Likes: Just curious which Romeo and Juliet opera is most preferred here at TC. I left out "other" because the few I could find were relatively obscure. These seem to be the two most popular ones.
Which Romeo and Juliet Opera?
Just curious which Romeo and Juliet opera is most preferred here at TC. I left out "other" because the few I could find were relatively obscure. These seem to be the two most popular ones.
"All of Italian opera can be heard in [Bellini's] "Ah! non creda [mirarti]."
--Renata Scotto in "Scotto, More Than a DIva."
Can we have option: both, equal?
Sorry, I was trying to drive a hard line. Well, just think as if you could only take one to the desert island.Originally Posted by Rogerx
"All of Italian opera can be heard in [Bellini's] "Ah! non creda [mirarti]."
--Renata Scotto in "Scotto, More Than a DIva."
Gounod, without a moment's hesitation. The other's a Rossini pastiche that bears little resemblance to Shakespeare.
I can't speak to the Rossininess of it, but it is not supposed to resemble Shakespeare because (according to Wikipedia) Donizetti's "libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of Romeo and Juliet for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called Giulietta e Romeo and based on the play of the same name by Luigi Scevola written in 1818, thus an Italian source rather than taken directly from William Shakespeare."
"All of Italian opera can be heard in [Bellini's] "Ah! non creda [mirarti]."
--Renata Scotto in "Scotto, More Than a DIva."
Just in case anybody could be interested in Vaccaj's opera, that is nice and I liked it more than Gounod's, is complete in youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbUHQWkCrvI
There is a super nice mezzo voice in it too.
Last edited by Fritz Kobus; Nov-28-2018 at 15:59.
"All of Italian opera can be heard in [Bellini's] "Ah! non creda [mirarti]."
--Renata Scotto in "Scotto, More Than a DIva."
And Luigi Scevola's play wasn't based on Shakespeare's, either. But both plays can trace their lineage back to Luigi da Porto's Giulietta e Romeo from 1524. He named the characters and families, set the play in Verona, and so on. The fact that Shakespeare wrote a popular version of the story doesn't mean that every version thereafter has to be based on his, or that using a different line reveals a deficiency.
Bellini took melodies from his own Zaira, not anything by Rossini. And give me I Capuleti e i Montecchi over most anything by Rossini any day.
Fritz Kobus liked this post
I can live without both. We have a great R & J ballet by Prokofiev, which I find more powerful than the Shakespeare play, but not a worthy opera.
There's also Berlioz's Dramatic Symphony, which I prefer to both.
Last edited by Tsaraslondon; Nov-28-2018 at 21:51.
"It's not enough to have a beautiful voice." Maria Callas
Woodduck liked this post
I can't speak to the Donizettiness any more than the Rossininess. Now the *Bellininess*--that's another matter!
Last edited by amfortas; Nov-28-2018 at 21:53.
Alan
Fritz Kobus liked this post
West Side Story
That I ought to look into.
"All of Italian opera can be heard in [Bellini's] "Ah! non creda [mirarti]."
--Renata Scotto in "Scotto, More Than a DIva."
Definitely do! My favorite work by prokofiev
Well, I will have to get two Prokofiev ballets: R&J and Cinderella.
"All of Italian opera can be heard in [Bellini's] "Ah! non creda [mirarti]."
--Renata Scotto in "Scotto, More Than a DIva."
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