advice for opera newbie
Alan Cooper
Met Peter Grimes, asks Dad if she should go. He answers that you could hardly pick a
better opera from the standpoint of great music, great story, excellent performance.
So she goes and loves it. Now she wants to learn more of the basics about opera and
get some additional exposure without having to buy expensive tickets (at first). So
my requests:
(1) Please give me names of a couple of engaging and informative books on the
subject. She is very bright and sophisticated in other areas.
(2) Please recommend a couple of DVD performances that you think show off the medium
at its best. Keep in mind that she has seen exactly three operas in her life, with
Peter Grimes as the highlight. (The other two were excellent student productions of
Turn of the Screw and Marriage of Figaro, both of which she liked when she was much
younger.)
Thanks for your advice.
AC
jserr...@gmail.com
Two authors that helped me were Ernest Newman (Opera Nights, Wagner
Nights, and Stories of the Great Operas) and Ethan Mordden (The
Splendid Art of Opera).
I dont watch much DVD but how about Aida for starters?
Verdi - Aida / Levine, Domingo, Millo, Metropolitan Opera
http://tinyurl.com/ytlxby
or Carmen?
Bizet - Carmen / Levine, Baltsa, Carreras, Metropolitan Opera
http://tinyurl.com/2ekjua
jjS
jserr...@gmail.com
music school in her
area. An inexpensive way to take in the actual stage experience - I
have found student productions
to be quite satisfying and often very sophisticated.
jjS
On Mar 27, 6:37 am, Alan Cooper <amcoo...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
Matthew B. Tepper
in news:a4249e8d-a9ea-406c...@p25g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:
> Two authors that helped me were Ernest Newman (Opera Nights, Wagner Nights,
> and Stories of the Great Operas) and Ethan Mordden (The Splendid Art of
> Opera).
>
> I dont watch much DVD but how about Aida for starters?
>
> Verdi - Aida / Levine, Domingo, Millo, Metropolitan Opera
> http://tinyurl.com/ytlxby
>
> or Carmen?
> Bizet - Carmen / Levine, Baltsa, Carreras, Metropolitan Opera
> http://tinyurl.com/2ekjua
Or "La Boheme"?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/6305079145
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/index.html
My main music page --- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/berlioz.html
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War is Peace. ** Freedom is Slavery. ** It's all Napster's fault!
Jon Alan Conrad
preferences develop:
1. Actual films of opera -- but only the best of them (there are a lot
of hokey ones around, including to my mind the ones directed by
Zeffirelli). The only two that come to mind are the Bergman MAGIC
FLUTE, and the Rosi CARMEN with Migenes and Domingo.
2. The videos of stage productions at Glyndebourne, where the
rehearsal is careful enough and the (best) productions thoughtful
enough to present opera on a high level. As she already likes the
Britten operas she's seen, I would happily suggest the ALBERT HERRING
and MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM from this festival, both directed by Peter
Hall. He also directed a fine TRAVIATA there. Their most recent COSI
staging (not by Hall) is excellent -- showing that a "traditional"
production can also be exciting and meaningful.
JAC
Norman M. Schwartz
"Matthew B. Tepper" <oy兀earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:Xns9A6E4D5F9EE...@216.168.3.30...
> jserr...@gmail.com appears to have caused the following letters to be
> typed
> in news:a4249e8d-a9ea-406c...@p25g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:
>
>> Two authors that helped me were Ernest Newman (Opera Nights, Wagner
>> Nights,
>> and Stories of the Great Operas) and Ethan Mordden (The Splendid Art of
>> Opera).
>>
>> I dont watch much DVD but how about Aida for starters?
>>
>> Verdi - Aida / Levine, Domingo, Millo, Metropolitan Opera
>> http://tinyurl.com/ytlxby
>>
>> or Carmen?
>> Bizet - Carmen / Levine, Baltsa, Carreras, Metropolitan Opera
>> http://tinyurl.com/2ekjua
>
> Or "La Boheme"?
>
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/6305079145
>
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events.aspx
Lookingglass
and to listen to is the Opera National de Paris production of Rameau's
PLATEE (Kultur D2919). I found myself laughing many times...the production
is ingeneous. And the music is gorgeous! I absolutely love this DVD.
