) Anyway, I have the utmost respect for the sentiments expressed in #156, even though I now have "The Moon and I" going through my head on an endless loop.
md: Well, it's a common problem of cultists of various kinds that they refuse to believe that others don't share their tastes. I'm still annoyed at the guy who, maybe ten years ago, refused to believe my reaction to a jazz masterpiece recording that was played in our presence. My reaction was, "Like 99% of jazz, that did nothing for me whatever." He apparently thought I was only _pretending_ not to like it because I was a classical snob. I can think of a couple things about G&S that might be relevant. First, these works are operettas rather than operas, and if your taste runs to through-composed operas I can see why you might find such choppy, jaunty works beneath you. (For my part, I dislike almost every _non_-G&S operetta I've heard, because I find them schmaltzy, which G&S never is. Also, their books and lyrics are pathetic next to Gilbert's. Many Savoyards are incredulous that I don't love "The Merry Widow" or "Die Fledermaus".) Second, there are many, many bad performances of G&S out there, often by the same companies that put out good ones. The Stanford Savoyards just put on the second best "Iolanthe" of my experience. This is the same company which, a few years ago, did a "Pirates" in which not only did the pirates mill around like a bunch of dispirited lugs, but when the Pirate King, during his solo song, leapt across the stage onto a (fake plastic) rock, it _slid out from under him_. So there is a possibility that you've only seen bad performances, or that the bad ones spoiled you for the good ones. But there's no way to prove this experimentally, so it's just a suggestion.
I like both G&S - and Die Fledermaus (and almost all other opera). They have different virtues. However I'm with dbratman on jazz - I keep wondering why people are so gaga about it. A jazz afficianado once explained the harmonic progression that defines jazz, but I for some reason can't hear it.
jazz is ok as background music =} I have my own things about which I'm cult-like, mostly fringe rock music that few people empathize with, I think everyone's cult-like about something.
I go for bats - one reason I like Die Fledermaus.
I grew up seeing G&S performed by the 8th grade at our local high school, one
per year for around a decade. What they lack in trained musicians such
performances often make up in enthusiasm. And Gilbert's humor is often at
just about an 8th-grade level. 8-{)]
For that matter, I was in Yeoman in 8th grade - so I didn't *see* that one.
Way back in resp:140, resp:142 :: too bad I've not said anything before now about Wagner's TRISTAN & ISOLDE, which we saw in Chicago back in February. David Bratman wrote "I think I'd rather have teeth pulled," and I can't figure out why, unless it's the opera's length. Unfortunately we only got half of the current great Tristan & Isolde: Ben Heppner wasn't schedule for this performance, just Jane Eaglen. After these months it's hard to think of anything to say about the music: the production held together quite well and the second act, which has the big love duet, was a wonderful example of the the set machinery being used to underscore the story, as everything outside of the little world of the two lovers slides away and disappears. Oh, and Isolde's maidservant standing watch atop the steel cube... What was it some critic wrote? TRISTAN is where the symphony entered the opera, or something like that. It's quite different than the Italian opera tradition; arias don't really start or stop as distinct pieces, but there's just this big river of music moving along. ---------- And back in April there was Richard Strauss' DER ROSENKAVALIER at Michigan Opera Theatre. Strauss is a problem composer for me, being a 20th Century guy and all that, though I can see where he's pretty much following on from Wagner. The story didn't make a whole lot of sense to me until Leslie pointed out that it's an homage to Mozart, with Octavian reprising Cherubino (the mezzo singing the role of a boy first discovering sex) and Baron Ochs as a caricature of Don Giovanni. It was fun seeing Helen Donath in the role of The Marschallin, since we got to chat with her at length after a MOT gala. Still behind: last Saturday we saw LA BOHEME in Baltimore, and tonight is TOSCA. But for now, back to your regularly scheduled Gilbert & Sullivan bashing. :)
I'm a liberal and I adore Gilbert & Sullivan. I also have no idea of what a Savoyard is. I also like Die Fledermaus, maybe because I, too am batty. ;) I love all things British except Gentleman's Relish, which is comprised mostly of anchovies. Wait. Let's not go into the food thing. There probably is no hope of me ever being refined. I own a copy of The Mikado, and HMS Pinafore. I can sing the Captain's song. I'm learning Sir Joseph's song. I collect stamps with the First Frump (the Queen) on them. Pass me a warm beer.
