Opera

Though fairies possess magical powers, it is not always safe for even these beings to venture outside the safety of fairyland.

Mar 9, 2002 -

Two Titania-related operas bring us to a mixture of German and French texts and settings.

Mar 2, 2002 -

Nearly three hundred years apart, two English composers took on an operatic telling of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But how different the two works are!

Feb 24, 2002 -

Opera contains many different kinds of supernatural beings, from fairies and nymphs to witches and devils. Of course, the latter group gets the most press. Let’s see how some of the better deeds are accomplished.

Feb 14, 2002 -

One unusual evening hour brings out the town in two quite disparate operas...while, in another, several men find reason to climb into clocks...!

Jan 13, 2002 -

How are operatic characters ruled by the forces of Time?

Jan 6, 2002 -

What roles did the genuine Godfrey de Bouillon and Tancred play in the First Crusade?

Dec 27, 2001 -

Knights and feisty Saracen females battle it out, in a plethora of operas based upon a single 16th-century epic.

Dec 24, 2001 -

Madness and magic wreak havoc upon romance in operatic adaptations of Ariosto’s panoramic Orlando Furioso.

Dec 14, 2001 -

Although Ivanhoe is dismissed as stodgy fare in our own time (by those who haven’t read it) for Victorians it was an exciting, exotic tale of love and adventure -- as a story, and then as an opera.

Dec 9, 2001 -

Family ties, the supernatural, and tournaments make for some pretty fantastical scene-spinning, in several French operas of the 1800s.

Nov 30, 2001 -

When the men were away on their Crusades, the women they left behind were sometimes chaste, sometimes not...

Nov 23, 2001 -

When the French trooped off to fight Crusades in the east, they didn’t necessarily inspire operas to remain in the mainstream, but certainly supplied some interesting early 19th-century works.

Nov 16, 2001 -

A number of Crusades-related operas could almost be subtitled "or, Family Feud." However, in between the squabbles, we do get glimpses of history.

Nov 10, 2001 -

When Spanish knights choose less than virtuous women to honor with their good deeds, death soon follows....

Nov 2, 2001 -

Cookie-cutter though some lesser-known 19th-century operas may be when they concern Spanish or Portuguese knights pitted against Moorish forces, they certainly don’t lack for melodrama.

Oct 26, 2001 -

Swans, sorcerers, sharp instruments, and Christian relics take on special significance in Wagner’s Lohengrin and .

Oct 19, 2001 -

Wagner's Tristan und Isolde actually takes place rather more on Arthurian territory than in the Continental Europe or Middle East of the Crusades. Tannhäuser, on the other hand, travels between a Christian world and an ideal pagan land where Venus, the goddess of love, reigns supreme.

Oct 12, 2001 -

Let’s see how the legends of King Arthur have been interpreted on the opera stage in three different centuries: the 17th, the 19th, and the 20th.

Oct 5, 2001 -

Many operas concern a period in history when European and Middle Eastern forces clashed: the time of the Crusades. This new series examines how knights are represented upon the opera stage, from the 17th-century King Arthur of Purcell to the late 20th-century Gawain by Birtwistle.

Sep 28, 2001 -

What is it about national anthems that so affects us? What do their complete verses reveal, that may not be apparent from the single verse we typically learned in school?

Sep 19, 2001 -

Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, transcribed for the opera stage, is a gritty look at the tough life of 1930s California ranch hands whose sense of "home" changes with each new migrant assignment.

Sep 14, 2001 -

Two operas that premiered sixty years apart are nearly nearly no-woman’s-lands of opera. Both are set in California: one, in a Gold Rush mining camp; the other, at a Depression-era ranch worked by migrant farm hands. In each, a lone woman is the catalyst for the action.

Sep 7, 2001 -

To truly understand Porgy & Bess, we need to look at what the secondary characters have to say about morality, motherhood, and manliness.

Sep 3, 2001 -

Spinning off from last week's discussion of spirituals and gospel in opera, is an intriguing comparison: of Treemonisha, composed by black ragtime pianist Scott Joplin, and Porgy and Bess, composed by white jazz pianist George Gershwin.

Aug 24, 2001 -

Let's take a break from all this operatic traveling to consider the role of religious music in modern American opera, particularly those set in the South.

Aug 17, 2001 -

In our time, New Orleans perhaps brings an image of Mardi Gras…or even Anne Rice’s vampires. But to three composers writing about 18th-century Louisiana, the focus is sea-voyage and l’amour.

Aug 10, 2001 -

There’s the old saying: in the East, people ask what you do; in the West, what you earn; in the South, who your family is. See what happens when three Southern women feel compelled to break away from their traditional roles as good mother, daughter, or wife...

Aug 3, 2001 -

Valleys of seduction, dance, violence, and fierce desire for escape, are what unite three 20th century operas set in the Appalachian Mountains and along Long Island Sound.

