Falstaff and Die Meistersinger are among the pinnacles if not the pinnacles of nineteenth century opera. Both operas are atypical of the composer and both operas are based on a Shakespeare play.
Month: November 2015
Le Nozze di Figaro, Manitoba Opera
To borrow from the great Bard himself: “the course of true love never did run smooth.”
Arizona Opera Presents Florencia in el Amazonas
Florencia in el Amazonas was the first Spanish-language opera to be commissioned by major United States opera houses.
Viva la Mamma!: A Fun Evening at POP
Gaetano Donizetti wrote a comedy or dramma giocoso called Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali (The Conventions and Inconveniences of the Theater), which is also known by the shorter title, Viva La Mamma!.
LA Opera Norma: A Feast for the Ears
Vincenzo Bellini composed Norma to a libretto that Felice Romani had fashioned after Alexandre Soumet’s French play, Norma, ossia L’infanticidio (Norma, or The Infanticide).
Alban Berg’s Wozzeck at Lyric Opera of Chicago
In order to mount a successful production of Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck, first performed in 1925, the dramatic intensity and lyrical beauty of the score must become the focal point for participants.
A Prize-Winning Rediscovery from 1840s Paris (and 1830s Egypt)
FÈlicien David’s intriguing Le dÈsert, for vocal and orchestral forces plus narrator, was widely performed in its own day, then disappeared from the performing repertory for nearly a century.
Florilegium at Wigmore Hall
During this exploration of music from the Austro-German Baroque, Florilegium
were joined by the baritone Roderick Williams in a programme of music which
placed the music and career of J.S. Bach in the context of three older
contemporaries: Franz Tunder (1614-67), Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1701) and
Heinrich Biber (1644-1704).
Leoncavallo’s Zaz‡ by Opera Rara
Charismatic charm, vivacious insouciance, fervent passion, dejected
self-pity, blazing anger and stoic selflessness: Zaz‡ — a chanteuse
raised from the backstreets to the bright lights — is a walking compendium of
emotions.
L’ospedale – an anonymous opera rediscovered
‘Stay away from doctors; they are bad for your health.’ This seems to be the central message of L’Ospedale – a one-hour opera by an unknown seventeenth-century composer, with a libretto by Antonio Abati which presents a satirical critique of the medical profession of the day and those who had the misfortune to need curative treatment for their physical and mental ills.