TGIP! (Thank God It's Puccini)

Here it is, at last! Puccini!!

I'm about to get a little rhapsodic...

I love Puccini's compositions in general. But, I rate two of his operas in the top five of my "Sid Loves These Operas Most" list;
1. The Marriage of Figaro, W.A. Mozart.
2. La Boheme, G. Puccini
3. Madama Butterfly, G. Puccini
4. Carmen, G. Bizet
5. Don Giovanni, W.A. Mozart

There are a bunch of others I find groovy, as well. (Feel free to leave your top five in the comments section. Ya gotta love somethin, Baby!)

With La Boheme coming up, I want to encourage you to take a listen to any recording you can get your hands on of Pavarotti or Domingo singing an aria by Puccini. In our lifetimes, we have been blessed to have two of the all time great tenors living and competing for the same spotlight. Their rivalry created a sensation unparalleled in Opera history. There have certainly been other tenors who have "duked" it out through the centuries, but none had the modern media to use as cogs in their propaganda machines.

Both of them used Puccini arias as their weapon of choice. I learned to love opera by listening to Domingo sing "E lucevan le stelle" from Tosca and Pavarotti sing "Che gelida manina" from La Boheme again and again.

Listen to these two masterful singers sing these two masterfully crafted arias a few times, and soon you'll be joining Nancy and me in the greatness (not the snootiness) of Opera.

(And, of course, Nancy, nothing could keep me from going to the Opera with you!)

Look for the Met HD Broadcasts

...on your local PBS station! The Met has just announced that 14 of its Live in HD performances will be broadcast on PBS...that's FREE! Check out the press release here, and local show times here.

Sid, Will you be my date?

La Bohème is probably the most romantic opera ever.

The Master

Pavarotti was famous for a reason. He was arguably the best tenor ever. Here is a clip from a 1979 La Scala production of La Bohème (with Ileana Cotrubas!).



P.S. This is the next production for the Met HD Broadcasts!

Sid und Nancy vs. Tristan und Isolde

We've decided to take a tag-team approach for our review of the Met HD Broadcast of Tristan und Isolde. There is no way one person can possibly opine on all 5.5 hours of that monstrosity.

First up: The Music

Sid Says: Tristan und Isolde is VERY long. It would be impossible not to say that it is genius. With that much volume (both in sound and number of notes), you're going to get some really amazing moments. But it's soooo long. From the beginning notes of the overture (including an awesome bass clarinet lick) to the last notes of Isolde singing her way to her death, the music keeps going and going. Did I mention it's long? I'm a big fan of Romantic music, and Wagner writes a bunch of it for this one. Love music, martial music, sailor music, bass music, soprano music, tenor music, slow music, fast music, sad music, dying music, angry music....and 95% of it's amazing. It's just that there's a lot to try to remember. I was overwhelmed. Sadly, I only remember the six note main theme. Probably not the best thing considering the length of the show. Did I mention it was really long?


Nancy responds: Yep. Long. First act...crappy. Second and third acts...very beautiful! Therefore, I found 66.6% of the music amazing. I feel like Tony and Wilbon from PTI! I wish we still had cable, Sid.

Next: The Singers

Nancy says: Deborah ("Debbie" for you cognoscenti) Voight can sing really really loud. I mean L-O-U-D, LOUD! Truly, it's impressive. The orchestration in Wagner is just monstrous. Her voice had to carry over like a billion trombones or something. Fortunately for all of us, her voice is also amazingly beautiful. It has a really lovely shimmery vibrato, and she has great ease in her singing. It's a pleasure to watch her and listen to her. Great!

Robert Dean Smith was Debbie's fourth Tristan in as many performances (read about all of the drama here). He sounded great (in a European kind of way...little bit smaller voice, but very focused and clean vibrato and great intonation), but was a little stiff in the first two acts. In act III, however, he just blew us all away! It was so exciting to watch and hear. It was his Met Opera debut, and you could tell how thrilled he was at the curtain call. Hooray for you, Robert Dean Smith! It was especially cool to see behind the scenes before act III...he was being shown his blocking (where to go when)!!!! Talk about stress.

I kind of have a crush on the guy who played Kurwenal. He, too, had this huge voice (baritone), and would just sort of stand there and sing. We call that "park and bark" in the biz. It was cute.

Sid responds:

Dear Peter Gelb, Met Director,

If you do not hire Robert Dean Smith to sing lots of other things at the Met. You are stupid or something. Maybe it would be ok if Ben Heppner didn't get well....

