The Passion of Opera

Ah, Fidelio . Beethoven's one and only opera. Beethoven's frustration with the art form, expressed in letter form,  "I assure you, dear Treitschke, that this opera will win me a martyr's crown. You have by your co-operation saved what is best from the shipwreck. For all this I shall be eternally grateful to you," is fascinating given his status as one of the most renowned composers in history. I had always thought, prior to seeing this opera here for the first time in full, that the music was amazing (as can only be expected from Beethoven), but that the drama was static and not particularly moving throughout most of the work. I, at least in part, attribute this to the libretto , despite the fact that three different operas have been based on the same story. An interesting comparison here is the fact that, if we expect Beethoven to have successful operas to his name due to his status as an all-star composer, we expect Schubert to have them because of his stat...

I remember reading Fred Plotkin's book Opera 101  some time ago. The book listed ten operas that would theoretically take a viewer from an easy, very accessible opera that they would (hopefully) like no matter what ( Rigoletto  was his suggestion). The operas became increasingly less accessible until, at the end, were Wagner operas. Except these were not quite the end. The last of the ten was contained in a chapter called "Psychological Opera: Elektra ," or something along those lines. While Elektra is obviously a different Strauss opera than Salome , I found here the elements that might make this opera inaccesible to some, and definitely one to reserve for only the most prepared audience members. I admit this is my first time seeing Salome , but I must say that I was struck, I think particularly by this production, by how it is not just Salome , but essentially all the major characters, who are fraught with psychological problems. Synopsis & General Inform...

Ah, a starring part of the repertoire starring a star. Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata  has always been a beloved work. I will openly say that I personally, however, don't find it to have the most convincing plot. Though it is saved, to some extent, by the fact that Violetta knows she is doomed to die before she even meets Alfredo, it just does not seem particularly compelling to me that she dies from an inevitable sickness. Still, this production was able to bring, at least in its final moments, emotional impact even to someone such as myself. An element of this production divisive to the population as a whole, however, is Natalie Dessay. Dessay is portrayed often as being in vocal decline, and many might object that Violetta is too large for her voice (through experiences with DVDs, I was inclined to say the same). Nonetheless, she is one of the seminal performers of recent years. Tonight, though not without some small warbles, she really impressed me with her singing, but...

This production was, I'm fairly certain, the most thoroughly solid opera I have seen thus far at the Wiener Staatsoper. Everything seemed to fall into place, and the singers were able to craft truly engrossing interpretations of their roles. In general, I am not a fan of   Die Zauberflöte  because I find the plot to be jumpy, crazy, and with ill-joined disparately serious and comical sections. I find it hard to focus and hard to feel compelled by what occurs. This performance blended these different elements perfectly, and even as a critic of the work, I found myself swept up by both pageantry and mysticism. First, background and a synopsis of the wild plot:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Flute DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Adam Fischer |  Dirigent Marco Arturo Marelli |  Regie, Bühne und Licht Dagmar Niefind |  Kostüme   Günther Groissböck |  Sarastro Benjamin Bruns |  Tamino Julia No...