Opera for Beginners (Part 3 of 3)

[cahn]

I talked about Opera for Beginners for my family reunion talk and used much of the advice I was given here, thank you! :)

-I brought speakers, because there isn't much use in giving an opera talk if you can't hear the music! The hilarious thing was that I was not the only one who had audio/audiovisual components to my presentation, but I was the only one who had brought speakers. I had been a little bitter about lugging them all around Montana, but less so when they turned out to be broadly useful :) What was more irritating was that after they worked fine when I tried them out in my office, they didn't work at all for a while when I was trying to give the talk. Finally my cousin's teenager, who was acting as unofficial tech support, suggested rebooting as a last resort, and of course that worked. Sigh.

-A couple of people mentioned talking about where one might go looking for opera. My biggest recommendations to a newbie are the following:
1.The Chandos Opera in English CDs, without which I would still hate opera today. I highly highly recommend all the Mozart ones, particularly the da Ponte operas (Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte), and the bel canto comedies (e.g., Barber of Seville, The Elixir of Love), and dis-recommend their Verdi except Don Carlos (for some reason Verdi tends to come out a bit muddled). Their French opera also seems to be very good, and I absolutely adore their Eugene Onegin (which stars Thomas Hampson and Kiri te Kanawa).

2. Met On Demand, which comes with a free 7-day trial. People who know a lot about opera rag on the Met for not being adventurous in its staging and concept, which, fair, but for a beginner, in my opinion, that's exactly what you want, and you can't do better than the Met for gorgeous staging and costumes, great singers, and great videography, which I didn't even know would affect me until I started watching a bunch of these... and... it does actually make a huge difference when watching video. (Watching live is, of course, different.)

-I showed several clips, one of which was a 3-minute clip of Kaufmann/Hampson/Salminen in the auto-da-fe scene from Don Carlo. (Alagna/Keenlyside/Furlanetto is still the whole version of Don Carlo I would recommend, but for auto-da-fe out of context I thought the former was better, not least because it didn't have a giant weeping Jesus in the background.) I explained beforehand the background about how Posa is Prince Carlo's best friend but also has the relationship where he has sworn fealty to King Philip. (I have uploaded the clip here (google drive video clip, ~3 minutes) -- mildredofmidgard, I know music/opera is Not Your Thing but this is the moment in Don Carlo I was talking about, check it out) and my big triumph, as far as I am concerned, is that when the clip ended my cousin cried out, "Oh, that's so sad!" MY WORK HERE IS DONE.

-My other great triumph was that E was curious about what I said about Don Giovanni. Being her, she could not care less about Don G himself -- she was perfectly content with a limited understanding that he was the Bad Guy -- but she was particularly interested in what I said about Don G coming to a sticky end, and asked about it the next day. Once I further explained that there was a singing statue and that in many productions Don G disappeared into flames with the statue at the end, both she and A really wanted to watch it, so that afternoon we all snuggled up on the couch and watched "Don Giovanni, a cenar teco" (this one with Rodney Gilfrey) and they still ask for "the statue opera" on occasion. (That's the only part they have watched or are interested in watching, or that I am interested in playing for them, until they're a lot older. Well, okay, "O statua gentilissima," but that's along the same lines.)

-Since you guys said it was fun for people to recognize music in opera, another short clip I showed was from Thais, because, well, I don't know if it's all Koreans or just my particular family, but all our extended relatives LOOOOOVE Meditation from Thais and all of us cousins who play violin (or piano, if that cousin happened to be near one of the cousins who played violin) have had to play that song approximately six million times, every time a third cousin twice removed came to visit. There was much groaning when the melody was revealed :)

-It turns out my aunt (uncle's wife) really likes opera!!!! We are already making plans to go to Salzburg or Italy sometime and watch opera :D (well, pipe dreams right now... I certainly wouldn't go until my kids are older)

(Part 1 was where I asked for help; Part 2 was an outtake of this post about emoting in opera)

Comments

[jenett]

Thank you so much for this series of posts.

(I am now contemplating the idea of building a list of operas I would like to watch, at least in video form, and what that order might be, and what should be on it, given that these days, there's a fairly wide range of stuff handy.)

I've sung a (cut down, in English) Magic Flute, which I love because it hits my id for musical ridiculousness in about eight places, I've sung Dido and Aeneas, which I also rather like (but has a lousy alto line, and we were desperate for altos, so mezzo-me had to sing alto.) And I know bits and pieces of a lot of others. And I've seen one really wonderful Italian opera in the 'performed in the town square in a hill town in Tuscany, with people sitting on the cathedral steps to listen' but can I remember what the opera was, no I cannot. (It was 20+ years ago.)

