Operatic Nudity
Mark Starr
that specifically call for nudity: Thaïs
and Salomé. Are there any others?
Years ago, Carole Neblett performed
the nude scene in Thaïs in the buff--in
New Orleans, as I recall. I think she
is the only soprano to have
sung Thaïs nude. Please correct me,
if there have been others
And while many Salomés have performed
the famous dance wearing a flesh-colored
body-stocking, I don't know of any
Salomés who have bared all on stage.
Of course, some of the sopranos who have
performed Salomé were wise to have
kept their clothes on. But I am
curious--were there any in the
past who did cast aside the seventh
veil to reveal all?
Which has got me thinking--are there
any other operatic roles that could
possibly be performed in the nude. For
dramatic verisimilitude, of course.
For example, I think Samson could be
nude when he pulls down the pillars
of the temple--just as he is in some
heroic 19th C. paintings. And Tosca could
at least be partially disrobed by
Scarpia before she kills him. Any
suggestions?
Regards,
Mark Starr
james jorden
>
> I can think of only two roles in opera
> that specifically call for nudity: Thaïs
> and Salomé. Are there any others?
Actually, neither calls for nudity. The stage directions in SALOME say
she dances "the dance of the seven veils;" in THAIS the heroine ends the
first act as she "perpares to mime the loves of Venus." Both scenes
call for something daringly sexual, but of course there are lots of sexy
things in this world besides mere nudity.
> I don't know of any Salomés who have bared all on stage.
Certainly Catherine Malfitano and Maria Ewing have done so; I believe
Karan Armstrong did as well. Surely there are others.
> Which has got me thinking--are there
> any other operatic roles that could
> possibly be performed in the nude.
Please see http://www.anaserve.com/~parterre/buff.htm
--
james jorden
jjo...@ix.netcom.com
latest opera gossip from parterre box:
http://www.anaserve.com/~parterre/lacieca.htm
robert seigler
valhalla could appear naked? i get my tyrants mixed up.
i never saw it, but i think there is a nude scene in philip glass'
AKNATEN, but the character is supposed to be a mis-shapen hermaphrodite
- i.e., the hero.
the venusberg ballet at the begining of TANNHAUSER offers all sorts of
possibilities, and didn't a bayreuth RING cycle of recent vintage
feature bare-breasted rhinemaidens? i get my tyrants mixed up.
bob seigler
Ernest Jones
Ernest Jones
Retired Music & Cruise Crazy
Internet Cybernerd On The Beach
Stephen P. Guthrie
>I can think of only two roles in opera
>that specifically call for nudity: Thaïs
>and Salomé. Are there any others?
How about Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel and Hindemith's Sancta Susanna.
By the way, Maria Ewing bared all on stage as Salome.
TomKauf2
There also is Mascagni's Isabeau (Of course, she wears a body stocking)
Cheers
Tom
Ivrys88
The stage directions for the orgy in Schoenberg's unfinished opera Moses und
Aron specifically call for nudity, I believe, though of course, they are seldom
obeyed to the letter :-).
dtritter
>
> By the way, Maria Ewing bared all on stage as Salome.
... to the cries of the connoisseurs, "put it on! put it on!"
it's hard to determine who perpetrated the greater excrescence on the
audience, ewing or the director. the best sounds heard those evenings
were the groans of "rotisserie von hoffmansthal" or "pinwheel strauss,"
as they severally rolled over in their graves.
dft
Christina West
s...@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Stephen P. Guthrie) wrote:
> In article <360F14DE...@inow.com>, Mark Starr <st...@inow.com> wrote:
> >I can think of only two roles in opera
> >that specifically call for nudity: Thaïs
> >and Salomé. Are there any others?
> How about Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel and Hindemith's Sancta Susanna.
> By the way, Maria Ewing bared all on stage as Salome.
She certainly did, and luckily had the body to get away with it.
I was chatting recently to Ava June, retired British soprano, and she
told me of a performance of 'Salome' at the ROH during which Ljuba
Wellitsch apparently turned upstage at the end of the Dance, revealing
ALL, but only to the cast, not to the public. In response to which
Edith Coates, playing Herodias supposedly exclaimed 'F*cking liberty!'
in a voice which could be heard in the gallery.
