Opera

Das Rheingold and Wotan

5 free resources – Das Rheingold, Opera of the Month

 

One of the things I’ve always found fascinating about opera is the fact that it can be so many different things to different people; for one person, an opera may simply be an opportunity to listen to some gorgeous music. For someone else, the story itself may be the most intriguing element. Yet others may find enjoyment only upon researching and “doing their homework” on the work, digging into the opera’s musical and dramatic themes. I personally derive the greatest pleasure from an opera when I know the work well, and we at Opera Sense are committed to helping people learn as much as they can about this life-changing genre. To that end, here are a few free online resources you can use to get to know our Opera of the Month – Das Rheingold – better…

(more…)

By Trevor Gillis, ago
Kathleen Battle

Kathleen Battle

The opera world loves a good controversy, and Kathleen Battle certainly provided one! Born in 1948, Battle first appeared on the operatic stage as Rosina in Michigan Opera Theater’s 1975 production of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. Two years later she made her Met debut, playing the Shepherd in Wagner’s Tannhäuser. During the 1980s, Battle became a renowned interpreter of lyric and coloratura soprano roles.

Kathleen Battle

(more…)

By Trevor Gillis, ago
Laura Wilde

“This production shows how the magic works,” Laura Wilde on Lyric Opera’s Das Rheingold

I first met Laura Wilde during our sophomore year at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. At St. Olaf, it soon became obvious to everyone who listened to her that she was going to make something of herself in the notoriously competitive world of opera. Unsurprisingly, she’s done just that! Playing Freia in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s latest production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, Wilde was gracious enough to answer a few questions about herself and the production for Opera Sense.

(more…)

By Trevor Gillis, ago
Das Rheingold

Overview – Das Rheingold, Opera of the Month

The libretto to Das Rheingold was the last one Richard Wagner wrote for Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), but it was the first opera of the cycle that he composed music for. This opera serves as the prologue in his epic Ring tetralogy, with the next three operas being Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung. Rheingold premiered in Munich in 1869, but it was not until 1876 that it was performed as part of the first complete cycle at the legendary Bayreuth Festspielhaus theater (a theater designed by Wagner and built specifically for the Ring) in Bayreuth, Germany. The annual Bayreuth festival continues to this day.

Das Rheingold

(more…)

By Trevor Gillis, ago
Maria Callas

Maria Callas

The quintessential diva, Maria Callas was renowned not just for her beautiful singing, but also for her superb acting. The short-lived Greek-American star was born in New York City in 1923. She studied music in Greece and first emerged on the operatic stage in Italy. Callas is widely regarded as one of the great interpreters of the 19th-century bel canto technique, singing virtually all the major Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini soprano roles. A recording of her singing the title role of Puccini’s Tosca in 1952 is still considered the gold standard. In fact, the recording itself has a Wikipedia page.

“Nearly thirty years after her death, she’s still the definition of the diva as artist—and still one of classical music’s best-selling vocalists.” -Opera News, 2006

Maria Callas is “the Bible of opera.” -Leonard Bernstein

Maria Callas (more…)

By Trevor Gillis, ago
Most popular opera

The performances to see early this 2016 / 2017 season

It’s an intoxicating time of year for operagoers! The 2016/2017 opera season is just beginning, and it looks like it’s going to be a fantastic year! Here are a few of the biggest productions to keep your eyes on this fall…

The Metropolitan Opera is opening its season with Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde next week on Monday, September 26, 2016. This revolutionary work is often viewed as one of the earliest pieces to take definitive steps away from tonal music, as represented by the famous Tristan chord, an integral part of the Tristan leitmotiv. For those of you not in New York, you will still have a chance to see a live performance of this groundbreaking work at the cinema on October 8, 2016 at noon Eastern Time. Later in October I am particularly excited to watch the Met’s Don Giovanni, one of the Mozart – Da Ponte collaborations, at the cinema.

(more…)

By Trevor Gillis, ago
Behind the Curtain, Romeo and Juliet

Behind the Curtain, Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, @mnopera

Behind the Curtain, Romeo and Juliet

On September 14, 2016, a little after 7:00 p.m., Peter Mercer-Taylor made Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette come alive for me for the first time at the Minnesota Opera Behind the Curtain event at the Minnesota Opera Center in Minneapolis’s North Loop district. This rather obscure mid-19th century opera has never had a consistent place in the canon, but after Mercer-Taylor’s lecture, I wonder if it deserves one.
(more…)

By Trevor Gillis, ago

A few arias to go along with your coffee

Opera music can be a bit much to chew early in the morning, but here are a few pieces that I find go well with my morning coffee.

Although not an aria, it just can’t get much more beautiful than that, can it? Those french horns – wow! “Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral” is from Wagner’s Lohengrin. I think the title of the piece does a fairly good job explaining what’s happening in the opera when you hear it. (more…)

By Trevor Gillis, ago