When you think of friends in opera, who do you think of?

Perhaps your mind goes to the happiness shared between sisters in “Cosi Fan Tutte.” Or, more seriously, you think of the squabbles inherent in Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus.” Whatever it may be, you don’t have to look far to find more than meets the eye when it comes to the friends you make along the way.

Like lovers, opera friendships are often challenged in huge ways. To celebrate National Friends Day this year, let’s explore five of opera’s most enduring friendships to learn what it really means to be faithful, friendly, and dedicated to someone. From Wagner, to Puccini and Mozart we learn how friendships are never one thing but often many things all at once!

Tamino and Papageno

In one of opera’s greatest and most well-known works, this Masonic-laden opera is about overcoming obstacles and the realization of one’s true potential through the power of grit and love. Its premiere was at the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in 1791 and continues to be one of opera’s all time favorites. Of course, I’m talking about W. A. Mozart’s last opera, “The Magic Flute.” It is a goldmine of double entendres, musical landscaping and inventive usages of an instrumental pallet, including the glockenspiel’s iconic tinselly solo.

But, all these elements aside, I will focus on the characters of Tamino and Papageno. Tamino is the adamant leader tasked with saving Pamina, daughter of “Astrifiammante” (Queen of the Night). Papageno is the excitable bird catcher who develops into a self-assured husband by the end. These two are linked from the opera’s very beginning and represent divergent ends of the human experience. For example, in one character there is a fearful and hesitant side. Whereas in the other character, there is a strong and courageous side. The opera shows how both sides are never antithetical to each other. They routinely cross when they need to, often during pivotal times in our lives. Each side goes on their own separate journey towards the fulfillment of their potential and become victorious in the end. 

Rodolpho and Marcello

This opera’s story is about the hardships faced by four friends and two love interests-turned-confidants. Giacomo Puccini’s immortal tragedy “La Boheme“ is a testament to the power of friendships and sacrifices. Puccini’s tale is based on Henri Murger’s 1851 short story collection “Scenes of Bohemian Life.” Rodolpho, a struggling poet, and Marcello, a painter, become deep friends through their mutual bonding over their complicated lovers, Mimi (whose real name is Lucia), and Musetta. At the beginning of Act three, we see Mimi and Marcello talk about Rodolpho’s anger with her. His jealousy then becomes his shame, as he is unable to help Mimi with her terminal case of tuberculosis.

In the end, the fated couple decide to stay together, thanks to the tactful influence of Marcello. Although, Marcello himself finds life incredibly challenging with Musetta. Unfortunately, Mimi dies. Both Marcello and Musetta help as best they can by selling earrings for medicine and a gift of a muff, bought with the money gained from Colline’s selling of his jacket. In Puccini’s unincluded Act three, Rodolpho’s jealousy is explained. Mimi was introduced to a viscount, thanks to Musetta. Ultimately, the bond between Marcello and Rodolpho heals the feelings of inadequacy and brings the lovers back together before the end.

King Marke and Tristan

This next opera is a vanguard in the world of musical modernity. “Tristan Und Isolde“ is a sublime celebration of the achievements that art, music, and creativity can provide the human experience. It represents those things which words cannot express. This opera is also an uncovered tribute to Wagner’s incorporation of Arthur Schopenhauer’s thesis of endless searching, dissatisfaction, and relentless pursuit of something that can never be attained. Through the literary concept of “Weltschmerz“ (pain of the word), Schopenhauer argues that life is nothing more than a cyclical process of desire, satisfaction, pain, and more desires. Art and contemplation remain the only solace from this.

Gottfried von Strassburg’s 12th-century romance, “Tristan and Iseult,” centers around the love, estrangement, and ultimate union of lovers Isolde and Tristan. A major plot point is King Marke of Cornwall who is set to marry Isolde. Furious over this, Isolde seeks to kill Tristan. But in a mix-up prompted by Brangäne, they end up falling in love. King Marke finds out, but seems to be more distraught that Tristan’s friend Melot easily betrayed them without thinking. By the end of Act three, King Marke is revealed to be one of the few who also loved Tristan, noting that he’d actually come to unite them in marriage.  

Susanna and Countess Rosina

Strong relationships require commitments towards keeping one another’s personal statements, plans, and secrets. Thus, there is no greater show of faithfulness that can be found in an opera than the partnership between Valet Figaro’s to-be-wife Susanna and frustrated Countess Rosina Almaviva, from W. A. Mozart’s “Le Nozze Di Figaro.” Based on the 1786 stage comedy by masterful playwright Pierre Beaumarchais, Mozart’s opera tells the story of two couples from two classes both under attack. The Count’s attempted droit du seigneur serves as a symbol of unearned privilege.