I'm actually tempted to start with Magic Flute as a proof of project, and then to go chronologically as much as I can find performances for, and see what I think of that.

[cahn]

Oh, Magic Flute IS MY FAVORITE. (I once got to sing the First Lady in the "Hm! Hm! Hm! Hm!" scene (in English translation) and loved it so so much.) My first Flute was the movie which is also good but a little odd, and I have an absolute fondness for this production, which was my second Flute -- it's an interesting and sometimes odd staging in the sense of being half fairy tale, half Enlightenment, but it's got Simon Keenlyside as Papageno and Dorothea Roschmann as Pamina and I loved how all the characters became awfully human. The Met also has a very fantastical-fairy-tale-esque production in English that I like, though not as much as the other ones here, but seekingferret likes it better, so it's clearly a matter of taste :) ) (...I should add youtube to my list above!)

[seekingferret]

I have a new opinion about this. The best Magic Flute is now "Scalia/Ginsburg". (But also The Met's Magic Flute is one of those performances you need to see live to appreciate, Taymor works at such an impressive scale.)

[cahn]

WAIT I knew about the existence of this from you but I thought it was a ~modern opera~ -- which I'm not opposed to in principle, I like modern music, but sometimes I feel like it's all trying so Hard and why can't we have more singspiels and, WELL. I just went and listened to "You are searching in vain for a bright line solution" OMG wow!

Yeah, I can totally see the Taymor working really well as a live production; I definitely have had my views changed on things like this, once I actually got to see it. One of these days I'll come visit you to go see an opera at the Met :P

[seekingferret]

"You are searching in vain for a bright line solution" IS SO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

[seekingferret]

I'm glad it went so well! The story about "the statue opera" is my favorite part.

[cahn]

Thanks, I am glad too! I can't believe that I never thought of showing that bit to my kids before, they love that kind of over-the-top-ness :D

[mildred_of_midgard]

Oof, you're right, that scene in Don Carlo was intense! The look on Carlo's face at the end when the guards/courtiers/whoever pour in between him and Posa and herd them off to their separate destinies is heartbreaking.

[cahn]

I knoooow right?? Carlo :((((( And Posa trying to telepathically get him to understand <3

[mildred_of_midgard]

Wait, I missed that! *rewatches*

Ohhh noooooeesss. :-((( Maaan. These tragic stories.

While we're keeping up the parallels, I maintain that Katte was also, at one point, trying to telepathically get Fritz to understand. (I hope he did. I think he did. IN MY HEADCANON HE DID.)

In summary, around the time he was being condemned to death, Katte started frantically toeing the royal line. He recanted his atheism, starting loudly praying and loudly singing hymns, and wrote a last farewell letter to Fritz in which he urged total submission to the King's will and reminded him that he had always done so and had tried to talk him out of the escape plan.

The key thing to know here is that Fritz and Katte were freethinkers (the former ended up being the most prominent royal freethinker in Europe), and Friedrich Wilhelm was suuuper pious. One of his major contentions with his son and heir was that Friedrich was not falling into line with the specific doctrine FW subscribed to. A lot of Fritz's "rehabilitation" in prison after the escape attempt was an attempt to indoctrinate him into the right religious beliefs.

Well, the moment I read what Katte was doing, I saw a man who was desperately trying to impress the King into giving him a last-minute reprieve, while trusting Fritz to understand (with hopes of being able to explain someday). At least one historian I've found agrees.

Since after Katte's execution, Fritz also went through the motions of doing whatever his father demanded and paying lip service to everything he was told to believe, while privately keeping up a campaign of increasingly successful passive resistance, and when he became king, proceeding to do whatever the heck he wanted, including publicly proclaiming his lack of religion, I maintain that Fritz understood exactly what Katte was up to and only wished it had been successful.

Supported by Friedrich's later words when he was establishing religious toleration: "One can compel by force some poor wretch to utter a certain form of words, yet he will deny to it his inner consent; thus the persecutor has gained nothing. But if one goes back to the origins of society, it is completely clear that the sovereign has no right to dictate the way in which the citizens will think." [emphasis mine]

I'm positive Friedrich had himself in mind, and hopefully his beloved Katte too.

Omg, my boys, now I'm furious all over again. And sad. :-( </3 (Thank you for letting me ramble about my fandom again. I hope it's interesting.)

[cahn]

ahahaha, I am happy to let you ramble on about your fandom not least because it affects mine :D (and also because I can also ramble on about mine, lol)

wowwwwwww yeah those words from Friedrich are quiiiiite telling, I agree with you!