I don't think you qualify as a Savoyard unless you at least have a copy of the libretto for Utopia, Ltd. as well, Jim. You don't qualify, yet. (Maybe you have to be able to sing a couple of songs from either Utopia or Grand Duke, as well. I'm not sure.)
I have a 19th c edition of the Bab Ballads. Does that qualify me?
No. Necessary but not sufficient.
8-{)]
>I think everyone's cult-like about something. Moderation in all things. Including moderation. "Savoyard", for those that don't know the word, is the term for a G&S aficionado. It comes from the Savoy Theatre, the original home of the D'Oyle Carte Company, which the G&S operettas were originally written for. (And it's called the Savoy Theatre because it's on the site of the Savoy Palace, where the Princes of Savoy (in Italy) stayed when they came to London in olden times.) I'm often inclined to think that the true mark of a Savoyard is that they not only know nothing from "Utopia Limited" and "The Grand Duke", but that they have not the slightest interest or curiosity in them. Savoyards often have amazingly narrow tastes: they want to hear the same seven G&S masterpieces - half of their total output - again and again, with no interest in whatever else these guys may have written. Fortunately they're not all like that. Why do I dislike most Wagner? It's not because I prefer Italian opera: I have no taste for Italian opera. It's not because "the symphony entered the opera": in fact, I _like_ it that way, and my reaction to a lot of Wagner is "this is beautiful orchestral music; now if only those superfluous idiots would stop trying (and usually failing) to sing over it." It's not the length: if Bruckner had only written a 5-hour symphony, I would listen in rapt adoration. And it's not because I dislike all Wagner: in fact, _Das Rheingold_ is one of my favorite operas. And why is _Rheingold_ my favorite Wagner? Because it has no Wagnerian love scenes in it. I hate Wagnerian love scenes (including platonic father-daughter love scenes like the one in _Walkure_): they are the embodiment of what I dislike most in late Romantic movement: heaving, overwrought, agonized, overlong, unlimited and uncontrolled. By comparison Tchaikovsky is a model of classical restraint. Mahler sounds like this too, much of the time, and I don't like him either. Anyway, _Tristan_ is the Wagner opera with the greatest quotient of Wagnerian love scenes, and it is accordingly the one I'd avoid with the longest pole.
Wow, there are about four or five operas that never got noted down in this item, stuff we saw in the spring and summer. Maybe later. AP has a wire story reporting that Luciano Pavarotti will be singing a concert version of Verdi's AIDA on November 21, at the Detroit Opera House.
Three weeks ago, Leslie & I saw a production from the new Arbor Opera Company, staged at the auditorium of Pioneer High School. This was Donizetti's LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR. The story, set in Scotland, is about poor Lucia, who loves one man but whose brother forces her to marry another. As is usual, the corpses pile up. :) The three lead roles were pretty well sung. Arbor Opera's goal is to present performance opportunities for young singers. The opera was produced on a shoestring budget of about $30,000, if I remember the news story correctly, with about half of that going for the orchestra. The biggest lack was projected titles; I hadn't seen an opera without projected titles in 10 years, and I found that I missed a lot of the story. Biggest example would be Lucia's aria from the first act, sung to the statue in a fountain and foreshadowing all the deaths to come. I had no idea what she was singing about. I'd encourage opera fans in Ann Arbor to turn out and support the company's future efforts, just to keep a small local company going. This production was comparable in overall quality to the University of Michigan School of Music productions. ----- Coming up in Ann Arbor: UMichigan's student production of Verdi's FALSTAFF, which I need to get a date (and tickets) for. It's sometime in November. Coming up in the review queue: our doubleheader weekend in Chicago, with "The Great Gatsby" and "Queen of Spades." Also, UM Musical Theatre's production of Gershwin's "Of Thee I Sing." I will get caught up, I will I will I will...
Ken, John and I would like to get tickets to Falstaff too. We're not huge opera fans but the female lead is a friend of ours and we'd like to be there. If you hear of tickets going on sale before we do would you let us know? (I'll let you know if I get the info first.)
