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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread: "Anna Bolena" on TV tonite

Discussion in 'Archive: The Amphitheatre' started by DarthIshtar, Apr 21, 2006.

  1. Darth_Maestro

    Darth_Maestro Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2005
    Happen's to me also with Wagner, I only got throught the firsct acts of Tanhausser and Parsifaland all his Overtures and Preludes.

    I just find Wagner a bit scary.

    What do you guys think might be the easiest of his operas to listen to first??:confused:
     
  2. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    die Meistersingers is supposed to be one of his funniest operas, so that might be an easy start, haven't heard it fully myself though. I really like die Walküre and I don't think it should be too hard as a beginning. It has action all the way, and some of the best single pieces from all of his work


    And I've heard so much about Anna Russell, and I would love to get the chance to hear her myself. Well one day hopefully.
     
  3. Zaz

    Zaz Jedi Knight star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 11, 1998
    Odd to think of him being funny.
     
  4. Thrawn1786

    Thrawn1786 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 8, 2004
    I would not recommend Die Meistersinger for one's first taste of Wagner. While it is funny, it is also his longest opera at 5 or 6 hours straight. I made the mistake of trying to listen to a Met broadcast of it when I was first getting into opera and was bored out of my mind from the lengthy-ness.

    I'd suggest The Flying Dutchman first; it's his shortest opera and a good beginning. After that, I'd move on to Tannhauser(if you've seen the Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Opera, Doc?" the music from this one will be instantly recognizable), and then Die Walkure. Afterwards, I'd try Lohengrin(here comes the bride!), then maybe Parsifal followed by the rest of the Ring Cycle.

    I started listening to Meistersinger a few months ago, had to put it on hiatus. And I haven't touched Siegfried, Gotterdammerung, or Rienzi yet.

    If you want to see an excellent production of the Ring Cycle, get the 1990s Met videotapes/DVDs. The singing, sets, and conducting are top-notch.

    Edit: Wagner does have the occasional joke scattered throughout his other works; Mime serves as the comic relief in Siegfried, plus Siegfried's discovery of Brunnhilde being a woman is always amusing. For the most part, Zas, you're right, he is not funny.
     
  5. DarthIshtar

    DarthIshtar Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001
    By the way, if you go to www.fathomevents.com, you can find dates for Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. I just had fun at Hansel and Gretel and Macbeth is coming up.
     
  6. Zaz

    Zaz Jedi Knight star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 11, 1998
    This is only in the States, right?
     
  7. DarthIshtar

    DarthIshtar Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001
    Unfortunately, yes.
     
  8. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    Actually some of the Met operas are showed on some small local cinemas here in Sweden, I haven't had the possibility to see one though, but I think it's great that you get the chance to see great art even in very small towns, far from the opera houses.
     
  9. Thrawn1786

    Thrawn1786 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 8, 2004
    Supposedly La Scala and San Francisco Opera are going to follow suit and broadcast some of their productions as well.

    Ishtar, what did you think of Hansel and Gretel? I read it's one of those productions you either like or you don't.
     
  10. DarthIshtar

    DarthIshtar Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001
    I love Hansel and Gretel, but I think I fell in love with it early. In my chamber orchestra, we did a suite of pieces from the opera and I found it to be a very appropriate tone and very clever. I still like that fairy tale better than Massenet's Cindrellon.
     
  11. Zaz

    Zaz Jedi Knight star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 11, 1998
    It isn't what the rich call fair...:p
     
  12. DarthIshtar

    DarthIshtar Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYw_d4isSeY

    I was looking through adaptations of Carmen the other day and found that Beyonce has done a "hip-hopera" of it. In protest, I am posting this rendition of the famous "L'amour est com'un ouisseau rebelde" done by a wonderful singer named Julia Migenes.
     
  13. Zaz

    Zaz Jedi Knight star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 11, 1998
    Is that a clip from a movie?
     
  14. DarthIshtar

    DarthIshtar Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001
    Yes, from a movie adaptation of the Bizet. I can find the director's name.
     
  15. Zaz

    Zaz Jedi Knight star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 11, 1998
    Nice voice indeed, but I could do without the 'sexy' knee-bends, and the editing is a bit lacking...
     
  16. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    Here's the wiki entry on this version It also has Placido Domingo as Don José.
     
  17. DarthIshtar

    DarthIshtar Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm7s8bOolYI

    This is what makes me love Hansel and Gretel. Well, one of the songs. It's got a lovely simplicity.

     
  18. DarthIshtar

    DarthIshtar Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001
    My friend, a fellow violinist from back East who has suffered everything from Red Sox playoff games to hot dead Frenchmen in Les Mis, just started up a Facebook group with the greatest title ever:

    If he's dead, he can't say no: Operas Taught Me How To Date

    Here's a sampling of contributions with their sources:

    "Listen to the rumors, especially if they're laid out in a convenient aria format" (Don Giovanni). Alternatively, "Spanish chicks are easy." Come on, 1003?!

