Don Carlo(s) (more Verdi)
Apr. 26th, 2018 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnWHERE HAS THIS OPERA BEEN MY WHOLE LIFE AND WHY DIDN'T ANYONE MAKE ME WATCH IT BEFORE NOW. Well, actually, it's probably good no one did until I figured out my feelings about opera as a whole, so it could be as devastatingly awesome for me as it is. This basically matches up perfectly to my id:
-LOTS of duets that are not love duets (and also love duets, which is fine, but non-love-duets are my jam)
-LOTS of scenes with more than two people singing together
-LOTS of scenes where the chorus is interacting with the leads, Verdi is the best for that, isn't he
-...okay I guess it doesn't actually pass Bechdel, but at least we get a women duet (and it would pass Bechdel if the Countess got a singing line)
-A really great (and in fact extremely-non-villain, in this case) baritone role!
-Friendship and loyalty and self-sacrifice (seriously, Rodrigo is THE BEST)
-Friends who trust each other with their lives even when things look suspicious, and they're RIGHT to do so (...I might have read ahead in the libretto because I was so worried about betrayal, which I could not handle being surprised by)
-Lots of singing about BEING BFFs FOREVER
-Politics and relationships side-by-side and influencing each other
-Characters prizing HONOR and DUTY over romantic love
-Really great characters whose religion makes them more awesome, in conjunction with really awful characters who use religion to make themselves more awful
-A villain who has some humanity and understandable motivations (after all those pixels sacrificed to arguing Giorgio Germont isn't exactly a villain, I will admit that Philip, though with dimension to his character, is a total villain; I guess I draw the line at actually handing over your son and wife to the Inquisition)
Things that don't match up to my id:
-It super bothers me that Rodrigo's sacrifice -- and Elisabetta's! Let us not forget amazingly awesome Elisabetta! -- was completely useless. I NEED FIX-IT FOR THIS, it doesn't have to be fix-it where Carlos lives (or... doesn't have whatever exactly happens to him at the end happens) though that would obviously be great too, but it does have to be fix-it where Flanders turns out OK!
I listened to the Opera in English version (based on the 4-act French version, I think), which is quite good (not world-class, but did very much get across how amazing this opera is) and the Levine recording , and I watched the Met On Demand 2010 version, which. OH. WOW. This was seven kinds of excellent. Keenlyside as Rodrigo, Alagna as Don Carlo, Poplavskaya as Elisabetta, Furlanetto as Philip. I don't think I had ever heard Furlanetto sing before (that was when I went and grabbed the Levine recording on Spotify because it has him) and he was possibly my favorite of the cast; he was menacing and overbearing and vulnerable by turns. His scene with Keenlyside was just totally riveting and emotionally draining. Alagna's hair seems to not be quite so fluffy any more (I know, real people are concerned with voices, I'm just concerned about fluffy hair), and I've always thought that he has a bit of a puppy-dog vibe, which works really well as Carlo, actually. Poplavskaya was really really wonderful, both vocally and acting-wise. I like her voice a lot and am thinking I will have to look her up now. And she really sold the claustrophobia of the queen's position -- and her last aria was amazing. Alagna and Poplavskaya together were mesmerizing, and this is from someone who doesn't really usually like love duets. (Though it probably helps that these duets are of the "We cannot possibly be together because of HONOR!" type.) Keenlyside was of course wonderful; I'm always charmed and amazed by how he manages to run around on stage and still be able to sing. The only thing is that he would sometimes silently mutter to himself, and I felt like if I understood what he was saying it would add even more awesomeness to his portrayal, but of course I can't lipread Italian (I mean, I can't lipread English, for that matter). The only one I didn't adore was Anna Smirnova as Eboli -- it's one of those voices where I can't hear the actual pitch because of the wobble, which I don't like, and which in particular didn't work well in the trios and such. Oh, and the Grand Inquisitor, who was also very wobbly.
