Yet Another Cycling Forum

Off Topic => The Pub => Arts and Entertainment => Topic started by: essexian on 22 November, 2013, 08:49:17 am

Title: Opera
Post by: essexian on 22 November, 2013, 08:49:17 am: So go on then, recommended me some Opera.

I know its sad to admit but I have reached middle age without knowing much about Opera or classical music: too many years spend as a “skinny indie boy” watching bands like Blur, Buzzcocks, Carter USM, Cure, Suede and the Wedding Present I suppose…. Good days however.

Why the sudden interest in Opera? Well I have always been interested in ballet (The Royal Opera House production of Alice in Wonderland last Christmas was the best thing I have seen live in a long time) and do feel I am getting too old to mosh anymore, so it would be nice to enlarge my experiences by moving into a new field. However, I can’t say my first introduction to Opera was that good: “Madam Butterfly” at the London Coliseum (it was poorly staged and the singing wasn’t up to much….. to my untrained ear) so what would you recommend?
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: nicknack on 22 November, 2013, 08:53:22 am: Wozzeck
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Von Broad on 22 November, 2013, 08:57:32 am: Quote from: essexian on 22 November, 2013, 08:49:17 am
so what would you recommend?

Well....you may [or may not] like the musical style, but have a look out for Wozzeck (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wozzeck) if you want something a bit different from what you've already listened to.

[edit: opps...nicknack beat me too it]
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Wowbagger on 22 November, 2013, 09:09:56 am: I have seen/listened to very little opera but one I have been to twice is Cosi fan Tutte by Mr. Mozart. The first time was at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with Mrs. Wow and the second, at the Royal Opera House, was a christmas present 4 years ago from my daughter. Both were superb.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: pcolbeck on 22 November, 2013, 09:44:29 am: Opera has a huge range covering over three hundred years of music. Got to be something in there you like.

I like baroque opera. Try Purcell's Dido and Aeneas

Dido's Lament (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=146IR2cKabU)

Moving on in time to Mozart his masterpiece was The Magic Flute

Queen of the night (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov1hRqPnm58)

Then then there is 19th century romantic Italian Opera. This is what people think of as opera unless they think Wagner and they are probably thinking of something by Verdi or Puccini

Libiamo ne` lieti calici (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e48viAGu9TY) - Verdi _ La traviata

Quando me'n vo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1_BKpgUG4I) - Puccini - La Boheme

The colossus that is Wagner. I find the singing difficult but the music ranges from gorgeous to tempestuous and disturbing.

Prelude (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyEeggUqWC4) Tristan and Isolde - one of my favourite pieces of music.

Loads of 20th century opera too but I don't get on with a lot of that. Probably Britten's Peter Grimes is the most famous
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: clarion on 22 November, 2013, 09:52:04 am: I can't stand opera. This may have something to do with my sister being an opera singer (at Covent Garden for umpteen years).
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Butterfly on 22 November, 2013, 10:01:14 am: I like light opera/operetta. It helps if you get the gist of the story beforehand because it's usually silly and sometimes quite convoluted. ENO sing in Engish which can be helpful if they have a good belter but unhelpful if they don't. The opera house has a pretty good sur title set up, but you can end up reading that instead of watching the flouncing about on the stage. Personally, I can't be doing with modern opera, it's shrieky.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: clarion on 22 November, 2013, 10:12:03 am: It's all a bit shouty. And I never understood why old people complained you can't hear the words in pop music, when most opera is completely incomprehensible (and, it turns out, not worth the effort when you've discovered the lyrics). >:(

OTOH: The touring opera companies used to have really nice crew.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: ian on 22 November, 2013, 10:17:49 am: I can't stand it. I've tried (or rather, my wife has made me try, and she gets free tickets because she knows people in the orchestra pits). But really it just sounds like cats being accelerated around the LHC. They occasionally pack one song that might pass as a tune in there, the other eight hours is filled with screeching felines. I should join them.