--
Christina West
xina on IRC
Email: xi...@argonet.co.uk
Web: www.argonet.co.uk/users/xina/
Feuillade
babsd...@webtv.net writes:
>was it wagner or hitler who said
> he dreamed of the day when the
> gods of valhalla could appear
> naked? i get my tyrants mixed up.
Hitler is supposed to have told Winnifred Wagner (if the story is correct) that
"Parsifal" would be much more effective if the Flower Maidens were to appear in
the nude.
Tom Moran
http://members.aol.com/Feuillade/TomMoran.index.html
Updated! Silent Film Screenings in New York:
http://members.aol.com/Feuillade/TomMoran17.index.html
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solovoice
disrobing in the Thais. My sister was singing with the New Orleans
Opera Company and someone backstage filmed it.
If memory serves, Neblett had her back to the audience when she
dropped her robe.
John
On Sun, 27 Sep 1998 21:47:26 -0700, Mark Starr <st...@inow.com> wrote:
>I can think of only two roles in opera
>that specifically call for nudity: Thaïs
>and Salomé. Are there any others?
>
>Years ago, Carole Neblett performed
>the nude scene in Thaïs in the buff--in
>New Orleans, as I recall. I think she
>is the only soprano to have
>sung Thaïs nude. Please correct me,
>if there have been others
>
>And while many Salomés have performed
>the famous dance wearing a flesh-colored
>body-stocking, I don't know of any
>Salomés who have bared all on stage.
>Of course, some of the sopranos who have
>performed Salomé were wise to have
>kept their clothes on. But I am
>curious--were there any in the
>past who did cast aside the seventh
>veil to reveal all?
>
>Which has got me thinking--are there
>any other operatic roles that could
>possibly be performed in the nude. For
>dramatic verisimilitude, of course.
>For example, I think Samson could be
>nude when he pulls down the pillars
>of the temple--just as he is in some
>heroic 19th C. paintings. And Tosca could
>at least be partially disrobed by
>Scarpia before she kills him. Any
>suggestions?
>
>Regards,
>Mark Starr
"They that can give up essential liberty
to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety"
-- Benjamin Franklin
Matthew B. Tepper
>
> Somewhere in my boxes of junk, I have an 8mm (film) of Neblett's
> disrobing in the Thais. My sister was singing with the New Orleans
> Opera Company and someone backstage filmed it.
>
> If memory serves, Neblett had her back to the audience when she
> dropped her robe.
I wouldn't have minded that at all!
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/index.htm
My main music page --- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/berlioz.htm
And my science fiction club's home page --- http://www.lasfs.org/
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
drak...@aol.com
art to body parts. You can't focus on both at the same time.
In article <360fd45c...@news1.lig.bellsouth.net>,
solo...@bellsouth.net (solovoice) wrote:
> Somewhere in my boxes of junk, I have an 8mm (film) of Neblett's
> disrobing in the Thais. My sister was singing with the New Orleans
> Opera Company and someone backstage filmed it.
>
> If memory serves, Neblett had her back to the audience when she
> dropped her robe.
>
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CWhite0714
<<I can think of only two roles in opera
that specifically call for nudity: Thaïs
and Salomé. Are there any others?>>
I don't know what the score says, but Norman Treigle wore a simulated nude body
stocking in a Cincinnati performance of "Mefistofele." (And boy, did he look
nice that way!) In such a conservative city, they had to get the permission of
the city fathers before he could go on that way. Seems to me they had to get
the same permission for a very scantily clad "Bacchanale" one year.
Richard Wall
Benjamin Maso
Ivrys88 wrote in message <19980928091440...@ng95.aol.com>...
We in Amsterdam are purists, though. Two years ago the whole chorus was in
the nude. I had some inside information that not everybody was happy about
it.
Benjo
LuciaMim
Richard Wall wrote:>She also appeared nude in "L'Incoronazione de Poppea" at
City Opera.
>
>solovoice wrote:
As Gypsy Rose Lee used to say "You gotta have a gimmick" and in the case of
Miss Neblett, I can understand the need, since she never had a great voice.
Best
Mimi
Arr1on
Ha. A colleague of mine at AIMS in Graz told me that a director wanted him to
do the Count Almaviva in Nozze as if he had just gotten out of the shower, in
the nude, wearing only a towel (that of course would be facing the audience
when he sat down). His argument to the director was that, Latin though he was,
the cold air backstage would stifle anything that the director would want to be
seen.