This talk of fall opera productions is making me homesick, since it's reminding me that I won't be getting back to western Michigan to catch Opera Grand Rapids' fall production, which usually occurs around this time of year. Having heard Leslie's high praise for the Seattle opera company's Wagner productions, I tried to talk my few social acquaintances out here into checking out the first production in the cycle with me earlier this fall but couldn't talk anyone into it.. I now regret not going by myself, but it was a busy week, etc, etc..
Mary (and John) -- a web page with information about the upcoming UM production of FALSTAFF is at: http://www.theatre.music.umich.edu/uprod/current/uprod-falstaff.html The opera runs Thursday November 16 - Sunday November 19 at Power Center. Leslie says that tickets come from the Mendelssohn Box Office. They'd likely be on sale by now, I think. Since you want to see a specific singer, be sure to note that the operas at UM are staged with two casts, one on Thursday-Saturday and one on Friday-Sunday. This is done in part to give more students experience, and in part because it's not healthy to sing this stuff on consecutive nights. You'll want to check with your friend to be sure you get tickets for one of the two shows she'll be appearing in. (Or you could wander over to the School of Music list and check the posted cast list there, which is what Leslie does.)
(er, "wander over to the School of Music building..." sheesh)
Thanks, Ken.
Ken & Leslie might enjoy an article from this week's Onion:
"Finest Opera Singer of Her Generation Unknown By Her Generation"
http://www.theonion.com/onion3703/opera_singer.html
My favorite quote:
Raised by symphony violinists Celeste and Antonio Coletti,
young Alessandra grew up surrounded by opera and classical music.
"My earliest memories are listening to Enrico Caruso 78s on my
parents' Victrola," Coletti said. "When I was seven, they took me
to see Renata Babek in 'La Gioconda.' What a thrill that was.
I remember asking my mother why there were no other children in
the audience. She told me they were all across town at Carnegie
Hall watching Tchaikovsky's 'Queen Of Spades.'"
Coming up: a regional double helping of Jacques Offenbach. The spring UM student production is "La Perichole," which opens March 22 at Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. And then in June, Michigan Opera Theatre offers "Tales of Hoffmann."
I didn't expect to like "Tales of Hoffman" but I found it quite interesting. (when I saw it performed by Opera Grand Rapids a few years ago, that is..)
Why would you expect to not like "Tales of Hoffman"?
Because the only works I'd heard by Offenbach up to that time didn't thrill me and because I read a poor summary of the libretto that made it sound like a sequence of unrelated vignettes.
It would be interesting to see (and hear) how that would be done. If it has been, it would make a good "Opera Quiz" question - name the opera that is a sequence of unrelated vignettes. Certainly, some ballets are like that.
Well, to some extent "Tales From Hoffman" comes pretty close -- it's made up of three stories which I presume were not written to be connected in any way, but in the process of adapting them to operatic form the librettist added a connecting framework which ties them together as elements of an outer story about the relationship between an artist and his muse.
I don't see it that way. In the prologue, Hoffman is asked to tell about the three love encounters of his life, which is what he does in the succeeding three acts. This is a very common structure of both novels and autobiographies. I certainly think that everything is tied together by the protagonist, Hoffman. (The text, by the way, is of course not by Offenbach, but by Jules Barbier, who was a very famous librettist.) There a other threads that tie the three main acts together. They all have an antagonist - a "malignant influence" - Spalanzani in the first act, and Dr. Miracle in the others. They all have "heroines" of great artistic skill - a dancer, a coquette, and a singer. They all end with specific disillusionments for Hoffman. AND...all that provides marvelous excuses for beautiful music and songs! Where's my recording....
A link formed of somebody telling some otherwise unrelated stories is a good way to ... um ... to link together some otherwise unrelated stories. (And black is black, and white is white.) It is indeed a very common strategy, but it doesn't make the stories any less unrelated.
[Psst. Just agree with him, David.]
(md is my Dr. MIracle.....) Would you explain, please, David, how the stories are unrelated when they all involve the same protagonist (Hoffman), the same antagonist (called Spalazani or Dr. Miracle, both out to ruin Hoffman's fun), and the same type of love objects, false, unobtainable, or fickle? The three acts are practically the *same* story.