Ballet at least doesn't have the screeching, but the traditional stuff drags on it bit. Oh look, more spinning. Now he's holding her up and looking up her skirt. Now we're all looking up her skirt. I don't mind the more modern stuff since they usually end up hitting dustbins at some point or dressing up liking dancing robots.

Mind you the closest I come to any kind of culture is two-week-old Hovis.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 22 November, 2013, 10:25:42 am: Quote from: clarion on 22 November, 2013, 10:12:03 am
It's all a bit shouty. And I never understood why old people complained you can't hear the words in pop music, when most opera is completely incomprehensible (and, it turns out, not worth the effort when you've discovered the lyrics). >:(

OTOH: The touring opera companies used to have really nice crew.
Quite a bit of opera, such as Verdi, Paccini, Bellini, is pop. It's 19th-century Italian pop that has (largely) stood the test of time and place.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: pcolbeck on 22 November, 2013, 10:31:53 am: I don't get the "I cant stand opera" thing. Not liking a particular type of opera such as opera seria for example I can see but since "opera" covers such a huge range of styles over such a long period I cant see how you can say you don't like them all. Its much like some people who say I don't like pop/rock music, again what all of it ? You might not like rap or industrial metal but to say I don't like any of it is odd.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: PaulF on 22 November, 2013, 10:40:13 am: Quote from: pcolbeck on 22 November, 2013, 10:31:53 am
I don't get the "I cant stand opera" thing. Not liking a particular type of opera such as opera seria for example I can see but since "opera" covers such a huge range of styles over such a long period I cant see how you can say you don't like them all. Its much like some people who say I don't like pop/rock music, again what all of it ? You might not like rap or industrial metal but to say I don't like any of it is odd.

I've been dragged to enough opera's and heard enough to be confident that I don't like it. Incomprehensible lyrics and, in my opinion, pompous overblown singing and lots of screeching. All in all I find it a rather uncomfortable experience (and many would also say the same about my tastes in music ;D). There's so much music that I enjoy that I see no need to waste my time on a genre that I don't.

But we digress....
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: clarion on 22 November, 2013, 10:43:11 am: I've worked on what I am informed was a wide variety of opera, and it all sounded like shouty nonsense to me. Added to costumes, sets and ham acting that would be booed off the stage if it were presented as theatre (and massive wastes of money).
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: pcolbeck on 22 November, 2013, 10:46:24 am: I'll give you that, the acting is usually crap.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: ian on 22 November, 2013, 10:52:39 am: Quote from: pcolbeck on 22 November, 2013, 10:31:53 am
I don't get the "I cant stand opera" thing. Not liking a particular type of opera such as opera seria for example I can see but since "opera" covers such a huge range of styles over such a long period I cant see how you can say you don't like them all. Its much like some people who say I don't like pop/rock music, again what all of it ? You might not like rap or industrial metal but to say I don't like any of it is odd.

I share PaulF's opinion, I can't get on with the style and presentation, and I've fidgeted through enough of it. OK, there's the occasionally song that teeters on the edge of a tune before being pierced through by more histrionic scheechery, but for a few potential minutes, there's hours of generic screeching. And they're never short. Even my wife occasionally has to admit that it was a bit of a slog and she has opera genes from her grandmother. Plus there's the entire social status thing, people wandering around telling you how much they paid for a ticket.

Of course, I'm not going to picket the Royal Opera House playing my Nik Kershaw greatest hits collection through a megaphone. Not now I have the ASBO banning me from Covent Garden for doing it.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: LEE on 22 November, 2013, 11:21:12 am: Is there a form of Opera which doesn't require the main protagonists to sing/shout/scream absolutely everything, no matter how mundane?

"I'M GOING OVER TO THE WINDOW!!!..AND NOW I'M GOING TO SIT DOWN!!!.....NOW I'M WALKING BACK FROM THE WINDOOOOOOW!!!...OH MY GOD SHE'S DEAAAAAAD!!" ..you get the idea.

I mean just give me the good tunes and talk/act in between.

What's that you say? Musicals?