Also reminds me of a friend of mine that once told me why nude ballet would
never become the norm: there are certain body parts, male and female, that
will not stop wiggling on cue.
All the best.
Brady McElligott--Edgewood, NM
arr...@aol.com
ve...@unm.edu
"Is it music, or just on pursose?"--Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
OperaBufa
Nudity at Lyric Opera of Chicago:
In "Susannah" a few seasons ago, Renee Fleming stripped to the waist (back to
the audience) before going off to bathe.
In "Tannhauser", there were three non-singing women bared all (one of whom
should have remained clothed - a little too Reubenesque).
Simulated nudity of Adam and Eve in "Paradise Lost".
Karen (Opera Buffa)
What I know about opera is laughable.
Send e-mail to bikrbabe @ aol.com
Merkurrr
I suspect Robert Wilson would have wanted a nude Gottfried in the
metamorphosis from swan to human. He had to settle for a boy in a loin cloth.
Well, we get to have this wonderful Lohengrin again tonite. Ugh.
Michael
JDavis6627
>As Gypsy Rose Lee used to say "You gotta have a gimmick" and in the case of
>Miss Neblett, I can understand the need, since she never had a great voice.
>
>
I really don't think this statement is true. Just listen to her recording of
DIE TOTE STADT - if that's not a great voice, I don't know what is. Also a
private tape of her THAIS is definately in the same catagory.
Jon Davis
Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing.
Eckingair
Didn't the Nero (Alan Titus?) also appear nude or in a thong?
Also, I recall an interview that Ms. Neblett gave concerning the Thais, she
recounted how the stage hands in the wings and on the lighting bridges had
cameras ready for just the right moment.
It was for art, I suppose.
Ed/
Matthew B. Tepper
>
> David Meadows wrote:
> >
> > > didn't a bayreuth RING cycle of recent vintage
> > > feature bare-breasted rhinemaidens?
> > >
> >
> > The Bayreuth RING in 1983 (dir: Peter Hall) had all three
> > Rhinemaidens (Diana Montague, Birgitta Svenden & Agnes Habereder)
> > totally nude for the entirety of their time onstage, including their
> > scenes in GOTTERDAMMERUNG. I've seen the production photos and it
> > looks as though it works really well.
> >
> > D.M.
>
> I just remmebered that I have the phtos. If this was a binaries NG,
> I'd post them, and the other curiosities I have on my HD.
>
> D.M.
Maybe there ought to be alt.binaries.pictures.opera.nude?
Mallardo7
>The Bayreuth RING in 1983 (dir: Peter Hall) had all three Rhinemaidens
>(Diana Montague, Birgitta Svenden & Agnes Habereder) totally nude for
>the entirety of their time onstage, including their scenes in
>GOTTERDAMMERUNG. I've seen the production photos and it looks as though
>it works really well.
>
>D.M.
Department of Incidental Information: Habereder, Montague and Svenden wore
green robes for their curtain calls!
Sergio Henrique M. da Silva
"topless" and had a small bikini covering her "private parts". Anyway,
she's a singer to "watch", a great body ! Not common for a soprano :-)
Mark Starr wrote:
> I can think of only two roles in opera
> that specifically call for nudity: Thaïs
> and Salomé. Are there any others?
>
--
**************************************
* Sergio Henrique M. da Silva *
* shs...@ibm.net *
* http://www.geocities.com/~sergiohm *
**************************************
John Boulanger
Mark Starr wrote in message <360F14DE...@inow.com>...
>I can think of only two roles in opera
David Meadows
> feature bare-breasted rhinemaidens?
>
> bob seigler
The Bayreuth RING in 1983 (dir: Peter Hall) had all three Rhinemaidens
David Meadows
Ed Boxer
Hi guy, so when are you going to the MET? Do you have a subscription? I have
a Friday Subscription (first is Aida next Friday).
Anyway, would just like to get together sometime and shoot the breeze or so a
listening session.
