Opera for beginners

[cahn]

My family's reunion, in a couple of weeks, involves powerpoint presentations, because we are total dweebs that way. I figured my PPT this time would be on opera, because, well. (My other thought was making it on teaching Sunday School, and I'm still thinking about it, but I think I'd have more trouble making it work and might need more time than I actually have to think about it properly. Doing opera requires much less hard thinking and a lot more pretty pictures.)

Questions for you:
-If you are NOT an opera fan: what would you like to know about opera? What would make you more likely to watch it?

-If you are not an opera fan, would you be willing to watch and/or listen to a couple of clips and tell me which one was most effective at holding your attention?

-Opera fans: I think I could show maybe one or two clips. What would be thirty-second-to-one-minute clips that would (a) be intriguing to a non-opera audience and (b) that I would have access to? (I have a somewhat embarrassingly large library of DVDs after this last year.) And (c) have English subtitles, which unfortunately takes out a large swath of Youtube videos. I'm thinking of the Met's English Magic Flute (but what part? "Hm!Hm!Hm!Hm!" maybe? Or the part where Papageno plays the bells?) and maybe the auto-da-fe scene from Don Carlo where Posa takes the sword (probably the version with Hampson and Kaufmann, they're such hams). I also wonder about a bit of Restate with Keenlyside and Furlanetto, but I think the auto-da-fe is more immediately accessible. Also I wonder about Onegin. Or maybe the scene where Figaro's parentage becomes known? I also might look for "trailer" clips.

-Same question for audio -- I'll be using my Opera in English CDs. I'm thinking maybe the Catalog aria from Don Giovanni (though it may be too salacious -- there are kids!) or something from Marriage of Figaro -- but what? I'd like an ensemble bit if possible. Maybe the quartet from Onegin?

-I thought I'd have a couple of one-sentence/one-phrase synopses that might convince people to go see opera:
Eugene Onegin: The jerk who totally blew you off when you were a geeky kid regrets it all when you grow up to be beautiful and glamorous
La Boheme: Broke artist friends hanging out together have a lot of fun (but also sometimes tragedy) - see also Rent
La Traviata: Your parent really doesn't like you dating the wonderful person you fell in love with! (yes, yes, I know, seekingferret)
Marriage of Figaro: Men are dumb and the aristocracy is dumb; male aristocrats who don't want to keep it in their pants are a lot of fun to outwit
Don Giovanni: The pitfalls of attempting to seduce every woman who comes your way as a life strategy
Don Carlo(s): ???? I do not know how to summarize this in one sentence, or even two. Being a prince whose dad hates him and also married his fiance can be tough! (That's not bad, except what about Posa????)

I feel like those six are probably the best for beginners. (And Magic Flute, of course.) Any other crowd-pleasers I should put in? (I still haven't seen Aida -- saving it as a treat after finishing Nirvana in Fire!)

(Hmm, maybe instead of a longer audio clip I'll just have very short audio clips for each of those.)

Comments

[iberiandoctor]

On Don Giovanni, I’ve always thought Là Ci Darem la Mano was instantly catchy and accessible. I think I linked you to the Hampson version, but here’s Keenlyside and Schafer: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xfti-KQoxXM The concert staging makes it less creepy, imo, and Keenlyside is a gallant delight <3 No subtitles, alas!

On crowd-pleasers, you can’t get more crowd-pleasing than La Donna e Mobile. Now on ST:Voyager! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pN0HwG8LTp0

And on Carlo(s), I’m seconding the auto-da-fe, and would probably go with something like: It’s tough to be a prince who’s in love with his dad’s new wife, and also with his best friend (whom he thinks only loves Flanders)?

[cahn]

Ah, what a great idea! AHHHHHHH that Keenlyside video! Besides Keenlyside himself being extremely delightful to watch (which he so is), I can't get over what a consummate ensemble player he is -- they are just so exactly together, it's amazing to listen to.

Also, when I watched it the Hampson came up next on auto-play so I had to watch that one again too :P OMG this will always be my favorite, although yeah, there is a bit of a creep vibe so I'm not sure I can show it to my family -- but Hampson is just so brilliant, so funny, so charming, so EVERYTHING, and those fourth-wall-breaking smiles just destroy me! Okay, okay, I'll stop now

(Also, can I say that I am utterly charmed by the fact that you are now reccing me Simon Keenlyside videos. My work here is done! :D )

...I have never watched Voyager! CLEARLY I SHOULD START. That was AMAZING.

LOL, I'm not sure I want to tackle Carlos' and Rodrigo's relationship in the middle of this presentation! Hmm. I will think about it :)

[mildred_of_midgard]

OH GOD. I still have the entire Voyager ad libbed version of La Donna e Mobile memorized, twenty years later, and it still gets stuck in my head sometimes. To be clear, I'm quite happy when it does.

Please be aware that that was the best Voyager episode ever to air. At least according to me. YMMV.

(And possibly according to everyone in my high school senior AP physics class, in that it was the one and only episode that season where we all spontaneously started talking about it in class the next day, and apparently we'd all been watching it while doing homework, and the teacher had been watching it while grading papers!)

(Resident tone-deaf follower of your blog has nothing else to say on the subject of opera, except have fun!)

[cahn]

That was also PRETTY CLEARLY the five minutes of Voyager most guaranteed to make me want to watch the thing :D

[mildred_of_midgard]

Do watch the whole episode, at least! It's pretty fun, although I'm not sure in retrospect how much you need to know the characters to get the most out of it.