Susanna and the Countess share a particularly secretive moment in their duet, “Sull’aria,” where they sing about tricking the Count into falling back in love with the Countess. However, the friendship between the Countess and Susanna runs much deeper than earlier. In Act two, the Countess expresses sadness over the Count’s wandering eye. But, Susanna quickly comes to her aid and hatches a plan to get the Count to fall in love with the Countess. After finding out about Cherubino’s forced military service, a plan begins. By the end, the Count begs forgiveness from the Countess and happiness ensues. The wandering eye returns to its official place. These two express a friendship that goes beyond any rank.

Teresa and Amina

Vincenzo Bellini’s eighth opera, “La Sonnambula,” is regarded as an opera in which international stars like Maria “La Divina” Callas and Joan Sutherland made their undisputed mark upon the world. This opera is beloved by composers like Mikhail Glinka, and has been performed by opera greats such as Jenny “The Swedish Nightengale” Lind. This semi-serious opera alludes to being humorous, but is all-together serious with its moments of jealousy and devotion. In the opera, Amina, the adopted daughter, is set to be marry Elvino, a peasant.

However, it is revealed in Act two that Amina sleepwalks and has been mistakenly thought of as cheating on Elvino as a result. Teresa and Amina’s adopted mother announce that a supposed “ghost” has come to the town. Teresa quickly becomes one of the leading figures in helping her daughter stay safe and protected from threats. Only she believes in her daughter’s innocence when everyone else thinks of her as a treacherer. During Act two, both Teresa and Amina make their way to see Count Rodolfo in order to argue for their innocence once and for all. Amina’s virtue is revealed by the end when she is seen precariously walking over a high beam, and a marriage proposal quickly ensues between the newly enraptured lovers.

The post Five Of Opera’s Most Transformational Friendships appeared first on OperaWire.

Premiered in the fall of 2012, an opera about a mysterious man dressed in a dog costume begging for food has to be one of the more obscure and out-there plots. However, dig a bit deeper and the opera’s objective becomes all too clear. Composed by David T. Little, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek, the hard-to-swallow opera “Dog Days” was heralded as an exceptional addition to the 21st-century operatic history books. 

Incorporating popular music, heavy metal, plainchant, and bel cantoism in dedicated crossover pastiche, Little and Vavrek’s opera joins the ranks of operatic vanguards like 20th-century luminaries like Schoenberg, Prokofiev, Henze, Ligeti, Britten, Penderecki, and Maderna.

But, the opera is based on something. The plot was not just dreamed up but actually adapted from somewhere, a short story written 14 years earlier. In this article, we’ll explore the origins of the plot and what it’s trying to tell us.

The Original Story

The original story was written by American writer Judy Budnitz (1973-) as one short story in a collection of short stories called “Flying Leap.” 

Published in 1998, the same year as operatic premieres like Jonathan Dove’s Flight, Paula Klimper’s Patience and Sarah, and Tobias Picker’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, the 23-story collection orients around dystopian end-of-the-world scenarios. 

Each one of the narratives attempted to showcase the horrors and humanity of our world when faced with significant obstacles to our wellbeing. The stories take a rather crude look at the ways we change when our known social order is destabilized or challenged. 

In some of them, karma comes whereas in others, surreality and strangeness takes on a more human and empathetic face. But in “Dog Days,” when faced with starvation, a family who looked at this dog-person as a friend soon turned carnal themselves.

The dog-person finds shelter on the family’s porch following the destruction of society. However, it is not just a costume the man is wearing. He has given up his humanity for the personality of a dog. Soon, the family begins to accept this dog-person and treat it as their pet. But their patience quickly turns as the threat of death approaches. 

The father, who had his patience used up at the threat of starvation, shoots the man as he runs, the dog-person’s final act being to revert to his man form before death.

But What Does It Mean?

The opera’s main purpose is to explore the conception of our relationship to society, societal roles, and what happens when both are destroyed. What happens when we lose our social identity? Are we able to adopt new ones or do we have to maintain fidelity to our pre-destruction selves? 

In the trailer of the opera Little notes the opera’s objective is to ask, “[w]hat it means to be human and what it means to be part of a society and how we as individuals behave to each other inside of that collective.” The dog-person had given up his identity as a human being and was no longer acting as a human being, but a dog. 

Difficulty arises as the family is forced to accept this new reality or forever see the dog as a deranged human being. Do they give up on the idea of humanity? What does this mean for them? Ultimately, the family begins to see the “dog” as a food supply as all other animals have died. 

The daughter begins a friendship with the dog and yet finds her starvation aesthetically attractive in her delusion. As the family starves, the father continues to act irrational. Forced to act, the family chooses a crooked and warped life over death.

What the story teaches us is obscure but generally, we must continue to live even if our reality is augmented. We must find a way and a place, even if that place is completely foreign to you. We all need a place, even if society is gone.

The post One of Opera’s Strangest Plots: David T. Little and Royce Vavrek’s ‘Dog Days’ appeared first on OperaWire.