Ed "Boxer" Jones
Check out my home page: http://www.GeoCities.com/WestHollywood/9172
A Guide to Opera on CD; Boxing; my Lego creations; Drum and Bugle Corps; Key
West
Ed Boxer
>> I just remmebered that I have the phtos. If this was a binaries NG,
>> I'd post them, and the other curiosities I have on my HD.
>>
>> D.M.
>
>
>--
>Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
Hmm, Eaglen and Pavarotti nude. Talk about revotling!!!!
Which reminds me a joke (sorry, way off topic, but after this discussion,
somehow it just fits):
What is lesbian S&M?
Sex with the lights on.
Mark D. Lew
> The Bayreuth RING in 1983 (dir: Peter Hall) had all three Rhinemaidens
> (Diana Montague, Birgitta Svenden & Agnes Habereder) totally nude for
> the entirety of their time onstage, including their scenes in
> GOTTERDAMMERUNG. I've seen the production photos and it looks as though
> it works really well.
Is that the one where they had a group of nude dancers wriggling in a sort
of trough dug into the stage, with a huge mirror above them so that it
appeared to the audience that they were swimming up off the floor?
mdl
Mark D. Lew
> Nudity in opera, as in other performing arts, diverts audience attention from
> art to body parts.
That's true only if the body parts aren't an integral part of the art. In
many cases -- the various baccanale scenes, for example -- making the
audience think about sex is the real dramatic purpose.
> You can't focus on both at the same time.
Nonsense. Of course you can. One may as well argue that you shouldn't use
a fancy set because it diverts audience attention away from the acting and
singing. The issue is whether it enhances the whole work or not.
mdl
Jon A Conrad
>> The Bayreuth RING in 1983 (dir: Peter Hall) had all three Rhinemaidens
>> (Diana Montague, Birgitta Svenden & Agnes Habereder) totally nude for
>> the entirety of their time onstage,
>Is that the one where they had a group of nude dancers wriggling in a sort
>of trough dug into the stage, with a huge mirror above them so that it
>appeared to the audience that they were swimming up off the floor?
Aside from the fact that it wasn't "a group of nude dancers" but the three
aforementioned (nude) singers of the Rhinemaidens, and they weren't
"wriggling" but swimming, and it wasn't a "sort of trough" but an
extensive shallow pool of water in which they could swim in a variety of
directions, and the mirror made them appear to be not "swimming up off the
floor" but through the depth and height of a river....
Yes it was. Check out the Stephen Fay book for photos and further
details.
Jon Alan Conrad
Department of Music
University of Delaware
con...@udel.edu
Mallardo7
>Teresa Stratas appeared topless at some point in Lulu, in Paris, I believe.
Speaking of Lulu, Constance Hauman was totally nude for a long time in the
dressing room scene with Dr. Schone in a Copenhagen production last year.
Clovis Lark
>
>> Nudity in opera, as in other performing arts, diverts audience attention from
>> art to body parts.
Taking such an argument to extremes: seeing musicians on stage diverts
audience attention from art to body parts.
Face it, live art is going to involve live people. Some interpretations
are going to enrage or offend people. It is a fact that more people were
enraged by the fully clothed Lohengrin last year than were enraged by the
topless Hecuba in the ballet sequence of Macbeth more than 10 years ago,
both at the MET.
drak...@aol.com
and looking at beautiful naked breasts. I am very fond of beautiful naked
breasts, but when I see them I do not think about words and music. This is
the nature of human sexuality. Nudity on stage always undercuts the work
being performed unless the main purpose of the work is to titilate the
audience. Opera has a different purpose. In my opinion, a director who has
nudity during any operatic performance is confessing that he doesn't trust
the basic work to interest or draw an audience. No 18th or 19th century
opera that I am aware of requires nudity in its staging. These operas deal
with passion and love, and do not require nudity to make their points. Of
course, unless I have missed something, these operas would have been banned
in their day if they involved nudity. In our corrupt culture, however, opera
directors commonly undercut these great works by using inappropriate staging
and gimmicks.
Howard Hood
In article <markdlew-ya0240800...@news.earthlink.net>,
mark...@earthlink.net (Mark D. Lew) wrote:
> In article <6up00a$8tt$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, drak...@aol.com wrote:
>
> > Nudity in opera, as in other performing arts, diverts audience attention from
> > art to body parts.
