Opera Cascadia

[drgeoduck]

I am saddened to see that the great Ewa Podleś has passed away. She was one of the great contraltos of all time, combining richness of tone with those stong low notes, along with the dexterity to handle the Italian bel canto repertory with seeming ease. She was born to play the great trousers roles of Rossini.

I was privileged to see and hear her perform live in Seattle on a number of occasions (I would not be shocked if she'd performed in Seattle more often than any other American city). She was always magnificent.

One of the all-time great performers of opera. RIP

[operacascadia]

(Puccini: A Critical Biography by Mosco Carner, pg. 50)

So basically... Giulio Ricordi was the Walt Disney Corporation of opera?

[malcolm-f-tucker]

on the face of it everyone on tumblr should be into opera. madness, melodrama, blood, singing, poetry, blood, hot people, hot costumes, hot people and costumes covered in blood, banger tunes, magic, death, blood, homoerotic devotion, blood, self-sacrifice and blood. truly there is nothing she can't do!!

[malcolm-f-tucker]

oh there's also bisexualism and cross-dressing btw. if you even care

[malcolm-f-tucker]

you do know that opera as a concept was not invented in 1986 by andrew lloyd webber right

[operacascadia]

Why do the guards in Götz Friedrich's film of Salome wear zettai ryouiki outfits

[operacascadia]

Luigi Illica: (writing the libretto for "Iris")

Luigi Illica: I need to think of names for these Japanese characters. How will I be inspired?

Luigi Illica: (looks at a map of Japan)

Luigi Illica: I've got it! I'll name them 'Osaka' and 'Kyoto.'

Luigi Illica: I'm a fuckin' genius.

[drgeoduck]

RIP Robert Hale (1933-2023)

He was one of the great bass-baritones of his time with a long career, mostly in Europe.

I had the pleasure of hearing him live once, on one of the greatest nights of opera I've ever experienced. It was Faust at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he played Mephistopheles with the Faust of Giacomo Aragall and the Marguerite of Sona Ghazarian, in the ridiculous and wonderful production of the work by John Dew.

All other Fausts I've seen or heard have not come close to that one magical night in Berlin.

Leb' wohl.

[drgeoduck]

Renata Scotto (1934-2023)

We've lost one of the greats of opera. Renata Scotto was one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th century. She had a beautiful voice but also knew when to sacrifice beauty of tone for dramatic effect. She had a hell of a career, starting with light lyrical roles like Adina in Elisir d'amore, moving on to the more dramatic roles in the bel canto repertoire, then to her bread and butter, the great soprano roles of Verdi and Puccini. She had a later career as stage director and educator, as well as moving on to different repertory including German roles like Kundry and the Marschallin.

How big was she? She was one of the last sopranos, if not the last, to earn top billing over Pavarotti and Domingo. In fact there was a memorable diva moment when, during a performance of La Gioconda, the stage manager had the temerity to allow Pavarotti the final solo bow in an opera where she was the main character, she screamed at them in front of TV cameras and never sang with Pavarotti again.

Her greatest role, in my opinion, was as the title character in Madama Butterfly, which in my opinion has never been bettered.

For a sample of her greatness, try the end of the letter scene: it's at 1:19:00 in the below video.

[operacascadia]

RIP Graham Clark (1941-2023)

I see that tenor Graham Clark passed away last week. He was a unique operatic performer with a wildly diverse list of roles.

His natural home were the major character tenor roles such as Mime in the Ring cycle, Herod in Salome the Captain in Wozzeck, and the four servants in Tales of Hoffmann. But he went beyond that to roles typically sung by more conventional tenors, such as Albert Gregor in The Makropulos Case, Loge in Das Rheingold, and especially Captain Vere in Billy Budd. I've never heard a greater performance in that latter role, and I include in that the role originator, Peter Pears. Clark is the only one I've heard who manages the optional high note at the end of the Vere-Claggart confrontation. Every other performer I've ever heard goes for the lower option. Yes, it's a single note, but it encapsulates the anger Vere is feeling towards Claggart at that moment. Unfortunately I can't find that excerpt on YouTube. Instead, here's a role he created: Begearss in The Ghosts of Versailles. Note that this role was originally composed for James McCracken who sadly passed away a few years before the opera could be premiered. McCracken was a spinto tenor known for roles such as Otello, so Clark was not the logical substitute, but he made the role his own.

[operacascadia]

It's highly likely that many opera fans have never heard of Giuseppe Giacomini. Understandable, as he wasn't exactly world famous. He did occasionally appear at the major opera houses, but he was vastly overshadowed by the Big Three tenors. The three major label recordings of his that I know of (a Tosca with Carol Vaness, Cavalleria rusticana with Jessye Norman, and Norma with Renata Scotto) make me feel like he was cast only because Pav, Dom, and Car weren't available.

But he was giving exceptional performances in smaller houses. Looking a bit like an accountant, his voice did not match his body. He had a real spinto voice, (unlike Pavarotti and Carreras), and he had high notes, (unlike Domingo).

Perhaps his voice is best heard in this rendition of "Ch'ella mi creda" from La fanciulla del West by Puccini. When he starts off, his low notes are so deep and dark, you'd almost swear he was a baritone, but his strong high notes leave no doubt as to his actual fach.