But anyway I also think it is funny that EVERYONE in this opera agrees with me that Rodrigo is the best; every single character in the opera, including Philip, seems to be in love with him -- well, I guess Elisabetta and Eboli are a bit busy being in love with Carlo -- but even the Grand Inquisitor seems... overly obsessed with him and his awesomeness. I'm just saying.
One of the greatest things about Rodrigo is that he never once gets fed up with having to get Carlo out of scrapes. Seriously, it seemed like every time I turned around, Carlo was getting himself into trouble and Rodrigo was figuring out some way to get him out. My favorite is when Carlo is in the process of admitting to Eboli that he's in love with Elisabetta (part of Carlo's problem is that he can't lie to save his life... literally) and, like, he says two words and suddenly Rodrigo is there and is all "He's raving, don't believe anything he says!" <3 Poor Rodrigo. Oh, and when he's not busy keeping Carlo out of trouble he has to look after Philip behaving like a spoiled brat. I feel like he needs an aria that goes something like, "Am I the only adult here?!"
(Though Rodrigo's tragic flaw is that he apparently doesn't realize Carlo won't keep getting himself into trouble once he's gone. Sigh.)
Keenlyside, hilariously to me, definitely plays up the slashy aspect at the beginning. When Alagna's singing about how he has a love, and it's sinful, Keenlyside is all acting like "Ohhhh? TELL ME MORE while I snuggle up to you..." and when Alagna reveals it's the Queen, Keenlyside looks not just shocked but also disappointed. I had kind of weird thoughts about the slashiness of it, where at the beginning I thought it was great (though tempered by my usual wish to see more real friendships and fewer romantic relationships) and then when Rodrigo died (spoiler: he is a baritone) I was less interested, because for some reason it sort of weirded me out in a "kill the gays" kind of way. (Boy, his pre-death aria in this production is also slashy, though, with Keenlyside caressing Alagna's hair in a way that really does not strike me as platonic.) I think I still ship it on Carlo's side, though -- if Carlo carries a torch for Rodrigo, I'm up for that.
...I really feel like Barrayar must have some version of Don Carlo. Actually, probably all their operas are variants on Don Carlo.
-LOTS of duets that are not love duets (and also love duets, which is fine, but non-love-duets are my jam)
-LOTS of scenes with more than two people singing together
-LOTS of scenes where the chorus is interacting with the leads, Verdi is the best for that, isn't he
-...okay I guess it doesn't actually pass Bechdel, but at least we get a women duet (and it would pass Bechdel if the Countess got a singing line)
-A really great (and in fact extremely-non-villain, in this case) baritone role!
-Friendship and loyalty and self-sacrifice (seriously, Rodrigo is THE BEST)
-Friends who trust each other with their lives even when things look suspicious, and they're RIGHT to do so (...I might have read ahead in the libretto because I was so worried about betrayal, which I could not handle being surprised by)
-Lots of singing about BEING BFFs FOREVER
-Politics and relationships side-by-side and influencing each other
-Characters prizing HONOR and DUTY over romantic love
-Really great characters whose religion makes them more awesome, in conjunction with really awful characters who use religion to make themselves more awful
-A villain who has some humanity and understandable motivations (after all those pixels sacrificed to arguing Giorgio Germont isn't exactly a villain, I will admit that Philip, though with dimension to his character, is a total villain; I guess I draw the line at actually handing over your son and wife to the Inquisition)
Things that don't match up to my id:
-It super bothers me that Rodrigo's sacrifice -- and Elisabetta's! Let us not forget amazingly awesome Elisabetta! -- was completely useless. I NEED FIX-IT FOR THIS, it doesn't have to be fix-it where Carlos lives (or... doesn't have whatever exactly happens to him at the end happens) though that would obviously be great too, but it does have to be fix-it where Flanders turns out OK!