>
> That's true only if the body parts aren't an integral part of the art. In
> many cases -- the various baccanale scenes, for example -- making the
> audience think about sex is the real dramatic purpose.
>
> > You can't focus on both at the same time.
>
> Nonsense. Of course you can. One may as well argue that you shouldn't use
> a fancy set because it diverts audience attention away from the acting and
> singing. The issue is whether it enhances the whole work or not.
>
> mdl
>
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http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
Matthew B. Tepper
pondered what I'm pondering as follows:
>
>No 18th or 19th century opera that I am aware of requires nudity in
>its staging.
Are you absolutely sure that no French operas of the 18th century were
ever performed with bare-breasted women?
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
Mark D. Lew
Conrad) wrote:
> Aside from the fact that it wasn't "a group of nude dancers" but the three
> aforementioned (nude) singers of the Rhinemaidens, and they weren't
> "wriggling" but swimming, and it wasn't a "sort of trough" but an
> extensive shallow pool of water in which they could swim in a variety of
> directions, and the mirror made them appear to be not "swimming up off the
> floor" but through the depth and height of a river....
Thanks for setting me straight. I was just repeating a description I heard
second-hand from someone else who hadn't seen it either. I guess the
message got garbled in transmission....
mdl
Mark D. Lew
> and looking at beautiful naked breasts. I am very fond of beautiful naked
> breasts, but when I see them I do not think about words and music. This is
I accept that that is the nature of your human sexuality, but it's not the
nature of mine.
I am perfectly capable of appreciating the sight of breasts in a scene like
Salome's dance and simultaneously appreciate the music. I'm also capable
of seeing nudity in a scene which isn't sexy (for example, if some captive
is being humiliated and stripped) and appreciating the dramatic effect
without being distracted by thoughts of sex. And I expect that, though
I've never actually seen such a scene, I could even appreciate an ambiguous
situation which combines a touch of eroticism with a stronger sense of
repulsion, which I believe could be done with Tosca, for example, similar
to some of the stagings described in this thread.
> ... Nudity on stage always undercuts the work
> being performed unless the main purpose of the work is to titilate the
> audience. Opera has a different purpose. In my opinion, a director who has
> nudity during any operatic performance is confessing that he doesn't trust
> the basic work to interest or draw an audience. No 18th or 19th century
> opera that I am aware of requires nudity in its staging.....
Not "requires" perhaps, but many French or Viennese operettas in the
Offenbach style certainly called for skin. For example, the can-can in
Orpheus, the grisette scene in Merry Widow, etc. Even if there wasn't the
sort of exposure we would think of as "nudity", those scenes were certainly
intended to titillate.
mdl
Salome45
>I am very fond of beautiful naked
>breasts, but when I see them I do not think about words and music.
Even if they belong to Jane Eaglen?? OY
Amanda
~too little temptation can lead to virtue~
David Meadows
>
> Nudity at Lyric Opera of Chicago:
>
> In "Susannah" a few seasons ago, Renee Fleming stripped to the waist (back to
> the audience) before going off to bathe.
>
> In "Tannhauser", there were three non-singing women bared all (one of whom
> should have remained clothed - a little too Reubenesque).
>
> Simulated nudity of Adam and Eve in "Paradise Lost".
The San Fransisco MEFISTOFELE had a fair bit of 'super' nudes in it,
too. It's on video, too.
Kate Brown
Matthew B. Tepper <ducky兀deltanet.com> wrote
>In article <6uttlv$22u$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, drak...@aol.com
>pondered what I'm pondering as follows:
>>
>
>Are you absolutely sure that no French operas of the 18th century were
>ever performed with bare-breasted women?
>
bang on (as it were), ducky - plenty of contemporary engravings showing
French leading ladies - I have a card of Madame Koch as Alceste (Weimar
1773) with at least one nipple clearly peeping through.
--
Kate B
London
Henry Tickner
>There is a difference between enjoying the set and costumes of a performance
>and looking at beautiful naked breasts. I am very fond of beautiful naked
>breasts, but when I see them I do not think about words and music. This is
>being performed unless the main purpose of the work is to titilate the
>audience. Opera has a different purpose. In my opinion, a director who has
>nudity during any operatic performance is confessing that he doesn't trust
>opera that I am aware of requires nudity in its staging. These operas deal
>with passion and love, and do not require nudity to make their points. Of
>course, unless I have missed something, these operas would have been banned
>in their day if they involved nudity. In our corrupt culture, however, opera
>directors commonly undercut these great works by using inappropriate staging
>and gimmicks.
