Opera

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Obama! The Opera!

A friend emailed me this today. Some internet sleuthing tracked the original source to this forum. L’Obama, ossia L’Avvento del Messia Opera in Tre Atti Personaggi: Barracco Obama, Il Messia, Redentore del Mondo……………………….Tenore Miracoloso Santa Micaela della Revoluzione, sua sposa……………………………………..Soprano Amaro Giovanni Maccheno, Senatore, Avversario dello Obama…………………………Basso Buffo Sara Palino, Governatrice del Alaska e Reginetta di Bellezza…………..Coloratura Buffa Guglielmo Priapo, Ex-Presidente………………………………………………..Tenore Mentitore Hillaria, sua Sposa, altra Avversaria dello Obama………………………Soprano Ambizioso Elena Tomasso, una strega……………………………………………………..Contralto Venenoso Giuseppe Bideno, “Piedimbocca”………………………………………………….Tenore Buffo Il Spirito di Giorgio Secondo, L‘Abominazione……………………………Baritono Cattivo Il Spirito di Ruscio Limbago, Bocca Grande……………………………………..Basso Noioso Jeremia Ritto, un uomo pazzo, pastore dello Obama……………………..Basso Demagogico Guglielmo Ayers, terroristo Americano, amico dello Obama……………..Tenore

Monday

Alex Massie

Carmen May Seriously Damage Your Health…

Anthony Holden in The Observer: Carmen is back at Covent Garden for the first time since last summer’s Orwellian smoking ban and I’m delighted to report that the Royal Opera has taken not the slightest notice. If there’s any opera in which onstage smoking should be mandatory, this is it. Cigarette girls and soldiers alike all puff their heads off during the first act, to the point where the fumes drift gratifyingly into mid-stalls. And, even better, there are none of those ludicrous health-and-safety signs out front, as, for instance, at the Old Vic, to warn us of the perils of entering a smoke-stained auditorium. Of course in plucky Scotland

Monday

Alex Massie

Is Don Giovanni really the greatest?

Just received an email from Washington National Opera touting their new production of Don Giovanni in which they claim that it’s “widely regarded as the greatest opera ever composed”. Is this true? I suppose it could be, but as with novels it had never occurred to me that there was a clear or obvious “Number 1 Opera”. Still, parlour-game time: if you had to nominate an opera for “Greatest Ever” status, what would you select and, secondly, what opera would you choose to see if it was understood that this would be the last opera you’d ever see? UPDATE: Meanwhile, the Lyric Opera of Chicago calls La Boheme “the world’s

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Public Service Announcement

If you haven’t been tempted to use Amazon.com’s new MP3 download service may I point out that Clemens Krauss’s 1953 Ring Cycle is currently available for $13.98. That’s $13.98 for the entire cycle. That’s insane and almost enough to make me think we live in a pretty dandy world.

Thursday

Alex Massie

Luciano Pavarotti, 1935-2007

Opera Chic has all you need to know about Luciano Pavarotti’s death, including a collection of terrific YouTube clips. If only the Washington National Opera’s forthcoming Boheme could feature a voice such as this… But, of course, the point is that it can’t.