BaL 15.11.14 - Rossini: William Tell

[jean]

At the risk of labouring the point, can I just say that no-one would think of posting a video pf Florence Foster Jenkins singing the Queen of the Night aria on a BAL devoted to the Magic Flute.

Well, would they?

[Flosshilde]

Hmm - when is it coming up on BaL, I wonder?

[visualnickmos]

At the risk of labouring the point, can I just say that no-one would think of posting a video pf Florence Foster Jenkins singing the Queen of the Night aria on a BAL devoted to the Magic Flute.

Well, would they?

Certainly not; except if the Portsmouth Sinfonia was the orchestra!!!

[Don Basilio]

it lulled me to sleep at ROHCG about fifteen years ago. Awakened after many hours, I was taken to Rules for jugged hare by one of the spear-carriers, who assured me I hadn't missed anything significant.

Given Keraulaphonne's appreciation of a good restaurant and evident turn for stylish camp, I'd have thought Rossini would have been Keraulaphone's ideal composer.

Perhaps it's the lack of campiness (plus its length) that makes Guillaume Tell boring for some?

[Flosshilde]

Actually, if Keraulophone had been sleeping in the ROH for many hours I'm surprised he wasn't turfed out by the cleaners, or even handed in to the police station across the road as a vagrant. Probably a bit late for jugged hare at Rules as well, unless they serve it for breakfast.

[kernelbogey]

I saw the WNO production of Guillaume Tell last night in Southampton, having been to Mose in Egito the night before.

Tell has its longuers, as well as some lovely arias, notably for Mathilde and Arnold. This production also had six wonderful dancers, who performed in dance sequences which I assume Rossini included for Paris custom - this could have been cut, but I think added greatly to the gesamtkunstwerk - and they were used very creatively in other parts of the production. Also striking was that the opening cello solo of the overture was performed on stage by a spotlit principal, who, as the 'storm' section of the overture began was hustled away by Austrian guard chorus members; meanwhile a broken cello was flown from the flies. The solo cellist reappeared later onstage for a solo part; again a symbol for the spirit of independence.

So much was done by Pountney's production to dramatise the themes of liberty and the struggle for liberation from oppressions. I was struck, in the case of both operas, by a slight disjuncture between the underlying 'freedom' theme overlaid with a 'Romeo and Juliet' style of romantic storyline. In truth, Tell's part is rather dull, with the musical sparks coming largely from Arnold and Mathilde.

But there were moments when I was reflecting on the fundamental absurdity of opera and the suspension of disbelief required: mine faltered during the Act III scene in which Tell is required to shoot the apple on his son's head (the flight of the arrow ingeniously staged). Tell threatens Gesler, the hateful Austrian governor, while surrounded by the chorus as Swiss villagers, with Austrian guards on either side of him. He succeeds in holding these at bay with threatening gestures of his crossbow. In an age where swift retribution in entertainment is the norm, this implausibly prolonged self-defence overwhelmed my credibiility, and I had to accept that this was a 200-year old opera being staged.

There is much wonderful music in this work, and the WNO orchestra under Carlo Rizzi were on good form. I was pleased I went, enjoyed the experience, but wouldn't want to own it on disc.

[aeolium]

Thanks for the review, kernelbogey (perhaps it could be in the Night at the Opera sub-forum).

But there were moments when I was reflecting on the fundamental absurdity of opera and the suspension of disbelief required: mine faltered during the Act III scene in which Tell is required to shoot the apple on his son's head (the flight of the arrow ingeniously staged). Tell threatens Gesler, the hateful Austrian governor, while surrounded by the chorus as Swiss villagers, with Austrian guards on either side of him. He succeeds in holding these at bay with threatening gestures of his crossbow. In an age where swift retribution in entertainment is the norm, this implausibly prolonged self-defence overwhelmed my credibiility, and I had to accept that this was a 200-year old opera being staged.

Surely that's a problem inherent in opera, though - the whole point is to suspend the action while someone or several people sing, sometimes at great length! There can't be anything really swift in opera and as far as plots go, most of them require huge suspension of disbelief.

I'll go along with Dr Johnson in his Preface to Shakespeare, though alluding to plays not opera: "It will be asked, how the drama moves, if it is not credited. It is credited with all the credit due to a drama. It is credited, whenever it moves, as a just picture of a real original; as representing to the auditor what he would himself feel, if he were to do or suffer what is there feigned to be suffered or to be done. The reflection that strikes the heart is not, that the evils before us are real evils, but that they are evils to which we ourselves may be exposed. If there be any fallacy, it is not that we fancy the players, but that we fancy ourselves unhappy for a moment; but we rather lament the possibility than suppose the presence of misery..... The delight of tragedy proceeds from our consciousness of fiction; if we thought murders and treasons real, they would please no more." It is not the action that is important in an opera, but the way the characters react, and of course above all the music.

[Don Basilio]

[COLOR="#0000FF"]I agree with Don, I think that's a false analogy. I think the parallel would be that someone loves football passionately, and therefore takes part in a Forum about football; but he or she takes a dim view of the tactics (or whatever) of Man City

Over a month late and none of these music lovers have provided any detailed examples of the inadequacy of Rossini's tactics. My analogy still holds.

[BBMmk2]

Claudio Abbado I am sure, recorded this opera on Dg, early on in his career?