Dear James Levine, Conductor,

You gotta make the old bass guy sing faster. Sheesh...he was going so slow, I thought we were going backwards through time....that may be why it's sooooo long?

Lastly: The Production

Sid Says: NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!! Bad Met!

....Um, I don't know if the designer knows this or not, but a triangle (which is what the stage was shaped like), comes to a point. When you put that point at the front, you severely limit the number of singers who can stand there (one, particularly at the size that Wagnerian singers tend to be). Somehow, bewilderingly, the set itself made the singers "upstage" themselves. (For the non-theater person, upstaging means, that a performer has to turn away from the audience to look at other performers while they are doing something important like SINGING. It is a VERY bad thing to do, especially to your fellow performers.)

When there was more than one singer on the stage, the action had to move away from the audience to allow the singers to be able to sing out over the audience. That's a pretty important logistical mistake considering the previously-mentioned million trombones. The orchestra out numbered the singers 10 to 1. They needed to be able to get as near to the front of the stage as possible.

The lighting was expensive.

The props were stupid.

Nancy Responds: I really liked the minimalist, Eastern, Zen-like feel of the production. It made an epic event seem a bit more intimate. The camera-work for the broadcast itself was a bit different for this show. They did lots of split-screen work, enabling us to see the big stage picture, and the artist's faces at the same time. It was a great idea, but "less is more (Sid's quote)." In act III, there were these weird miniature sculptures all over the stage. I couldn't tell if they were supposed to represent actual farm animals/implements of Tristan's, or if we were in his statuary. Then they disappeared later in the act before Isolde sang her famous Liebestod. They could have done without them.

The lighting was amazing! They constructed a gigantic light-box for the back of the stage.

Final Thoughts

Nancy: Overall, I came away surprised that I really loved the show. The music was gorgeous (except act I). I'm pretty sure I would sit through it again, if I knew that the singers were really top-notch. It was quite an event!

Sid: Overall, I'm feeling pretty mixed emotions. There's a sense of congratulations/relief that we made it through. I kind of felt like those of us in the audience should have had a big group hug/high five at the end. If a sense of accomplishment in watching the whole thing is a good thing, then that was the best opera I've ever seen.

It's kinda Wagner's fault...

As Nancy has mentioned, the big production this weekend is Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner (pronounced: "very long and very loud"). Being from southern Indiana protestant stock, I'm less worried about being able to sit through a tortuous five hours than Nancy is. It'll remind me of my childhood.
I do have some prejudice against Wagner, though.

Basically, I blame him for the dissolution of music and a lot of really bad composition over the last one hundred and sixty years. AND for the complete hijacking of the opera form.

And just so you don't think I'm way off base, go ask your favorite musicologist (amateur or professional) about the importance of Tristan und Isolde. The musicologist will begin talking, possibly bring out some musical scores, various time lines of German principalities in the mid-1800's and a copy of the complete works of Schopenhauer. My suggestion is to draw eyeballs on the back of your eyelids after the first mention of the half-diminished 7th chord, nap, and then wake when they say "that's why the Liebestod is the most important piece of music in the history of mankind."

If you don't know any musicologists, you'll just have to take my word for it.

You see, Germans in Wagner's time were like the Baby Boomers. They were convinced that they were the culmination of all time. And they had to prove it to the rest of the world (mainly France) and themselves.
Wagner was the prototype. He was an artiste, a philandering womanizer, a great composer, a political radical and a legend both in his own time and his own mind.

You have to be all of these things to compose operas that are five hours long. Take a moment and think about it. Have you ever done anything (other than perhaps giving birth or being born) that made other people sit quietly and pay attention to you or something you did for five hours?

Without Wagner, however, some of the really stunningly beautiful and important music since 1848 doesn't exist. He, in essence, allows us (yes, you and me and the rest of the world) the opportunity to have the wonderfully accessible movie scores that have shaped our lives. What is Star Wars without it's heroic opening music, Schindler's List without it's heartbreaking theme, or Dances with Wolves without its sweeping landscapes of sound (I'm getting poetical...sheesh)? Wagner's style of long-term, thematic composition is the basis for these works. Damn him!

So, think of Nancy and me this Saturday (if you aren't going yourselves). Our butts are going to be sore. This one's for you, Kevin Costner, Steven Spielberg and R2D2.

