A Night at the Opera

[Flosshilde]

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.

I think it was the normal practice in the 18th & 19th centuries for audiences to have a printed libretto (in the same language as the opera, which would normally be the language of the audience) for opera perfromances; until the practice of darkened auditoria became common (towards the end of the 19th century) it was possible to read them during the performance. ENO's (& other house's) practice would seem to be the modern equivelant.

[aeolium]

I think surtitles are a great improvement, having struggled at times (especially during dialogue or recitatives) when I went to foreign-language operas before they had been introduced. Also, when you get a real lemon of a production, as the ROH Rusalka seems to be, it must be a great comfort to the audience to be able to lift their eyes above the proscenium arch to the surtitles and listen to the music

[underthecountertenor]

The real problem with surtitles lies with comedies. Countless times now I've witnessed gales of laughter greeting a joke or punchline in the surtitles before it has been delivered by the singer. The result is that the singer's delivery of the punchline becomes at best a squib and at worst drowned out. I find it intensely irritating as an audience member, and I can only imagine what the poor singer must feel. The problem could be alleviated by more careful timing of the surtitles (something ENO manages rather better than the ROH in my experience - presumably partly because of the syntactical difficulties of translating a joke into English where the word order is likely to be different). More generally, I often feel that a lot of fine acting is going for nothing with audiences glued to the surtitles. But I have to admit that I find them useful when going to an opera that I don't know well, even if I've had the chance to do some homework, so I'd say that they are a blessing, albeit decidedly mixed.
As for surtitles at ENO, I sometimes think that there's a vicious spiral, or self-fulfilling prophecy, aspect to this. My concern is that singers will pay less attention to diction when singing in the vernacular if they know that they have the 'safety-net' of surtitles. As for the Coliseum, it always amuses me when people say that it is a problem acoustic, as certain singers have absolutely no problem getting every single word across while in other cases I sometimes fail to catch more than about one word in five. At Der Rosenkavalier on Monday night all the leads, but in particular John Tomlinson (as ever) and Sarah Connolly, fell into the former category. So it can be done.
Incidentally, I was amused to hear a chap behind me showing off to his female companion (at her first opera). In the first interval he expatiated on how curious it was that the translator had chosen to leave parts of the opera in Italian. I had to bite my tongue.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Covent Garden regulars who are familiar with David McVicar's production of 'Die Zauberflöte' may be interested to read about its brief Rome sojourn, complete with booing of the Queen of the Night...

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=681:die-zauberfloete-teatro-dellopera-di-roma-27th-march-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

It certainly added a gladiatorial atmosphere!

[french frank]

Covent Garden regulars who are familiar with David McVicar's production of 'Die Zauberflöte' may be interested to read about its brief Rome sojourn, complete with booing of the Queen of the Night...

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=681:die-zauberfloete-teatro-dellopera-di-roma-27th-march-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

It certainly added a gladiatorial atmosphere!

Crumbs! Lucky you, IGI, to have been over there seeing it. My own feeling about the QotN is that she should sound as if she's busting a gut to get those top notes (after all, she is very angry), but she does get there each time. Sopranos like Sumi Jo have it too easy. Hmmm. I think I'd find booing like that rather embarrassing, even just being in the audience.

[french frank]

I went to the WNO's Beatrice and Benedict last night. My first time for an opera that was completely unknown to me. It was a good, solid WNO production though from where I was sitting up aloft in the cheapos some of the dialogue was not easy to hear - and there was rather a lot of it. It was just about worth expanding into a two-act opera instead of the original one-act idea and in general I liked the lifting of the Beatrice and Benedict story from Shakespeare's play.

I thought Michael Hofstetter was outstanding and the orchestra played extremely well for him. The voice which really gripped me was Anna Burford's as Ursula - a real rich contralto. I'd love to hear her Cesare which she seems to have performed quite a few times.

This is a side of Berlioz's music which I didn't know at all and at times it was abs gorgeous.

