The music makes a lot more sense now that I've seen the opera, rather than just hearing it Anyway, now that I've seen it once, I am looking forward to reading "the liner notes" if that's what they're still called , learning more about it, and then watching it again. The music is really quite exquisite and name another opera with a glass harmonica in it, if you can!
I also purchased a guidebook to the opera which made this watching a lot more enjoyable. While watching and listening, I was shuffling back and forth in the guidebook with the text, the musical analysis and the synopsis. Now, I'm a fan. A wonderful contemporary opera! Doctor Atomic by John Adams: One opera I've always liked and purchased, on Blu-Ray, but of course! John Adams' Doctor Atomic. I'm not just an opera fan, I'm also a big physics enthusiast, and as such, I was obviously open to an opera about an atomic bomb featuring a cast of characters including physicists such as Oppenheimer, Fermi and more!
I'm also a fan of John Adams. I read and very much enjoyed his autobiography a few years ago. This opera is, for me, a wonderful example of an "operatic intersection" for lack of a better expresion This must happen to all opera fans who've seen more than a few operas. I can start this game of intersection with James Maddalena. The production, in Boston, was controversial because it was directed by Peter Sellars, and was staged as if it took place in Trump Tower in modern day New York city.
I usually prefer seeing operas in their original settings and their original times, but I must admit that I surely loved this performance. This was back in Wow, how time flies. At the time, I lived up in Manchester, NH. And, the Currier Art Gallery also in Manchester , for whom I was a volunteer computer person at the time, sponsored a most marvelous trip to the opera in Boston. We'd meet up with a chartered bus in the parking lot at the Art Gallery in Manchester, and be driven to Boston to the opera in the middle of winter! We were given box lunches to eat on the way down to Boston, and even treated to a short lecture about the opera during the ride.
We were dropped off directly in front of the theatre, left our coats in the bus, enjoyed the opera, and got to meet the cast afterwards. What a night to remember. And, in one of the instances where you end up making your own luck, I happened to meet the woman who would end up recruiting me to ultimately become a member of the Board, and the founding Webmaster for the Opera League of NH. Back to Doctor Atomic. In addition to my James Maddalena connection whom you probably cannot see these days without thinking of his portrayal of Nixon in Adams' Nixon in China , there's also a Jay Hunter Morris connection and an Eric Owens connection.
I first learned of Jay Hunter Morris when he came in at virtually the last minute to play Siegfried in the MET's latest Ring production, when the original tenor had to back out. I saw the Wagner's Dream movie which was all about the making of the MET's Wagner Ring cycle , loved it, ended up buying the whole Ring set, and thought Jay Hunter Morris was just wonderful, talented, and lucky as hell too! Eric Owens played an astoundingly great Alberich, the dwarf who tries to steal the gold from the Rhinemaidens.
I hope one day Mr Owens find his way to this site and reads this, because he couldn't not love what I'm about to say though he's probably heard it before. When the singers take a bow in the Live in HD theater, they're taking a bow in what appears to be a movie, not in real life like in the MET itself, even if it is in real-time. In some productions, people will feel very free to just leave when the "movie" the opera is over, where they wouldn't if they were in the opera house itself. Anyway, when Das Rheingold, the first opera in the Wagner Ring cycle, ended in the theater, no one left early.
And all the stars Wotan, Fricka, Fasold, Fafner, etc got a fair share of applause from within the theater, but when Eric Owens as Alberich came out to take a bow, the theater went nuts. To all of us and I assume in the MET itself too! Great singing, great makeup, great costumes, great growling grimaces, etc. It's really fun to think about all those operatic intersections that happen so often. And, so I hope I can be forgiven for at least momentarily thinking that Siegfried and Alberich somehow got transported to the set of Doctor Atomic!
Jay Hunter Morris and Moby Dick: How cool is that. Jay Hunter Morris plays Captain Ahab, and does indeed appear obsessed and menacing every time you see him. I first learned of this opera, as it was broadcast on my local PBS channel I very much enjoyed it After seeing the opera, I was initially re-energized to actually read the book, but I compromised with myself and decided I'd listen to the book in my car instead.
If you'd like to give it a try, you can download MP3's of Moby Dick here. I'm about half way through the book as I write this. I loved the beginning of the book that detailed how Ishmael the narrator of the book met up with Queequeg a harpooner , and was sorry that so much of that wasn't in the opera. Of course, considering the length of the book, this was no surprise. I'm now learning more about whales than I ever really wanted to know, but I am continuing with my pledge to finish the book while driving!
And, I'm delighted all the technical info on whales which is part of the book is NOT part of the opera! I'm also now convinced that Ishmael, or maybe Melville himself, was a zoologist, biologist or botanist! I was hoping to make it there in person, but I missed my opportunity Sometimes you get in a Wagner, Verdi, Puccini and Mozart mode, and you forget there are other great operas too.