Pre-Show Drama

It seems that the Met's Tristan production is having some bad luck. First, Ben Heppner had to back out of the first 4 performances (flu), then the set broke mid-performance (!), then Deborah Voigt had to go hurl during act II (flu, I guess). Read the complete tale of woe here. I'm excited to see what happens Saturday!

It's Coming: Tristan und Isolde

This weekend will mark my first experience sitting through an entire opera composed by Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde. It's 5.5 hours long. Oh my gosh.

In fact, I have had very little exposure to Wagner's music period. I know some of the orchestral music from Tannhäuser ( I used to be a cellist), and have heard various performances of the Wesendonck Lieder (it's been suggested that Wagner may have had an affair with the poet---Mathilde Wesendonck!). I'm nervous I won't have the intestinal fortitude to withstand 5.5 hours of loud loud LOUD!

Here is Schmerzen from Wesendonck, as sung by the lovely Cheryl Studer. She is a dramatic soprano (singer of Wagner and heavier Richard Strauss), who disappeared for awhile in the late 90s due to some vocal problems, but has since had a resurgence...hooray! She was, however, sidelined by a heart attack in 2005. Yikes!:




It's not really a video, I just can't figure out how to add an mp3 file to my blog post. Any help out there?

Clip of the Day: Do Opera Singers have to be Fat?

This topic is near and dear to Sid's heart. This clip details how modern opera productions are pushing the physical boundaries of its singers, and what singers are doing to keep up with the demands. It features Deborah Voigt (this coming Saturday's Isolde!) talking about her own challenges with her weight and how it hurt her career.

Peter Grimes: Nancy's Notes

It's hard to convey how in love with this performance I am. It ranks right up there with the Eugene Onegin broadcast that Sid and I can't stop yapping about.

I basically agree with everything Sid said. Except I sort of like the awkward backstage stuff. It's kind of fun.

I'm especially in love with Patricia Racette's voice. Her diction was fantastic, and her sound so beautiful. Anthony Dean Griffey as Grimes was beyond perfect. His final mad scene was heart-wrenching, horrifying, and even endearing, if you can believe it. You knew, at the end of it, that he wasn't going to pull through, but you really wanted him to.

You know what moved me to tears, though? The curtain call! There was this tremendous sense of togetherness and love-for-this-work radiating from the cast and creative team that was overpowering. It was like they knew they had put together something special, and were so full of love for it. It was great. Greater than great, really.

Peter Grimes, So Good, You Want to Have a Drink

Nancy said, "you get to do the review."

So...here goes.

We watched the HD broadcast of Peter Grimes today at our local movie theater. As we had expected, turnout was low. Every broadcast we've been to up to this point has been completely jam packed. Britten just doesn't get folks excited. (I will rant some other time about the strange prejudices typical opera-goers show to their own chosen art...but not today...) We were excited, however. Nancy, the super Britten lover, would have gone if she were suffering from leprosy, to hell with the contagion. I was interested in the heavy/modern drama. (see previous posts about our week long lead up to the event).

A few things before I get into the actual work, because, if you were interested in reading a flat-out, reviewer's review, you could go to the New York Times, (and probably wish you had jammed a nail in your eye after being inundated by pretension and snootiness).

Dear Met people,
Natalie Dessay is probably a really neat person. And she certainly is famous. Renée Fleming has got to have one of the top ten beautiful voices of all time. And seems like a really genuine person. But they are Opera Singers. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, get an equally famous, opera-loving reporter to do your behind the scenes stuff. Five million of us shouldn't be subjected to the awkwardness of these folks trying to conduct interviews. I know, I know, "it's charming", you say. Nope...just uncomfortable. A really good on-camera reporter will also be charming, and not make us all run for the popcorn and the bathrooms to avoid watching these world class performers humiliate themselves. PLEASE!!
Kisses, Sid

To the review:
Peter Grimes was pretty freakin awesome. However, it was not for the opera-noob. Also, inappropriate for anyone who'd had a bad week or struggles with any mental/emotional issues.

The production/direction/design by John Doyle was stark, dirty, dark and absolutely perfect. You have to understand me. This may be the only time you will see me write those words. I'm usually apoplectic about the staging, direction, lighting, sets, etc. This time, though, it couldn't have been more perfect. A particular kudos has to go to the set designer, Scott Pask. The huge set piece with doors that opened chunkily, and weren't quite evenly set with each other, matched the strangeness of story perfectly.

The chorus was astonishing! I don't know what the chorus master has done to these people, but they are a machine. Under the masterful direction of conductor, Donald Runnicles, they blew us out of our seats. Thank you, chorus. You made the show.

