Opera

[bohemian]

@Hope   AKHNATEN on now!

Edited March 19, 2021 by bohemian

[Hope]

My meeting starts in 10 min..

[bohemian]

From 6:30 eastern tonight: The Barber of Seville - Rossini.

[bohemian]

I wonder (and rather doubt) whether anyone here has listened to the whole of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle.

Four operas on a massive scale tellng a totally improbable fairytale, but highly regarded. 

I just purchased the four by the Hallé orchestra on several cds and plan a “ringathon” sometime in the near future.

 

But what is it about?

 

A wonderful youtube video has Anna Russell, soprano and comedienne, explaining in a very humorous way the story of the Ring operas.  In three parts these youtube videos are extremely funny.

Part one:

 

Part 2

 

Part 3

 

[bohemian]

From 6.30 pm Eastern this evening and available for free streaming for 24 hours:

 

Donizetti : The Elixir Of Love.  Great comedy about a love-sick peasant duped into buying a ‘potion’ which will make the object of his affection fall in love with him.

Super ensemble singing, a great tenor aria, a humourous travelling mendicant who sells an elixir which cure everything, this opera is a delight.

[bohemian]

Program for the above:

https://www.metopera.org/globalassets/user-information/nightly-opera-streams/week-55/playbills/oct-13-elisir.pdf

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by bohemian

[LoneWanderer]

[New World Explorer]

On 2/11/2021 at 5:26 PM, Mclove said:

I'm only recently discovered Opera and really am lovin' it.

I grew up on it! Sorry ..correction, it was Operetta which is lighter version of the Opera. Nice to see that you're enjoying it!

[Katty]

David and I spent one date night at home, having a bolognese and watching La Boheme, the one with Pavarrotti. It was brilliant! I think David enjoyed it.
Last week, we watched Carmen, because we had use of the parent's sound system. I like the Spanish influence of the music.  The toreador bits are fun. 
 

Our first Opera David and I saw together was when we were seeing each other long distance and we screen shared La Nozze de Figaro by Mozart. I had told him it was a lovely Opera, because you can feel the emotion conveyed through the music. For our next Opera, I might do something by Verdi, probably Aida. I also like Norma by Bellini, and Lakme by Delibes. 

[bohemian]

Nice romantic choices, Katherine. 

I am listening to Wagner’s Tristan Und Isolde just now. I picked it up really cheaply in a charity shop (4 cds for about £5) and it’s a good version too!  Fürtwängler’s 1953 recording. I should be watching the Metopera version today, but I would need to download it - 4 hours is too long today - we have other things to do. The cd version I can stop and start again.

I’m only just beginning to get into Wagner - takes a while!

 

When you both enjoy something like that together it really is good for a relationship. Janice and I both have a love for opera and ballet and to a lesser extent theatre.

Pre-lockdown there were great opportunities living in London. Whereabouts are you and David in the UK?

 

Many congratulations on your wedding too!

[bohemian]

Two highlights for me in this upcoming week:

Tuesday 6.30 Eastern.  Rigoletto.  The aria la donna et mobile is a highlight here.

Friday same start time: Shostakovich. The Nose.  Based on a surreal short story by Gogol about a man who wakes up to discover that his nose is missing!  Different.

[daydream]

 

This aria is so famous so glad I found this version by the incomparable Jussi Bjorling. What a fabulous voice. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by Mclove

[Katty]

On 4/5/2021 at 6:36 PM, bohemian said:

 

 

When you both enjoy something like that together it really is good for a relationship. Janice and I both have a love for opera and ballet and to a lesser extent theatre.

Pre-lockdown there were great opportunities living in London. Whereabouts are you and David in the UK?

 

Many congratulations on your wedding too!

Thank you!
We live in the North, in Lancashire.
Edit: Oh yeah, also my sister in law lives in London, and we visited her a couple of years back,and if this covid thing clears up any time, we'll likely visit her again sometime in the foreseeable future.

Edited April 16, 2021 by Katty

[Katty]

Some of my favourite bits from various Operas, by the way:
The Flower Duet from Lakme

"Oh Mio Babbino Caro" from Gianni Scicchi

 

"soave sia il vento" from cosi fan tutte

I also love how Le Nozze do Figaro ended from a musical standpoint. I'm not ashamed to say, either that the film Amadeus inspired my appreciation for this scene.

 

Edited April 16, 2021 by Katty

[Hope]

My friend Martin Bakari is starring in this opera livestream right now!  Charlie Parker's Yardbird with Pittsburgh Opera

 

https://www.facebook.com/PittsburghOpera/videos/196682162067896

[daydream]

Absolutely fabulous and with subtitles. The lyrics are so touching. Wow in English. What a bonus.

It must be very difficult to sing Opera with the mask on. Amazing. 

Thanks sis. 

Edited April 17, 2021 by Mclove

[daydream]

 

Martin Bakari

[Hope]

I worked with him when I sang with Portland Opera

Edited April 17, 2021 by Hope

[bohemian]

My wife and I have made a start on listening to Wagner’s Ring cycle.

Completed das Rheingold and die Walküre and 2 acts of Siegfied.  It is such beautiful music and the singing is superb.

I bought the set by Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé orchestra.

 

My opera choice for this week from the Metroplitan is The Nose. Another opportunity to catch Shostakovich’s hilarious and youthful surreal opera.

[bohemian]

We completed Wagner’s “Ring” cycle.  Quite exhausting but such beautiful music.

 

 

Look Ahead:

 

Met Opera free broadcasts from June 28th -  AMERICAN COMPOSERS WEEK!
 

28th. Marnie. by Nico Muhly

29th. Doctor Atomic by John Adams

30th. The Ghosts of Versailles by John Corigliano

July 1st. Satygraha by Philip Glass

2nd. Nixon In China by John Adams

3rd. The Rise and Fall Of The City of Mahagonny by Kurt Weill

4th Akhnaten by Philip Glass

 

What an amazing week of brilliant operas by American Composers.  Be sure to set your recorders for this treat.

[bohemian]

Last evening Janice and I listened to the opera “The Mines Of Sulphur” by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett and performed by Glimmerglass Opera.

 

 

 

[bohemian]

I just purchased Richard Wagner’s opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg on cd.  (only £6.99).

Actually on 4 cds!
 

I got quite a good historical performance by the Beyreuth Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Herbert von Karajan and recorded in 1951. I am unfamiliar with most of the singers other than the great soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

 

I took some time ripping the discs to my computer and then editing the files into three acts from the four discs.

 

Now we are looking forward to this “comic” opera, but need to set aside enough time to enjoy it in one go!

[Allabord4Jah]

I just discovered this forum and saw OPERA!  I am a fan of Opera, because my father loved it so much.  Of all the tenors and sopranos in my life time I loved their voices!  The chorus in the operas themselves remind me so much of the Levite's singing outside the temple that Solomon built!  In the paradise soon to come, wow, we will get High C's from so many great tenors, including my favorite Pavarotti!  Maria Callas, my favorite soprano!  Marisa Freni!  Joan Sutherland, and so many more!   Wow, hear the sounds of their voices glorifying Jehovah's Holy Name!

[Keep Fighting]

What a voice. Great performance