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Music Monday: Opera

by Scott Lydon


Happy Music Monday! Opera is often considered to be complex, hard to get into, overly dramatic... and that's all wrong wrong wrong. Scott's here to set you all straight with five lovely opera pieces that you will enjoy. Or else.

Jacques Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann - Barcarolle

 

Let's start with a setting here: the day after having his heart broken by an underage robot, the writer awakes in a whore-covered tavern where his muse is protecting him. No, that's not the start of a new Warren Ellis anime! That's the second act of "The Trials Of Hoffman" and it's like an opera MADE for comic book nerds! Where you at, Christopher Nolan? Why can't you do for this what you did for Batman! Also, the music is lovely, as you'll see when you listen to the above video.

Can you believe there's still more to come? Well, there is. Come inside and enjoy.

Giacomo Puccini: Il trittico - Suor Angelica

 

Il trittico is a three part opera that works almost like a night of TV. There's a murder mystery of sorts in the first portion, a sitcom that's basically Weekend At Bernie's in the last portion, and this beautifully melodramatic middle portion about a mother who just wants to see her child again, and begs to the Virgin Mary for help. If you're interested, you can actually enjoy the whole middle portion here but I chose the very very ending to post above. I recommend doing a little research and enjoying the story, especially if you yourself are a mom.

Giacomo Puccini: Madame Butterfly - Coro a bocca chiusa

 

I didn't want to double up composers, but this was one of my very first operas, and this particular scene absolutely broke me. I've chosen a YouTube video with an image that represented what I saw. After being pretty much abandoned by her husband, Butterfly hears his ship has returned to the harbor. She dresses their son and gathers the maid and they all kneel down, convinced that this house will be his first stop and ready to greet him. And they wait. And wait. And wait. And the child gives up. And the maid gives up. And the lighting gives up. And the set gives up. And the music gives up. And yet, poor Cio-Cio San is still there, kneeling, knowing in her heart her husband is just slightly delayed. It's the perfect representation of loving the wrong person and it touches me every time I see it. I'm just sorry I couldn't find an actual performance of the scene.

Richard Wagner - Das Rheingold

 

The Met Opera's recent presentation of the Ring cycle took advantage of modern technology to create something that was visually stunning, even in an age of Lord of the Rings and Thor. The stage looked vaguely like the robots from Interstellar and was converted from earth to water to sky to the stairs into Valhalla itself. Instead of a performance, I've chosen this trailer that shows off just how incredible it all looked. If you love Norse myth, you'll love Das Rheingold. Bad. Ass.

Gioacchino Rossini: The Barber Of Seville - Bugs Bunny

 

Yeah, you know it. Just like Hurt belongs to Johnny Cash and All Along The Watchtower belongs to Jimi Hendrix, one cannot perform The Barber Of Seville without thinking of Bugs Bunny. So why try? And anyway, this is as good a version as any you'd see on a stage.

Let us just remind you: some images come from the corresponding Wikipedia page and are here under fair use. Go on and talk a little opera in the comments. If you've never seen one, consider changing that! And hey, see you next week.