Happy April Fools from us at Opera Wire. This year, let’s take a look at what makes the crazy character Papageno from Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’ so captivating. What makes us love him? And why do we root for him? 

Who is Papageno?

This beloved bird man, who is scared by everything but courageous when he needs to be, is from the opera of the Austrian composer and boy genius, get ready, Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, or just Wolfgang Mozart for short. The Magic Flute is one of opera’s most beloved works and performed around the world every single year to packed crowds and praise by all walks of life.

Probably best known by its English name, The Magic Flute (or Der Zauberflöte), the opera features a timeless cast of magical characters like an Evil Queen who sings some of opera’s highest notes ever written, a dragon, a villain named Monostatos, child spirits, an enchanted flute, a temple of light, dark caves, and lots of transcendent music. Mozart’s opera was strongly influenced by Masonic philosophy and symbolism, and so Papageno represents the archetype of the Everyman.

In the face of danger, Papageno is scared but ultimately rises to the occasion, desires true love, has a difficult time telling the truth and following rules but ultimately cares for his fellow man without any stuffy egotism of the higher classes. Finding his love at last in the form of Papagena, he agrees to love her in her old woman form, proving that true love is based on inner goodness and not on physical appearance.

Why We Love Mozart’s Bird Man

Part of Papageno’s allure is that he represents every single person on Earth. We often find ourselves at the crossroads of happiness, sadness, fear, anger, alertness, and laziness. Depending on our mood and the situation, we can act in all sorts of strange and unexpected ways that seem contrary to our normal behaviour. However, under the façade of crazy displays, hilarious scenes of gorging food, and obstinance towards authority, Papageno means well.

We all desire to be kind to each other, to find true love, and to be with the ones we most care about. But life gets in the way, and when we watch someone like Papageno on the operatic stage, we are reminded of how non-linear life can be, how challenging trying to do the right thing can be, and how complex it is to stay on the path of virtue. Nothing is funnier than seeing the ups and downs of the human experience manifested on stage but Mozart was able to do that, and with such masterful results.

When Papageno and Papagena come together to sing about all the children they will have, this only comes after a brutal chain of trials which forces Papageno to transform almost completely. But he does and that’s what matters. 

Three Fun Facts

Maybe you knew or didn’t know but here are three funny and interesting facts about our beloved Papageno!

1) The original Papageno, German impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, was a musical colleague with many famous Italian and German composers such as Antonio Salieri, Joseph Haydn, and Ludwig von Beethoven. He was also a quasi-composer, ‘Vestas Feuer’ his only attempt.

2) The famous Act 2 ‘Papageno–Papagena’ duet was actually inspired by the “Cucuzze cavatina” from colleague Antonio Salieri’s 1786 opera, ‘Prima la musica e poi le parole,’ or First the music and then the words.’

3) Papageno, in the context of the opera, was representative of the Catholic Church’s hold on the minds of the people. Papageno is subservient and submissive to the Queen, a symbol of the Church and its domination.

The post Why Do We love Mozart’s Papageno So Much? appeared first on OperaWire.

Elisabeth’s name, however, is cemented in operatic history thanks to her opera, “Céphale et Procris,“ the first known opera written by a woman. Despite its historical importance, it was not well received and was soon forgotten until the 20th century with the rediscovery of many early music figures and repertoire.

Elisabeth mostly wrote for Louis XIV’s court and remained in his service until her death in 1729 at 64.

Upbringing and Career

Élisabeth’s father, Claude Jacquet, was a harpsichord maker and insisted on teaching his sons and daughters the way of the world and the musical arts. It was here where Élisabeth’s career in music got its roots.

At five, Élisabeth’s talents had caught the idea of Louis XIV, and upon his invitation, she went to become a musician at the Palace of Versailles. But her relationship with the court only deepened as time went on. As a student, she was educated by Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan. However, she would not start composing until the early 1690s, but before then, in 1684, she married the French organist Marin de La Guerre.

Following her marriage, she taught, began to compose formally, and succeeded as a concert musician throughout Paris. By the beginning of her compositional career, she had made a big name for herself, praised by Titon du Tillet alongside contemporaries like Jean-Baptiste Lully, composer of court operas like “Cadmus et Hermione,” among many others.

In 1687, Élisabeth published her first work, “Premier livre de pièces de clavessin,” and less than ten years later in 1694 her opera “Céphale et Procris” was premiered at the  Académie Royale de Musique in Paris. The work was unpopular and only received five to six performances, and after its relative failure, her journey into opera abruptly stopped.

Nevertheless, she continued to compose and perform, some of her last works being vocal cantatas.

Listen

The post On This Day: Élisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre is Born appeared first on OperaWire.

