I’ve always wondered whether Massenet’s Werther actually works as an opera at all. It’s a fundamentally uneven work from a dramatic viewpoint which just happens to have one of the most glorious musical scores of any nineteenth-century opera. How I wish Massenet had written something like Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony; alas, what we have is a reasonably short opera that can seem unbearably long – and with a tenor role which is almost invariably miscast.
Bampton Classical Opera: Bride & Gloom at St John’s Smith Square
Last week the Office of National Statistics published figures showing that in the UK the number of women getting married has fallen below 50%.
A new recording of Henze’s Das Flofl der Medusa
Henze’s Das Flofl der Medusa is in some ways a work with a troubled and turbulent history. It is defined by the time in which it was written – 1968 – a period of student protest throughout central Europe. Its first performance was abandoned because the Hamburg chorus refused to perform under the Red Flag which had been placed on stage; and Henze himself decided he wouldn’t conduct it at all after police stormed the concert hall to remove protesters, among them the librettist Ernst Schnabel.
La traviata at the Palais Garnier
The clatter of information was overwhelmed by soaring bel canto, Verdi’s domestic tragedy destroyed by director Simon Stone, resurrected by conductor Michele Mariotti, a tour de force for South African soprano Pretty Yende.
San Jose Pops the Cork With Fledermaus
Opera San Jose vivaciously kicked off its 2019–2020 season with a heady version of Strauss’ immortal Die Fledermaus that had all the effervescence of vintage champagne.
Tempestuous Francesca da Rimini opens Concertgebouw Saturday matinee series
Two Russian love letters to the tragic thirteenth century noblewoman Francesca da Rimini inaugurated the Saturday matinee series at the Concertgebouw.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Die Tote Stadt
Die Tote Stadt, an opera in three acts.
Music composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957). Libretto by Paul Schott (Julius and E. W. Korngold) after the novel Bruges la morte by Georges Rodenbach.
Immortal Beloved: Beethoven Festival at Wigmore Hall
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Stars of Lyric Opera at Millennium Park 2019
Lyric Opera of Chicago presented this year’s annual concert, Stars of Lyric Opera at Millennium Park. The evening’s program featured a range of selections from works to be presented in the 2019–2020 season along with arias and scenes from other notable and representative operas.
Prom 74: Uplifting Beethoven from Andrew Manze and the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover
Ceremony, drama and passion: this Beethoven Night by the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover under their Chief Conductor Andrew Manze had all three and served them up with vigour and a compelling freshness, giving Prommers at this eve-of-Last-Night concert an exciting and uplifting evening.