[ma7730]

29. To Ben Heppner. You've a great voice Ben but don't,ay Florestan on stage. No-one will ever believe you've been starving!

Cruel, but I can't say I disagree.

29. To many modern stage producers/directors. Read that [email protected]#$in' libretto sometimes, will you?

P.S. The more I watch new opera productions, the more I become a fan of concert performances.

Also very true!

 

[nina foresti]

#30. Most disappointing opera ending: Don Carlo

 

[DavidA]

#30. Most disappointing opera ending: Don Carlo

Great opera. Disappointing anticlimactic ending.

 

[Azol]

I believe you are aware there was an alternative ending: Carlo stabs himself, which makes more sense than traditional Finale. Actually, I even saw this alternative ending performed live in an opera house. And it does not disappoint (well, obviously, you want to enjoy a perfect bloody evening since you went to watch a Verdi opera!)

Coincidentally, we are voting (in the other thread) for the best recording of the second opera from Il Trittico, so I would say that Il Tabarro has disappointing ending since it does not resolve the main conflict between Michele and his wife.

 

[nina foresti]

Azol: For me, even the alternate ending of Don Carlo leaves a lot to be desired.
Turandot is another. It seems too cornball.

 

[nina foresti]

I believe you are aware there was an alternative ending: Carlo stabs himself, which makes more sense than traditional Finale. Actually, I even saw this alternative ending performed live in an opera house. And it does not disappoint (well, obviously, you want to enjoy a perfect bloody evening since you went to watch a Verdi opera!)

Coincidentally, we are voting (in the other thread) for the best recording of the second opera from Il Trittico, so I would say that Il Tabarro has disappointing ending since it does not resolve the main conflict between Michele and his wife.

I have always equated Il Tabarro with The Postman Always Rings Twice.
(what OTHER thread??)

 

[howlingfantods]

*sigh* right thread this time.

Turandot. It's really a disappointment that Puccini couldn't finish the opera--as it is, with the crappy ending that I inevitably skip when I'm listening to a recording, I still consider this his masterpiece.

 

[DavidA]

*sigh* right thread this time.

Turandot. It's really a disappointment that Puccini couldn't finish the opera--as it is, with the crappy ending that I inevitably skip when I'm listening to a recording, I still consider this his masterpiece.

That's of course what Toscanini did when he gave the premiere. Stopped when Puccini did.

 

[Sloe]

Aida locked up in a vault boring ending.
It could have had a happy ending or at least something more violent.

 

[Braddan]

Turandot. It's really a disappointment that Puccini couldn't finish the opera--as it is, with the crappy ending that I inevitably skip when I'm listening to a recording, I still consider this his masterpiece.

Some productions I've seen make me feel I'm watching a Disney movie at the end. I did see it in Barcelona a few years ago with Maria Guleghina. At the end she stepped away from the crowd and in the final seconds stabbed herself. An interesting alternative..

 

[Braddan]

The first time I saw listened to Don Carlo I was very disappointed with the ending. After all that high drama and great music I felt it was a little too deus ex machina for me.

 

[nina foresti]

Aida locked up in a vault boring ending.
It could have had a happy ending or at least something more violent.

"...or at least something more violent"

What could be more violent than being suffocated to death slowly? And it doesn't even require guns or knives. Just a plain ol' torture chamber. (pretty violent to me)

 

[Sloe]

"...or at least something more violent"

What could be more violent than being suffocated to death slowly? And it doesn't even require guns or knives. Just a plain ol' torture chamber. (pretty violent to me)

Something with knives/spears/swords/arrows.
I would say it is as violent as Manon Lescaut or La Traviata.

 

[howlingfantods]

Some productions I've seen make me feel I'm watching a Disney movie at the end. I did see it in Barcelona a few years ago with Maria Guleghina. At the end she stepped away from the crowd and in the final seconds stabbed herself. An interesting alternative..

It's not really the narrative that bothers me (although it's certainly underwritten and unconvincing), it's the bombastic and emotionally inconsistent music used for the last scene. Just awful stuff, even the reused existing musical material is made coarser and more banal in the finale, so the finale not only lacks invention but degrades the invention that had already been presented. Terrible.

 

[Braddan]

It's not really the narrative that bothers me (although it's certainly underwritten and unconvincing), it's the bombastic and emotionally inconsistent music used for the last scene. Just awful stuff, even the reused existing musical material is made coarser and more banal in the finale, so the finale not only lacks invention but degrades the invention that had already been presented. Terrible.

Yes I get you. I should have clarified that that I don't like what I am hearing as well as seeing. The overblown repetition of the early Act 3 music is like the rousing "showstopper" repeat at the end of a musical.

 

[Sloe]

The first time I saw listened to Don Carlo I was very disappointed with the ending. After all that high drama and great music I felt it was a little too deus ex machina for me.

It is just enough deus ex machina. It is my favourite ending of a Verdi opera.

 

[ma7730]

It is just enough deus ex machina. It is my favourite ending of a Verdi opera.

I wouldn't say it's my absolute favorite, but I have no complaints about it.

I agree about Turandot. And happy endings are so boring!