Whenever I hear Opera singers I always feel that there may be millions of great ones in our midst. It's just that most of us would be too embarrassed to even attempt to make those sorts of noises.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: clarion on 22 November, 2013, 11:40:09 am: You forget the repetition:

I'M GOING OVER TO THE WINDOW. TO THE WINDOW. TO THE WINDOW

HE'S GOING TO THE WINDOW

I'M GOING TO THE WINDOW

HE'S GOING TO THE WINDOW

etc etc until you'r chewing the seatback in front of you in frothing insanity.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: red marley on 22 November, 2013, 11:41:48 am: If you can get tickets, I would heartily recommend Philip Glass's Satygraha (http://www.eno.org/satyagraha) currently on at the Coliseum in London. It suffers from none of the "I'm going over to the window" problems that Paul complains about. It's utterly mesmerising with immersive music, stunning set design and choreography. To me that's the kind of experience opera should be about rather than flamboyantly labouring over a pedestrian story.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Wowbagger on 22 November, 2013, 11:56:04 am: Opera is sheer ostentation and utter nonsense. It can be sumptuous.

It's also worth watching this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvNw0P5ZMbA
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Wowbagger on 22 November, 2013, 12:10:54 pm: There's always Gilbert & Sullivan. It's rubbish, but it's good British rubbish.

Actually, I think Gilbert wrote some very fine poems and Sullivan's music is OK.

http://walternelson.com/dr/gilbert-etiquette

and

http://www.victorianweb.org/mt/gilbert/yarn.html

are poems I used to read to classes of junior school kids. I love them, and the kids seemed fairly receptive as well.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Jaded on 22 November, 2013, 12:19:42 pm: Comic opera can be digestible. Orpheus in the Underworld I think was funny.

The only opera I have ever remotely wanted to see was Aida at The Pyramids. We could have gone on our honeymoon, but had no money left.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Biggsy on 22 November, 2013, 12:24:51 pm: Quote from: pcolbeck on 22 November, 2013, 10:31:53 am
I don't get the "I cant stand opera" thing.

The opera style of singing is what I (nearly always) can't stand. It makes me turn off the radio/TV, so I don't have a chance of liking the music. I wouldn't risk going to a live opera. I might actually die!

Must admit I like this, though:
http://youtu.be/bbykxGeSCFA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbykxGeSCFA

Classical music (mostly without singing): I used to go as a boy with my Dad to concerts, so I have been there and done that ...and had enough. I take inspiration from John Peel in being never being too old to love the latest noisy alternative rock music.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: LEE on 23 November, 2013, 01:19:39 am: Quote from: clarion on 22 November, 2013, 11:40:09 am
You forget the repetition:

I'M GOING OVER TO THE WINDOW. TO THE WINDOW. TO THE WINDOW

HE'S GOING TO THE WINDOW

I'M GOING TO THE WINDOW

HE'S GOING TO THE WINDOW

You know...I think I'm starting to like this Opera.

Sorry, that should be...

I'M STARTING TO LIKE OPERA!!
HE'S STARTING TO LIKE OPERA!!!
I THINK I QUITE LIKE OPERA!!!
THE OPERA, THE OPERA, THE O-O-O-O-OPERA!!
THE O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPEEEEEERRRRAAAAAA!
KAHBOOM!
MY NAME'S PAUL METCALF, I'M HERE ALL WEEK...G'NIGHT
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: rogerzilla on 23 November, 2013, 07:29:23 am: It's like other music - some of it is tuneless and inaccessible, some is very good. Mozart's Don Giovanni has been described as one of the three finest things God made, along with the Mona Lisa and the sea. At least half the arias are brilliant and the rest aren't bad. A big barrier is the language (let's forget the ENO for now, because the libretto rarely works in translation). Italian usually sounds best, French is OK, German is a Bit Odd although it hasn't stopped The Magic Flute being the most performed opera. Even if you spoke the language natively, you'd probably find it a bit old-fashioned. The stories aren't easy to follow in a foreign language so it's best to first watch a DVD with subtitles or at least get a scene by scene guide. Some of them have been filmed, like Joseph Losey's version of Don Giovanni; the catalogue aria, where Leporello is explaining to the already-distressed Donna Elvira how many women the Don has shagged (1003 in Spain alone) is rather well done.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Ham on 23 November, 2013, 09:06:03 am: Why don't you start with Tommy and work your way up?