Composers like Hildegard von Bingen, Barbara Strozzi, Clara Schumann, and Amy Beach, to more modern names like Unsuk Chin, Sofia Gubaidulina, Lori Laitman, Jennifer Higdon, and Caroline Shaw, all demonstrate the creative possibilities that women have to share.

However, in the operatic world, the role of women is a fraught one because routinely exploited stereotypes of the fallen women, the dangerous woman, the woman victim, and the supremacy of male composers have left many forgetting one key detail: women composers have always been there, continuously contributing to the development of the art form up until the present day, even if our textbooks, magazines, and opera houses tell a very different story.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, OperaWire would like to explore the important role women have played in expanding the operatic genre for us all, from the 17th century with Francesca Caccini all the way up to the 21st century with Alma Deutscher. 

A huge thank you goes out to Linda Lister for her 2019 article and ongoing research into women opera composers. Without researchers like her, many names could have been forgotten, but luckily, they are being saved and remembered. 

Francesca Caccini: La liberazione di Ruggiero (1625)

Based on the sixth, seventh, and eighth cantos (parts) of Italian poet Ludovico Ariostos’ epic poem Orlando Furioso (1516), the same one Handel later modeled his Orlando (1733) after, Francesca Caccini’s work is considered one of the first operas written by a woman. Not only that but the first Italian opera to be performed outside of Italy at the time.

The work was a commission by Archduchess Maria Maddalena of Austria to celebrate the arrival of Wladislaw IV of Poland into Florence. Following its initial performance, it was revived in 1628 in Poland, marking the first Italian opera to be brought outside the borders of Italy.

However, the work features one controversy, and that is the genre. Caccini herself called the work a balletto, yet later historians refer to the work as an opera given its recit/aria structure, indulging in the newly created stile moderno style as popularized by Claudio Monteverdi. It’s known that she did not write the work’s ballet music and that her father, Giulio Caccini (one of the originators of opera next to Jacopi Perri), must have been extremely daunting.

As a woman, could she create something that was equally if not better than her father? Did she have the right to create something as big as an opera for public recognition at a time when women were often subjugated to the household?

Using the title balletto would have reduced her work to a more common level, thereby reducing the significance of her contribution to the art form at the time. Since the 1980s, the work has received numerous recordings and performances, most recently at the Manhattan School of Music under director James Blaszko. 

Paula Kimper: Patience and Sarah (1998)

Although relatively unknown, this opera by Eastman graduate Paula M. Kimper (alongside others like Renee Fleming and Dominick Argento) marked the first time the opera world had the topics of LGBT issues brought to mainstream attention.

Based on the American novelist Alma Routsong’s (pen name Isabel Miller), lesbian-themed historical novel (1969), the work is widely considered to be the first LGBTQ work in opera history.

The story of the opera’s creation began in 1981 when the librettist Wende Persons began working on a sketch of opera based on a lesbian female modeled after a crush she had. That crush had failed to empathize with many of the on-stage heroines, victims, and women of the traditional operatic literature. Initially, Kimper did not want to participate, but after seeing the 1993 Met Ring Cycle, she quickly came on board.

Shortly before her death, Routsong had given the pair permission to make an opera based on her novel, and by 1996 after some preparatory work, an initial semi-staged version was premiered to the public.

Three years later, and as part of the 1998 Lincoln Center Festival, a momentous event that featured the likes of Bingen, Bernstein, Mahler, Ives, Copland, Tchaikovsky, Gershwin, and even Chinese opera, the opera got its formal premiere.

Under the direction of Douglas Moser, the opera sparked interest among lesbian audiences, an underrepresented community among operatic audiences as compared to their gay counterparts.

Since then, the work has been featured as part of several LGBT festivals and projects, most recently in 2016 as part of New York Pride. Continuations on Kimper’s progress, like Charles Wuorinen’s commissioned opera “Brokeback Mountain” (2014), have helped foreground the community.

Kaija Saariaho’s “L’amour de loin” (2000)

The relationship between the Metropolitan Opera and female composers is not a comfortable one, as Finnish composer Kaija Sarriaho knows all too well. Her first opera, composed in 2000 after becoming inspired following her observation of Olivier Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise (1975-79), marked the end of a 113-year break from female composers at the Met.

Not since 1924 had the Metropolitan performed a female composer, the last being Ethel Smyth’s second opera, “Der Wald” (1901), the process being extremely taxing on the part of Smyth.

Sarriaho’s opera is in five acts and has its plot modeled after the feeling of belonging, loneliness, and desperation. The librettist Amin Maalouf positioned the opera in 12th century Tripoli and centers around the tenuous love between Jaufré and Clémence. Sarriaho’s opera began in the early 1990s when she was searching for a plot for her first opera.

In 1993, having learned of the 12th-century troubadour Jaufré Rudel, she contacted the Salzburg Festival, and the ball got rolling almost immediately.  One of the unique elements of the opera’s musical nature is the incorporation of medieval music alongside electronic and contemporary compositional strategies.

