Censorship. Repression. Scorn. Brutality. Humor. Absurdity. Hysteria. Russia’s relationship with self-expression has been a fraught one throughout its tumultuous history. Full of danger and hardship, with no guarantee that your vision will be seen, respected, or even tolerated unless it is confined to authorized narratives, music has always been that one art form whose voice is hard to control and {…}
November at the Metropolitan Opera will showcase three new operas productions. Audiences will see “Don Carlo” starring tenor Russell Thomas, “Rigoletto,” and the world premiere production of “The Hours” starring Renee Fleming and Joyce DiDonato. In the third article of the series, we will look at two of those operas and their corresponding silver screen adaptations. The Hours Modern operas {…}
The now well-known story of a celibate, chaste monk (Athanaël) trying to convert a licentious courtesan and worshiper of the Goddess of Love (Thaïs), has decorated operatic stages and captivated audiences since its premiere on 1894 at the Opéra Garnier (National Opera House) in Paris, France. With a harrowing story originally written by the French writer Anatole France in 1890, {…}
As the Metropolitan Opera enters October, three new productions will open and as we pointed out in the first article of this series, entering into opera out of the blue can be a daunting task. Some works are more well-known than others but even for those that have never been to the opera, those classics don’t have the same meaning {…}
Entering into opera out of the blue can be a daunting task. It’s not always easy to know what’s the first thing to watch. And moreover, what might be easiest to take in first might not be readily available. Take the Met Opera’s new 2022-23 season which opens this week (tomorrow as of this writing) and features three operas that {…}
Shot by Italian director Dario Argento in 1987, and praised for its creative gore and dramatic use of tension, the giallo (Italian mystery thriller) film “Opera” recounts the bloody escapades of a masked killer as he stalks an operatic soprano during a production of Verdi’s Macbeth at an opera house. Shot on-scene, and with fourth-wall defying actors and singers playing {…}
Despite Arnold Schoenberg’s (1874-1951) widespread popularity as one of the most important ‘fathers of serialism’ and the person almost solely responsible for ushering in the age of dodecaphony (12-tone technique), his four operas are largely unknown. Despite this, it was Schoenberg’s fourth opera, “Moses und Aron,” which would transform opera forever. No longer constricted by the indulgent attitudes of Italian {…}
In January 1989, the Polish film director Andrzej Żuławski released his film “Boris Godunov,” a film that cost seven million dollars to create. It featured a live production of the monster opera conducted by the eminent Soviet cellist and conductor, Mstislav Rostropovich. The film would re-conceptualize the opera in a mise en abyme (self-reflection) style, layering the operatic performance inside {…}
What would you do, say, and believe for love, and most importantly, what would you ignore for the sake of love? Such standardized questions seem to permeate the fabric of the operatic world from time immemorial to the present, and the well is not showing signs of running dry anytime soon. But we must ask a second and more important {…}
We all know Disney’s rendition of “The Little Mermaid,” and are familiar with its transformation of Hans Christian Anderson’s oft-disturbing 1837 fairy tale into a heartwarming, family-friendly story of love and adventure. The original narrative is far more Wagnerian than Mozartian in dramatic tenor, due to Anderson’s synthesis of intense pathos with virtuous rebirth. In the Disney version, Ariel—who is {…}
“Opera Meets Film” is a feature dedicated to exploring the way that opera has been employed in cinema. We will select a section or a film in its entirety, highlighting the impact that utilizing the operatic form or sections from an opera can alter our perception of a film that we are viewing. This week’s installment features a look at {…}