Some thoughts about opera.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Screw the modern pop output. I'm interested in traditional instruments and arrangements. Sorry if you don't have any taste.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Firelad
I saw an opera in the Caesaria amphitheatre. And damn me I forgot the name. I always forget the name. The one with the chinese name. That the apprentice ruined the ending cuz the author died. Puccini wasn't it? I can't remember...

Turandot.

The ending isn't that screwed up. It's not as great as Puccini would have made it, undoubtedly, but it isn't bad.

[Atahualpa]

Of course me here in Vienna (where the REAL opera is)......




....have never been at the opera. doh


Okay I was, but not at the "Staatsoper" which is THE opera. Just at the "Volksoper" which menas People's Opera (nah its not commie). Also it was no opera but more of an operette (doh english word?). Nevertheless quite amusing.
If one visits Vienna I would definately recommend a visit to the opera or one of the theaters.

ata

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Atahualpa
Of course me here in Vienna (where the REAL opera is)......

Pfffft. Maybe for Austrian opera, but if one wants Puccini and Verdi, La Scala is THE venue. If one wants Wagner, Bayreuth is THE venue. If one wants Russian opera, the Kirov is THE venue.

[Atahualpa]

ignorant fool

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by JohnT


It's not the type of music that bothers me (eg, I'm a big U2 as well), it is the volume that really, really gets to me.

Otoh, the Doors are the most overrated pretentious piece of shiite band in the history of Rock and Roll. So there!

The Doors are Shiites? No wonder Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham hate Muslims!

[Firelad]

Oh, and about Turandot (thanks Boris) - what I wanted to say but didn't because I couldn't remember what the name was is: You should have seen this production. Made especially for the amphitheatre, with simply incredible decorations - 20 meter tall moving palace that opened to reveal the princess sitting inside and stuff like that. They also had loudspeakers over the amphitheatre with electronic stuff to delay the sound so that there was no echo... Huge choruses... Incredible. Pity that some disco could be heard for a while in the distance

Also pity that I'm no longer in the Opera Club. C'est la vie... :\

[Boris Godunov]

Turandot is best known for "Nessun Dorma," currently the most popular tenor aria around and Pavarotti's showpiece.

[Firelad]

You actually think I remember those things, Boris?

[Q Classic]

You must be listening to the wrong singers. Have you ever heard Cecilia Bartoli do La Ceneratola? Or Tatyana Troyanos do Carmen? Or Renata Tebaldi do Madama Butterfly? Or Leontyne Price do Aida? Or Monserrat Caballe do, well, anything?

I assure you these women can sing quite, quite well.

that's what some of my friends have told me, and i suppose i can buy that.
my main experience with opera has been with people singing wagner, and although i like the background orchestral music, i also like understanding the native german... and the way it's sung... it doesn't sound like german at all, but rather noisy shrieking.

i forget the recording, but it was apparently a very esteemed one, too.

[monolith94]

"How fitting they chose Verdi's il Trovatore to lampoon, since its plot is so atrociously ludicrous as to be easy prey for satire!"

A BATTLESHIP IN "IL TROVATORE!!!"
hysterical!

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Q Cubed

You must be listening to the wrong singers. Have you ever heard Cecilia Bartoli do La Ceneratola? Or Tatyana Troyanos do Carmen? Or Renata Tebaldi do Madama Butterfly? Or Leontyne Price do Aida? Or Monserrat Caballe do, well, anything?

I assure you these women can sing quite, quite well.

that's what some of my friends have told me, and i suppose i can buy that.
my main experience with opera has been with people singing wagner, and although i like the background orchestral music, i also like understanding the native german... and the way it's sung... it doesn't sound like german at all, but rather noisy shrieking.

i forget the recording, but it was apparently a very esteemed one, too.

Well, the best way to describe Wagner is that is a bunch of fat people screaming at each other in German.

If you want German opera that's a lot different than that, check out Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio and The Magic Flute, Weber's Die Freischuetz and Beethoven's Fidelio.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Firelad
You actually think I remember those things, Boris?

I do! I love "Nessun Dorma", the concluding aria of Turandot. It ranks right up there with "O Mio Babbino Carro" from Gianni Schecci.

[Boris Godunov]

"Nessun Dorma" doesn't conclude Turandot. It's at the beginning of Act III.

[LTEC!]

Turandot is in next years roster for the SD Opera.
so i guess we'll have a chance to see it.