Ask Me Anything About Opera ?

[NedNickerson]

My favorite scene from A Night At The Opera:

 

[NedNickerson]

*Waits for Croynan*

He may be a while coming...

He's misplaced his ten-foot pole...

 

[JackFTwist]

much as I love rock and roll, opera is obviosuly far more influential and widespread

when rock and roll is around as long as opera, we can debate that

this thread had me with the comparison of Il Trovatore to Beckett... thank you for the erudite moment of the week! Also an apt comparison...


how are you on American operas? What is Carlyle Floyd's Susannah really about?

 

[Ryuukie]

Are there any gay operas?

 

[PreTTy PeTe]

Can you drink out of opera glasses?

pete can't drink out of anything

i say

 

[justsimon]

that ugly opera house on queen.........

why????

it be very ugly

This thing?

Whatever happened to elegant simplicity?

 

[calmhunk]

What makes you think opera will EVER be better and more far-reaching than rock 'n' roll?

Ummm Rock Operas: Tick, Tick, Boom; Rent; Spring Awakening
Pop Opera: Bare

 

[metta]

Which Jubber likes to frequently go to the Walt Disney Concert Hall to see opera?

 

[operafan]

Are there any gay operas?

Since this hasn't been answered yet, I'll jump in here. The only opera I can think of that is predominantly about a gay character is Harvey Milk composed by Stewart Wallace.

Leonard Berstein had a bi-sexual character in his opera, A Quiet Place, and before that Alban Berg had a lesbian character, Countess Geschwitz in Lulu.

Unfortunately, I can't stand modern opera, and even though I have all of these, I never listen to them.

 

[Shepherd 2]

Peto,
You can't start a thread like this and do a disappearing act.
People really want to have you share what you know and love about opera. Come back PETO.
Shep+

 

[Chris_Rogers]

Ask me about the greatest art form ever/OPERA/ and I will answer your query, queer guy........ any time.........

Don't be afraid......... ask what you want to know!

Nothing dorked about loving opera.

I WANT TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS!

I HAVE TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS

LET ME DO IT! YOU'LL LOVE IT!


They say opera's as good as the best damn orgasm!

What is the least-often-performed opera you have seen? Mine is La Vestale by Spontini, a composer much admired by Berlioz

 

[operafan]

What is the least-often-performed opera you have seen? Mine is La Vestale by Spontini, a composer much admired by Berlioz

Continuing on this thread, it would have to be the rarely done Ermione by Rossini. I would have loved to have seen the Spontini, however.

 

[greaves]

A crossword clue for you opera lovers:

One OTT pain gone Lulu. ( 4, 6 )

 

[star-warrior]

Obviously you don't know opera at all.
....
The women are heavy at times but there as many outstanding beauties.

Anna Netrebko made it on FORTUNES most dynamic people of 2006.

As in any walk of life one finds gorgeous and then some overweight, but in opera the tendancy is now to shed the weight for realistic purposes.

Deborah Voigt lost 150 pounds and Meesha close to 100 pounds.

I rest my case, your honour.

Next question:

Do you consider Vivaldi's cantate as early opera/operettas?

I'm particularly fond of the aria from RV 684, "Cessatte, Omai cessate" called, Ah Ch'infelice Sempre.

 

[star-warrior]

Peto, I started a new thread with the particular piece I mentioned above. I hope you find time to enjoy listening to it. Maybe you might make out some of the old italian regionolect....

here: http://www.justusboys.com/forum/showthread.php?t=180846

 

[Shepherd 2]

I love opera,
and thanks for a successful opera thread.
Sadly for me, I can no longer hear the singers,
but I have a wonderful set of memories.
I know I could never have hit even one high C without
a real warmup. I was a tenor, for I know not what
it sounds like now. I showed some school children a
video the other day called, "Beethover Lives Upstairs."
I forgot or did not anticipate my reaction to the
part where he had gone deaf. The kids did not understand.
I read lips well enough that they do not know most times.
Thanks Peto Antonio,
Shep+

 

[operafan]

Too bad you have no taste for contemporary opera because some of the most electric things such as the operas by Philip Glass and John Adams are recognized and performed word wide as masterpieces.

Yes - and I own them. I just don't enjoy them much.

I can't see how you could not enjoy a Lizzie Borden by Jack Beesson or the sublime BALLAD OF BABY DOE which made Beverly Sills a National Treasure. O.K. they go back a few years BUT

Since Sills was the person who got me interested in opera in the first place, I have this as well. I've seen it on stage and listened to Sills' recording, but I'm still not a fan.

in terms of the last ten years

The Ghosts of Versailles

Sorry, I saw it in Chicago. That evening was the longest week of my life. I really wanted to like it - I like the Figaro character, I liked the fact that the composer is gay, I liked the fact that a coloratura aria was written for Marilyn Horne - but, alas, ugh! I'm pretty much stuck at Turandot.

 

[Zeremonie]

I've been to the opera in San Francisco and in Seattle - which opera company do you like better and why?



Is there anything more perfect than Mozart's Zauberflote? Was it considered an opera when it was written? I've heard that there was great significance to writing it in German? Somehow, to me, it sounds to me almost like a popular opera - It feels 'accessible' to me. And I can't explain that very well.


Do you think that Kathleen Battle is still an amazing opera singer? Some of the you-tube comments I see about here people are complaining about her mannerisms and even facial expressions. How is that stuff important when the sound is so lovely?

 

[JackFTwist]

I have been lucky enough to Floyd's Susannah on three occasions. It has now firmly entered the standard opera repertoire.

It is very simple to tell you what it is all about.

It is a modern rendering of the biblical account of Susanna and the Elders. Check yopur BIBLE!

It takes place in the deep South in the heartland, I suppose, of born again Christians. What a whallop in this piece of operatic writing!

Check out Floyd's OF MICE and Men. You will be surprised.

close, mon ami, but not all the way there --


it is about McCarthy-ism in America in the 1950s, the hysteria of false accusations - and thus has its universal application

(and Susanna is apocrapha, not in the canon of most - but certainly worthy of being read)

I've only seen it twice, but once with Thomas Hampson as Olin Blitch, which made it the equivilant of seeing it 3 times

 

[JackFTwist]

here's something you might enjoy -

about 12years ago the New Yorker was commenting on upcoming performances at the Met and it included something close to this: "James Levine said he could conduct Wagner forever, and if his tempos get any slower, he will have achieved his goal."