Opera Digest

So I've seen a fair few operas lately that I haven't written about, on account of being distracted by...stuff. When you get a backlog like this, you realize, man, I'm never going to get to these, am I? But I want to! So let's just do some brief capsule reviews.

Sergei Prokofiev, The Gambler (1929)

Based on a short Dostoevsky novel that I haven't read. I couldn't speak for the book, but this adaptation is oddly directionless and, I would say, non-operatic. It's about a tutor for a family who follows them on vacation in some European resort town. He's in love with the daughter who is cold to him. And the family needs money so they're waiting for this matriarch to die, but she doesn't. And then he wins a lot of money that he hopes will allow him to win the daughter's affections but doesn't. Finis. Actually, the climactic gambling scene is kinda cool. And being from the Mariinsky Theatre, this production is probably about as good as it'll get. But eh. Not really sold.

Jacques Offenbach, Orphée aux enfers (1858)

Offenbach's most famous operetta, possibly. Features the can-can music that a lot of people in my age range are familiar with as the invincibility music from Super Mario Land. Pretty amusing burlesque, I think, but I am forced to admit that I was as jetlagged as I've ever been when I saw this, and I don't think I quite got the full effect.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782)

This is the last major Mozart opera I had not seen. European dude's beloved, along with their two comedy servants, are captured and taken to this Ottoman palace. They have to fend off, respectively, the lovelorn pasha and the savage seraglio-keeper. This is dope as fuck. Seriously, the only Mozart operas that could make a case for being better are Figaroand Giovanni, and I'd call it a toss-up, really. There is, obviously, a certain amount of Orientalism here; it's the sort of thing that could easily shade into something really ugly, but David McVicar's great production deftly avoids that. It plays up the original setting to the hilt, and also makes it clear that, in spite of being different from the Europeans, the pasha is actually admirable and in some way to be envied. Anyway, love love love this.

John Adams, The Death of Klinghoffer (1991)

Adams' second opera is about the 1985 hijacking of a vacation cruise in the Mediterranean by members of the PLF who demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners; ultimately, one man, a wheelchair-bound American Jew, was murdered. Here's a thing that maddens me: the Met was going to do a Live in HD production of this in 2014. But then idiot fucking brownshirt protesters got wind of it and started hollering that it was anti-Semitic, and...they backed down. Seriously, a real low-light for the Met, second only to employing a child molester for forty years. Spoilers: no, it is fucking NOT anti-Semitic, unless you subscribe to the idea that nothing Israel does should ever be criticized in any fashion. But, of course, none of these protesters had ever seen it; they were just interested in being part of a mindless, howling mob. It's actually quite balanced; it humanizes both sides of the conflict...which, of course, is a BIG PROBLEM for some. Anyway, because there was no Live in HD performance, I could only watch this film version, which is substantially different than the stage work. In the behind-the-scenes feature, Adams describes the opera as often being more like an oratorio, with these long, somewhat abstract narrative pieces. The opera substantially fills in the story, showing these over scenes depicting the characters' backgrounds. It's a good idea and it basically works, though apparently about twenty minutes of material were cut, which bums me out. It's a good production nonetheless, and Christopher Maltman is highly appealing as the sympathetic ship's captain. I have to admit, though, musically this did not blow me away. I thought it was less interesting than either Nixon in China or Doctor Atomic. You'd think it'd be more so, given that this one has more of an actual plot, but I wasn't that excited. Still wish I could've seen the Live in HD version, though.

Ferruccio Busoni, Doktor Faust (1924)

My fourth Faust opera, and a substantially different beast than any of the previous. One thing you'll notice immediately is that this bucks convention by making Faust a baritone and Mephistopheles a tenor, but in practice, that doesn't really feel unusual or strange. The opera itself definitely is, however. Busoni was definitely going his own way with the story, and it frequently gets somewhat abstruce. You'll also note that Marguerite, surprisingly, is not a character here; she's presented as having been seduced and died prior to the opera's events. Her place is taken by an unnamed duchess who doesn't play a large role. I do like how we get a scene here of Faust basically just using Mephistopheles to do magic tricks to impress people. That's fun, and Thomas Hampson is excellent in the role--this is the one opera where I'd say he's a better character than Mephy. The music here is also great, very Wagnerian (well, your more restrained Wagner--think Parsifal). Honestly, this is definitely my least favorite Faust opera I've seen, but it's still pretty good. This has nothing to do with anything, but I want to note that this list of operas based on Faust includes Doctor Atomic,

which...come on. Just because you have the vague idea that the development of the atomic bomb involves some kind of Faustian bargain doesn't mean that the opera itself supports that idea in any way.