Why don't you ask Mike McNally that question, Rane? He's the one who was talking about "The Tales of Hoffman". I was making a general comment on the linking together of unrelated stories.
Sorry, I thought you were making an observation relevant to Tales of Hoffman. What opera were you referring to? mcnally?
My understanding is that the libretto was adapted from several stories whose only original connection is that they were written by E.T.A. Hoffmann and feature the several common elements you mention. (I just noticed I've been leaving out an "n" for several responses now..) I haven't read the original stories, but I was under the impression that it is the invention of the librettist that Hoffman has replaced the original protagonists of the three stories chosen, as is the story of Hoffman's choice between his muse and the opera singer Stella.
(Looks like you had a relapse in the second paragraph, too.)
errata: n n n n n n n <please distribute as needed..>
McNally is correct in #189, that what Barbier did was make E T A Hoffmann himself the 'hero' of adventures adapted from several separate stories written by Hoffmann. I guess it is time for us all to read the original tales to determine whether the commonalities between the middle acts in Barbier libretto are also present in the original tales. Quite a few anthologies of Hoffmann's "Weird Tales" have been published. Apparently he was an early Kafka in writing bizarre tales.
Sunday afternoon we saw UM School of Music's production of "La Perichole," by Jacques Offenbach, which I gather isn't performed often these days. We really weren't sure why, since in both book and music it's easily the equal of the Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, though "Perichole" has a sexual edge which the Victorian G&S audience would never have accepted. The story is set in colonial Lima, Peru, though the conceit of the production designer was to turn Lima into a 1950's seaside resort. La Perichole is an impoverished street singer who would like to marry Paquillo, another singer, but they can't afford the money for a marriage license. While Perichole and Paquillo are separated by the machinations of the plot, the Viceroy of Peru spies Perichole and decides to rescue her from hunger and install her in the palace as his new mistress. Of course proprieties must be observed: no unmarried woman can live in the palace. So.... (and on and on and on...) The music was lush and delightful throughout, and I think the score was better suited to the young student voices than many UM productions have been. One thing which startled me was the age of the audience. Almost everyone had white hair, and lots of the audience had mobility problems. "Well, at least you only need a cane and not a wheelchair!" said one of our neighbors to another. I don't know if this was because it was the Sunday matinee, or because it was Offenbach. One elderly gentleman seated behind us made a comment in the last act when The Old Prisoner appeared in the dungeon: "Oh, he's a *great* character." So he, at least, had seen this show before!
I saw "La Perichole" once. Comparing your reactions to mine, I guess I have the gene for enjoying Gilbert & Sullivan, but not any other light opera. I don't like "Die Fledermaus" or "The Merry Widow" either.
Wow, I never write reviews any more on stuff I have seen. Sigh. Upcoming: Friday, July 13: the Arbor Opera Theater, a local company which Leslie has been doing some singing with, performs two 45-minute chamber operas: Leonard Bernstein's "Trouble in Tahiti" and Gian Carlo Menotti's "The Telephone." 8 p.m., $10, at the Vitosha bed & breakfast & arts center (the former Unitarian Church), 1917 Washtenaw Avenue. "Trouble in Tahiti" is about a crumbling marriage, in a setting using lots of 1950s cultural idioms. I saw a student production of it about a decade ago and it's a favorite work of mine.
The chamber opera presentation (resp:195) was cancelled. Apologies if anyone showed up for it besides me.
how was The Telephone? (MEnotti's one of my favs.)
Haven't seen it; the performance I was going to see was cancelled. Arbor Opera Theater are doing "The Telephone" and "Trouble In Tahiti" Thursday-Sunday at the Ann Arbor Civic Theater on Washington St., which I think is the old Performance Network space. I plan to see the presentation Thursday.
which show is Leslie in?
Leslie is in neither of these shows; Leslie is coming to the end of a four week opera workshop in the Czech Republic, in the towns of Kromeriz and Karlovy Vary.
it's nice to be an audience on occassion. (:
I saw Arbor Opera Theater's production of these shows today at the old Performance Network/new Civic Theater. Both were highly enjoyable and well-executed. I'll plan to attend other Arbor Opera productions in the future.