    "He'll regret rejecting you someday. Seriously." (Evgeny Onegin)

    "Sometimes you should just thaw out and let him kiss you before some innocent bystander gets killed "(turandot)

    Go for the old woman. Sometimes she's hot. (Flute)

    Love your woman even though she's fickle and unfaithful like all women? (Cosi)

    The hot ones are always crazy. (Lucia, Puritani, Carmen)

    "If he's dead, he can't say no" (Salome)

    Consumption is sexy. (Traviata and Boheme)

    Don't piss off the dramatic soprano. You will live to regret it, though probably only briefly. (Die Walküre, and most of the rest of what Wagner wrote.)

    l'orfeo: OH MY GOD DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU.
    butterfly: men suck. particularly american men.

    Don Carlos -- if your girlfriend marries your dad, it was never meant to be.

    "Never marry your father switched at birth, no matter how hot his high notes." HMS Pinafore

    "Love is forever. Just ask the National Gallery." Ruddigore

    "True love is worth waiting for, even for the next 63 celibate years." Pirates of Penzance.
     
  19. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    Great quotes! [face_laugh] Have to go and find that f-book group right now!
     
  20. Zaz

    Zaz Jedi Knight star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 11, 1998
    The "Evgeny Onegin" one had me rolling on the floor...
     
  21. Viola_Telcontar

    Viola_Telcontar Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Nov 14, 2004
    Username: Viola Telcontar

    Country: Germany

    Favorite Opera: Depends on my mood a bit. Right now, perhaps "Boris Godunov". I watched it live when I was 19 (I think). It must have been in September (and a very hot one), but I remember how the incredible cast managed the St. Basil Scene. It was hot and stuffy in the room, but my blood almost froze from the intensity of it. The way the choir screamed for bread... chilling...
    I didn't even read the subtitles half of the time!

    Mussorgsky is such an incredible composer!
    My orchestra played "Night on a Bold Mountain" a year ago, and I have tried my hands on "Pictures of an Exhibition". Unfortunately I'm just a mediocre pianist. I probably would do better with the Ravel orchestra transcription.

    Favorite Aria: Another tricky question. A lot of it depends on the singer. Perhaps "Kuda, kuda" from Eugen Onegin (oh, what a cliché! *feels ashamed*), sung by the best tenor who ever lived, Fritz Wunderlich. He's the only singer who can move me to tears. His Tamino is legendary, and there is a wonderful rendition of Händel's Ombra mai fu from Xerxes on youtube.

    Favorite opera experience: Well, apart from the inspired "Boris Godunov" I've seen (I think it was in Essen), there is one live performance I really loved, though it was only a recital and not a real opera.
    A good friend (who now studies flute) and I decided to attend a concert by the "BJO" (= Federal Youth Orchestra, arguably Germany's best youth orchestra). Unfortunately the last cards were sold to the people who stood directly in front of us in the line.
    Your luck was that the concert was sponsored by the music school where we both played in the youth orchestra (she was the first flute, I the viola principal), and we knew the people who sold the cards. So they let us in, anyway, and we were able to find some free seats.
    It was the best live performance I've ever seen.
    Period.
    After an Overture by Wagner and "la Mer" by Debussy, they played a recital of Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle".
    It was incredible.
    I've never again heard anything like that.
    I'm usually very careful when it comes to listen to 20th century music. I'm very fond of atonal music, and take a lot of time to "prepare" to listen to it, but my friend and I decided spontaneously to go to the concert, so there was no time to work through the music before the performance. Thank God, I was familiar with Bartok! His "Concert for Orchestra" is one of my favorite pieces.
    In the seven years since then, I've never heard any orchestra that could rival the performance. They truly combined the passion of laymen with the technique of professionals.

    How you got into the opera experience: I can't really tell. My first opera was Carmen. I think I was 16. My music teacher decided that we should go, see an opera. It was a good start.

    Fun Fact about yourself: In 10 days I'm going to play a concert which features the "Vogelfänger" aria from Mozart's "Zauberflöte".

     
  22. Zaz

    Zaz Jedi Knight star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 11, 1998
    The Vancouver Opera is producing a version of "The Italian Girl in Algiers" by Rossini.

    Is this any good?
     
  23. Thrawn1786

    Thrawn1786 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 8, 2004
    If you like Rossini, it's fairly good(and even if you don't, it's fairly good :p). I've only heard it once, on the Met radio broadcasts, and it is a nice opera. Not quite as funny as Il Barbiere di Siviglia, but it is amusing. I say go for it. :)
     
  24. Zaz

    Zaz Jedi Knight star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 11, 1998
    I don't speak Italian...
     
  25. Thrawn1786

    Thrawn1786 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 8, 2004
    Sorry...I'm just used to calling it that...in English, The Barber of Seville. :) [face_blush]