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Miscellaneous Opera-related Chat

689K views 2K replies 175 participants last post by  Birmanbass 
#1 ·
Since I am guilty of getting several threads off-topic, I wonder if the powers that be have ever thought of having an off-topic "discussion area". By that I mean, not about our personal lives, but about opera-related items.

For instance here are a couple of things I'd like to discuss:

Is anyone in the US using Spotify?

The new Fidelio CD is available on Spotify if anyone is interested (although maybe this qualifies as opera news? or streaming, if you have Spotify)

Advice on ordering tickets for the Met (seating etc. too late for me now, but maybe for others)

Do you know any cheap places to stay in NYC (or on the train line in NJ or CT)--this follows of course on the previous question! :lol:

In January our local opera company is doing a Glass opera called Les Enfants Terribles; does anyone know this opera?

Now I'm betting that you have tried this in the past and it didn't work, but I thought I would ask.
 
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#4 ·
Jessica Duchen writes for The Independent and has written a book.

Has anyone read it or the short story which inspired it?



Her latest and startlingly original book about the healing powers of music revolves around Russian author Ivan Turgenev's short story The Song of Triumphant Love.

Turgenev fell hopelessly in love with the 19th century opera singer Pauline Viardot who famously quit the stage at an early age because she lost her beautiful singing voice.

Taking the relationship between Turgenev and Viardot as her central theme, Duchen weaves the strands of their real lives into the fictional but parallel tale of an opera singer facing a career-ending illness....
 
#5 ·
For Callas devotees

Last night we watched the first part of the ITV series 'The Secret Mediterranean'. In the first part an extensive look inside the "Christina O", the famous party-ship of Onassis, is being offered. Quite interesting for those who still remember those days of glamour, jetset & Maria Callas of course. But apart from this touristic fun there is an opera choir present on the background to accompany it all. They sing only one letter. "O OOO OOOO O OOO OOOO", lasting about twenty minutes long. Very :lol::eek::eek::lol: indeed! At the end my mouth had got pre-shaped into the form of a certain letter....
 
#8 ·
If at all possible it would be nice if we could filter what threads come up in our 'what's new.' I'm all for people socializing but it's a little annoying logging into a classical forum and having to sift through a bunch of topics that aren't related to classical music. Just logging in 4 of the first 10 most recent topics don't pertain to classical music.
 
#9 ·
The 10 topics I see on logging in just now are:
Sticky: Top 158 recommended Operas
This off-topic discussion
Best line in opera
Great male singers
Great female singers
30-day opera challenge
Tristan, Isolde, and You
Tabloid Titles for Operas
The TC Most recommended Operas positions 101-200
Opera news
****

Which of these does not fall under the description "Forum for discussing operas and operettas, as well as opera singers and related topics"?

Even in my request for a 'off-topic' discussion thread I specifically said 'opera-related' items, the idea being that I wouldn't start a thread every time I wanted to ask a question or discuss an opera or CD that I had just heard.
 
#16 ·
Annie, I've seen that book listed on her website but have no idea about it. The reviews on amazon.co.uk are very positive though, as you probably know. It hasn't been published in the US so no opportunity to get it from the library and see what it's like.
 
#17 ·
Regarding "Fidelio" on Spotify, I am listening and Decca has BLOCKED "Gott welch' dunkel hier" and the conclusion of Act 2. Also it sounds a little bit like they have edited out a great deal of dialogue.

Have sent a nastygram to amazon.com about my order, we shall see.

Guess I'll have to just listen to Strauss lieder again...this is truly become one of my all-time favorite CDs.

 
#27 ·
Regarding "Fidelio" on Spotify, I am listening and Decca has BLOCKED "Gott welch' dunkel hier" and the conclusion of Act 2. Also it sounds a little bit like they have edited out a great deal of dialogue.

The entire recording has "a great deal of dialogue" edited out of it. This is thanks to the nitwit stage director at Lucerne, Tatjana Gürbaca, who not only mangled the original dialogue but decided she had to "improve" it by writing some of her own. :mad:
 
#25 ·
Was Wagner really such a s*#t?



I've just finished watching this. In this Wagner is portrayed as a man with few redeeming features, a terrible exploiter of all his friends and acquaintances, and rabidly rude to everyone, be they Jewish, French or anybody who basically was not Wagner (apart from all the kowtowing to Ludwig).

I've so far not read a biography of the man, only books about his operas and the Tristan Chord.

Was the guy really that awful?
 
