Dearest, We'll Leave Paris
The good operas are never long enough. La Traviata could have lasted a week and I would have been happy. What a wonderful production.
Two minor quibbles off the bat. First, and this has nothing to do with the opera per se, but I was in a group of thirty in which I was the youngest by a good thirty years. This would be because I went with the senior center. Awkward! But my grandparents have been going with them for a few years because the drive to/from Santa Fe is a bit much for them now, especially at 12.30 at night, and I went because my grandfather couldn't (obviously) go and we had been trying to get tickets for me anyway. Most of the people were my grandmother's age, so late 70s-mid 80s, although one woman was 97. Still, they were all nice even if they weren't the most exciting crowd at the opera house.
Second, the Santa Fe Opera has a trend of set design that is a bit more avant-garde and minimalist than I personally am fond of, especially in period pieces that are supposed to be set in 1800s Paris, and this year was no exception. The set was...boxes. Lots of large boxes piled up all the stage. It looked like the singers wandered into a giant's apartment in the middle of moving day. So that was kind of weird.
But but but the opera made up for it by being completely and utterly gorgeous and fantastic. I cannot fault the singing one bit, because it was superb. Natalie Dessay, who sang Violetta, was simply exquisite, and her husband Laurent Naouri, who sang Alfredo's father, was stunning. Their duet in the second act, where he has to convince her to leave his son, was one of the most lovely things I have heard in a good long time, and I hope I'll be able to download a version half as good. It just about brought tears to my eyes.
Other bits that I found exceptionally good: Violetta's aria in the first act, where she wonders if she could love Alfredo back as much as he loves her, but isn't sure someone like her could have true love or be happy with another person. Alfredo's bit in the third act where he drags Violetta in front of a crowd of party-goers to humiliate her for abandoning him, not knowing his father forced her to leave. Alfredo and Violetta's duet when he first comes back to Paris and sings to her about the life they will have together, both of them unaware that she is only minutes away from death.
One of the best productions I've seen at Santa Fe, and they have some pretty amazing productions. So incredible.
Two minor quibbles off the bat. First, and this has nothing to do with the opera per se, but I was in a group of thirty in which I was the youngest by a good thirty years. This would be because I went with the senior center. Awkward! But my grandparents have been going with them for a few years because the drive to/from Santa Fe is a bit much for them now, especially at 12.30 at night, and I went because my grandfather couldn't (obviously) go and we had been trying to get tickets for me anyway. Most of the people were my grandmother's age, so late 70s-mid 80s, although one woman was 97. Still, they were all nice even if they weren't the most exciting crowd at the opera house.
Second, the Santa Fe Opera has a trend of set design that is a bit more avant-garde and minimalist than I personally am fond of, especially in period pieces that are supposed to be set in 1800s Paris, and this year was no exception. The set was...boxes. Lots of large boxes piled up all the stage. It looked like the singers wandered into a giant's apartment in the middle of moving day. So that was kind of weird.
But but but the opera made up for it by being completely and utterly gorgeous and fantastic. I cannot fault the singing one bit, because it was superb. Natalie Dessay, who sang Violetta, was simply exquisite, and her husband Laurent Naouri, who sang Alfredo's father, was stunning. Their duet in the second act, where he has to convince her to leave his son, was one of the most lovely things I have heard in a good long time, and I hope I'll be able to download a version half as good. It just about brought tears to my eyes.
Other bits that I found exceptionally good: Violetta's aria in the first act, where she wonders if she could love Alfredo back as much as he loves her, but isn't sure someone like her could have true love or be happy with another person. Alfredo's bit in the third act where he drags Violetta in front of a crowd of party-goers to humiliate her for abandoning him, not knowing his father forced her to leave. Alfredo and Violetta's duet when he first comes back to Paris and sings to her about the life they will have together, both of them unaware that she is only minutes away from death.
One of the best productions I've seen at Santa Fe, and they have some pretty amazing productions. So incredible.