Opera for beginners
Jun. 21st, 2019 05:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnMy 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.)
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.)
no subject
Date: 2019-06-22 06:43 pm (UTC)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 :)
no subject
Date: 2019-06-22 10:57 pm (UTC)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!)
no subject
Date: 2019-06-23 12:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-23 01:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-23 02:43 pm (UTC)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...
no subject
Date: 2019-06-25 02:26 am (UTC)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...