Reasoned and reasonable. But one of the joys of opera is that it can
bring together so many ways of communicating with us; if one of these
include nudity or direct sexual reference and we allow them to distract
us from what else is happening, maybe that's saying something about us.
Admitted, it needs careful treatment. But I've seen a Samson et Dalila
where a subtly-faked sexual encounter, which looked quite real from the
pit, enhanced the opera.
And I've just watched the cavorting in the Liebestod on the Aria tape
(another thread, I think); OK, nothing to do with the original plot, but
I felt the action enhanced the feeling of yearning in the music. Perhaps
I'm getting too old to be prurient.
Maybe it's a bit like dirty jokes. If the only point of the 'joke' is
that it's an excuse to use a naughty word, then IMO it's not funny. But
if something genuinely funny revolves around a bit of smut, then (to me)
it has that bit more spice.
Of course, both tastes in opera / opera production and a sense of humour
are very personal things. De gustibus.
--
Henry Tickner
"Milk-Punch? o Wisky?"
The 'nospam' is my ISP's domain, the 'boudoir' is mine.
Corellifan
What's the big deal over singing nude? I do it in the shower all the time!!
BBReynolds
In article <19980928130616...@ng14.aol.com>, feui...@aol.com
(Feuillade) writes:
>babsd...@webtv.net writes:
>
>>was it wagner or hitler who said
>> he dreamed of the day when the
>> gods of valhalla could appear
>> naked? i get my tyrants mixed up.
>
>Hitler is supposed to have told Winnifred Wagner (if the story is correct)
>that
>"Parsifal" would be much more effective if the Flower Maidens were to appear
>in
>the nude.
>
>
The Flower Maidens do appear topless (bottomless might be a bit more difficult
to determine, as they're built into the walls) in the Han Jurgen Syberberg film
of
Parsifal; also, Kundry offers a (very quick) naked bosom to Parsifal (which
causes the male youth Parsifal to transform into a young female Parsifal (but
that's Syberberg doing his thing)).
--
Bruce B. Reynolds, Systems Consultant:
Founder of Trailing Edge Technologies, Glenside PA and Niles IL:
Sweeping Up Behind Data Processing Dinosaurs
Kate Brown
dated Wed, 30 Sep 1998, Mark D. Lew <mark...@earthlink.net> wrote
I never saw the production, only photographs, which looked rather
beautiful. The Rhinemaidens effect sounds as if it was an authentic
nineteenth-century stage trick called 'Pepper's Ghost', still very
effective even in this day of projections.
--
Kate B
London
Stephen P. Guthrie
>(Feuillade) writes:
>>Hitler is supposed to have told Winnifred Wagner (if the story is correct)
>>that
>>"Parsifal" would be much more effective if the Flower Maidens were to appear
>>in
>>the nude.
Sounds unlikely considering that he was outraged by a bit of flesh in the
performanceof Hindemith's Neues vom Tage (the bath scene).
Come to think of it, this is another candidate for the operas requiring
nudity list.
DougFBN
Is this the production that Solti was conducting -- but wasn't cuz he kept
getting distracted?
Feuillade
s...@Xenon.Stanford.EDU writes:
> feui...@aol.com writes:
>> Hitler is supposed to have told Winnifred Wagner
>> (if the story is correct) that "Parsifal" would be
>> much more effective if the Flower Maidens were
>> to appear in the nude.
> Sounds unlikely considering that he was outraged
> by a bit of flesh in the performanceof Hindemith's
> Neues vom Tage (the bath scene).
I tend to doubt it. It probably had a lot more to do with HIndemith than
nudity.
The Nazis were very much into kitschy nudity -- just check out the opening of
"Olympia."
Tom Moran
http://members.aol.com/Feuillade/TomMoran.index.html
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Jeffrey Snider
using the Washington Opera sets and costumes. For the brothel scene,
several of the women had exposed breasts as part of their "costume."