I listened to the Opera in English version (based on the 4-act French version, I think), which is quite good (not world-class, but did very much get across how amazing this opera is) and the Levine recording , and I watched the Met On Demand 2010 version, which. OH. WOW. This was seven kinds of excellent. Keenlyside as Rodrigo, Alagna as Don Carlo, Poplavskaya as Elisabetta, Furlanetto as Philip. I don't think I had ever heard Furlanetto sing before (that was when I went and grabbed the Levine recording on Spotify because it has him) and he was possibly my favorite of the cast; he was menacing and overbearing and vulnerable by turns. His scene with Keenlyside was just totally riveting and emotionally draining. Alagna's hair seems to not be quite so fluffy any more (I know, real people are concerned with voices, I'm just concerned about fluffy hair), and I've always thought that he has a bit of a puppy-dog vibe, which works really well as Carlo, actually. Poplavskaya was really really wonderful, both vocally and acting-wise. I like her voice a lot and am thinking I will have to look her up now. And she really sold the claustrophobia of the queen's position -- and her last aria was amazing. Alagna and Poplavskaya together were mesmerizing, and this is from someone who doesn't really usually like love duets. (Though it probably helps that these duets are of the "We cannot possibly be together because of HONOR!" type.) Keenlyside was of course wonderful; I'm always charmed and amazed by how he manages to run around on stage and still be able to sing. The only thing is that he would sometimes silently mutter to himself, and I felt like if I understood what he was saying it would add even more awesomeness to his portrayal, but of course I can't lipread Italian (I mean, I can't lipread English, for that matter). The only one I didn't adore was Anna Smirnova as Eboli -- it's one of those voices where I can't hear the actual pitch because of the wobble, which I don't like, and which in particular didn't work well in the trios and such. Oh, and the Grand Inquisitor, who was also very wobbly.
But anyway I also think it is funny that EVERYONE in this opera agrees with me that Rodrigo is the best; every single character in the opera, including Philip, seems to be in love with him -- well, I guess Elisabetta and Eboli are a bit busy being in love with Carlo -- but even the Grand Inquisitor seems... overly obsessed with him and his awesomeness. I'm just saying.
One of the greatest things about Rodrigo is that he never once gets fed up with having to get Carlo out of scrapes. Seriously, it seemed like every time I turned around, Carlo was getting himself into trouble and Rodrigo was figuring out some way to get him out. My favorite is when Carlo is in the process of admitting to Eboli that he's in love with Elisabetta (part of Carlo's problem is that he can't lie to save his life... literally) and, like, he says two words and suddenly Rodrigo is there and is all "He's raving, don't believe anything he says!" <3 Poor Rodrigo. Oh, and when he's not busy keeping Carlo out of trouble he has to look after Philip behaving like a spoiled brat. I feel like he needs an aria that goes something like, "Am I the only adult here?!"
(Though Rodrigo's tragic flaw is that he apparently doesn't realize Carlo won't keep getting himself into trouble once he's gone. Sigh.)
Keenlyside, hilariously to me, definitely plays up the slashy aspect at the beginning. When Alagna's singing about how he has a love, and it's sinful, Keenlyside is all acting like "Ohhhh? TELL ME MORE while I snuggle up to you..." and when Alagna reveals it's the Queen, Keenlyside looks not just shocked but also disappointed. I had kind of weird thoughts about the slashiness of it, where at the beginning I thought it was great (though tempered by my usual wish to see more real friendships and fewer romantic relationships) and then when Rodrigo died (spoiler: he is a baritone) I was less interested, because for some reason it sort of weirded me out in a "kill the gays" kind of way. (Boy, his pre-death aria in this production is also slashy, though, with Keenlyside caressing Alagna's hair in a way that really does not strike me as platonic.) I think I still ship it on Carlo's side, though -- if Carlo carries a torch for Rodrigo, I'm up for that.
...I really feel like Barrayar must have some version of Don Carlo. Actually, probably all their operas are variants on Don Carlo.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-18 04:12 pm (UTC)