Sarriaho routinely uses poems and songs by Jaufre, although manipulating them to suit her own aesthetic style, using medieval theoretical principles to imbue her work with a feeling of period authenticity without losing her voice.

The work’s original 2000 premiere was held during the 2000 Salzburg Festival; the same venue seven other premieres took place, including the composers Matthias Pintscher, Olga Neuwirth, and Georg ­Friedrich Haas.

Since then, the opera has been revived numerous times, and in 2020, the work’s Metropolitan premiere in 2016 was streamed during COVID-19, signaling the work’s ongoing legacy and impact on opera. 

Alma Deutscher’s “Cinderella” (2016)

Created when she was just 10 years old, German composer Alma Deutscher may be our generation’s Wolfgang Mozart, although her name is highly popular in select circles rather than globally just yet.

Deutscher’s first opera, “The Sweeper of Dreams” (2012), was composed when she was seven (for reference, Mozart’s first opera was written when he was 12, “Bastien und Bastienne”).

Her second opera’s inventive narrative was the result of Deutscher’s decision to change up the traditional plot of the popular story written by the Brothers Grimm in 1812 as part of the collection, “Grimms’ Fairy Tales.” With a libretto modeled after the story by 17th-century French playwright Charles Perrault, the opera takes place in an opera house run by an evil stepmother.

The sisters are portrayed as talent-challenged divas, and Cinderella is a composer whose melodies are evocative and potent and which lead the Prince back to her.

The work itself took five years, being started in 2010, with the first chamber version of the work being performed in 2015 when Deutscher was ten years of age. By the late 2010s, the work was reaching critical acclaim.

In 2016, the work received its Vienna premiere, and two years later, in 2017, the opera got its US premiere at Opera San Jose to a sold-out house.

Almost immediately, the work began to undergo a series of adaptations for audiences of every kind. The Vienna State Opera reworked the opera for a child-based audience, while the last three years have seen the work be treated to new productions of all kinds. Most recently, the Opera San Jose did a remodeled version of their 2017 premiere under the musical direction of Alma herself. 

The post International Women’s Day 2023: Four Women Composers and Their Contributions to the Art Form appeared first on OperaWire.

As an activist performer, Anderson accomplished a great deal. She was the first African-American to be featured at the Metropolitan Opera House (singing Ulrica in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera in 1955), worked on behalf of the United States government and the United Nations, and was an integral figure in the 1960s civil rights movement. Among her crowning achievements, however, was her participation in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, appearing alongside African-American singers such as Mahalia Jackson, Camilla Williams, and even American guitar singer and activist Joan Baez. But earlier, Anderson had been a central figure in an event far more controversial. In this post, we’ll explore Anderson’s denied (and then relocated) performance at the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. Blocked from performing, on April 9, 1939, after tremendous national backlash and widespread protest, Marian Anderson was finally welcomed with open arms at the Lincoln Memorial.

For some context, Constitution Hall had a strict “only white” policy which, despite Anderson’s popularity, was not going to be loosened. Anderson’s 1936 tour had included a stop at the Hall but was blocked. The years leading up to 1939 were a difficult but strangely fruitful time for Anderson. While her career and power grew, she began insisting that if a crowd was to be segregated it had to be down the middle rather than sequestering African-Americans to the back as was the standard approach. Flash to 1939 and Anderson’s manager Sol Hurok wanted to again include the Hall in her tour. Hurok fought for Anderson’s appearance at the hall, working with The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Howard University (one of the first institutions for African-American education). However,  Sarah Corbin Robert (then President of DAR) unequivocally banned her on the basis of her race. The resulting backlash against this decision has filled many history books but it’s enough to say that no one was going to take this lying down. 

At first, Teddy and Eleonora Roosevelt (President and First Lady of America, 1901-1909) didn’t do anything after being reached out for help. Unsure of what the politically correct action was, eventually Eleonora spoke up. She turned in her resignation as a member of DAR and quickly published what has become one of the most potent examples of what constructive change looks like. On Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, accompanied by long-time friend and colleague Finnish pianist Kosti Vehanen, Anderson sang for a crowd of over 75,000 people. At the end of the concert, having taken the audience for an emotional journey, Anderson is quoted as having said:

“I am so overwhelmed, I just can’t talk. I can’t tell you what you have done for me today. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Listen

The post On This Day: Marian Anderson and Her 1939 Lincoln Memorial Performance appeared first on OperaWire.

In this Valentine’s Day post, we’ll recount the many escapades of Puccini’s secret (now public) “love” life.