(They were painted on.) The artistic director insisted that they be
covered, as I understand, because with the aging population in Sarasota
we probably would have had to have a cardiac unit standing by in the
lobby!
(BTW, also an apprentice that season was Dwayne Croft, who at the time
was a tenor!)
--
Jeffrey Snider, DMA
Associate Professor
College of Music
University of North Texas
Denton, TX 76203 USA
E. Mott
>
> When I was an apprentice in Sarasota in 1985, we did The Rake's Progress
> using the Washington Opera sets and costumes. For the brothel scene,
> several of the women had exposed breasts as part of their "costume."
> (They were painted on.) The artistic director insisted that they be
> covered, as I understand, because with the aging population in Sarasota
> we probably would have had to have a cardiac unit standing by in the
> lobby!
>
> (BTW, also an apprentice that season was Dwayne Croft, who at the time
> was a tenor!)
>
Tannhauser with nude Venusburg ladies, of all shapes and sizes. Nudity
aside - it was one of the worst conceptions of an opera I have ever
seen. Wagner was rolling in his grave, I'm sure.
Esther Mott
Pieter
singer is totally nude, an event not so common as female nudes. And of
course the female singer has to be naked on the stage for more than
half of the opera, with quite explicit SM-scènes. But hé, here in
Amsterdam we are used to these things, aren't we?
(Look at the Amsterdam/Salzburg Peter Stein's Moses und Aron).
Pieter.
can...@webtv.net
Norman Treigle wore a "nude" costume that sported an obvious "erection"
- it was quite devilish :)
Lis K. Froding
merk...@aol.com (Merkurrr) wrote:
>
>I suspect Robert Wilson would have wanted a nude Gottfried in the
>metamorphosis from swan to human. He had to settle for a boy in a
>loin cloth.
>Well, we get to have this wonderful Lohengrin again tonite. Ugh.
>Michael
Yes. And it was FABULOUS. Not the little boy in the loin cloth, but
the rest of the cast, who were *very* clothed. Just magnificent.
Lis
Merkurrr
Thanks for your insightful review earlier. I'm looking forward to next
Tuesday's performance. But I'll be wearing sunglasses this time to spare
myself the distracting light show.
Michael
David Scott Marley
ever performed with bare-breasted women?
It would be awfully surprising if there weren't, when you consider that
there were periods in Paris in the 18th century when bare breasts were
common in street wear.
Adam C. Komisaruk
opera called "Rasputin" (I don't know who the composer was). It was
enthusiastically booed opening night and lasted about a week, but one of the
selling points was apparently that the chorus/company of sybarites appeared
nude.
Lis K. Froding
The music and libretto were by Jay Reise. Your comments about nudity
ring a vague bell. Otherwise, I made the following notes (to myself)
after the performance:
"Boring first act - hard to care about what was going on - flat, funny
one-liners - aware of watching the mechanics of acting instead of
getting caught up in the story. Better second act - but echo problem
with Lenin's speech in the prologue - impossible to discern the words.
First touch of "humanity" in scene 1, when Dr. Sokolsky shows despair
at his helplessness - he's the first one worth caring about. The
performance finally started coming together as a dramatic "show" in
scene 2 - and from then on it was very enjoyable, interesting and
absorbing. Exceedingly powerful and militaristic. The whole thing
didn't turn "human" until the doctor broke down (and proceded to
shoot himself). Very powerful ending - guns. Music was interesting
in the beginning, then became boring - picked up towards the end when
it all came together. The singing was impressive, but at times
difficult to fully appreciate. Not a crowd pleaser!"
I should add that this was before titles. And I think they could
have "rescued" this opera and production if they had reworked it
some. It certainly was a powerful drama with a lot of potential.
Lis
Elizabeth & Keith Falkner
whom, darn it) if I would participate in the chorus of an upcoming opera
as a peasant (Boris? The memory fades after 30 years) with my dress
open to the waist and nursing my small baby. I was willing and so was
my daughter, who was an opera buff at less than one year old (!)... and
then the season was cancelled.
It would have been fun.
Elizabeth
sho...@ibm.net
>I'd post them, and the other curiosities I have on my HD.
There is a website with a some photos - Ewing and Malfitano in Salome,
and three from Fiery Angel, at
http://www.opera.it/FreeWeb/VOH/nude.htm
http://www.opera.co.za/Nude.htm
Same content at both addresses.