#26 ·


I've just finished watching this. In this Wagner is portrayed as a man with few redeeming features, a terrible exploiter of all his friends and acquaintances, and rabidly rude to everyone, be they Jewish, French or anybody who basically was not Wagner (apart from all the kowtowing to Ludwig).

I've so far not read a biography of the man, only books about his operas and the Tristan Chord.

Was the guy really that awful?
I've never read a full biography either but as far as I know from several fragments, yes, he was that awful, and worse (there's also his womanizing and the way he used women - if I know you well, you won't like that part).

Still, he's one of the human beings whose art has given me the most pleasure.

So, I'm a sort of uneasy fan, and even guiltily have his picture on my refrigerator door.
 
#28 ·
There is this story about some dramatic wedding day in church and down there in main hall all was going frenzy someone loved not the one he should and stuff and it was big mess, very dramatic, yes, but after all they all were blown away by the organist because while they had their love dillemas down there he was improvising in his organ balcony a wedding march and he though DAMN, I'M GOOD and started to play more and more passionately and when he was finally going to end he died from unbearable awe and delight over last chord of his music.
 
#33 ·
I often entertain this bit of silly fantasy: I'd get a time machine and would fish out from the past the major opera composers, would yank them out of their lives and bring them to my family room, fire up my home theater, and show to them in 1080p, blu-ray High Def and 7.1 DTS Master sound what's been done of their works.

I'd say to Wagner - "Sir, you're certainly a f......g a...hole, but oh boy, you sure can compose! You are a megalomaniac, you're despicable, you suffer from severe narcissistic personality disorder with antisocial traits, but it turns out that in spite of your overblown high opinion of yourself, well, cough cough, we all do have have a high opinion of your music."

With Rossini I'd open some good wines and serve some good food and we'd laugh a lot and talk about how pleasure is important and how we should relax and enjoy life.

With Mozart and Handel... I don't know, my extreme admiration might stun me so much that I wouldn't be able to say anything. Flies would get into my open mouth.

But I'd really love to chat with Verdi. I feel that with Verdi I'd be able to talk about Italian traditions and civilization, about the way the world has been evolving lately (not good), about more fundamental ideas like the sense of one's life and the role of music in it. I'd have profound respect for Verdi and would address him like I used to address my beloved father (who was also Italian).

Finally, I'd love to bring Berlioz back, and tell him, "Sir, in your lifetime people did not realize your grandeur and your genius, but now in the 21st century, we do. Don't worry about all that backstabbing at Paris Opéra; forget about that guy Meyerbeer. You're the best, sir, and by the way, that Les Troyens that you were never able to see fully staged in your lifetime is a major hit now. Well done, sir!"

I'd also like to say to Beethoven: "Sir, relax about Fidelio, it is just fine, I'm telling you! Don't worry about redoing it over and over, you sir are amazing, but you gotta have a bit of self-confidence. We do love Fidelio centuries later, and we think all four overtures you've tried could work well, but thank you anyway for giving us some choice. And by the way, no, it wasn't a failure, and you could have perfectly composed other operas after this one, we'd have loved it!"
 
#38 ·
This is a shame. I was planning to attend.
I liked this quote from that page:
"To the world, as to the nation he helped to found, Verdi left an enduring legacy of music, charity, patriotism, honour, grace, and reason. He was and remains a mighty force for continuing good."
 
#41 ·
Just to add to my bad day: If you have favorite YouTube videos of your favorite artists...better check to be sure they are still there. Last week they took away my beloved "home video" that someone put up of In Fernem Land from the Lohengrin premiere, and today the 5 segments of Ein Ganz Normaler Held (German TV documentary) are GONE. It's not as if I can BUY it, people! Because I would. *raging fist at unfair universe--or maybe specifically Decca*

I know there are a LOT of opera YouTubes out there and am not sure what causes things to be closed down, but...
 
#42 ·
There is software available to download YouTube videos to your own computer for safe-keeping.
They go away either because the person who posted them removes them for whatever reason, or because they get removed by YouTube due to copyright violations.
 
#46 ·
Speaking about Youtube ...

Did you see this video? :D :B Why am I so sexy???

No offence, I absolutely like Roberto. But I discovered this video recently on YT and I think it's really funny.
Other than for the fact that I don't find Roberto sexy at all, yes, the video is pretty funny! Unless they are saying it ironically. Do people actually find Roberto Alagna sexy? Ladies, your input is required.
 
#48 ·
Oh yes, he is lovable/adorable enough, he seems like a cool guy, rather convivial. It's just that he's not sexy like JK or Placido or Simon Keenlyside (or so I'm told, LOL).
 
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