Everything about this production is wonderful. I was sold on the DVD just by
looking at the cover...I had never heard the music before...this DVD was a
revelation!
Lookingglass
"Lookingglass" <Shem...@comcast.net> wrote
Here it is available at Amazon. http://tinyurl.com/yveon2
Better still, if you subscribe to Netflix, it may be available to rent.
Matthew B. Tepper (Earthlink)
letters to be typed in news:9475a8c5-a1a3-4821-bf4d-
807bbd...@m36g2000hse.googlegroups.com:
> I would suggest 2 kinds of opera DVDs, depending on how her preferences
> develop:
>
> 1. Actual films of opera -- but only the best of them (there are a lot
> of hokey ones around, including to my mind the ones directed by
> Zeffirelli). The only two that come to mind are the Bergman MAGIC
> FLUTE, and the Rosi CARMEN with Migenes and Domingo.
I would actually put Zeffirelli's "La Traviata" up there with the other
two, albeit with major points off for the silly idea of showing the Germont
clan as a family of gingers.
Matthew B. Tepper (Earthlink)
following letters to be typed in
The work itself could serve as a parable about all of the phony "opera
stars" that have been foisted on the public of late.
Dana John Hill
news:Xns9A6E436CCE320am...@209.197.15.254...
When I was first getting into opera I found it helpful to have a book that
basically gave decent synopses. That was before Wikipedia, but still, I
enjoying having it by my bedside and reading the stories and deciding which
were the most intriguing to me. Granted, that isn't always the best way,
since I would posit that Boheme doesn't seem great on paper, but is the
opera I would first recommend to any newcomer, and the Ring operas have
fantastic stories, but apparently turn off a lot of people. I wish I could
remember the specific title I checked out from the library that I felt had
the best combination of detail and readability. No matter, there are plenty
available.
As for DVDs, that's tougher, since I think there are a lot of pretty bad
ones out there, and one could easily get stuck with a loser if not careful.
I think a newcomer might get more out of a quality production than he or she
would get simply by having who we here might consider the best singers in an
otherwise dismal looking DVD with inferior sound or picture. For example,
Gheorghiu might not be the very, very best Violetta, but the Solti Traviata
looks good, and she looks good, and that makes the story more believable, if
you ask me.
--
Dana John Hill
Gainesville, Florida
Dana John Hill
of the Metropolitan Opera productions from this season. Last night was the
Hansel and Gretel (in English) that was recorded New Year's Day. The shows
look--and sound great--in HD.
Eric Nagamine
If she likes La Boheme, get her tickets to the Met's production. a
visual feast for the eyes as well as ears. Many of the Met's productions
of Italian opera have been traditional, not the Eurotrash types seen
elsewhere so those DVD's are good bets.
--
-----------
Aloha and Mahalo,
Eric Nagamine
http://classwebcast.googlepages.com/
Norman M. Schwartz
news:SZ-dnbg87e09pnHa...@giganews.com...
>I should also add that (if you're in the USA) PBS is now showing broadcasts
>of the Metropolitan Opera productions from this season. Last night was the
>Hansel and Gretel (in English) that was recorded New Year's Day. The shows
>look--and sound great--in HD.
>
> --
Norman M. Schwartz
"Dana John Hill" <dana@danajohnhill[RemoveThisPart].com> wrote in message
news:SZ-dnbg87e09pnHa...@giganews.com...
>of the Metropolitan Opera productions from this season. Last night was the
>Hansel and Gretel (in English) that was recorded New Year's Day. The shows
>look--and sound great--in HD.
>
> --
Streamed live from The Met tonight, Friday 3/28, 7PM
Tristan/Levine/Voigt/Heppner
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/news_flash.aspx
Matthew B. Tepper
following letters to be typed in news:47ecfc87$0$25032$607e...@cv.net:
> Streamed live from The Met tonight, Friday 3/28, 7PM
> Tristan/Levine/Voigt/Heppner
^^^^^ ^^^^^^^
Wishful thinking.