(I toy with travelling to Swansea to catch the last performance in a week's time. I'd sit on the other side of the auditorium in order to see what was probably the more interesting view of the set than what I could see ...)

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

That's good to hear, ff. I was disappointed not to be able to see Beatrice and Benedict when it came to Southampton, as the production sounded decent and it's such a lovely score. I did catch Joyce El-Khoury in La Traviata though - I really like David McVicar's production, which is so clearly influenced by the Dumas novel. It was tremendously conducted by Julia Jones - by far the best conducted Traviata I've heard in years.

[Flosshilde]

Covent Garden regulars who are familiar with David McVicar's production of 'Die Zauberflöte' may be interested to read about its brief Rome sojourn, complete with booing of the Queen of the Night...

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=681:die-zauberfloete-teatro-dellopera-di-roma-27th-march-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

It certainly added a gladiatorial atmosphere!

This link seems to be defunct - it takes you to a page labelled Opera Bratannia but which just has ads & stuff about tax? (perhaps it's been hijacked by ahinton )

[french frank]

This link seems to be defunct - it takes you to a page labelled Opera Bratannia but which just has ads & stuff about tax? (perhaps it's been hijacked by ahinton )

Yes, I found that yesterday when I was looking for a review of WNO's B&B and Figaro.

Saw Figaro last night - first time for a few years as I ducked it last time WNO did it. A jolly production in which I think performances have probably improved since it was reviewed. Susanna, Countess and Cherubino all very good, Figaro and the Count both better than I expected from the reviews. David Soar was a very 'balletic' Figaro, Dario Solari cutting a raffish, Lord Lucan-like figure.

With the usual rather spare WNO sets, the 1920s costumes did contribute coherently and unmistakeably to the plot and the outbreaks of Charleston-type dancing were quite funny. The main problem for me was in the distorting mirrors of the second half (though others admired them, and they were quite clever). They made their point a little too well and the action ended up even more confusing than it is, especially when what is almost the entire cast of characters emerges from the same 'pavilion' at the end. With the weaving around the various mirrors earlier on it wasn't clear that they had all been hiding in the same place - or indeed that it was a 'place' at all, rather than just off stage.

The young Stephen Wood was conducting and was an able deputy for Anthony Negus - good luck to him. I hope he's a rising star!

Should add that given that there was very little scenery, they managed all the concealments of the first half very effectively!

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

This link seems to be defunct - it takes you to a page labelled Opera Bratannia but which just has ads & stuff about tax? (perhaps it's been hijacked by ahinton )

Yes, we've got server problems at the moment, so have decamped to http://operabritanniauk.wordpress.com/ in the meantime.

Here's the latest review - last night's Met Traviata:

http://operabritanniauk.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/verdi-la-traviata-metropolitan-opera-14th-april-2012/

[Osborn]

I'm sorry to read about Natalie Dessay's struggle but I don't think I'd have risked the price of a ticket to hear her undertaking Violetta in such a huge house. Disappointment would have spoilt the high regard I have for her.

But on a happier note her recital of French songs at the Wigmore Hall last month was engaging & captivating stuff.

[Bert Coules]

I only managed to catch the last act, but I had no impression that Dessay was underpowered or struggling: actually, I thought she was extremely impressive. Splendid production, too.

Bert

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I only managed to catch the last act, but I had no impression that Dessay was underpowered or struggling: actually, I thought she was extremely impressive. Splendid production, too.

Bert

I have heard reports that her voice didn't sound as small on the radio. Sadly, there's no 'Listen Again' feature to compare, but she did sound tiny via the big screen and was clearly out of sorts.

[Bert Coules]

I listened to (and watched) the live cinema feed, not the radio balance (though are they different?) Maybe the sound system in your cinema affected things. As I said, I saw only the final act, where I suppose it's possible that vocal weakness and out-of-sortedness would have been less obvious, given the dramatic situation, but I was entirely happy with her performance.

Bert

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Rihm's Jakob Lenz in new ENO production: http://operabritanniauk.wordpress.co...-april-2012-6/