That does sound fun! I'm glad you enjoyed it and that you liked the opera. I've actually never seen it live or on video, only an excerpt or two, but I have a recording that I've listened to many times.
I can see that the time skip and the disguises/name changes would be confusing if they don't explain it! The librettos that I've read explain it somewhat in the character list. Amelia does kind of explain what happened with the kidnapping thing, but it goes by quickly and it's not easy to follow if you don't have a good libretto. The whole thing with how Simon lost young Amelia is kinda confusing too, and I'm honestly still not completely sure I have that sorted out.
(If you ever watch La Forza del Destino, I highly recommend reading the libretto beforehand to get all the false names straight. There are multiple main characters using multiple false names at different times, and I don't want to imagine trying to sort all that out on the fly. :D)
Thomas Hampson is great and I imagine he would make a great Boccanegra! (My CD recording has Piero Cappuccilli as Simon, Mirella Freni as Amelia, and Nicolai Ghiaurov as Fiesco, so no complaints there, but now I'm curious about other singers in those roles.) I like Simon and Fiesco, and I absolutely love the Council Chamber scene. And their first duet is amazing. (I just realized that the version of that duet I listen to most often is from the No Tenors Allowed CD with Hampson and Samuel Ramey, so I have heard Hampson singing (part of) the role.)
I admit I don't really like Adorno. His aria is all about how it would be better for Amelia to be Dead than Dishonored, which makes it hard for me to be sympathetic towards him (especially since he doesn't seem to be making a distinction between rape and her intentionally cheating on him). But he isn't a major figure in the plot, so I can enjoy the pretty singing and otherwise ignore him. :P
Does the poison really take an hour? That doesn't seem like it can be right. I don't know how they staged it, but in my libretto at least, Simon only drinks the poisoned water shortly before his confrontation with Fiesco. I think that would be more like 20 minutes before the end of the opera? So still slow, but not ridiculously slow.
Oh, and the scene in the last act when the torches are going out is chilling. I imagine it must be even better to watch it.
I don't always manage to comment, but I've been really enjoying reading your opera reactions!
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I can see that the time skip and the disguises/name changes would be confusing if they don't explain it! The librettos that I've read explain it somewhat in the character list. Amelia does kind of explain what happened with the kidnapping thing, but it goes by quickly and it's not easy to follow if you don't have a good libretto. The whole thing with how Simon lost young Amelia is kinda confusing too, and I'm honestly still not completely sure I have that sorted out.
(If you ever watch La Forza del Destino, I highly recommend reading the libretto beforehand to get all the false names straight. There are multiple main characters using multiple false names at different times, and I don't want to imagine trying to sort all that out on the fly. :D)
Thomas Hampson is great and I imagine he would make a great Boccanegra! (My CD recording has Piero Cappuccilli as Simon, Mirella Freni as Amelia, and Nicolai Ghiaurov as Fiesco, so no complaints there, but now I'm curious about other singers in those roles.) I like Simon and Fiesco, and I absolutely love the Council Chamber scene. And their first duet is amazing. (I just realized that the version of that duet I listen to most often is from the No Tenors Allowed CD with Hampson and Samuel Ramey, so I have heard Hampson singing (part of) the role.)
I admit I don't really like Adorno. His aria is all about how it would be better for Amelia to be Dead than Dishonored, which makes it hard for me to be sympathetic towards him (especially since he doesn't seem to be making a distinction between rape and her intentionally cheating on him). But he isn't a major figure in the plot, so I can enjoy the pretty singing and otherwise ignore him. :P
Does the poison really take an hour? That doesn't seem like it can be right. I don't know how they staged it, but in my libretto at least, Simon only drinks the poisoned water shortly before his confrontation with Fiesco. I think that would be more like 20 minutes before the end of the opera? So still slow, but not ridiculously slow.
Oh, and the scene in the last act when the torches are going out is chilling. I imagine it must be even better to watch it.
I don't always manage to comment, but I've been really enjoying reading your opera reactions!