It's an absolutely masterful piece of singing. I have never heard a better performance of this aria.

He passed away in 2021 at age 80, but his art lives on.

[operacascadia]

The Cunning Little Vixen, Final Part

The forester, now elderly, sits down and reminisces.

He thinks about the day of his wedding. And might I say, it's refreshing in opera for an older man to sing about how much he loves his wife.

He muses on time and aging. At this point in the opera, I'm typically in tears, and this version was no exception.

He looks with fondness at (what I presume are) his children and grandchildren.

He sets his gun down, and sees the baby vixen. The vixen chases a frog who lands on his face. The frog says, "my grandaddy told me all about you."

The forester sets the frog down, sits back, and smiles.

I think that animation is a really interesting way of performing this opera, and I think it really works. I'm just sad about the cuts, particularly the penultimate scene of the opera.

[operacascadia]

The Cunning Little Vixen, Part 3

So, after their night of passion, the vixen is preggers.

So, only one thing to do: get the priest bird to marry them. Followed by a big dance that ends act 2 of the opera.

Act three starts off with a confrontation between the forester and Harasta the poacher.

The forester sets a trap using a dead rabbit. And soon, the progeny of the vixen appear:

They see right through the trap. The vixen and the fox talk about how many children they plan to have.

The vixen has a confrontation with the poacher. She attacks him and draws first blood, but he gets in a lucky shot and kills the vixen.

At this point, there is a major cut: an entire scene with the forester and the schoolmaster at the inn, where the forester consoles the schoolmaster on his broken heart, and sings about how his old dog can barely get up anymore. It doesn't add anything to the plot, but it's all about establishing a wistful atmosphere for the final scene.

[operacascadia]

The Cunning Little Vixen, Part 2

So, the vixen launches a socialist rebellion, and seizes the opportunity to kill all the hens and then escape.

Once she's out in the world, she uses her oratorical ability to try to shame a badger from giving up his den. When that doesn't work, she pisses on him.

The next part begins with a long scene about the drunken schoolmaster mistaking the vixen for a girl he's in love with. It's a good scene in the opera, but it has less impact here because his friendship with the forester and the priest is never shown.

This is followed by the courtship of the vixen by a fox she encounters. They flirt, fall in love, and go home to the vixen's den to chill in this pre-Netflix world.

And are observed in their activities by a bunch of animal voyeurs.

[operacascadia]

The Cunning Little Vixen (BBC, 2003)

Okay, now: The Cunning Little Vixen is not only one of my very favorite operas, it's one of my favorite works of art ever created. It's a beautiful musing on life and one's place in the world. It has things to say about aging and loneliness and finding beauty in the smallest things. It's just really good, okay?

Anyway, in the early 2000s, the BBC created an animated version of the opera--sort of. It's only most of the opera, about two-thirds. It might be the only example of any animated opera. It's sung in English, and I quite like the translation.

The prelude music introduces several of the main characters of the piece including the Vixen

The forester

Harasta the poacher

And the schoolmaster, who looks like he just stepped out of Pink Floyd's The Wall

The vixen is captured

And faces the most horrible thing imaginable: pre-teen boys.

She does get her own back, however.

As a result, she gets tied up, has a dream of the future, and then instigates a socialist revolution among the hens.

[operacascadia]

From “In trutina” to the end

Now we’re getting to my favorite section of the piece. In trutina is staged in a very still, very beautiful way, as you’d expect.

The transition to the livelier Tempus est jocundum is handled cleverly: It is revealed that the soprano is singing this directly to the baritone:

Then, everything is decided by a wrestling match:

This is a lot of fun and I love how it’s staged here, with the two soloists retreating back to their corners like boxers:

“Dulcissime” is sung from the grass, looking not unlike a pre-Raphaelite painting: the battle between sacred and profane has been decided.

Then, Blanziflor et Helena, and things get all majestic

Finally returning to the beginning with O Fortuna, much the same, but with people gradually disappearing from view:

Finally ending on the same image that it began with:

I really like this performance of Carmina Burana. Musically, it’s beyond reproach, I like the medieval designs, and Ponnelle had some really interesting staging choices (that I’ve been slightly mocking, but that’s more for the sake of jokes than serious criticism).

[operacascadia]

Cour d’amours - Part 2

No, it turns out the boys are still horny after all.

Oh for crying out loud.

OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.

So, anyway, instead of climbing up the tower of the cour d’amours, they tunnel up.

[operacascadia]

Cour d’amours - Part 1

And now, things get a bit slower, a bit quieter, and a lot classier. I like this tableau, reminding me of a few medieval paintings.

And now it’s time for the soprano to make her first appearance. And they got maybe the best possible soprano for this performance, Lucia Popp, my favorite-ever lyric soprano. (One of my biggest opera regrets was not taking advantage of an opportunity to have heard her live. Just a few years before her extremely untimely death.)

Don’t really get the bathing motif, though.

And Hermann Prey is back, and he’s gone classy as well. No longer wearing a shirt that’s open all the way to his navel.

[operacascadia]

In taberna

And now for the In taberna section of the piece. What’s it about?

Basically, it’s about monks getting drunk.

Oh, here’s another Ponnelle staple: the horrified reaction...

Towards a tableau

So, along with drunk monks, it’s also about being cooked and eaten alive, from the point of view of the food.