Opera Blog

Opera in the Hinterlands

2015-07-10T20:42:00.001-06:00

Big Kitty says, "Don't forget my morning tuna before you leave!" Over this past Fourth of July weekend my wife and I loaded up the Prius with a picnic lunch, barricaded our two cats inside the house -- they're allowed outdoors only during daylight hours, but not while we're out of town -- and headed off to I-76 and points east at the ungodly start time of 5:30 a.m. Our destination:

2010-01-17T16:44:00.003-07:00

Rossini’s Trip to NowhereMy wife's parents, enthusiastic world travelers and lifelong opera fans, found themselves in Milan in 1985 with some extra time on their hands. Anxious to see the famed La Scala Opera House, they bought tickets on the street (my father-in-law is the maven when it comes to that) for a Rossini opera they'd never seen. Performed in Italian minus Supertitles and with no

2009-03-24T20:12:00.002-06:00

Met Opera HD Broadcasts in Review—2008–09 Season The Metropolitan Opera’s third season of distributing live Saturday matinée broadcasts via satellite has proved to be its most successful so far, both from the number of theaters carrying the performances and the quantity of tickets sold. General Manager Peter Gelb’s vision to bring top-quality operatic productions to the masses has seen the

2008-03-14T10:44:00.002-06:00

Blogging vs. Writing The music magazine to which I contribute classical music and opera articles and reviews every month recently launched its newly revised Web site. It’s now possible to go online and read every story in our March 2008 issue. Archived stories from back issues will begin to appear over time, but at least it’s an opportunity—from this point

2007-11-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

Operablogger Marks Return After One-Year Hiatus Last November I grabbed my blog-toys and headed for home, metaphorically speaking. Personal and professional obstacles prevented me from devoting the sort of intellectual effort I felt this blog needed to remain a viable part of the opera commentary community, and so I quit cold turkey—even to the point of no longer reading the posts of my

2006-09-29T16:47:00.000-06:00

The Digital Divide and OperaOver the past several weeks the opera-blogging world has been abuzz with the announcement by newly appointed general manager Peter Gelb that New York’s Metropolitan Opera will increase its music distribution far beyond Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts, a staple of the airwaves since 1931. For most of those years these broadcasts were sponsored by Texaco, which

2006-09-27T16:35:00.000-06:00

Great Performances on PBS—Mozart’s 250thEarlier this week the U.S. not-for-profit television network PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) aired broadcast TV’s first classical music concert of the season. The series is called “Great Performances,” which shows up several times annually and features well known musicians doing what they do best—singing, dancing or playing an instrument. In between

2006-09-15T12:55:00.000-06:00

Database Diving RE: The MetOnce again, some research that I’ve been doing for an essay on one subject has led me astray—and directly into another. While perusing the Metropolitan Opera’s newly designed Web site, I stumbled across some fascinating data that has prompted me to shift gears—thus the basis of today’s blog. I’ll return to my original topic—technical observations on the newest form of

2006-08-23T11:01:00.000-06:00

Biblical OperasOperatic subjects fall into a few broad categories. These would include the following:Greek or Roman mythology—literally hundreds of different gods and goddesses from which to chooseHistorical royalty—kings and queens of England, Egypt, Persia, Spain, Scotland and Portugal, plus elsewhere throughout the world from ancient times to modernOther historical men and women—whether in

2006-07-31T12:49:00.000-06:00

“I Pagliacci” = Perfect Opera?I read quite a few books over the course of a year, almost none of them short stories. I know that it takes a special writer to craft a compelling story within a confined number of pages, and many authors enjoy wide acclaim along these lines. But if a story is one that I'm truly enjoying, I’d prefer to see it longer rather than shorter—which flies in the face of

2006-07-19T10:40:00.000-06:00

VisitorsAs a quick intermezzo before posting my promised essay on “I Pagliacci,” I thought I’d share some of my thoughts regarding blog visitors. Some weeks ago I added SiteMeter to this page, hoping to find out if anyone was reading this stuff. Much to my surprise I’m actually getting a fair amount of traffic, although most of it appears to be of the, “Oh, crap, that’s not what I’m looking for”

2006-06-30T16:20:00.000-06:00

Owning the 19th-Century Opera Supply ChainBecause of a recent DVD acquisition I’d made a few weeks ago, it was my intention to discuss the opera “I Pagliacci” in my next essay. But while doing some research I ran across interesting material on a peripheral issue, so I decided to set this subject aside for a few days.Anyone familiar with current business practices knows the inventory concept of “

2006-06-27T15:08:00.000-06:00

Doctor, Composer & Critic All in OneThere’s a line from “Annie Hall,” one of Woody Allen’s most popular movies, which goes something like this: “Those who can’t do—teach; those who can’t teach—teach gym.” The same might be said about music critics, altered a bit to read, “…those who can’t compose, criticize those who do.”Scratch a music critic, certainly one who’s being paid to write critically—