--
Bob
http://www.jps.net/shomler/opera.htm
JOster4497
In P. Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticagna," there is a scene which includes a
mother bathing her child which was cast with the child nude in a movie of the
opera years ago.
John Oster
JOste...@aol.com
JDavis6627
>In P. Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticagna," there is a scene which includes a
>mother bathing her child which was cast with the child nude in a movie of the
>opera years ago.
I doubt you'll find this in the score.
Jon Davis
Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing.
DGSyr
>Subject: Re: Operatic Nudity
>From: jdavi...@aol.com (JDavis6627)
>Date: 10/4/98 5:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time
>Message-id: <19981004173524...@ng138.aol.com>
>
>
>>In P. Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticagna," there is a scene which includes a
>>mother bathing her child which was cast with the child nude in a movie of
>the
>>opera years ago.
Wasn't that scene in a film of Pagliacci? I think it was Domingo / Stratas
David
can...@webtv.net
these amazing screens that went up and down with constantly changing
projections some of which were x-rated photos of couples making love.
An outrageous evening.
Matthew B. Tepper
>
>nude, for an extended period of time. Nice bods ;-)
>
>Lis
What proportion M/F?
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/index.htm
My main music page --- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/berlioz.htm
And my science fiction club's home page --- http://www.lasfs.org/
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
Lis K. Froding
Daniel Kravetz
> NYCO's new "Orfeo ed Euridice" has TEN dancers walking around, totally
> nude, for an extended period of time. Nice bods ;-)
>
Hey, you left out one extremely minor detail, i.e. how many males and how
many females!
Davros
>
> NYCO's new "Orfeo ed Euridice" has TEN dancers walking around, totally
> nude, for an extended period of time. Nice bods ;-)
>
The video of Harry Kupfer's PARSIFAL (Elming/Meier/Tomlinson -
Barenboim) has Ms Meier's Kundry waltzing around with one breast exposed
during the whole Parsifal/Kundry seduction dialogue in Act 2. It's
pretty cool.
D.M.
Henry Tickner
<dmea...@ozemail.com.gold> writes
>The video of Harry Kupfer's PARSIFAL (Elming/Meier/Tomlinson -
>Barenboim) has Ms Meier's Kundry waltzing around with one breast exposed
>during the whole Parsifal/Kundry seduction dialogue in Act 2. It's
>pretty cool.
But the other one must have been pretty warm, what with that costume and
the lights and all.
--
Henry Tickner
"Milk-Punch? o Wisky?"
The 'nospam' is my ISP's domain, the 'boudoir' is mine.
Lis K. Froding
ducky兀deltanet.com (Matthew B. Tepper) wrote:
>In article <6vhecn$k...@sjx-ixn10.ix.netcom.com>, too...@ix.netcom.com
>pondered what I'm pondering as follows:
>>
>>NYCO's new "Orfeo ed Euridice" has TEN dancers walking around, totally
>>nude, for an extended period of time. Nice bods ;-)
>>
>>Lis
>
>What proportion M/F?
Wow, you guys really are curious, aren't you? ;-)))
NYCO probably didn't want to be accused of being sexist, so it's
half and half. Frontal. Total. And they're definitely NOT hiding
in the corner.
But most of the time they're wearing clothes; black overcoats,
actually. There's a review of the performance/production in
today's (Oct 08) NY Times of the Oct 06 opening.
Of course, there are also a few singers, not to forget ;-)
They were Artur Stefanowicz (debut) as Orfeo, Amy Burton (one of my
favorites) as Euridice, and Robin Blitch Wiper (debut) as Amor.
They sang fully clothed ;-) and I enjoyed them all.
Short performance; 90 minutes w/o an intermission. The orchestra
and chorus were very good; Derrick Inouye conducted. The stage is
sort of a crater landscape. Interesting, but not the greatest thing
I've ever seen.
Out on Broadway afterwards, I walked past the conductor George Manahan
and a few of the NYCO musicians, one of them hauling a cello. I
overheard him saying something to the effect that "Rudy Giuliani [the
New York mayor] wasn't at the baseball game tonight." Don't know if
that meant he was at the performance, since I didn't hear the rest of
the conversation.
Lis