Opera for Beginners (part 2 of 3)

[cahn]

This was part of my writeup on my family reunion opera talk, and it threatened to take over so I'm splitting it into its own post.

melannen and I had an interesting discussion about emoting by opera singers, and the perception that opera singers don't emote, and after thinking about this for a long time I have come to the conclusion that good opera singers emote quite a lot, but --

(a) not-very-good opera singers are crap at emoting because they are all too worried about getting the notes out with proper technique (this was totally me back when I was taking singing lessons)
(b) arias can often become more about beautiful singing than about specifically emoting, which is one of the reasons I dislike arias (although mostly I just like solos less than chamber/small-group work in general; this is a constant over all types of music, classical or not, vocal or not)
(c) in more modern operas, especially, there can be this tendency to sing in a very portentous (in my opinion: BORING) way
(d) it is often quite hard for me, at least, to understand someone emoting if they're doing so in a foreign language.

That is to say, if I were to try to convince people like myself, or like melannen, to like opera, I would do so by playing them a non-aria interactive scene from an Opera in English CD, ideally Mozart.

Such as the following... here's a sample trio (link to mp3). In this trio from Marriage of Figaro, the Count, who is very jealous and possessive of his wife (despite himself wanting to get it on with the Countess' maid Susanna), had accused the Countess of getting it on with a boy she was hiding in her closet. However, when he was about to force the closet, there was no man in there but just Susanna. But it's actually more complicated than that -- Cherubino (the boy in question) actually WAS there with the Countess and Susanna but jumped out the window -- it was (mostly) innocent but looked guilty as heck since the Count is already suspicious of Cherubino -- so until Susanna came out and revealed she was by herself, the Countess totally thought she was going to be in a LOT of trouble. (This is so complicated, I know! I blame Beaumarchais!)

This is immediately following a previous scene: the Countess' lines begin with "I cannot believe it!" Susanna's lines begin with "He jumped..." The Count's lines begin with "I don't understand it!"

(If this convinces anyone they would like to listen to the entire thing, it is available on Spotify -- search for Marriage of Figaro English. (Or of course it is available from various sources online, if you are like me and actually like buying your own media.) For those like me who have problems with parsing English, the translated-libretto is available here (click on the "Media" tab and then "Booklet"). Note that sticklers for translation (hi zdenka!) may be appalled by the translation, which is heavy on reproducing rhyme and usually meter and much much less interested in reproducing the exact sense of the Italian. Personally I love it :D Although it does mean that I listen to Marriage of Figaro far less than I do to the copious other Opera in English that I own-or-hang-out-with-on-Spotify, as it's the one opera where I know the Italian much better than the English and it confuses me.)

(One may ask, why not Verdi, who is just one BIG BALL of emotion?? For some reason, the Verdi Opera in English, with the possible exception of Don Carlos, is just not very good and I still don't quite understand why when the Mozart is SO good. I think the strong emoting is perhaps better done in Italian? BUT in Part 3 there will be a (video) excerpt from Verdi. :D )

Comments

[mildred_of_midgard]

[Sorry, I know this is off topic, but I couldn't help myself. When I get into a fandom, I have a one-track mind. :D Besides, this deserves to be more well known.]

I think the strong emoting is perhaps better done in Italian?

Little-known fact: if you, an Italian, tell Frederick the Great that Italians are better at strong emotions than Northern Europeans, he will write a pornographic erotic poem, called "The Orgasm", depicting your latest orgasm, in order to make you take back what you said. This poem will turn up in the Berlin archives in 2011, prompting scholars to wonder if maybe Frederick was present at and responsible for said orgasm.

(It will also lead to one of the most bizarre "no homo" arguments I've seen, but such are the perils of historical scholarship.)

[nineveh_uk]

I have to admit that I love that recording and that translation (my father and I are known to quote bits, not least the Count's "I don't understand it"). It's such fun. I have a recording of a live radio broadcast on tape, and the audience is having a whale of a time.

My go-to example of emoting/acting through singing is Philip Langridge as Captain Vere, particular the epilogue of this recording Yeah right, you're totally telling the truth to yourself that you are just fine and have accepted everything now...