2006-06-02T07:59:00.000-06:00

A Tale of Three Orientalists—Opera Composers Darwish, Hosni & LavryFour or five years ago I devoured an entire series of books by A.T. Olmstead, former professor of Oriental studies at the University of Chicago. Prior to his death in 1945 he published some very scholarly tomes—“History of Assyria,” “History of Babylonia” and “History of the Persian Empire” among them. His archaeological efforts

2006-06-01T08:43:00.000-06:00

It’s Hard Out There for an Opera SingerTwo events this past holiday weekend (as a note to my non-U.S. readers, it was Memorial Day last Monday) here in the Denver area provided an interesting contrast between amateur and professional participants.For runners it was the Bolder Boulder, an annual 10K road race that attracts more than 40,000 participants to the home of the University of Colorado, 30

2006-05-25T15:39:00.000-06:00

The Language(s) of OperaLooking at opera strictly from a linguistic perspective, the world’s classics generally fall into three major categories: Italian, French and German. Some works in the standard repertoire have been composed to English libretti—predominantly 20th-century pieces by Britten, Barber, Menotti, et.al.—plus a smattering in other languages, such as Czech (Dvořak) and Russian (

2006-05-09T15:57:00.000-06:00

Donizetti’s Lesser Known Operas—An OverviewDepending upon which source you care to believe, Gaetano Donizetti composed between 65 and 70 operas. One reason for this confusion involves the revision of existing operas versus the creation of new ones. For example, the “Don Gregorio” that he wrote for Teatro Nuovo (Naples) in June 1826, is generally considered to be a revision of “L’Ajo

2006-04-25T16:56:00.000-06:00

Remembering Sholom SecundaIn honor of April 25, known among Jews as Yom Ha-Shoah and throughout the Western world as Holocaust Remembrance Day, I shall depart from my usual operatic commentary with an essay in memory of composer Sholom Secunda, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in the late 1960s upon the occasion of the world premiere of his cantata, “Yizkor.”Sholom Secunda (1894–1974) emigrated

2006-04-21T13:25:00.000-06:00

A Prince among Opera Composers—Michele CarafaBack on January 15, somewhere around here on this blog, an article by my colleague Stephen Agus—president of the Meyerbeer Fan Club— motivated me to begin discussing the works of forgotten 19th century Italian opera composers. My analysis unearthed 88 composers worthy of further examination, so I started the laborious research process with a brief

2006-04-11T10:28:00.000-06:00

Rethinking Catalani’s “La Wally”In an earlier post on this site I made the offhand remark that the soprano aria, “Ebben? ne andrò lontano,” was the only worthwhile bit from an otherwise rightfully forgotten opera. This song is quite famous, performed often by sopranos in recital and a big hit from a foreign film (“Diva”) that enjoys a cult-like following, while also providing the movie’s major

2006-04-10T13:31:00.000-06:00

New Reader?Many thanks to Charles Ralph for the kindly blurb at the end of this week's "Opera Pronto" newsletter. If you're a new reader of this blog, please note that comments may be left by first clicking on the time stamp at the conclusion of each post, and then clicking on the "Post a Comment" highlight.Charles generously calls me insightful, although having tried for the past five-plus

2006-03-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

Remember That Name—Jordan ShanahanBack in the early 1990s, Heathcliff Slocumb was a young, highly touted relief pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. But other than his colorful moniker and a couple of seasons of minimally modest results, his three seasons with the Cubs was utterly forgettable. In fact, the only reason we even recall his name today was because, every time Slocumb was spotted getting

2006-03-06T16:53:00.000-07:00

The Force of Musical ObsessionA few months ago I posted a column here regarding the Yahoo! classical music chat room I visit with some regularity—regrettably not as often these days now that I have a day job. One of the perks we enjoy is playing music for the other visitors in the room. While there are no set play lists—and the variety of classical pieces one hears is impressive—Saturday nights

2006-03-02T16:50:00.000-07:00

Reviewing “Norma”A little more than a year ago, Opera Colorado GM Peter Russell revealed that the 2005-2006 season would include Bellini’s Druidic masterpiece, a first hereabouts. There were several compelling reasons that brought “Norma” to the Queen City of the Plains. First, the new opera house (then under construction) presented the sort of venue that made sharing productions with other

2006-02-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

“Norma”—Part OneOne of the selling points of the city-wide bond issue that was sold to Denver voters a few years ago, was the argument that a world-class opera house would attract world-class productions. Add to that the hiring of Peter Russell—formerly an upper-level functionary with the Met in New York City—as general manager of Opera Colorado. A new venue and new blood in the front office was