Forgot to put this in earlier. The first performance of this show has already run. This is the U.Michigan School of Music fall opera presentation. I think it's an excellent modern opera, we saw it in Montreal about four years ago. >Nov. >8-11 Opera Theatre Department: "The Consul" by Gian Carlo Menotti >Thu-Sun Power Center for the Performing Arts > 8:00 PM Thu-Sat/2:00 PM Sun. > Directed by Joshua Major. Conducted by Kenneth Kiesler. > The Consul tells the tale of a family trying to flee > political tyranny in Eastern Europe. Sung > in English. Tickets are available at the League Ticket > Office for $20 (center > orchestra/balcony), $15 (rear orchestra/ balcony); students > with proper ID can purchase > tickets for $7. For more information, call 764-2538. Also running this weekend is UMS presenting Gluck's opera "Orfeo & Eurydice," with spectacular Polish contralto Ewa Podles singing Friday and Sunday performances.
We saw the Saturday presentation of "The Consul." This was Gian Carlo Menotti's 1950 opera set in Eastern Europe in the early days of the cold war. Overall this was a very good production from the UM School of Music. The dream & hypnotism sequences still seem to have dated a bit for me, but those are in the book, not unique to this presentation, and we felt the final dream sequence was better in this production than in the one we saw in Montreal. The main story is still pretty chilling and sad. The set of the Consul's waiting room was monumental -- one of the best sets I've seen in a UM opera. Behind the desk of the Secretary, the file drawers went up to the roof...
Some housemates of mine say that one and loved it. I spent the weekend in Pittsburgh and missed out. Pity, really. Menotti rocks my world.
Then you will be happy to know that Menotti, himself, (age 90!) will be conducting 'Amahl and the Night Visitors' in Detroit next month. That is, if you live around here. My friend's son will be be one of the two actors portraying Amahl.
Oh wow. Thanks for the tip.
I saw Ewa Podles in something else at Hill a year or two ago. I think it was the Messiah, but I coudl be wrong. She was fantastic. I was hoping to go to O&E, but this work thing is really messing me up.
OK, so it's taken me four months to say something about the UMS production of Gluck's "Orpheus & Eurydice." *sigh*. Seeing this the same weekend as Menotti's "The Consul" was like bookending Western culture, both in theme and in operatic style. Thematically, we leapt from Greek mythology to totalitarian horrors; musically, Gluck is "The Great Reformer" of opera, who is considered to have stripped away all the aspects of opera which were only to showcase the singers, to try to get to presenting drama, and of course Menotti represents almost-the-present-day. Before the 20th century's excavation of Monteverdi's operas, Gluck's works were the oldest ones likely to be performed. Gluck's drama seems kind of slow for contemporary sensibilities, which may be why the dance company was included to perk up the visuals a bit. I think it's an interesting approach and might be fun to apply to some of the Haydn operas which are recorded for their musical beauty, but rarely performed on stage. Eva Podles sang Orpheus, and she's a favorite in our house, ever since she won over the Ann Arbor audience when she filled in for Cecelia Bartoli at Hill Auditorium. Leslie said "she sings like a force of nature." Gluck left one aria in the old florid style for Orpheus to sing, and it was delightful to hear Ms. Podles navigate all those ornaments. I've forgotten the name of the Euridyce; we saw her two years ago as the daughter in Bolcom's "A View From The Bridge." OPERA NEWS gave this production a tremendously enthusiastic review and suggested that it should tour. This was the first time that the University Musical Society had assembled its own opera production, rather than importing one, and we were quite pleased. Having front-row seats was an extra treat.
... and so much for advance warnings on local opera. The University of Michigan School of Music has already opened their spring opera, Rossini's "La Cenenterola," a character better known as Cinderella. At Lydia Mendellsohn Theater through Sunday, I think, check your favorite arts guide. Eskarina mentioned that MSU's music school is performing Offenbach's "Orpheus in the Underworld" this weekend. I have NO details, try to contact the MSU music school if you are interested. And, we completely missed the Comic Opera Guild's production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute," in part because Leslie doesn't like that opera much, and I only like the first act, before the heavy Masonic symbolism comes crashing down like a ton of bricks.