Tom Amolad
> I would suggest 2 kinds of opera DVDs, depending on how her
> preferences develop:
>
> 1. Actual films of opera -- but only the best of them (there are a lot
> of hokey ones around, including to my mind the ones directed by
> Zeffirelli). The only two that come to mind are the Bergman MAGIC
> FLUTE, and the Rosi CARMEN with Migenes and Domingo.
I agree with the recommendation of both of those. Have you seen the
Soviet films of PRINCE IGOR (1969,
<http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Igor-Nelli-Pshyonnaya/dp/6302004713/>)
or LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK? (1966,
<http://www.amazon.com/Shostakovich-Katerina-Izmailova-Galina-
Vishnevskaya/dp/B000I5YRJC/>) Of those, I've only seen the former,
but it strikes me as pretty good.
I'm curious, what are your thoughts on the Powell and Pressburger film
of TALE OF HOFFMANN (assuming you've seen it)?
> 2. The videos of stage productions at Glyndebourne, where the
> rehearsal is careful enough and the (best) productions thoughtful
> enough to present opera on a high level. As she already likes the
> Britten operas she's seen, I would happily suggest the ALBERT HERRING
I agree with regard to the performances and staging of that one, and I
remember Philip Brett making a compelling argument that that
production was unusually successful in bringing out the social
relationships at work in the opera by downplaying the caricature. But
I can't help being kind of frustrated by the way it's filmed. I
remember people staring directly into the camera a lot, especially
Albert's in his Act 2 aria, in a way that feels distractingly
awkward. The MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, though, is splendid.
Did you see the Met's new GRIMES? While I liked Griffey a great deal,
I can't say that I cared for Doyle's staging. The way the chorus sang
at the audience, the thing wound up feeling like an oratorio. I'm not
wedded to naturalism in opera, but it seems to me that GRIMES benefits
from rather more of it because of Britten and Slater's pains in
emphasizing the particularities and peculiarities of a local community
and the way power relationships work there. The characters are
beautifully differentiated, and they way they whip themselves up in to
a lynch mob is all the more harrowing as a result. In Doyle's
staging, however, the townspeople feel like a monolithic mob from the
beginning, and the point of how oppression comes about gets lost. I
also think there's something to be said for a rather realistic,
Verdian staging of this work, on the grounds that in that context, the
freshness of Britten's musical idiom and contemporary concerns is all
the more striking. What Britten seems to me to have been developing,
throughout his musical output, was a fresh perspective on the past,
one that reclaims works of art of the past while rejecting the
conservative politics that all too often erased the social conflicts
to be found there. As Philip Brett put it, "Britten's artistic effort
was an attempt to disrupt the center that it occupied with the
marginality that it expressed," and in Doyle's hands, the drama of
that struggle is lost. (Good news: The foghorn wasn't provided by
Ellen Orford playing the tuba...)
Tom
Lawrence Chalmers
what i have seen on video, I think Vickers/Davis is much more engrossing
than the new
emi version from Zurich - one I definitely would not recommend as a
'souvenir' -
'interesting' production but not as evocative. Grimes has opened my
mind up to opera as well. I wonder if Elektra and Wozzeck will
eventually thrill her as
they did me - they were my first turn-ons to opera ever...a great
journey is in store...as for Britten, she might like Billy Budd...
TareeDawg
> I'm not familiar w/ the ENO production (on dvd?) of GRIMES but IMO from
> what i have seen on video, I think Vickers/Davis is much more engrossing
> than the new
> emi version from Zurich - one I definitely would not recommend as a
> 'souvenir' -
> 'interesting' production but not as evocative. Grimes has opened my
> mind up to opera as well. I wonder if Elektra and Wozzeck will
> eventually thrill her as
Peter Grimes was the first opera I saw on TV many eons of moons ago, on
a small b/w TV, and think it had Pears as Grimes. It impressed then as
it does now, and several other Britten operas, Turn of the Screw, Albert
Herring, are well worth getting to know. I don't know Billy Budd yet.
For someone who isn't an opera fan in general, that says a lot about
Britten to me. In addition, as a Richard Strauss fan, I must also get to
know Elektra some day. In fact, thanks for reminding me.