Puccini’s Wife

Puccini’s wife was Elvira Bonturi Gemignani (then Puccini). Although married at the time to a school friend, Narciso Gemignani, when Puccini met her in 1884 it was the start of a very intense romance. At first, he was teaching her piano lessons but by 1886, the relationship had taken a much more sensual turn. Of course, Narciso soon found out and was furious at the adultery of his wife and the womanizing of his friend but this didn’t stop the romance from growing. Despite the deception, Elvira soon became pregnant and in order to evade gossip left Lucca to give birth to their son Antonio (1886–1946). Although the relationship has far too many details to summarize, in general Puccini’s infidelity was thought to be a sign of Elvira’s failed duties as a woman and this would bring her a lifetime of anxiety and stress.

To add to this, they both married on January 3, 1904 even though Elvira knew her husband’s activities. Elvira was known as a hot-headed, aggressive, courageous, and jealous woman who reacted abrasively towards women. But who wouldn’t in this state? She was taken to court over the suicide of Doria Manfredi (an innocent victim of Puccini’s lust), although never serving time for her role. Puccini and Elvira stayed together until Puccini’s death in 1924. 

The Maid’s Cousin

Another, much more miserable, chapter of Puccini’s love life was the relationship between Puccini and Giulia Manfredi whose maid, Doria, paid with her life. Giulia was Doria’s cousin and a tavern worker near Torre del Lago where Puccini had a home and land. She was considered to be forthright, confident, and independent in thought, so it’s not hard to see why Puccini must have fallen in love with her.

This relationship would birth Puccini’s “illegitimate” son, Alfredo, in 1923, although the composer did have a one year relationship with the son before his death. As a result of this relationship, Doria would kill herself as she was being shamed by Elvira for being a harlot despite medical records noting that she died a virgin. The granddaughter of Alfredo, Nadia Manfredi, was the first person to shed light on the relationship.

Giacomo’s Cut Off Love

Named “Corinna,” Puccini had fallen in love with a schoolteacher from Turin despite being twenty years younger than the composer. Like others, Puccini had bought a home for her near Torre del Lago and used her as the inspiration for his opera Madame Butterfly. However, the relationship would turn sour in 1904 when, following the death of Corinna’s husband, private detectives would uncover that Corinna was sleeping around with other men.

This infuriated Puccini, ironically considering he was doing the same thing at the time, and after sending her a final furious message the relationship was stopped. He would go on to pay her off to make sure she disappeared from the scene all together. 

His Many Lovers

How can Puccini’s many love affairs with sopranos, married women, and well-to-do elites be summarized? Marrying his work with play, Puccini’s lovers were conveniently the ones who would go onto secure the legacy of Puccini the composer for centuries to come: 

• Sybil Seligman

Married to David Seligman, prominent banker at the time, Sybil’s relationship with Puccini is the least documented one of them all. Although Puccini argued that he had an intellectual relationship with the woman, who traveled and knew many languages, there is reason to speculate. Records of this relation are scarce and far between, and pictures are unavailable in any capacity. 

• Maria Jeritza

Nicknamed the “Moravian Thunderbolt,” dramatic soprano Maria Jeritza rose to fame during the 20th century for her superior vocal technique and stunning beauty. Maria’s work with Puccini is extensive and long, but some of the most well known collaborations was her starring in the title role of Turandot in the opera’s North American premiere in 1926 as well as her work in Tosca. In a 1958 interview she is recorded as stating, “I was Puccini’s creation in Tosca.” 

• Emmy Destinn

Czech dramatic soprano Emmy Destinn is regarded as a power of the Old World of opera. However, her work with Puccini is remembered because she created the role of Minni in La Fanciulla del West in a famed production directed by  conductor Arturo Toscanini. The relationship between Emmy and Puccini is really only speculation.

• Cesira Ferrani

Italian soprano Cesira Ferrani is an internationally celebrated name which is most commonly attributed with two operas, Puccini’s La Boheme and Manon Lescaut. Having made her debut in 1887 in Bizet’s Carmen, Ferrani took the operatic world by storm when she created the role of Mimi in the original 1896 production of La Boheme at the Teatro Regio di Torino. Cesira and Puccini’s relationship is only immortalized in a signed photograph following a very successful premiere. In 1928, her voice could be heard on the first recording of Madame Butterfly. 

• Hariclea Darclée

Romanian dramatic soprano Hariclea Darclee may be one of the women who had the longest careers of anyone on this list. Spanning from the 1880s to the 1920s, Darclee became well known for her interpretations of French operatic characters such as Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette. She later moved into verismo and bel canto, and created the role of Tosca in Puccini’s 1900 opera. Puccini praised her for her version of Manon as well.

• Rose Ader

Although little is known about the Austrian soprano, Rose Ader was the creator of the role of Liu in Puccini’s unfinished opera Turandot. Their relationship is one that has been recorded officially, in several letters Puccini noted his sadness for having met her too late in his life. 