[iberiandoctor]

Cahn: If the La Donna e Mobile doesn’t get you interested in Voyager, watch the EMH do our fave duet! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lyfay_AOlqw The actor, Robert Picardo, was quite the singer and fan, and a fair bit of opera made it into the series via his abilities, as I recall.

Mildred: I will admit to having You have just gone without/for seven years, about stuck in my head for days after watching that ep...

[cahn]

...I... am feeling more and more interested in watching this :P :)

Mildred: I will admit to having You have just gone without/for seven years, about stuck in my head for days after watching that ep...

Now I've got it stuck in my head! It's just so catchily metered just like the original...

[cahn]

omg, check this la ci darem out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJnJjpMdT3Y

I had vaguely been aware of Rodney Gilfry (he's the baritone on my Brahms Requiem recording) but clearly I need to check out more of his stuff!

[iberiandoctor]

aaa, what a perfectly sung (and HOT) Don, and what a sizzling La Ci Darem! Plus, it is subtitled (and also not overly creepy, for a staged version!). I think you might have your clip for your PowerPoint (still snickering, btw, over your family PowerPoints, which is so dweebily adorable i might have to steal it!).

And, you got me SO badly with Keenlyside! What a talent, as well as an extremely hot man! I’ve been inhaling his work, and am sad there’s no vid of his Billy Budd, although there is THIS (uh, nsfw warning): http://barihunks.blogspot.com/2008/11/simon-keenlyside-nude.html

(Barihunks is a hilarious site, and it is very fond of Rodney Gilfrey!)

I’m glad to have gotten you with brilliant, charming, fourth-wall-breaking Hampson, too! He is the best <3

[cahn]

Heh, we were not necessarily excited about the PowerPoints at first, but now we all kinda look forward to them!

OMG I have TOTALLY SEEN That Don G! Unfortunately this was one I borrowed from RL Opera Friend and not one I own, so I can't share! But it was super hot. The hilarious thing is that RL Opera Friend is 82 and also a lovely super sweet woman in the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints, so I was kind of hilariously horrified that she'd lent me this! (To be fair, she has a LOT of opera and had probably forgotten exactly how nsfw this particular video was. But I think also watching a lot of opera has made her a little, er, more blase about such things than perhaps others might be...)

Barihunks, what a hilarious site, hee! Thank you for sharing!

Keenlyside is SO GREAT, I love him SO MUCH. Take a look at these two scenes from a totally regie Don G, holy cow, I wish there was a whole video of this, I would totally buy it. Did Leporello actually kiss him at the end of that first bit?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCqXtuBPZeY

[iberiandoctor]

OMG what a delight that regie Don G is! There are more clips on youtube -- showing Keenlyside as a cigarette-smoking, Real Madrid F.C.-stanning Don, who has sex with Donna Anna in an old black Mercedes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJxjGCYLl70, it's glorious (and also sung really well!) <3

Hee, your story about being mildly horrified that your older RL opera friend had lent you this flagrantly nsfw version of Don G is hilarious. I might actually make a purchase myself, if it's sung as well as it's, er, acted...

[cahn]

EEEEEE thank you for linking that, I just had the best time watching that! (I usually get turned off hard by productions that suggest Donna Anna was asking for it, but they really go all in that production's concept, don't they! SPECTACULAR!) I wish SO HARD they had a full video of that, holy cow, Keenlyside and Ketelsen are amazing.

To be totally fair, the only really nsfw moment of that DVD is at the very very end after he goes down to hell (where that photo was taken) and RL opera friend may have just forgotten about that moment, he's wearing clothes the rest of the time! Though occasionally somewhat artfully, er, ragged clothes. (This seems to be a theme with Keenlyside's opera performances I've seen, actually. He's, um, got a nice enough body that I think directors Just Can't Resist showing it off.)

Let's see, things I remember about this DG. Keenlyside is kind of a psychopathic Don. Really well done, of course, but also really chilling. Ketelsen is hilarious! (Actually I found that regie Don G because I was looking for a particular clip of this one -- the scene where Leporello acts out the love song to Donna Elvira while Giovanni sings, which Ketelsen just hams up.) Joyce DiDonato is Donna Elvira and is really really good, she was probably my favorite of the women. Marina Poplavskaya (Elisabeth in that Met Don Carlo!) is Donna Anna and of course beautiful, although I think DiDonato carries the honors for this one. Ramon Vargas is Don Ottavio and his singing is of course fine (er, hes not quite as hot as, well, all four of the others, and Don Ottavio isn't that interesting, so I'm afraid I kind of ignored him a bit). So, yes, it's very well sung!

I'll say that the production was fine, but not to the level where I felt I had to buy it myself? But I also am generally not as in love with DG as I am with, well, Don Carlo or La Traviata :)

[iberiandoctor]

RL opera friend may have just forgotten about that moment, he's wearing clothes the rest of the time

I will say, that is not something I would have forgotten, myself ;) How I sympathise with the directors who have to resist directing him in non-artfully ragged clothes!

[cahn]

Hee! :D

You know, that ROH/Met production of Don Carlo didn't dress him in ragged clothes (although he also looks so good in period costume!!) -- there's this Vienna State Opera production he'll be in in the fall, I'm wondering which way they'll go ;)