I just watched the New York Met live yesterday with "La Fille du Regiment" by Donizetti. It was a live broadcast. I don't get much opportunity to watch live opera, so I'm glad the Met is doing this. I've been to Milan and Vienna (actually toured the Staatsoper), but each time I was unable to watch a performance in two of the best places to watch opera. I have been to the Lyric Opera House in Chicago (coincidentally another Donizetti), and that was great.
Just throwing this out, what's your favorite opera, or one I should be sure to see? I have listened to quite a bit, but when the visual aspect is brought in, it adds so much more.
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Originally posted by neonpeon41I must admit that I've never delved into opera, however I do have a recording of Morton Feldman's "Neither" with libretto by Samuel Beckett though I imagine many would be reluctant to call it an opera even though it was comissioned by the Rome Opera. The following is Feldman's account of the meeting when Feldman proposed the project to Beckett :
I just watched the New York Met live yesterday with "La Fille du Regiment" by Donizetti. It was a live broadcast. I don't get much opportunity to watch live opera, so I'm glad the Met is doing this. I've been to Milan and Vienna (actually toured the Staatsoper), but each time I was unable to watch a performance in two of the best places to watch opera. ened to quite a bit, but when the visual aspect is brought in, it adds so much more.
np
"He [Beckett] was very embarassed - he said to me, after a while: 'Mr. Feldman, I don't like opera.' I said to him, 'I don't blame you!' Then he said to me 'I don't like my words being set to music,' and I said, 'I'm in complete agreement. In fact it's very seldom that I've used words. I've written a lot of pieces with voice, and they're wordless.' Then he looked at me again and said, 'But what do you want?' And I said 'I have no idea!' He also asked me why I didn't use existing material ... I said that I had read them all, that they were pregnable, they didn't need music. I said that I was looking for the quintessence, something that just hovered."
this, along with Shakespeare, are my two least favorite categories on Jeopardy. When Opera comes up, I just blurt out What is Aida? or Who is Stravinski? If French is in the clue, I remember from 6th grade a guy named Bizet wrote one. That is my entire bank of knowledge on the subject. But if that soothing, pastoral music that is played on Bugs Bunny cartoons just before all hell breaks loose is operatic, than that's my favorite.🙂
Originally posted by neonpeon41I really enjoyed Le Grand Macabre when i saw it a couple years ago.
I just watched the New York Met live yesterday with "La Fille du Regiment" by Donizetti. It was a live broadcast. I don't get much opportunity to watch live opera, so I'm glad the Met is doing this. I've been to Milan and Vienna (actually toured the Staatsoper), but each time I was unable to watch a performance in two of the best places to watch opera. ...[text shortened]... ened to quite a bit, but when the visual aspect is brought in, it adds so much more.
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Thanks for reminding me. I've been meaning to put that on my ipod.
Originally posted by rbmorrisIs that the one by Ligeti? When Sony issued the Ligeti Edition I think I collected them all except for that one 🙂
I really enjoyed Le Grand Macabre when i saw it a couple years ago.
Thanks for reminding me. I've been meaning to put that on my ipod.
I've actually played in the Met Opera House, as well as the Lyric Opera in Chicago and the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. It's hard to say what my favourite opera is. I've played a lot of them, and I have to separate the difficulty of playing one from simply listening to it. However, Strauss operas are great as well as Mozart. I'm not a big fan of Wagner (wonderful moments but awful half hours). I've always loved Hansel and Gretel and I like Verdi.
Originally posted by ThinkOfOneUsually opera is not my thing, but that sounds quite fascinating. What do you think about it?
I must admit that I've never delved into opera, however I do have a recording of Morton Feldman's "Neither" with libretto by Samuel Beckett though I imagine many would be reluctant to call it an opera even though it was comissioned by the Rome Opera. The following is Feldman's account of the meeting when Feldman proposed the project to Beckett :
"He ...[text shortened]... t I was looking for the quintessence, something that just hovered."
Originally posted by NordlysI really like it, but then I really like Feldman. It's really not out of character from his other large ensemble compositions.
Usually opera is not my thing, but that sounds quite fascinating. What do you think about it?
If you want to read about it, check out:
http://www.themodernword.com/beckett/beckett_feldman_neither.html
Here's an excerpt that sums things up nicely:
"Constant, ebb-and-flow tension; an impending sense of revelation that never quite flowers into climax; an apprehension of the timeless present as being both liberation and prison -- all are qualities that may equally well describe the music of Feldman or the writing of Beckett. Also common to both artists are a pared-away minimalism grounded in a less-is-more aesthetic, a revolutionary approach to the instruments of their craft, an implicit demand on a receptive audience for patience and open-mindedness, and an almost neurotic fixation on extended repetition and minute variation."
Originally posted by RapidfyreActually, Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez are anything but fat. Their diction was quite precise. And the subtitles were great as I don't speak French.
Ya know what opra is its fat people in weird suits singing gibberish.
Now, when the late great Pavarotti sang the same role of Tonio, I don't think he could quite pull off the young Swiss boy look. But with such a voice...
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