•  Josephine von Stengel

Perhaps the most obscure one, German baroness Josephine von Stengel, was an object in Puccini’s eye. He had bought land near Torre del Lago for her but the relationship never really took off. She died two years after Puccini. 

The post He Did What?! Puccini & His ‘Love’ Life appeared first on OperaWire.

Defining The Style

The style’s origins can be traced back to the early 18th century with the Sentimentalist movement, and most particularly the 19th-century movement of Romanticism. Part of Romanticism was the development of nationalism and the search for one’s national identity. Thus, an intrinsic element of the German Romantische oper is an appeal to the historical roots, folk culture, and more broadly the “national consciousness” (or spirit) of the German people. The attempt to reveal the true nature of German existence on earth and the fundamental soul of the German Volk in the hope of triggering a national awakening was one of the primary objectives of this style. The style was also inspired by the movement of Romantic nationalism, arguing that a country had to embrace its history and uniqueness in order to develop and mature.

One the best examples of German romanticism and its essential goal at concretely defining what makes one’s national culture inherently great (or even superior) without imperial influence was the composer Richard Wagner. His four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen demonstrates how Romanticism was exploited in the defining of the ideal image of the German. Giving a voice to the ostensibly disenfranchised, Wagner argued that Germany could become a great nation if its citizens would answer the call in the path to becoming Übermensch (the epitome of the ideal man). After the 1815 Congress of Vienna, Germany’s sense of self was deeply admonished. Thus, a major element fueling German Romanticism was the rediscovery and idealized articulation of Germany’s lost prestige and damaged heritage. 

The style of opera modeled on the frame of German Romanticism is said to have first appeared in the 1820s via three main operatic works, all by the composer Carl von Weber: Der Freischütz, Euryanthe, and Oberon, although the latter two were seen as inferior to the first due to their much more comic sensibility. Moreover, the style of singspiel (think a musical) was still second to the more sophisticated genre of opera (all singing as opposed to spoken dialogue and singing). Paralleling the Romantische opera in German musical culture at the time was the lighter style of operetta which, following the Napoleonic War which had consumed Germany, provided easy and uncomplicated entertainment. Among the most popular of these humorous yet musically indulgent operas were Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss I and Orpheus in the Underworld by Jacques Offenbach, although many kinds of works were created using this style.

Some Context

Romanticism as a cultural movement can be thought as a radicalization of the 18th century movement known as Sentimentalism (the heightened attention to human emotion, morality, and relationship to one’s environment) and the outgrowth of the growing interest in understanding the healing, restorative, powerful effect of love and passion. Musically, the late 18th-century musical movements of Empfindsamkeit (literally sensitive style, immortalizing emotional expressions in music, popularized by second-oldest son C. P. E Bach’s keyboard works) and Sturm und Drang (storm and stress, the to-and-froes of human existence encapsulated in musical sound, think Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata), the latter famously popularized in the works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and the older sons of J. S. Bach!

However, one of the defining elements of Romanticism was its radical opposition to the ideals and philosophy created during the so-called “Age of Enlightenment.” Beginning in the mid-17th century thanks to the writings and developments during the Scientific Revolution, concepts like personal agency, rational inquiry, tolerance for others, liberty, freedom, and the decoupling of church and state began transforming European culture. Political representation and the valuing of the people’s will was also a major development of this period.

After the French Revolution, however, people didn’t want to be told what to believe anymore. But as the mysteries of life and the idea of the unknowable were disintegrating, the idea that life had deeper meaning was also dissolving. Life was both hardship and magic, suffering without reason, and these thoughts would inspire the “romanticization” of life, of dreaming, and of metaphysical inquiry. 

The post The ‘Romantische Opera’: A Mini Guide appeared first on OperaWire.

Singing in a gala performance of several operatic excerpts including Die Fledermaus’ Act 2 at the Royal Opera House in London, Sutherland appeared alongside opera royalty such as Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti and American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne. Her legacy with the United Kingdom, however, extends as early as the 1950s, having studied at the Royal College of Music under the guidance of English baritone Clive Carey. In 1952, she’d make her debut on the Royal Opera House’s stage as The First Lady in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte,” followed suit by Clotilde in Vincenzo Bellini’s “Norma (Maria Callas in the role of Norma).”

That fall, she would sing her first dramatic role, Amelia in Verdi’s “Un Ballo In Maschera,” and proceed to sing countless works including “The Marriage of Figaro,” “Der Freischütz,” and “Rigoletto.” However, she was just as apt in contemporary repertoire like Benjamin Britten’s “Gloriana” and Michael Tippett’s “The Midsummer Marriage.”

From the 1960s to the 1980s, Sutherland would cover an extremely diverse array of roles, everything from Donizetti, Massenet, Meyerbeer, Handel, and Mozart to Verdi, Rossini, Bellini, and even Cilea, tackling some of opera’s most treacherous coloratura and dramatically dexterious passages with grace and ease. In 2002 in an interview with The Guardian’s Martin Kettle, she noted her crowning achievement was to sing in Massenet’s “Esclarmonde,” the interview being one of the very last she gave before her death in October of 2010 at the age of 83. 

