OMG, how could any question that sparked this groundswell of heartfelt commentary and analysis be a mistake ;)
I think I am gonna have to postpone my own thoughts on the superiority or otherwise of the play until I have actually read it (and reading downstream, watched a subtitled staging of it), and I do see the view espoused that the German set-pieces and language are on a par with the lush sweep of the opera’s musical score? I am very keen to have read your detailed comparison, though — definitely a gift!
My preliminary thoughts: I am very fond of complexity and political machinations, and a politically savvy Elisabeth and morally ambiguous Eboli sound right up my alley — not to mention a smarter, more together, more Kingly Carlo! Heh, to say nothing of the dead-Emperor-ex-machina ;)
But I am not entirely sure the back-and-forth with the secret letters is as compelling as the magnificent auto-da-fe, and I don’t know if the complete villanization of Philip works for me, and I’m pretty sure the cold-manipulative-bastard Posa characterisation doesn’t? The play plot which requires Posa to keep selectively different secrets from everyone seems overly complicated (and impossible to keep track of in an opera?), and I definitely prefer your interpretation of the opera plot where Rodrigo keeps secret his Plan B to use the papers to sacrifice himself in the event that Plan A: Convince Philip Not To Execute Carlo doesn’t work (or just takes the papers away so they won’t be found on Carlo if Carlo does something stupid).
That said, the play seems to have a couple of other things that work for me: (1) explicit, if one-sided, Carlo feels (What could unseat my Posa from my heart, indeed! <3), and (2) even more explicit Philip feels, who becomes so unhinged from Posa’s betrayal that he;s determined to burn down his whole kingdom to spite him! +shivers+ Let’s see THAT Philip/Posa!!
I think that before I request (and before I offer) this thing for Yuletide, I’m gonna have to get much more familiar with the play, though thanks to you these days I have different versions of the opera on a loop in my house. What a hardship ;)
(Edited bc dreamwidth has been weirdly buggy for me all day)
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I think I am gonna have to postpone my own thoughts on the superiority or otherwise of the play until I have actually read it (and reading downstream, watched a subtitled staging of it), and I do see the view espoused that the German set-pieces and language are on a par with the lush sweep of the opera’s musical score? I am very keen to have read your detailed comparison, though — definitely a gift!
My preliminary thoughts: I am very fond of complexity and political machinations, and a politically savvy Elisabeth and morally ambiguous Eboli sound right up my alley — not to mention a smarter, more together, more Kingly Carlo! Heh, to say nothing of the dead-Emperor-ex-machina ;)
But I am not entirely sure the back-and-forth with the secret letters is as compelling as the magnificent auto-da-fe, and I don’t know if the complete villanization of Philip works for me, and I’m pretty sure the cold-manipulative-bastard Posa characterisation doesn’t? The play plot which requires Posa to keep selectively different secrets from everyone seems overly complicated (and impossible to keep track of in an opera?), and I definitely prefer your interpretation of the opera plot where Rodrigo keeps secret his Plan B to use the papers to sacrifice himself in the event that Plan A: Convince Philip Not To Execute Carlo doesn’t work (or just takes the papers away so they won’t be found on Carlo if Carlo does something stupid).
That said, the play seems to have a couple of other things that work for me: (1) explicit, if one-sided, Carlo feels (What could unseat my Posa from my heart, indeed! <3), and (2) even more explicit Philip feels, who becomes so unhinged from Posa’s betrayal that he;s determined to burn down his whole kingdom to spite him! +shivers+ Let’s see THAT Philip/Posa!!
I think that before I request (and before I offer) this thing for Yuletide, I’m gonna have to get much more familiar with the play, though thanks to you these days I have different versions of the opera on a loop in my house. What a hardship ;)
(Edited bc dreamwidth has been weirdly buggy for me all day)