I'm also in the really-think-I-ought-to-like-opera brigade and I've been to quite a few in my time, most of which I've enjoyed overall, but also been bored to buggery in parts.

There's no doubt in my mind that for example when you get two sopranos singing together with their voices spiralling around each other that can be one of the most sublime listening experiences. It doesn't matter you can't understand the language, even when they are singing in English (eg with the ENO) I can't understand. That's ok, Some of the arias are truly magnificent, and the pleasurable noise that ordinary humans can make is awe inspiring, but I hate opera collections in the same way that I wouldn't tuck into a bag of sugar with a spoon.

My conclusion? I'm not made for Opera, and Opera at those eye-watering prices isn't made for me.

Posted using Opera.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Bledlow on 23 November, 2013, 09:31:17 pm: Quote from: nicknack on 22 November, 2013, 08:53:22 am
Wozzeck
For a newcomer to opera?

You're a cruel man.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Bledlow on 23 November, 2013, 09:44:09 pm: I too can't understand how people can say "I can't stand opera". I can't stand some operas, & parts of some I enjoy other parts of, & it's not something I'd like to listen to & watch every week, let alone every day, but to me, it's like saying "I can't stand jazz". I find most jazz to be tedious & tuneless. I won't go to the local real ale & jazz festival, because of the jazz. But there are some pieces I love. And I like some opera enough to put up with the boring bits.

A form I like more than opera is the cantata. More singing, less acting. And always, always, the music comes first.

Les Noces - absolutely wonderful. And yeah, I know, it's got all that dancing in it, if properly staged. Aha! Essexian might like that. Well, if he can stand Stravinsky's music.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Wowbagger on 23 November, 2013, 10:39:57 pm: Ever since I first heard him sing, I thought Freddie Mercury would have made a very good operatic tenor.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Eccentrica Gallumbits on 23 November, 2013, 10:48:31 pm: Try the Barcelona album he did with Montserrat Caballe. It's great.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Biggsy on 24 November, 2013, 02:23:56 pm: Someone ought to tell opera singers that amplification has been invented. The only purpose of them singing in that awful way is to project the voice. Wouldn't you rather listen to someone singing from their soul than making a noise just to be heard at the back of the hall? :P
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Exit Stage Left on 24 November, 2013, 02:42:02 pm: I tend to feel that about Marathon running, it would be a lot simpler if they all just used public transport.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Andrij on 24 November, 2013, 02:54:16 pm: Perhaps a bit of auto-tuning as well, just in case? ::-)

Opera is seen as music for posh folk, so no surprise a lot of people here "can't stand opera". Reverse snobbery, innit?
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Biggsy on 24 November, 2013, 03:06:10 pm: It's nothing to do with posh. It's to do with disliking a style of singing that has the primary purpose of being heard from a great distance without amplification. Some rock, pop and soul singers also sing very loudly, but that's a side effect of expressing their emotion, so it sounds natural. Opera singing is as artificial as auto-tune. :P
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 24 November, 2013, 03:15:34 pm: Well in that case there's no point in live music at all. Just stay at home and use YouTube.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: pcolbeck on 24 November, 2013, 03:22:03 pm: The piano, the resonator guitar, and the dreadnought guitar were developed for the same reason. Perhaps we should stop using those as well.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Biggsy on 24 November, 2013, 03:43:37 pm: I have a very sophisticated and reasonable response to that:

(click to show/hide)
Amplified natural singing, piano and guitar all sound enjoyable. Opera singing sounds horrible. :)
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: T42 on 24 November, 2013, 04:09:05 pm: Quote from: Biggsy on 24 November, 2013, 03:43:37 pm
I have a very sophisticated and reasonable response to that:

(click to show/hide)
Amplified natural singing, piano and guitar all sound pleasant. Opera singing sounds horrible. :)

To you.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Biggsy on 24 November, 2013, 04:10:49 pm: Surely to you as well? You're a cousin of mine, judging from your avatar, T42.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: T42 on 24 November, 2013, 04:19:57 pm: Nossir, not to me. Cousin perhaps, but tastes differ.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Wowbagger on 26 November, 2013, 06:45:53 pm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wi7UsXW1As

For Biggsy. Nothing forced about that performance. Utterly sublime.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Jakob on 26 November, 2013, 07:52:50 pm: Thanks Wow.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Tigerrr on 28 November, 2013, 04:22:47 pm: I love Opera. Les Miserables for instance is a fantastic opera. Pure emotion and spectacle, and magnificent.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: T42 on 28 November, 2013, 04:28:34 pm: Suggestion: try Verdi. OK, sometimes the orchestra sounds like the police band but the melodies are pure and sometimes the stories are coherent. Aida's a good one to start with.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Jakob on 28 November, 2013, 06:42:47 pm: Quote from: Tigerrr on 28 November, 2013, 04:22:47 pm
I love Opera. Les Miserables for instance is a fantastic opera. Pure emotion and spectacle, and magnificent.

That was a joke, right?
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: rogerzilla on 28 November, 2013, 08:07:54 pm: Put it this way, if you can't tell the difference, never follow any of his medical tips.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Eccentrica Gallumbits on 19 April, 2016, 09:01:55 pm: Quote from: Wowbagger on 23 November, 2013, 10:39:57 pm
Ever since I first heard him sing, I thought Freddie Mercury would have made a very good operatic tenor.
Nope, turns out he was a baritone.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/14015439.2016.1156737
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: rogerzilla on 20 April, 2016, 03:38:52 pm: There's no universal definition of a tenor singer but generally anyone who can comfortably sing a "tenor C" is one, as this means they can sing most tenor pieces. I can only do an A flat. Most men can't sing a tenor C.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: hillbilly on 20 April, 2016, 03:55:12 pm: My introduction for neophytes is The Magic Flute. If they don't like that then anything else is going to be a challenge. Then basically choosing ones where they will know at least one of the arias (Carmen, Barber of Seville, La Nozze di Figaro etc.) If they survive that then pretty much anything pre-20th century.

One of my bucket list items is to see all of the Ring Cycle. I've listened to it many times on record/CD, but have yet to see it live.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Wowbagger on 27 September, 2016, 08:36:17 am: Be aware, dear people, that an ROH production of Cosi fan Tutte is due to be broadcast to a cinema near you on 17th October at 6.30pm.

http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/cosi-fan-tutte-by-jan-philipp-gloger?gclid=Cj0KEQjwsai_BRC30KH347fjksoBEiQAoiaqsVBE2TGxAEpV8hB81yhuDKD6DKZOzvvpDU7N-RVsuRkaAr3t8P8HAQ
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Snakehips on 27 September, 2016, 10:11:20 am: And last night's Norma is going to be shown again on Sunday 2nd Oct. Recommended.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Basil on 27 September, 2016, 09:07:12 pm: Quote from: Wowbagger on 27 September, 2016, 08:36:17 am
Be aware, dear people, that an ROH production of Cosi fan Tutte is due to be broadcast to a cinema near you on 17th October at 6.30pm.

http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/cosi-fan-tutte-by-jan-philipp-gloger?gclid=Cj0KEQjwsai_BRC30KH347fjksoBEiQAoiaqsVBE2TGxAEpV8hB81yhuDKD6DKZOzvvpDU7N-RVsuRkaAr3t8P8HAQ

Little Richard innit?
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: rogerzilla on 28 September, 2016, 09:23:22 pm: Quote from: Hillbilly on 20 April, 2016, 03:55:12 pm
My introduction for neophytes is The Magic Flute. If they don't like that then anything else is going to be a challenge. Then basically choosing ones where they will know at least one of the arias (Carmen, Barber of Seville, La Nozze di Figaro etc.) If they survive that then pretty much anything pre-20th century.