Lee Hoiby, Bon Appétit! (1989)

Can an opera feature only one character and be only twenty minutes long? Well, that's what this does and is, whatever you want to call it. The version I saw, from just a month ago at the Des Moines opera, appears to no longer be on youtube, but I'm sure this one is fine. What it is is an opera about Julia Childs. Well, "about" might not be the best word; the libretto is text taken verbatim from an episode of her TV show. She demonstrates how to make a chocolate cake. The version I saw starred mezzo soprano Joyce Castle, who does a very good job of looking and sounding like Childs if she'd been an opera singer. Slight, naturally, but engaging and funny and well worth seeing.

Igor Stravinsky, The Rake's Progress (1951)

This could much more easily be described as a Faust story than Doctor Atomic,I'll tell you that much. Tom Rakewell is going to marry his sweetheart, Anne, but then this mysterious Nick Shadow tells him he's suddenly inherited all this money and he goes to the city to sort things out, where he instantly becomes corrupted. He marries a bearded lady, Baba the Turk, on Nick's suggestion out of some sort of will-to-power thing. He comes up in a dream with the idea for a machine to turn stones into bread, and thinks he can use this to benefit mankind, but instead is ruined. Nick demands his soul, but agrees to play a game where Tom has to guess which three cards from a deck he's chosen. Tom improbably wins and Nick is sent back to Hell, but not before he curses Tom to lose his mind. Now Tom thinks he's Adonis and is looking for his Venus. He's in an insane asylum and Anne comes to visit him but realizes she can't reach him. The end. It's a strange plot, but that's clearly intentional, so one can't complain. Well...I say that, but I still think it's legit to complain that Tom's "downfall" isn't really a downfall; I can't emphasize enough how instantly it happens. The music is pretty good, though I wasn't wild about it. The English-language libretto co-written by WH Auden; the wikipedia entry neglects to say how this came to pass, but I'd love to know. The production I saw is this,from the late seventies. Not bad. Samuel Ramey stands out as a sinister Nick Shadow. The Met has done it with STEPHANIE FUCKING BLYTHE as Baba the Turk, but alas, there's no video available.

Antonio Salieri, Tarare(1787)

Goddamn, man. This is strange and self-indulgent and tonally dissonant and just ALL OVER THE PLACE, and I loved it. The libretto is by Pierre Beaumarchais, who also wrote the Figaro plays; this is his only libretto, written specifically for Salieri. You will definitely see echos of Die Entführung aus dem Serail; Atar is the evil king who has kidnapped Astasie, the wife of his general Tarare. How to save her? The other main character is Calpigi, Atar's comic-relief chief eunuch (who, interestingly, is supposed to be a castrato, though he's sung by a tenor). He's great. As I said, this is all over the place; characters don't get enough time to really get an idea of who they are, and there are parts of the plot that are kind of inscrutable. There's a long dance sequence in the third act which I thought was great but which might test the patience of some. It's kind of anti-monarchist, but not necessarily in a coherent way. And for what it's worth, Beaumarchais does not seem to know the difference between Muslims and Hindus. Oh well! And good god, forget about the opera itself; the music is sumptuous. I like this far more than his Falstaff. No, it's not as good as Entführung, but almost nothing is, so that doesn't say much. It should put to rest for good and all the idea that Salieri was a mediocrity. Naturally, there's only one video recording available, but fortunately, it's really good, with sumptuous sets and costumes and very good performances all 'round.

John Blow, Venus and Adonis (1683)

I saw this from youtube, but again, I can't find it now. I probably had the vpn on and set to some different place or other. But anyway, this seems to be the earliest English opera. It's pretty straightforward; Venus and Adonis are in love but then he goes hunting and is mortally wounded by a darn ol' boar. And she is sad. But in the meantime, there's some comedy stuff with cupid, here presented as a woman. It's just an hour long; there's some extremely pleasant early baroque music, so I did not feel my time was being wasted, but as you might expect from such an early think, it's a bit inchoate. The characters are, well, they are the mythological people they are, without their own individuality. I know you could say the same about Monteverdi's Orfeo,but that's still a lot better. This is fine; I don't object to it. I wouldn't call it a major work beyond its pride-of-place, however.