Jul 27, 2001 -

By strange coincidence, two eccentric New England spinsters lead alarmingly similar -- and gory -- lives on the opera stage.

Jul 20, 2001 -

Although our first thoughts of this state are probably bordered by the pastoral on the one side and the prim on the other, with a nice bowl of baked beans somewhere in the middle, when it comes to opera Massachusetts is the Devil's playground.

Jul 13, 2001 -

Summer is the time for regional opera festivals to swing into gear. For those of you who must remain armchair travelers, let your operas tour the country -- as we examine plots set in specific states or areas of the United States. In what ways may American settings play their own important role in the action or in the molding of characters' characters? What local features do librettists seize upon to capture the flavor of a particular place? Keep your eye out for such issues as these, as our operatic bus makes its first stop in New York City.

Jul 6, 2001 -

Though some operas actually allow their characters to reach the altar, it isn’t necessarily immediate smooth sailing from there...

Jun 29, 2001 -

Operagoers attend very few wedding ceremonies or receptions…onstage, that is. Though many works concern engagement, marriage, or the anticipation of one or the other, a surprising number of the works leave their altars somewhere in the wings.

Jun 22, 2001 -

Concluding this study of opera's travesti male roles, we consider a few of the odder instances to make it to the stage.

Jun 15, 2001 -

"There’s nothing like a dame" takes on a whole new dimension when you take a good look at some of the roles in opera!

Jun 8, 2001 -

Female singers portraying male characters is common enough to opera -- but what about male singers who play women?

Jun 1, 2001 -

What do the romantic entanglements of opera's actress-characters tell us about the offstage image of such performers? Let's just say that their male admirers aren't above doing a bit of play-acting themselves...

May 25, 2001 -

Opera of course involves theater--and in some operas, the acting profession is itself brought to front and center of the stage.

May 18, 2001 -

When their personal passions reach operatic proportions, how do operatic characters who are themselves singers behave?

May 11, 2001 -

How have opera performers been portrayed upon the opera stage? Are they imperious divas, sensitive and otherworldly vessels of ethereal talents...or hired help?

May 4, 2001 -

Some operas employ wordplay to color their characterizations or comedy. But are such devices truly nonsensical?

Apr 27, 2001 -

What may we learn about the transporting qualities of imaginative vision, from operas that concern travel or multiple locales?

Apr 20, 2001 -

Some operatic characters have nationalities distinctly at odds with others in their cast. How are these differences revealed -- musically? textually? by the use of accents?

Apr 13, 2001 -

The opera house becomes a gaming house, in several more examples of card and dice games that consume characters' attention

Apr 6, 2001 -

Be it at a classy spa or a snow-blown cabin, some operatic characters have cards up their sleeves...learn just what games they are playing, in part 1 of this two-part series on gambling in opera.

Mar 30, 2001 -

Bossy, opinionated, of a certain age, and usually mezzo -- some operatic ladies can really cause their leading characters misery! Gather up ye protective armor, and see how.

Mar 23, 2001 -

Secret children, secret marriages -- it's Suite 101 goes to the tabloids, in Part 2 of this two-part article.

Mar 16, 2001 -

Illegitimate children can play powerful roles in opera, even if they do not actually appear onstage...and they raise some interesting questions about their parents, too.

Mar 9, 2001 -

Quick -- name American operas based on American literature. There's more to this subject than you might think!

Mar 2, 2001 -

When speaking or writing about operas, we tend to forget who their librettists are. Here are some eye-opening examples of librettists who are household names...as novelists, poets, or playwrights.

Feb 23, 2001 -

Snow and ice are important features of a number of operas. Let's examine their effects.

Feb 16, 2001 -

Love, engagement, marriage, are all fair play for this lighthearted quiz about opera titles.

Feb 9, 2001 -

Several works that concern China draw upon historical figures or incidents for their stories. How close to they hit the mark when it comes to accurately depicting that nation?

Feb 2, 2001 -

In celebration of the Chinese New Year, let's take a trip to China -- in the minds of Western opera composers and their librettists.

Jan 26, 2001 -

The film Topsy-Turvy acquaints us with the times and circumstances of The Mikado. Read here about its influences...and spinoffs.

Jan 19, 2001 -

Although usually a minor character, hermits may occupy key positions in an opera's plotting. Find out just how powerful their simple faith might be, in moving the story along.

Jan 12, 2001 -

Christmas, New Year, opera, Puccini, Leoncavallo, La Boheme, Tippett, Rimsky-Korsakov, Massenet, Werther, Dickens, carol, holiday

Jan 5, 2001 -

Christmas takes center stage in two 20th-C operas that tell us quite a lot about their composer-lyricists, too.

Dec 29, 2000 -

How is education depicted in opera...and what does it teach us about opera?

Dec 15, 2000 -