This is one of them. A Lucky Trip to a Consignment Store: I've mentioned above how opera enthusiasts might just find some "operatic gold" at library sales, used book stores and more. I actually found a couple of interesting opera-related books in a local consignment store I knew immediately when I saw the first book that Rienzi was the name of an early Wagner opera, but I had never heard of Bulwer Lytton before. I did a little searching and lo and behold, this was indeed the book upon which Wagner based Rienzi. It's a very old book in superb, protected condition with a dedication dated and a second printing in I've no idea what it's worth, and I know I'll never read it, but for two bucks, it was worth every penny.
Make me an offer! The second book was also a nice find. It's a children's book of Siegfried from Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung. There are four books in the series, one for each opera in The Ring. But, I only found the Siegfried one It's Copyright by the Metropolitan Opera Guild.
I think the next time I watch Siegfried the opera I'll be watching it with Siegfried the children's book in hand. Opera-related Magazines real paper! Ahhh, real paper magazines. They're going out of style, but I still prefer them.
Opera Quick Link Page - theranchhands.com
It's even amazingly enough affordable and I do subscribe to it. The next, Opera Magazine , is a magazine I would love to subscribe to, but the cost is rather off-putting. It hurts NOT to have it, as it is so well respected, but I might splurge one day. And, elsewhere on this page I describe how you can read the digital iPad version of it on an as desired basis. BBC Music is another great classical music related magazine with a lot of opera coverage too. This is one I don't subscribe to, but occasionally purchase at the newsstand.
Listen Magazine is a very affordable magazine and I've subscribed for the last few years, and enjoy it very much. I can judge magazines by how many pages articles I earmark for future reading, and this magazine is always chock full of bent over page corners. Try THAT with an ebook! Opera on Apple's iTunes Radio: This new service is free and easy, I tried it, and it works like a charm. In 2 seconds, you'll be listening to opera. You do get occasional ads making it by default very similar to many other "free" internet radio stations , but it's very nicely done.
It's well integrated with the rest of iTunes, it shows you the history of the songs arias you've heard and more. It's not perfect, and it might repeat itself after a while, and the repertoire isn't exactly vast, but I still like it. It's surely worth a look if you enjoy opera. I also created Contemporary Classical stations, and more. One day, just for fun, I was searching around Apple's App Store on my iPad, and I put in a search term of "opera" just to see what came up, and I had a very nice surprise. There's actually many opera-related apps available.
Turns out that many opera houses around the world have apps, that are automatically updated as are most apps. Many of the apps are simple one or two page listings of the current schedules, but other apps are much more substantial, multi-page and magazine-like with nicely informative articles about opera. You can also try searching the App Store for various opera personalities A little searching pays off with lots of free operatic info. Of course, if you just search for "opera" or "wagner" you'll also find non-free apps.
But, all the ones I've mentioned in this section are indeed free. Opera-Related Magazines on Apple iPad: Apple's iPad and presumably other tablets too includes an app called Newsstand. This is the app where you can subscribe to that is, purchase various magazines and newspapers But, without paying a dime, what I really have is just an entry point into each magazine.
What's nice well, relatively nice about this is that, in most cases, you can easily see the first few pages of each issue. You'll see the cover, maybe a few ad pages, maybe a page from the editor about the issue, and then a Table of Contents of that issue So, it gives you a chance to see what you would get IF you decided to purchase that issue. And, you can usually purchase a single issue or a yearly subscription. To tell you the truth, I very much prefer real paper magazines than digital ones.
The same with ebooks I wish I were more modern, but I still prefer paper books. Anyway, if you have the time and an iPad , look for some opera-related magazines. You might be in for a pleasant surprise. Opera-Related Podcasts on Apple iPad: In the Apple App Store, you can also search for "opera" in the Podcasts category. I won't list all the podcasts that I've found, but one I'm happy to list is the: San Diego Opera Podcast. This podcast video is given by Nicolas Riveles, who is a very personable and obviously very knowledgeable opera guy.
He will often talk of current or future operas at San Diego Opera, but you surely don't have to be visiting San Diego to get a lot out of his talks. As you'll see, all of his talks of them as I write this! I've found some streaming services that offer opera and often other classical-type concerts, documentaries, etc. Fortunately, you can try each of them for free, but unfortunately, after any free trial runs out, you do have to pay up to keep things running. At the moment, I subscribe to none of them, but would love all of them! What can I say, that's the truth.
Most of these services, naturally, assume you're a pretty techie person, and have access to iPads, and WiFi, and can set things up accordingly. It's not very hard, and worth any effort to try it. Some services to note are: But, some are just loaded with dozens of options you can try. And, happily, included in the cost of the Blu-Ray player was a Day free subscription to the Berliner Philharmoniker streaming service.