And, ahhhh, another parallel! Carlos and Posa are both super freethinker progressive types (Posa even more than Carlos), and one of the big sources of conflict in the play (and opera) is that King Philip and his advisors are.. not a progressive type (also super Catholic; see also Spanish Inquisition and the part where Protestant rebellions in Flanders were dealt with super harshly). Although the parallel fails in the sense that a) Philip is kind of fascinated with Posa anyway, and b) Posa never recants, he just doubles down on presenting himself as the villain, heh.

Also also, go back to the bit where the King taps Posa with the sword as he makes him a duke: you can see this Posa tense up and wince at that point. (THOMAS HAMPSON. [the baritone who is playing Posa] HE IS SO GREAT. But I digress!)

[selenak]

*waves* cahn alerted me to your conversations.

re: Katte's protestations of Protestant faith in his last weeks, I would argue that while hoping for clemency from Friedrich Wilhelm might have been one big reason, another was his own family, specifically his own father, to whom hearing Katte died a good Protestant would be a comfort. And one can't exclude the possibility that Katte actually did fall back on the faith of his childhood as he came to realize he would, indeed, die. The descriptions of his death by eyewitnesses (including the most extensive one by Major von Schack) all mention he died praying "Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus". The relevant quote from Schack's report, which was written directly after the event (and thus can't be accused of too much hindsight or loss of memory):

Then, he gave his wig to my boy, who gave him a cap, had his vest removed and his neck bandage opened, tore his shirt off himself, free and easy, as if to prepare himself for a serious affair, walked and then knelt down in the sand, pushed the cap above his eyes and started to pray out loud: "Lord Jesus I live for you". Since he had told my boy earlier that he was supposed to blindfold him, but then decided to pull the cap down his eyes himself, the fellow, who was dreadfully upset, still wanted to blindfold him until von Katte waved him away with one head and shook his head. Then, he started to pray again: "Lord Jesus etc." which was not yet over when his head flew away, which my fellow picked up from the ground and put back at its place.

I cannot admire his présence d'ésprit enough. His steadfastness and courage, I will not forget to the end of my days, and I learned a lot by the way he prepared for his death, which I will not want to Forget ever."

The translation into English is my own. If you want to employ Google translate, Theodor Fontane's take on Katte, which originally was published as part of his "Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg" (a travel guide with historical anecdotes, and the extensive Katte sequence comes inevitably when Fontane arrives at Küstrin, where Katte died) is online, here. Fontane, who wrote in the late 19th century, quotes a lot of historical documents which were available by then, and wrote the first Katte-centric take on the tale ever (including full length quotations of various Katte-and-parent letters, as well as Friedrich Wilhelm's full length letter to the judges who'd wanted to spare Katte a death sentence etc.), for, as he said in his preamble, all the previous descriptions of the event had been Friedrich-centric for the obvious reasons, yet to him (Fontane), Katte was the hero of the story. Incidentally, the text I just linked isn't a complete excerpt from Fontane's take on the Katte tragedy but stops short of his remarkable conclusion, which is put online here and guaranteed to infuriate you because Fontane doesn't think it was just sadism or monarchical injustice on Friedrich Wilhelm's part (bear in mind here that Theodor Fontane was by no means an uncritical fan of Prussian monarchs in general or the Prussian System - his novels are sharply critical of both) and takes the King at his word when it comes to the way Friedrich Wilhelm's letter re: the death sentence ends, which is a message the King wanted to be given to Katte:

"When his death sentence is read to Katte by the army tribunal, he's to be told that his royal Majesty is sorry; but that it was better for him to die than for justice to leave the world."

(in the original 18th century German: »Wenn das Kriegs-Recht dem Katten die Sentence publiciret, so soll ihm gesagt werden, daß es Sr. Königlichen Majestät leid thäte; es wäre aber besser, daß er stürbe, als daß die Justiz aus der Welt käme.")

(Incidentally, no, I'm not with Fontane to the extent that I buy Friedrich Wilhelm wasn't motivated by vengefulness re: his son as well, but I do think that wanting Katte to be told that "his royal Majesty is sorry" goes against the idea of FW the gleeful sadist being all "die, boyfriend of my son! Die die die!")

[mildred_of_midgard]

This post has become "Opera for Beginners and Frederick the Great for Intermediate Students." :P

[cahn]

Well, now it's "Opera for Beginners and Frederick the Great for Advanced Students." :P

[mildred_of_midgard]

Lol, I was just thinking of saying that myself!

[mildred_of_midgard]

Frederick the Great for really, really obsessed students. :P

PS, I have a Fritz/Katte modern AU (okay, I have several) in my head, and earlier this evening, they were admiring Keenlyside, about whom I know nothing. So thanks for that, lol!