Ray (Dawg) Hall, Taree
Dana John Hill
> "Norman M. Schwartz" <nm...@optonline.net> appears to have caused the
> following letters to be typed in news:47ecfc87$0$25032$607e...@cv.net:
>
>> Streamed live from The Met tonight, Friday 3/28, 7PM
>> Tristan/Levine/Voigt/Heppner
> ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^
> Wishful thinking.
>
And yet it happened:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/arts/music/30tristan.html?ex=1364529600&en=0a4923e6972eb16a&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Steve Crook
>
> I'm curious, what are your thoughts on the Powell and Pressburger film
> of TALE OF HOFFMANN (assuming you've seen it)?
>
>
> > JAC
I think it's good "opera for beginners" :)
The prologue and first two acts are opera combined with ballet, it's
only in the third act (Antonia) that it does any real "hard core"
opera with 4 people all singing different things at once. The
Criterion DVD has subtitles which are very useful.
It's also a "filmic opera". It's not just a film of a stage production
but a proper film designed to show what opera can do when it's not
limited by the stage setting. This means they can do various camera
tricks and cut between sets which wouldn't be possible on stage.
Steve
Matthew B. Tepper
caused the following letters to be typed in
Whew! But it took until the sixth try of six!
mash...@gmail.com
I guess it is the matter of opinion, but I really hated this
production; I loved the old one a whole lot better. I thought this one
was borderline EuroTrash. I cannot stand directors who put their
concepts above what the composer intended. I also like to see beaty
when I hear beautiful music, not the ugly gray dreariness and
cannibalism (unless dictated by the story - makes sense in Sweeny
Todd, doesn't make any sense at all in a childrens' fairy tale).
Matter of taste and a bit off-topic here, though.
In terms of the introduction to opera, I'd second La Traviata and
Carmen movies. In addition to the Zefirelli movie with Stratas/Domingo
(loved the movie, but hated the annoying cuts here and there for no
reason), there is also an older DVD of Anna Moffo's performance.
Similarly, in addition to Carmen movie, there are DVD of actual
performances. I personally like the one with Obrastsova/Domingo. Also,
maybe Rossini. Depends on the type of music she likes. If she liked
Peter Grimes, maybe she'd actually prefer something contemporary.
I am not sure about La Boheme as I know a guy who disliked opera after
seeing it - not sure how good a production it was, it wasn't the Met.
The same guy then loved Rigoletto.
About books. On a lighter side there is really funny book of Opera
Anecdotes by Ethan Mordden. It is a collection of anecdotes from opera
history, all the way from last century to the time the book was
printed.
beingvery...@yahoo.co.uk
for (2) I can supply my own experience, which of course may or may not
apply. At that age, when I didn't like opera, I remember enjoying the
Covent Garden Zauberflote with Keenlyside. As you say, great music,
probably good rather than great story, and excellent performances.
VG
Alan Cooper
news:afddf448-3765-4028...@c65g2000hsa.googlegroups.
com:
Thanks to you and to all the posters who have been kind enough to respond to my
inquiry. I've forwarded the information to my daughter, and we'll see what
happens. I also agree that the Met "Hansel and Gretel" was dreadful; she watched
part of the broadcast and disliked it as well. "Carmen" is a great idea (the
first two operas that I saw and liked as a kid were "Carmen" and "Barber of
Seville"). Wonder if she might enjoy "The Gambler," given that an engaging plot
and strong dramatic values seem to matter more to her than the tunes.
AC
Bob Lombard
>
> Thanks to you and to all the posters who have been kind enough to respond to my
> inquiry. I've forwarded the information to my daughter, and we'll see what
> happens. I also agree that the Met "Hansel and Gretel" was dreadful; she watched
> part of the broadcast and disliked it as well. "Carmen" is a great idea (the
> first two operas that I saw and liked as a kid were "Carmen" and "Barber of
> Seville"). Wonder if she might enjoy "The Gambler," given that an engaging plot
> and strong dramatic values seem to matter more to her than the tunes.
>
>
>
> AC
>
There's a dvd of Massenet's Don Quixote (don't remember the French
spelling) - one with Crespin - that she might like. Massenet's version
of the story has the requisite blend of humor and pathos, and the
singing is fine (especially Crespin). I followed the story line
without disgust, which is unusual for me with opera; I normally have
to ignore it and concentrate on the music.
bl