So, I gave it a good workout. I loved it while I had it, lots of great choices, beautiful HD sound and video. The bad news is that both the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Medici. For the moment, all of these services are on my wish list, and may one day be realized. Wagner's Ring taken as one work, even though composed as four separate operas is surely one of my favorite operatic works.
I wouldn't say Ring-itus is exactly a sickness, but sometimes when I'm wearing Wagner-colored glasses , I do see the world as The Ring and everything else! The scale of the work itself, the decades that it took Wagner to research and write it, as well as the man hours of planning and creativity just required to mount any production of it always boggles my mind.
A new Ring production is always the talk of the town. I'm lucky enough to own three different Ring productions, all on Blu-Ray. There's so many aspects of this Ring that I love. For one, I was lucky enough to watch in person at The Met Live In HD in Concord, NH the film called Wagner's Dream, which documents the making of The Ring, and especially the vast, incredible machine made of two dozen huge rotatable planks known as "la machine" that was part of every opera in the Ring.
A real nice feeling. Wagner's Dream The Making of the Ring , and the four operas themselves that comprise the Ring itself. Many trusted opera buddies, though, often recommend The Barenboim Ring as the one to have if you could just have one! I did end up buying it, but I haven't watched it yet. I must admit, though, that I did play the first few minutes, just to catch how this Ring handled the beginning of Das Rheingold.
I don't even want to spoil it for you, but it was very laserly green, let's say, a very interesting effect. I just love to see so much creativity in the production of operas. This is one reason why opera is such a superb art form, there's so much to it, so much more than just the words and music. As I write this, this will be the next Ring cycle that I watch. I'm looking forward to it. I bought another Ring set, known as The Valencia Ring. This is a very interesting Ring The production involved having the Gods in costumes, sometimes with a kind of miner's light or flashlight that would be pointing to their faces, all while being driven around the set in vehicles pushed by visible stage hands that just might have been the same vehicles designed to hold those painting the sets.
It was clever, but a little off-putting too. To tell you the truth, I would NOT recommend you get this complete set, as I did, but instead why not buy the much cheaper Highlights-Only disc. Books on Wagner The Ring and more: Wagner was such a controversial man, it should be no surprise that there's a huge number of books about Wagner, the man and his music. I'll list here many books that are special to me in one way or another. Most I still own, many I've read, and many are on my endlessly growing soon to be read list! The One Wagner Book: My desire on this page was to present some of my RECENT operatic discoveries or purchases, but, as the saying goes, I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention a few other Wagner books in my library that were purchased long ago.
Though somewhat dated, it is, to me, still pretty much the bible of Wagner books that I always end up coming back to. I recommend it highly. If you are, or know, a Wagner fan, this book just screams out as a perfect gift. It's an easy book, too, it's not a hard philosophically dense book. Not only that, and for me maybe best of all, the book is filled with old photos, pictures, diagrams, figures on just about every page. When you page throught this book, the pictures are so important as they so meaningfully add to the feeling of the times of Wagner.
Many of the other books on this page are able to be purchased relatively inexpensively if you don't mind second-hand books from 3rd parties. This one might be tougher to find at a deal, but as a splurge, it's well worth it. I was enjoying a few days off and found myself in Great Barrington, MA with family and friends. So, there, right on Main Street, on the way to dinner, I came across a wonderful little second hand book store called Yellow House Books Main Street.
How I wish I could have spent more time there, but I only had a few minutes before they were closing. They had a wonderful section of music and opera books. I could have spent hours there. I wanted to support their store, so I had to quickly find a book, and "Finding an Ending" is what I found. I haven't even started it yet, but it looks great. It takes on the Ring from the perspective of two current philosophers. Now, when I look at this book, I always think of my visit to Great Barrington. If you're a book fan not just an opera fan , you'll know what I mean. I just finished and very much enjoyed this book: I have become a big fan of M.
Owen Lee, and will list more of his books in another section of M. This book is actually a retelling of three lectures he gave about Wagner. You can read more about the book by clicking the link to Amazon, but for now, how can you not like words like this: It is the story of a soul writ large, the most astonishing mining of myth since Aeschylus.
The first book shown here is called Wagner Moments It's a very quick easy, fun read, and it's exactly what it says. There's over very short chapters or even just single pages where various people composers, conductors, singers, writers, etc. This is NOT a light and easy book, at least not for me.
This gets heavily into the philosophy of Wagner, how Wagner came to be what he was, whom he associated with, the figures and times that molded his philosophy. I'm only about a quarter of the way through the book, but not giving up on it. More Wagner Ring-related Books: Here are three very popular Ring books I purchased quite a while ago. A real favorite of mine is the M. No Ring library should be without it. If you're an opera fan, you've no doubt heard of Father M.