One of the evil stepsisters in Cenerentola (sp?) is the director of the Arts Chorale, that I sing in. I may or may not get to see it this weekend.
The most enjoyable opera production I've seen in recent years was a Berkeley opera production of Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri, with an English-language script that updated the story more than slightly. It was titled "The Riot Grrrl on Mars." Freapin' wonderful. (Hearing James Morris sing Horace Tabor in the San Francisco Opera production of Ballad of Baby Doe was pretty impressive, too.)
Upcoming opera events in the Ann Arbor area: Michigan Opera Theater's production of Verdi's IL TROVATORE runs October 12-20 in Detroit, so now is the time to look into tickets if one is interested. This is a major Verdi opera which we have never seen, so I'm looking forward to it. Leslie tells me the critical consensus is that the music is glorious but the drama is a bit of a mess. I haven't got the rest of the fall MOT schedule handy. Ann Arbor Symphony offers Bizet's CARMEN in a concert presentation (no sets or staging) at the Michigan Theater; Saturday November 9. CARMEN is possibly the most popular opera; one of my opera guidebooks writes that if you don't like CARMEN, maybe you should give up on opera completely and move on to something else. :) I haven't got the dates, but the University of Michigan School of Music fall production is Janacek's THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN. And, TV ads report that Andrea Bocelli is singing at The Palace of Auburn Hills, that acoustic wonder. :)
Toledo Opera has Verdi's LA TRAVIATA coming up the weekend of October 5, and MOT's second fall opera in Detroit is DON PASQUALE.
How bad *are* the acoustics in the Palace? I've seen nought but the circus there.
I saw the most amazing thing (to me) on cable TV Sunday morning: On something calling itself the ARTS channel, there was an item (each item lasting a few minutes and having a musical piece accompanied by "something" visual) which in the credits just said "animation" that I can best describe as "claymation". This one happened to be from Rigoletto (Act I, "The affectionate (?) Duke, abduction of Gilda"). The characters seemed to be singing in English. Call me a "hillbilly" :-) but I wouldn't mind actually possessing (or renting) video tapes of such a rendering - the entertainment value was high, and I can appreciate the music. Thoughts?
There was a Claymation Christmas special some years ago that I remember fondly. I liked their "We Three Kings" with the camels singing the chorus.
re 216: there's an entire video of little opera snippets set to animation (I think it's mostly computer animation) call "Opera Imaginaire" or something like that. some of the animation has nothing to do with the music (a la fantasia) and some of it is a little scene from the story. it might be distributed by miramax, but I don't remember.
I've been trying to come up with something to say about the Michigan Opera Theater production of Verdi's IL TROVATORE without much success. Singing in the production was mostly good; acting was just fair. Dramatically this opera is a bit of a mess, probably because the librettest died midway through, if I remember correctly. TROVATORE is one of those improbable opera plots which everyone sneers at: two brothers separated at birth on opposite sides of a civil war, in love with the same woman. It's interesting that TROVATORE is lumped in with two of Verdi's strongest dramas, RIGOLETTO and LA TRAVIATA, all three premiering in a brief period in the early 1840s. What makes TROVATORE worthwhile is the music, which is oriented towards choruses and ensemble pieces, which I love. It's always great to catch up with one of the mid or late-period Verdi operas which I have not seen. Before the show, the director of the company came out to make a pitch for Proposal K, which was (in part) a plan to get the Detroit suburbs to kick in some millage money for the Detroit cultural institutions. "Arts, Parks and Kids" it was called. I didn't hear if it passed. ----- Coming up this weekend: Janacek's THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN, presented by UM School of Music. I think it's at Power Center, but I'm not sure. Sung in Czech with projected English titles.
(yes, it's at the power center)
UM School of Music's spring opera offering is DON GIOVANNI. Mozart's setting of the tale of Don Juan is one of the best and most popular operas, and it will be performed in the cozy confines of Lydia Mendelsohn Theater: it's almost guaranteed to sell out. Four performances, March 25-28. Call the League Ticket Office at 734-764-2538 or peek at http:///www.uprod.music.umich.edu
You have several choices: