Opera

When I studied Drama at uni, my very first lecture described Opera as the highest of all performance art forms: a sumptious, overwhelming brew of spectacle, dance and music- or so I was told.

To this day, my knowledge of Opera consists precisely of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdTBml4oOZ8
Nessun Dorma- Pavarotti

I love it ( who wouldn't?) but if the Football World Cup hadn't been played in Italy in 1990, and if the BBC TV coverage of the tournament hadn't used this as its theme tune, my knowledge of Opera would be precisely Zero.

So...please explain...what am I missing?

Stanisław Skrowaczewski (stating what was probably a minority among conductors) once said that most operas are not worth the work and expense required to stage a performance.

As exceptions, he named Beethoven (not known as an opera composer--he wrote one), Mozart, Tschaikowsky, and Gluck (on odd choice, since we was very early and now seems archaic).

The creators of opera understood that during the time of the ancient Greeks dramas were chanted or sung. The original idea of opera was to introduce "authentic performance practice" into Greek drama, but it quickly got off onto a different track.

I think we have to consider the fact that opera was created before the time of special effect films and sound amplification. It was a way of making a show spectacular with characters that were no larger than life and could only make as much noise as their voices would make, and with scenery that had to be set up indoors and could only be changed by guys coming onstage to lift it or roll it.

Opera was invented by Italians, who were known for spectacular stage productions. The texts of their plays from the late 16th to early 17th centuries are mostly long forgotten, but surviving drawings of the stage sets are spectacular.

English drama during the same period was the polar opposite--almost no scenery, but words by Shakespeare.

I tend to agree with Stanisław Skrowaczewski, and most of favorite music is chamber music--not opera. To my ear, the composers that wrote opera were at their best when they wrote for chamber groups.

But there are some operas that I put on my must-listen list:

Claudio Monteverdi -- L'Orfeo

Gluck -- Orfeo ed Euridice

Mozart -- Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute

Moussorgsky -- Boris Godunov

Gershwin -- Porgy and Bess

Thanks for the responses, Pinz.

Obviously, I need to do a lot more research.

I was typing too fast and left off possibly the best. Skrowaczewski's list is notable for leaving off Verdi, Wagner, and most of the other composers that opera lovers are supposed to like.

pinhedz wrote:I tend to agree with Stanisław Skrowaczewski, and most of favorite music is chamber music--not opera. To my ear, the composers that wrote opera were at their best when they wrote for chamber groups.

But there are some operas that I put on my must-listen list:

Claudio Monteverdi -- L'Orfeo

Gluck -- Orfeo ed Euridice

Mozart -- Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute

Beethoven -- Fidelio

Moussorgsky -- Boris Godunov

Gershwin -- Porgy and Bess

This calls for a link to the "Fidelio" thread: http://acrosstheuniverse.forummotion.com/t1064-fidelio-is-supposed-to-pass-for-a-dude-but-mostly-doesn-t

My favorite part of the opera starts at 3:15 here:

Christa Ludwig does here best to look dood-like, and obviously is determined to get the job done:

And, shur 'nuff, she got the job done:

And there's this--what's not to like?

In an older opera, Sportin' Life would have been called Mephisto or Beelzebub:

Tom loves opera and listens every night to something I've downloaded onto our iPod . We have a device that gives the iPod speakers.

For me, there's nothing finer than Puccini's Madame Butterfly.



This will melt your heart:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uut6X4E-Kgk

This is a good site for Brecht-Weill's The Threepenny Opera, the only opera- apart from The Who's Tommy- I know pretty well:

http://threepennyopera.org/

Pre-dating Tommy, here's The Who's mini-opera (operetta? ) A Quick One...from The Rolling Stones Rock n Roll Circus, 1968:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTUG49Uj-s0&feature=related