I've become a big fan of his of late. His books on Wagner see elsewhere on this page are legend. But, listed here are four books NOT specifically about Wagner. If you remember the old Met radio broadcasts, you probably already know Father Lee. At the moment, for fun, I'm trying to watch or listen to every opera he discusses in order! Hey, why not, it's as good as any other method of renewing an interest in many operas.
The next book on my list of M. He mostly intended this book to be a sequel both to his First Intermissions book and to his book on Wagner's Ring called Turning the Sky Around. And, if you need a really handy guide to operas, how could you go wrong with his The Operagoer's Guide - One Hundred Stories and Commentaries. And, while I was in my M. I've not yet started it, but I've added it to my ever growing to be read list! And, do remember that most of these books are available second-hand from 3rd Party sellers on Amazon.
Your mileage may vary!
Opera Today
More Special Opera Books: These books are all special to me in one way or another, and so even though I haven't finished them all or some even started , I can't help listing them. This is a widely regarded excellent book by an excellent author. I'm delighted that Schubert is included and can't wait to get into it. I've been a big fan of Bernstein for years and years, and I can't wait to dig into this book too. Michael Rose's The Birth of an Opera I must admit I purchased on a whim it's not the first such book, and surely won't be the last. This book details the creation of 15 masterpieces from Poppea to Wozzeck.
I read an interview with Philip Gossett where he discussed the book and I learned so much about Italian opera just from that one interview.
I actually knew before purchasing the book that the content would be way over my head, but I bought it anyway. One of my other interests is physics, and many of the books I love to buy in that category are also over my head, for instance, any book by Stephen Hawking. But, I consider these books "10 Percenters" I'll take the chance.
The last book, Bravo! As I write this, I just finished the book, and I loved it. It's NOT a very difficult book, in fact, it's a very easy-reading, conversational, approachable book about opera It's a really excellent introduction to opera. And, I found it for a buck at a library sale too. If you are already a dedicated opera fan, you might not learn all that much from this book, but if you're relatively new to opera, I can't think of a better book with which to start.
The Opera Gala Dec 5, The Opera Gala , though a very recent purchase, is actually a few years old, and it is a tremendously enjoyable concert. If you're not already a fan of Anna Netrebko, you sure will be after seeing this concert. There's even one aria where she was actually quite hysterical funny when she was getting very friendly with the first violinist! You have to see it to believe it. This is just a very enjoyable evening of opera, with many great and famous arias. Die Fledermaus Dec 5, If you've not already seen it, it's a fun piece through and through, played for laughs, with lots of confused identities and disguises which is very typical of so many operas.
Even if you haven't seen this operetta, I'll bet you've heard many of the themes and melodies. Verdi's Macbeth Dec 7, Verdi's Macbeth is an opera I've always loved, but haven't watched in a really long time. Sadly, it's almost unwatchable. Notoriously described as the land without music, even the revival of the native tradition of composers did not include a strong vein of opera.
Heldentenor Jay Hunter Morris tells us about the lean times when the phone did not ring, as well as those thrilling moments when companies entrusted him with the most important roles in opera. Those of us of a certain age have fond memories of James Melton, who entertained our parents starting in the s and the rest of us in the s and beyond on recordings, the radio, and films. An important new book on Italo Montemezzi sheds light on his opera Nave.
Assumptions about later Italian opera are dominated by Puccini, but Alfredo Catalani, born in the same town and almost at the same time, was highly regarded by their contemporaries. Two new books on Catalani could change our perceptions. I was feeling cowed by Herr Engels. The four of us had retired from the Stravinsky performance to a Billy Wilder-themed bar in Berlin, the least horrible late-night option in the high end mediocrity of Potsdamer Platz.
This substantial book is one of the latest in the Ashgate series of collected essays in opera studies and draws together articles from a disparate group of scholarly journals and collected volumes, some recent, some now difficult to locate. The noted operatic impresario and stage director, Lotfi Mansouri, with the professional help of writer Donald Arthur, has issued his memoirs under the title Lotfi Mansouri: Readers may recognize the author of this book, David J. It has to be good. For all the currency of a few Bizet, Massenet and Gounod chestnuts, and the occasional appearance of a well-polished rarity such as Pelleas et Melisande , French opera in general is something of a hidden treasure.
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But then, the repertory wandered off into a mix of international opera most of it with little relevance to the history of French opera. Splendor is what the period of mids through the first part of the 20th C. Giroud, a distinguished librarian and music scholar, assures us there are many more waiting to be heard.
So, the French are like anyone else, and maybe more so, in that genius, or at least quality, is often not recognized at home.