LarsVenice
Space Cadet
I haven't been to the Met - it looks huge. I liked the intimacy and classical design of the San Francisco Opera House, but I also liked Jones Hall in Houston, which and movable ceiling that can adjust for various acoustics. I went on a tour of Jones Hall, and they showed how the hexagonal columns in the ceiling can move up and down to create different effects. It was very innovative for when it was built (1966). The good thing about SF is that you don't need opera glasses to see the stage. The one opera house I would most like to visit is the one in Sydney.
I have a particular interest in German opera, having German heritage. I studied German opera in university as part of my German degree. We were taught that Mozart had his operas in Italian because it was the style of the time, it's easier to rhyme, and it sounds prettier. But by the time of Wagner, sounding pretty was less of an issue for his operas, which I do appreciate very much. I also like "Tales of Hoffman" by Offenbach, but mainly because I like the writings of Hoffman, but being part French, I like Saint-Saens - "Samson et Dalila", both which I saw in SF.
We were taught in German class that the audience basically could not understand the libretto, and so it did not make that much difference what language it was in. My mother took me to see "Madame Butterfly" when I was eight, and I knew exactly what was going on, despite not knowing the language. She took me to a lot of operas because my father refused to go, even though my mother was a trained opera singer and had majored in music in college. I had a great aunt in Lubbock who had been an opera singer in New York, until she met my great uncle, who was president of a bank in Lubbock that he had started. When uncle died, Aunt Louise could not wait to get back to New York and left my cousins to fight over controlling interest in the bank.
At what age did you see your first opera?
I have a particular interest in German opera, having German heritage. I studied German opera in university as part of my German degree. We were taught that Mozart had his operas in Italian because it was the style of the time, it's easier to rhyme, and it sounds prettier. But by the time of Wagner, sounding pretty was less of an issue for his operas, which I do appreciate very much. I also like "Tales of Hoffman" by Offenbach, but mainly because I like the writings of Hoffman, but being part French, I like Saint-Saens - "Samson et Dalila", both which I saw in SF.
We were taught in German class that the audience basically could not understand the libretto, and so it did not make that much difference what language it was in. My mother took me to see "Madame Butterfly" when I was eight, and I knew exactly what was going on, despite not knowing the language. She took me to a lot of operas because my father refused to go, even though my mother was a trained opera singer and had majored in music in college. I had a great aunt in Lubbock who had been an opera singer in New York, until she met my great uncle, who was president of a bank in Lubbock that he had started. When uncle died, Aunt Louise could not wait to get back to New York and left my cousins to fight over controlling interest in the bank.
At what age did you see your first opera?
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Actually the answer is...