Anthony Dean Griffey (an Eastman alum!) put on a clinic in operatic descent into madness in the title role. His performance should be burned onto DVD and sent to every other opera singer in the world. He didn't fall into the usual operatic trap of hysteria. He just went nuts. You really believed that he was hearing voices. When he walks off to sink himself and his ship, you truly felt like it was the best choice. You could bury an opera house in manuscripts/scores of operas that end with a character going insane. So, all other opera singers are on notice. Do it like Anthony Dean Griffey. You aren't as good as he is, so copy him.

He sang well, too.

Patricia Racette had a strange role, in a strange opera. She has to be sympathetic, and a little suspicious, too. She was mostly both. It may just be the libretto, but I thought her character got off a little easy. I don't want to lay it at her feet. She did choose to play the part pretty prettily, though. (Please forgive the alliteration. Ouch, Sid.).

However, her singing was tremendous. Powerful, sublime, clear. She showed it all. I'm not super high on heavy-voiced sopranos, usually. In my opinion, most of them should read the paragraph on Anthony Dean Griffey's acting. She, however, sang perfectly.

I'm not going to go through all of the other cast members. Other than the screamy preacher-dude, they were right on. The old lady with the laudanum habit was perfect. As were the two baritones. I don't remember their names...let's call them, Dirty and Top-Hat. Top-Hat could knock over walls with his sound (in a good way). Dirty is the character who suggests that Peter go sink himself and his boat. He was so convincing, that I started heading to the marina.

This show is a dead-duck without a good ensemble cast. It had one. It was tremendous.

The orchestra and Donald Runnicles played the @#!! out of the score. It was mind-blowing. BUT...Britten's music is a hard listen. You find yourself scrambling for someplace to settle. And that place never arrives. It is a giant, sprawling, post-romantic, through-composed beast. Do not approach a performance of Peter Grimes, if you have no experience with opera. I don't see you coming out a long-term opera lover if you do.

If you're prepared, however, for the gritty realism of both the story and the music, and need a show that will harrow your soul, then Met's Peter Grimes is a must-see. Just have a bottle of hard liquor ready at home for the post-show trauma. It's intense

Clip of the Day: Dudley Moore!

Here is little blurb of Dudley Moore making fun of Britten and Pears. Britten is famous for re-setting and completely re-writing folk songs of the British Isles. This is Moore's clever version of the result. Have fun at the show this weekend!

Opera's kinda like Beer...

This one goes out to those of you who are new to Opera.
Opera is kinda like Beer or Coffee. Do you remember the first time you tried those drinks? That first sip from your childhood. Remember that? The gut-wrenching, mind-blowing disgust; the taste that made you think that your tongue might actually fall out. Remember?
Somehow, overtime, you grew to love that. Those(like Opera) are acquired tastes. During the process, you didn't think, "Wow, I will really love this someday, and look back on how unrefined my taste buds were." It was probably more like, "I better have some of this foul coffee, because last night I drank too much of that foul beer, and I have to go to class/work now, and I'm 20 and can live like this and not need two weeks to recover from my binge..." or something like that. You get my drift.
The great news is that Opera won't make your tongue fall out. BUT, it does take time for most people to get used to the sound, timbre and style. The difficulty is you won't have a bunch of fraternity brothers yelling obscenities at you in an effort to get you to listen to way too much Opera. Or feel the compelling need to listen to Opera every morning within 15 seconds of waking up.
It's not the perfect analogy.
You gotta start with the palatable, and the short.
Try this:

Now close your eyes, think of Bugs Bunny and listen to this:


That wasn't so bad now, was it?

Clip of the Day: A Midsummer Night's Dream

As promised, here is a clip of David Daniels (arguably THE counter-tenor of today), singing Oberon's first aria from Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The orchestration is so cool. Britten uses different instrumentation for different kinds of characters. Here, the harp plays a really prominent role with an other-worldly character. With the "rude mechanicals," we hear lots of brass and drums. Enjoy!

Clip of the Day: Jon Vickers as Peter Grimes

So, I just learned that Jon Vickers was the Peter Grimes for the first Met production in 1967. AND, he's Canadian...how cool is that? Sid and I have a dream/goal of moving to Canada. I think this is a sign.