One of my bucket list items is to see all of the Ring Cycle. I've listened to it many times on record/CD, but have yet to see it live.
I'd be inclined to start with Don Giovanni because it's easy enough to follow the plot without subtitles. The Magic Flute has some weird Masonic shit in it.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Wowbagger on 18 October, 2016, 12:36:56 am: Quote from: Wowbagger on 27 September, 2016, 08:36:17 am
Be aware, dear people, that an ROH production of Cosi fan Tutte is due to be broadcast to a cinema near you on 17th October at 6.30pm.

http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/cosi-fan-tutte-by-jan-philipp-gloger?gclid=Cj0KEQjwsai_BRC30KH347fjksoBEiQAoiaqsVBE2TGxAEpV8hB81yhuDKD6DKZOzvvpDU7N-RVsuRkaAr3t8P8HAQ

Well, Mrs. Wow and I went to the Maidstone Odeon to witness this event. The singing was wonderful and the music utterly sublime, as we knew it would be, but the trivially stupid plot was taken more seriously than on the previous two occasions that I've watched it, and Mrs. Wow came out feeling angry.

The plot is that the blokes from two sets of lovers get involved in a bet with another older guy that, with the blokes' co-operation, within 24 hours the two women will have been unfaithful. This is achieved by the ploy of the two guys telling their lovers that they have suddenly been called up to fight in a war, and then they return in disguise and each homes in on his friend's lover. Of course, the older guy wins the bet. Normally, I think directors are sensible enough just to concentrate on the music, but in tonight's performance the two women ended up feeling very guilty and the blokes were angry with them for their infidelity. There was quite a bit of background and behind the scenes stuff (we were in the cinema about 4 hours, and the interval was only 20 minutes) and the conductor, Semyon Bychkov, claimed that the plot was "feminist". Where he got that idea I really don't know. The whole point about it is that women are made to look like unfaithful airheads whilst the blokes revelled in totally unjustified indignation.

Anyway, it still contains some of the most wonderful music and remains, I think, my favourite opera - but I have to confess that I have not experience all that many. THe ROH are broadcasting several more to cinemas over the next few months, as well as some ballet.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: mattc on 18 October, 2016, 09:37:11 am: Have I got this right (based on brief googling):
Alfonso (the "older guy") believes all women are fickle. So HE bets on the two fiancées being UNfaithful.

In which case, the two young studs have no motivation to successfully seduce the women (unless the point is that they are overtaken by natural male urges!).

Seems a very odd way to setup a wager. :-\
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: T42 on 18 October, 2016, 10:34:17 am: Funny to see it billed as Mozart and da Ponte - it's rare to see an opera billed like a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. I couldn't tell you the names of Puccini's or Verdi's librettists (Wagner should have shot his).

There doesn't seem to be a rule for billing musicals/operette - Gilbert libretto, Sullivan music but Rodgers music & Hammerstein libretto.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Eccentrica Gallumbits on 18 October, 2016, 02:28:55 pm: Quote from: Basil on 27 September, 2016, 09:07:12 pm
Quote from: Wowbagger on 27 September, 2016, 08:36:17 am
Be aware, dear people, that an ROH production of Cosi fan Tutte is due to be broadcast to a cinema near you on 17th October at 6.30pm.

http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/cosi-fan-tutte-by-jan-philipp-gloger?gclid=Cj0KEQjwsai_BRC30KH347fjksoBEiQAoiaqsVBE2TGxAEpV8hB81yhuDKD6DKZOzvvpDU7N-RVsuRkaAr3t8P8HAQ

Little Richard innit?
A wop bop a loo bop
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Wowbagger on 18 October, 2016, 10:56:36 pm: Quote from: mattc on 18 October, 2016, 09:37:11 am
Have I got this right (based on brief googling):
Alfonso (the "older guy") believes all women are fickle. So HE bets on the two fiancées being UNfaithful.