[cahn]

heeeee :D As you can tell I have a Thing about Keenlyside, although to be fair it's his musicality I fell in love with -- though in addition to that he is the most athletic performer I know of, he is just totally amazing.

[mildred_of_midgard]

Frederick the Great for people doing original research. :P

[alcanis_ivennil]

I wish I could get my family into opera... grandma gladly listens to my rants about it and she appreciates Pretty Singers (she knows who Jonas is ;)) and mom occasionally can be persuaded to come to the opera with me but isn't much into it, although she enjoyed Rigoletto, Zauberflöte, and Die Räuber (we saw that in the Wien Volksoper in German). On the other hand she didn't like Billy Budd because the subtext flew over her head and I didn't want to explain "mom this is a gay opera". Plus the music is not exactly something you can whistle XD

I wish I could go to the Munich Don Carlo next year but it's a bit far away... but Tézier. And Harteros. And Elina.

[cahn]

ahahaha... I wouldn't even think about getting my parents into opera, there's no way. It's hard enough getting them to listen to musicals! My mom is also way too practical; her reaction to Miss Saigon was, "What a waste of time to commit suicide. She should just get a JOB." I can imagine what she would have to say about Puccini and Verdi :) I'd looooove to be able to talk about opera with my sister but it's just really not her thing.

whaaaaaat, Tezier and Harteros and Elina?? Are they broadcasting it in any way??

Wiener Staatsoper is doing Don Carlo in September with Pape and Keenlyside and Harteros, the one picture makes it look like a terrible modern production but I am SO WATCHING the broadcast in Sept if at all humanly possible, I can't possibly pass up the chance to see Rene and Simon together. Are you close enough to Vienna to actually go?? (I see also Hampson is doing Germont in Sept. but you probably don't have the deep-seated need I do to see Hampson do Germont EVERY SINGLE TIME, it's a bit embarrassing to admit how many Germonts of his I've tracked down)

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know if the Munich one will be broadcast but hope... (also, Abdrazakov and Castronovo)


Vienna is like an hour driving so I can get there easily but the Don Carlo is Sartori aka NOPE, so... broadcast it is. I think they also have Zhidkova who is a great Eboli! She was in That infamous Carsen production and she looks like Miranda Otto. A lot.

Vienna Don Carlo is still the same vaguely 19th century cheap-ass minimalistic affair, I think. With Rodrigo dressed like Geralt of Rivia and Filippo having a uniform he probably stole from Gremin. It was filmed a few times before. Not even Furlanetto and Dima could save it.

[cahn]

Lol never heard of Sartori. Guess there's a reason why, haha? Looking forward to hearing Zhidkova!!

Ugh whyyyyyy. I'm pretty sure I've seen clips of that production. I mean if you can't afford to stage a big auto-da-fe, I get that, but at least give Philip a nice outfit, geez. Like the Vienna Simon Boccanegra was fairly minimalistic and okay had a couple of weird costume choices, but I still thought it came across nicely.

(Is Furlanetto/Dima on rutracker? because I'm still willing to watch for Furlanetto and Dima, lol.)

[mildred_of_midgard]

Okay, so it's officially been a month since you posted this, and I'm a shameless geek, so I wrote some code to do the word counting on our comments (on this and the related posts) to get me out of having to copy-paste all that, and here's the breakdown:

cahn: 6,069
selenak: 16,026
mildred_of_midgard: 26,121

Word counts are approximate and include some html that didn't get stripped by my code, but are close enough.

I'm having fun!

(I also calculated tonight that in the last 7 weeks, I've drafted 45,000 words of fanfic about Fritz and Katte. Mostly unreadable, spread across multiple AUs, never to see the light of day, but extremely fun.)

[cahn]

lol forever :D I am feeling inadequate, but then again as I know zero history my role here is mostly to encourage you guys to tell me ALL THE HISTORY :D

(also... did I delete one of your comments by mistake? I suddenly saw it disappear in my inbox -- the recent one about how Fritz Could Not Chill -- and I can't tell whether I did something inadvertently to make it go away or whether you did. If it was me I do have the text of it in my email and can make it reappear :) )

[mildred_of_midgard]

You should in no way feel inadequate! I am merely expressing my uttermost delight that you've allowed me to inflict my fandom on you! I get like this when I'm in a fandom.

Here, a case study in the end-notes to the first chapter of my mega-work in my last fandom: "This series is dedicated to my partner, who's not even in this fandom, but listened to me talk about my fic non-stop for three years and was a wonderful sounding board. She must really love me or something." I think she's grateful you're here to indulge me this time around!

Not to mention my delight at you for providing me with a fellow fan to geek out with, and luring me into the fringes of your fandom. :DD

I have no idea what happened in your inbox, but the comment itself is still visible to me in its original location?