Rest in Peace Dame Joan Alston Sutherland (1926-2010).

Listen

“Parigi O Cara” (Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata”) with Luciano Pavarotti

The post On This Day: Dame Joan Sutherland Sings For The Last Time appeared first on OperaWire.

Dating as far back as the 17th century, vocal works about Christmas and themes about the Holy Nativity (i.e., the birth of Jesus Christ) and the events surrounding the pilgrimage of the shepherds, angels, and wise men have been created in quick succession. Everyone from Italian composer Carlo Francesco Cesarini, Russian composer P. I. Tchaikovsky, German composer  Sigwart zu Eulenburg, French composer Xavier Leroux, and American composer John Adams have tried their hand at dramatizing the famed birth of the Christian savior.

Originally, only sacred works could be performed during Advent (3 to 4 weeks before Christmas), the invention of azioni sacre (sacred actions – works on religious themes) created to skirt the rules. Later (i.e., by the mid-19th century), the rules would relax as opera became less about elite enjoyment and more about public entertainment. Operas would routinely foreground national takes on Christmas’ second leading figure:  Father Christmas, Knecht Ruprecht, and King Wenceslaus for a taste. 

Composers like Rimsky-Korsakov (“The Night Before Christmas”) would compose seminal works, although innovation extended the world round, Francisco Asenjo Barbieri composing his zarzuela, “El pavo de Navidad,” while French composer Paul Vidal creating his own, “Noël ou Le mystère de la nativité.” In the 20th century, Christmas-themed operas would explode in public appeal thanks to the well known Gian Carlo Menotti’s one-act opera,”Amahl and The Night Visitors,” coupled with the popular “Messiah” oratorio (premiered in 1742) by German-turned-British composer George Friedrich Handel.

Of course, MANY others made their mark including lesser-known ones like Das Christ-Elflein (Hans Pfitzner, 1906), A Christmas Carol (Bernard Herrmann, 1954), The Long Christmas Dinner (Paul Hindemith, 1962), and Gift of the Magi (David Conte, 1997). While the canon of “Christmas operas” has stabilized over time, many contemporary works have premiered recently, in the last decade several developing the field significantly (El Nino, Silent Night, and Becoming Santa Claus just three examples)!

As Opera Wire prepares to enter a new year, here are four operas that had their historical premieres Christmas day!

Die Weihnacht (1900)

Composed by Italian musicologist and composer Alberto Gentili, with a libretto by playwright Ferdinando Fontana (responsible with creating the librettos for Giacomo Puccini’s first two operas, Le Villi and Edgar), the opera premiered at the Königliches Hof und Nationaltheater in Germany. Although no recording exists of the opera, it is known that the libretto was based upon Italian writer Carlo Righetti’s 1876 play “On Di De Natal” (one of the founders of the Scapigliatura movement, or proto-realism). The opera loosely takes place in Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean sea. 

In Knecht Ruprecht’s Workshop (1907)

Perhaps one of the more enigmatic operas on the list, the opera was composed by lesser-known Austrian composer Wilhelm Kienzl, a former student of Austrian aesthetician Eduard Hanslick, Franz Liszt (he was even present for the premiere of Wagner’s Ring Cycle in 1876 at the inaugural Bayreuth Festival). The libretto was prepared by German writer Hildegard Volgt (author of a small but archived body of work), the story based on the unknown German folk character and companion of St. Nicholas Knecht Ruprecht. The opera had its formal premiere at the Opernhaus Graz.

And Tomorrow Christmas (1940)

The only zarzuela present here (includes non-musical spoken dialogue much like an operetta), the work was composed by the Spanish composer Manuel Villacañas Sastre with a libretto by Fernández Cuesta, although little information is known about these two artists. Written for children, this work was first premiered at the Teatro Alcalá in Madrid (built in 1903 and only dedicated to cultural activities in the 90s after having served as a multipurpose venue for decades). As of 2022, the opera has yet to be revived or contemporarily performed on the stage. 

The First Christmas (1969)

Perhaps the most interesting on the list, the opera was written not for operatic audiences but the airwaves. The work was first commissioned by the New South Wales government, the job given to Australian composer John Henry Antill (a singer and former railway worker, most famous for his ballet Corroboree). The work’s libretto was created by Pat Flowers, information on her unavailable. The work premiered live on an ABC televised feed, and has seemingly not been revived since. Antill’s vocal works are relatively unknown outside Australia (opera The Music Critic, and oratorio The Song of Hagar to Abraham the Patriarch). 

The post On This Day: Opera Premieres On Christmas Day appeared first on OperaWire.