Vacation and... opera?

[sauergeek]

I'm on vacation this week. This is a staycation, which usually means I'm doing a mix of housecleaning and videogames. (There's also reading, cooking, and whatever else comes to mind, but those two are the big 'uns.)

This time, for reasons I'm not entirely clear on, I've thrown operas into the mix. I've so far dug up video productions of a staging of six operas and listened to them — mostly while playing games, so not with full attention — but in all cases, this is my first listen (and view) through any of them.

• Carmen, Bizet
  
• Rinaldo, Handel
  
• The Mikado, Gilbert & Sullivan
  
• Die Zauberflöte, Mozart
  
• Die Fledermaus, Strauss (conducted by Placido Domingo, with a call-out by him from the pit, and to him from the stage, in the production)
  
• The Threepenny Opera (in English) (and part 2), Weill & Brecht
  

My next one is Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, one that I've only heard (parts) of via Spike Jones' Pal-Yat-Chee.

At this point, I'm running out of operas I've even heard of, and am looking for recommendations. Restrictions: No rock operas, no other Gilbert and Sullivan (I know several, but can't handle more than one in a row...), no Philip Glass or other minimalists. Any thoughts on which operas to add to the upcoming list?

Comments

[mathhobbit]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Ring_des_Nibelungen
That'll keep you busy for a while. Also, it's the Die Hard of opera!

[sauergeek]

Oooh, Looney Tunes operas! Yesterday went from the remarkably short Pagliacci, to Beethoven's Fidelio, to Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, to Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, to Wagner's ring cycle. I've listened to the first of four, Das Rheingold, and am now on the second, Die Walküre. (Wabbit killing has commenced!) Next up: Siegfried.

[siderea]

If you're looking for live, the BEMF has a concert (not fully staged) performance of Handel's Almira imminently.

[sauergeek]

I will ponder this! Not sure if I'm up for an opera being the thing to go see, as opposed to an interesting (and occasionally familiar) thing for background.

[rix_scaedu]

Fra Diavolo, which I saw many years ago in an English translation and performed by the Australian Opera.

[sauergeek]

Thank you! I'd not heard of that one before. My first attempt to find it produced a bunch of shrimp recipes. But, I've found it, and it's now on the for-next list. (Also on the for-next: the remainder of Wagner's Ring Cycle and Rossini's Barber of Seville.)

[rix_scaedu]

Also, "The Merry Widow" which has the advantage of a plot where the two romantic leads can be quite young or very mature, depending on how many years ago you allow the original romance to have been. :)

[xeger]

Madame Butterfly, Tosca, The Barber of Seville, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro -- in general, one way to find interesting operas is to follow an artist rather than the opera.

Maria Callas. Amazing voice. Try Medea (-not- the movie) and Iphigenia (hm, or maybe I'm thinking of the movie, which isn't Callas, or opera, but is impressive -- the opera would be Ifigenia In Tauride).

Kirk Te Kanawa is another amazing voice (you might recognize it from the Fifth Element).

I'm quite fond of Glass, but you've opted out of him ;D That said, Akhnaten has some truly amazing arias for the counter-tenor.

If you're going to go through the ring cycle, you should also listen to Anna Russell's commentary on the ring cycle.

The Mikado is -not- opera, however -- at best, an operetta (which is certainly fun and enjoyable... but not opera).

[sauergeek]

Kiri Te Kanawa was the lead in the production of Die Fledermaus I watched. That was also one of the most fun ones so far. Mostly German, a mixed-in bit of English, with Te Kanawa providing occasional commentary in English from the stage. As she's meeting the initial parade of male characters, she's introducing each one and what they do. As #4 comes on — I think it was Falke — she does her usual introduction, then sits down in a heap and says "At least he's not another tenor.". There were many small moments like that, including Domingo's call from the pit and Frosch's call-out on stage.

I watched a production of The Marriage of Figaro yesterday, and have The Barber of Seville on the list (thanks, Looney Tunes!). I will look for more Kiri Te Kanawa work; thanks for that suggestion. And I'll mix in your opera suggestions as well.

[sauergeek]

I'm quite fond of Glass, but you've opted out of him ;D

I've listened to various Glass, and the only things of his I've found I can tolerate are his three movie scores: Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqoyqatsi. I suspect that this is because there was someone who could tell him "Mr. Glass, no.". Though I did take a rather fun diversion through Peter Schickele's work while looking for PDQ Bach's Einstein on the Fritz — I never found it — and read a lovely reaction from Glass on it.

[xeger]

Hm. Other movie scores, IIRC -- Dracula, The Hours. I'm curious (if you can articulate it) what you don't like about his work.

[sauergeek]

I never thought to look if Glass had done other movie scores. I'll see if I can dig them up.

My chief objection to the other Glass I've listened to is that he seems to devote each piece to a single musical what-if. He then droningly and invaryingly treats that as if it's his only musical fetish. Listening to his work feels like the equivalent of watching someone practice writing the letter F over and over again in as many variations as they can think of. That sort of exercise might be interesting to a calligrapher, and Glass's work might be of interest to a musician — which I am not! — but mostly I just want to find very nearly anything else.

The movie scores at least have some variation within them!

[xeger]

Huh. Do you like electronic music (eg: trance)?

[sauergeek]

The electronic music I'm most familiar with is ambient, primarily Klaus Schulze and the affiliated group Tangerine Dream. I also listen to some Brian Eno, which I often go to sleep by.

Having just dug up some trance, I don't think I've encountered it before. (Sounds kinda like Daft Punk without really being quite that...) I found several mixes, but I know no artists in that space. The few mixes I tried were oddly abrupt in their shifts; I don't know if that's an operation of the music or of the mixer. That said, what bits I heard started getting old from repetition rather quickly.