Sid is right. I do love Benjamin Britten, and I TOTALLY disagree with him. I think Britten's music is very easy on the ears! I'll play something from A Midsummer Night's Dream later this week, and you'll see what I mean. Obviously, it doesn't sound like Mozart, but it's a really accessible and beautiful musical language that makes sense to after about 10 minutes of listening. Give it a chance! Also, it's kind of spooky and creepy. Case in point? This little ditty from Peter Grimes (with the late Jon Vickers). Enjoy!



Edit: This production was directed by Tyrone Guthrie!

Clip of the Day: Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten

In preparation for the upcoming Met HD Broadcast of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes (I'm pretty excited), I'll be posting some YouTube clips of interest.

Today's video features a vintage clip of of Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten collaborating on a bit of Schubert ("Mein" from the beloved song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin). Britten and Pears were long-time collaborators and partners in life. Pears, in fact, was the first Peter Grimes (and the first of many of Britten's opera's protagonists).



I'm pretty sure those are cheat-sheets in Sir Peter's hand...pretty funny! Anyway, get your tickets for Peter Grimes. It is this coming Saturday, March 15, at 1:30 PM EST.

Peter Grimes is coming!

Let me recommend you take a moment to look up Peter Grimes on Wikipedia ...you back?... Now THAT'S a story.
This weekend is the Met's HD broadcast of Peter Grimes. I'm looking forward to it. Nancy LOVES Benjamin Britten. If he wasn't both dead and gay, I'd be worried. She loves him that much. He might have a shot being only one or the other.
I'm of two minds when it comes to Britten and other 20th century opera composers of his ilk. (And please, spare me the rather lengthy discussion of the differences in 20th century composers and their musical styles. Haydn and Mozart probably roll over in their respective graves every time they are mentioned as practicing the same musical style. That's the breaks, folks. Musical styles don't change every five to ten years, or every five to ten minutes as some some 20th century musicologists would try to make us believe. Back to my two minds...)
Mind one:
The gritty realism is a good thing for modern, non-traditional audiences. The questionable morals and behavior of the characters in Peter Grimes would fit perfectly in a Martin Scorsese film. That should get their attention.
Mind two:
How can I in good conscience invite "non-opera" opera goers to listen to Benjamin Britten's music? I like it (most of the time), but it's a little hard on the uninitiated ear.
So, I'll wait and invite my opera newbie friends to the tamer fare of La Boheme and continue to ponder how to get them to see, listen and appreciate Peter Grimes, Lulu, Bluebeard's Castle, The Rape of Lucretia, A Midsummer Night's Dream, etc..,
Maybe, I should drug them first....

NYCO's King Arthur

I kind of wish I lived in New York right now. New York City Opera (NYCO) just opened their production of Purcell's King Arthur on March 5. Go see this show, and then tell me all about it!

The production was conceived and choreographed by Mark Morris (wow), and the costumes were designed by Isaac Mizrahi. Here is City Opera's little promo:



For a more behind-the-scenes video, go here. This would be a great first-time opera-goer production to see: it's short, in English, lots of action, and features lighter-voiced singers (not as a big a shock to uninitiated ears).

If you go, give extra-special applause to Sarah Jane McMahon...she's lovely!

Staying Calm (this time)

I've been encouraged to keep my initial entry civil.
Like Nancy, I love me some opera....
BUT...
I'm getting pretty fed up with having to take off my glasses to watch a lot of it. I mean COME ON!! I don't want to hear the excuses! There are over 6 billion people in the world. There must be more options than the fat, old, drab, uninspired, poorly staged....
...I'm not going to get worked up...deep breaths, Sid, deep breaths...
Just so we're clear from the beginning, I'm not some frustrated singer who's auditioning and not getting parts. I don't perform anymore and I don't plan to either. I just want to see good opera!
And for you traditionalists, who'd rather have someone steal your Buick sedan than have anything change in the opera, take your heart meds before you read my posts. You are going to be pissed off.
You all have a great day, now.
Sid

Welcome

Opera Underground is for you if you're curious about opera, but don't really know much about it.

Sid and I love opera. We're both former (recovering?) singers. We want to talk about what's great about opera, what's wrong with opera, and what can be done to re-introduce it to a wider audience as a living breathing art form.

We don't get to see lots of shows. We're pretty poor (we're former singers, for crying out loud), and live in Minnesota. However, we will be reviewing the Met Opera HD Broadcasts, and pointing out various shows around the world we wish we could see! We'll also point you to great recordings, YouTube clips and the like. We want to interview opera insiders (singers, directors, educators, conductors, etc.) and outsiders to get their perspective on the opera business.

Welcome!