When the fat lady sings....
The general idea in most of the operas - a fat lady tells about her love and dies within 3 hours.
R. and I went to listen to the `La Traviatta' in Guy ben Hinom (=Brikhat ha Sultan; = Mitchell Garden) the other day. The local youths were not impressed with the dance in Flora's house and started their own dance behind the stage. Hence in our case the fat lady was dying to the sounds of the oriental music. I would too....
Another thing that left me puzzled are the gypsies and the matadors. Where on earth did they come from and what for? Y. thinks Verdi might had had some unused melodies left in his sleeve and that was the way to use them (wisely?). I reckon she has a point.
Off to some more from Jerusalem festival. That is, if someone brings a defrost and uses it on me.
Quotes from Barber on the matter to come....
UPD 1: Barber on Opera (from `A Musician's Dictionary'): A performance involving singers with orchestra (complete with unrealistic scenery and silly costumes), which tells a story so complex that nobody in the audience understands what's going on, although all speak about it as if they did. Consists mainly of fat people bellowing in a foreign language.
UPD 2: Barber on La Traviatta (from `When the Fat Lady Sings'): ... The libretto is based on an Alexandre Dumas novel about a courtesan Violetta (courtesan is just a polite term for prostitute) who walls in love with a young nobleman named Alfredo, who promises to make a honest woman of her.
In the end, she dies of a terminal case of tuberculosis, but not without singing an interminable farewell aria first.
La Traviata is a quintessential example of everything that's ludicrous about opera. Here we have a woman, more than likely built like a small elephant, belting out big songs about how she's wasting away to nothing. Whoever coined the expression `The opera isn't over until the fat lady sings' probably had this one in mind (Depending on the circles you travel in, ti might be `the opera ain't over...' Whatever)
The first performance of La Traviata in Venice in March 1853 was a complete disaster. The tenor had a terrible cold and kept croaking all over the place. all and all, the audience thought Verdi's tragic opera was the funniest thing they'd heard in years. Salvini-Donatelli, the soprano playing the consumptive Violetta, was so hefty and healthy-looking that every time she sang, the audience burst into gales of laughter. It was not a good sign (her first name was Fanny, which probably didn't help).
R. and I went to listen to the `La Traviatta' in Guy ben Hinom (=Brikhat ha Sultan; = Mitchell Garden) the other day. The local youths were not impressed with the dance in Flora's house and started their own dance behind the stage. Hence in our case the fat lady was dying to the sounds of the oriental music. I would too....
Another thing that left me puzzled are the gypsies and the matadors. Where on earth did they come from and what for? Y. thinks Verdi might had had some unused melodies left in his sleeve and that was the way to use them (wisely?). I reckon she has a point.
Off to some more from Jerusalem festival. That is, if someone brings a defrost and uses it on me.
Quotes from Barber on the matter to come....
UPD 1: Barber on Opera (from `A Musician's Dictionary'): A performance involving singers with orchestra (complete with unrealistic scenery and silly costumes), which tells a story so complex that nobody in the audience understands what's going on, although all speak about it as if they did. Consists mainly of fat people bellowing in a foreign language.
UPD 2: Barber on La Traviatta (from `When the Fat Lady Sings'): ... The libretto is based on an Alexandre Dumas novel about a courtesan Violetta (courtesan is just a polite term for prostitute) who walls in love with a young nobleman named Alfredo, who promises to make a honest woman of her.
In the end, she dies of a terminal case of tuberculosis, but not without singing an interminable farewell aria first.
La Traviata is a quintessential example of everything that's ludicrous about opera. Here we have a woman, more than likely built like a small elephant, belting out big songs about how she's wasting away to nothing. Whoever coined the expression `The opera isn't over until the fat lady sings' probably had this one in mind (Depending on the circles you travel in, ti might be `the opera ain't over...' Whatever)
The first performance of La Traviata in Venice in March 1853 was a complete disaster. The tenor had a terrible cold and kept croaking all over the place. all and all, the audience thought Verdi's tragic opera was the funniest thing they'd heard in years. Salvini-Donatelli, the soprano playing the consumptive Violetta, was so hefty and healthy-looking that every time she sang, the audience burst into gales of laughter. It was not a good sign (her first name was Fanny, which probably didn't help).