In which case, the two young studs have no motivation to successfully seduce the women (unless the point is that they are overtaken by natural male urges!).

Seems a very odd way to setup a wager. :-\

I think you have got it right. That's why, given that the plot makes absolutely no sense at all, it is best to concentrate on the sublime music. Last night's performance actually tried to make some sense of the plot. It's bloody ridiculous since, for a lot of the time, the blokes' disguises aren't actually in place. You are forced to believe that their lovers only recognise them when they are wearing a specific suit and tie each.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: T42 on 19 October, 2016, 08:00:45 am: I suppose audiences that will swallow a three-ton Tosca will swallow anything.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Jakob W on 19 October, 2016, 08:03:59 am: Quote from: T42 on 18 October, 2016, 10:34:17 am
(Wagner should have shot his).

He wrote his own librettos, didn't he? I take it you're not a fan...
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: T42 on 19 October, 2016, 09:42:21 am: I enjoy the music, but when e.g. three Valkyries stand on a mountain-top amid thunder & lightning belting it out, it's a wee big anticlimactic to know that they're singing something along the lines of "Oh look, here comes Fred**, I hope he won't scare the horses".

** or Odin, Löki, Janet Street Porter or other agent of mischief and doom.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: rafletcher on 19 October, 2016, 03:57:20 pm: Most opera can be summed up as "after a lot of singing, she dies" ;D
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: mattc on 19 October, 2016, 06:36:28 pm: Co-incidental news on the wireless just now:

https://www.wbnews.info/2016/10/royal-opera-house-to-teach-children-to-sing-healthily-over-x-factor-voice-strain-fears/
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: citoyen on 25 October, 2016, 09:50:06 am: Quote from: Hillbilly on 20 April, 2016, 03:55:12 pm
My introduction for neophytes is The Magic Flute.

As mentioned over in the theatre thread, I've never had much desire to go to the opera but after seeing Amadeus at the NT last night, I want to see the Magic Flute.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Basil on 20 November, 2016, 06:04:02 pm: Good news:. Just booked very decent seats for WNO's M. Butterfly for us, two sons and respective gfs for February in Cardiff.
Bad news:. How much!!!?

Mrs. B and I have already 'done' Butterfly, but I figure it is a good intro for the boys and gfs. Of the operas we've already seen, I think that that, Bohem and Carmen are good starters for those new to opera.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Basil on 20 November, 2016, 06:07:09 pm: *makes note to stock up on man sized tissues in the new year*
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: hillbilly on 20 November, 2016, 08:45:34 pm: I've discovered the pleasure of small scale opera, having recently enjoyed a performance of Die Fledermaus by Fulham Opera. They perform in a church, accompanied by an 11 piece orchestra. The singers are right in front of you, belting out numbers. It's rather stirring and much more engaging than ROH and ENO. It helps that Die Fledermaus is rather funny with some easy to get along with arias. I'm not going to claim that all such small productions will be as engaging but it really gives a sense of people and voice.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Jaded on 10 August, 2023, 10:01:01 am: We went to see M Butterfly. The first ever opera I have seen, apart from a comic opera. About 200 in the audience, in an intimate setting.

It only took 2 hours and had surtitles. I didn’t recognise any of the tunes though.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: T42 on 10 August, 2023, 11:13:40 am: Not even The Stars and Stripes?
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: Jaded on 10 August, 2023, 11:15:50 am: Not sure that was in it!

To be fair, it was a piano and a violin, rather than an ensemble.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: T42 on 10 August, 2023, 04:10:10 pm: The first duet between Pinkerton and Sharpless is larded with the first phrase of it, and it recurs a few times throughout the rest.

https://youtu.be/wH9jmcKOefU

Lovely stuff. Never seen it performed live but I've listened to it more than a few times.
Title: Re: Opera
Post by: CrazyEnglishTriathlete on 15 September, 2023, 09:09:01 pm: Now you’ve got me. Am I looking forward more to the Beast in Black / Gloryhammer double-header or the UK premiere of George Benjamin’s latest opera?