A Night at the Opera

[Chris Newman]

I was really looking forward to Opera North's Das Rheingold, only to discover that it is to be a concert performance. You could argue that it's better than nothing, but I would rather listen to a well-produced audio recording, where it's possible to imagine the characters on stage. Staring at a bunch of soloists, standing in front of an orchestra, is not my idea of a night at the opera.

Oh, I don't know, Alpy. For me some concert performances (especially Proms) have been far more moving than fully staged versions. Last week's The Jacobin (Dvorak) at the Barbican got rave revues; I wish I could have been there. For one thing you see the effort that goes into the music-making in the orchestra as well as the "line-up" and if the performance is handled well the acting is often more intimate and better handled than by some self-loving theatre director. Belohlavek, Elder and many others get good directors to push "concert" singers around.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I missed Alpie's post first time round - but he missed an excellent staging of Rheingold: the use of lighting, projections and the movement of the singers created far more of a theatrical experience than simply "a bunch of soloists standing in front of an orchestra". And the orchestra was superb, the conducting magnificent, and the singers showed that it is possible to sing in time, in tune and "Dramatically" without resorting to bad acting and histrionic screeching (being "in front of the orchestra" probably helped: an advantage over the Opera House).

The promotional "Concert Performance" of ON's publicity gave a very wrong impression of what to expect. This was a performance that the whole audience became totally enthralled by: one of those events where there was a feeling that everyone had shared something very special.

Alpie (and, indeed, anyone) : if you can get to Walküre (unlikely, tickets have sold remarkably quickly) I do urge you to do so - it's not just a static "sing-through".

[aeolium]

Not a 'night' at the opera but a late afternoon yesterday at Cardiff's Millennium Centre for the WNO Beatrice and Benedict (sung in English). I didn't know this Berlioz work at all (apart from the overture) but loved its wit and shades of a late autumnal calm in the music - so different from the mercurial and passionate music of Benvenuto Cellini and La Damnation de Faust. The orchestra was excellent under Michael Hofstetter and the singing generally very good. The drawbacks of the work to me seem Berlioz' overuse of dialogue, even if it is for the most part Shakespeare's dialogue, and the fact that there is too little action and dramatic tension. Donald Maxwell was very funny in his cameo role as the maitre de chapelle Somarone, with plenty of topical asides about conductors, singers, rugby and football but that was the only dialogue that came to life and at times you almost felt as if it was turning into a production of the Shakespeare play with some musical interludes. The production was quite traditional with good use of lighting but perhaps served to emphasise the rather static nature of the drama. Still, it was very enjoyable for the music - what wonderful woodwind writing - and for an opportunity to see yet another side of Berlioz' versatility.

[french frank]

Not a 'night' at the opera but a late afternoon yesterday at Cardiff's Millennium Centre for the WNO Beatrice and Benedict (sung in English).

Looking forward to this in a few weeks' time.

So, is the dialogue 'translated' back into Shakespeare's lines?

[aeolium]

So, is the dialogue 'translated' back into Shakespeare's lines?

David Cairns' programme note (taken I think from the second part of his biography of Berlioz) says 'much of the dialogue and some of the lyrics come directly from Shakespeare'. I don't know the Shakespeare play well enough to tell if the dialogue was translated back but it sounded like it - apart from the dialogue of made up characters like Somarone. Berlioz in his memoirs mentioned that the French critics thought that the spoken dialogue was dull - "This dialogue is taken almost word for word from Shakespeare". (But I have to agree with the French critics that, in the opera, it was dull).

[french frank]

Thanks. I'll see if I can have a word with Simon Rees about that. I wonder how he managed the surtitles (assuming that there are surtitles).

[aeolium]

There were no surtitles for the dialogue, but there were (English and Welsh ) for most of the musical numbers - but not all and sometimes the surtitles dried up even though the words being sung were not repeated words. It wasn't a great problem though since it was sung in English (do they have surtitles at ENO?)

[Flosshilde]

(do they have surtitles at ENO?)

I think they do - I remember the fuss when they were introduced, & they were there for Parsifal (the only visit I've made to ENO since I left London)

[french frank]

There were no surtitles for the dialogue, but there were (English and Welsh ) for most of the musical numbers - but not all and sometimes the surtitles dried up even though the words being sung were not repeated words.

Yes, of course. The sung bits can be somewhat abbreviated, I think, anyway. (We don't get Welsh ones! ). I've never been to ENO but, as Floss said, there was a bit of a fuss when surtitles were introduced as being 'unnecessary'.

[aeolium]

I think surtitles are worth having for operas sung in the vernacular simply because the nature of operatic singing can obscure the words in a way that doesn't happen for instance in music theatre or even operetta like G&S. And the hearing of some members of the audience may not be of the best. People who feel they don't need them don't have to look at them anyway.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

(do they have surtitles at ENO?)

They do... and they're frequently needed, which is an indication as to either the quality of the singing or the acoustic of the barn that is the Coliseum. Or both.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

A controversial new staging of Dvorak's Rusalka at the Royal Opera House last night. Well, not new as it's from the Salzburg Festival c.2008, but controversial, certainly. The production team were greeted by boos, but musically it was fantastic. Review now up:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=661:rusalka-the-royal-opera-27th-february-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[french frank]

Oh, dear, IGI. One star. From a lovely person like you that has to be bad

Ed: Should say that was staging. 4.5 for the music

[aeolium]

A controversial new staging of Dvorak's Rusalka at the Royal Opera House last night.....musically it was fantastic.

Sounds like a good option for broadcast on R3

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Oh, dear, IGI. One star. From a lovely person like you that has to be bad

Ed: Should say that was staging. 4.5 for the music

I know! It was not just a bad production, but poorly conceived and executed, whereas musically it was very fine. I've amended to 4 stars, meaning I could award an average of 2.5 on the home page if that's required at some point...

Sounds like a good option for broadcast on R3

It's being broadcast on R3 in June!