The Barber of Seville – Always delightful

Posted on February 17, 2011 by philip

How can anyone not like Rossini’s The Barber of Seville? The music is so light-hearted and tuneful, the good guys are so sweet and simple, the bad guys are so ridiculous you can’t hate them, the love story is so predictable, and the details of the plot are so absurd – what is there not to like? Continue reading »

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Yeomen of the Guard – Gilbert and Sullivan as Grand Opera

Posted on February 11, 2011 by philip

There is a certain feeling of excitement mixed with fear when I go to see an operetta by W. S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan. My memories of past performances and great familiarity with the words and music lead me to expect an enormous enjoyment, and my fear is that with such high anticipations I will be disappointed in the result. For two reasons this mixed feeling was especially present the afternoon of February 5, 2011 as I sat in the theatre at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco and waited for the opening chords of the overture. Continue reading »

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Carmen from Barcelona – No Harmony

Posted on January 15, 2011 by philip

Sunday, January 9, 2011. I settle comfortably in my seat in the Camera 7 Cinema in Campbell. The lights go down, the picture comes on, and I am transported to the Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona, an old-fashioned newly restored theater. Continue reading »

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Girl of the Golden West – Deborah Voigt is pure gold

Posted on January 9, 2011 by philip

In 1907 Giacomo Puccini was in New York for the American Premiere of his latest opera Madama Butterfly.  While there he saw David Belasco’s play, The Girl of the Golden West, and remarked, “That is my next opera.” Continue reading »

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Don Carlo – A Great Production on the Whole

Posted on December 20, 2010 by philip

“The whole is equal to the sum of its parts.”  Obvious, isn’t it?  Ten dimes are worth exactly one dollar.  One quart of milk will precisely fill four 8-ounce glasses.  Four 30-second ads totally use up one 2-minute time out.  But wait.  If you pour one cup of sand and one cup of water into a two cup container, there’d be lots of room left over.  If you have 2 ounces of ice-cream in an 8-ounce glass and suddenly add 6 ounces of root beer, you’ll be mopping up a lot of black cow. Continue reading »

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Cosé¬ Fan Tutte from London – Mozart Reduced to Essentials

Posted on December 10, 2010 by philip

Many many years ago my father took me to a performance of Cosé¬ Fan Tutte.  The only thing I remember about that experience is that during the intermission I told my father how disgusting I found the behavior of Guglielmo and Ferrando.  They expect their sweethearts to be pure and true and faithful to them, while they are perfectly free to test them in this sneaky underhanded way.  Dad explained to me that one shouldn’t take operatic characters too seriously; just enjoy the music and the comic situations they get themselves into.  Good advice then, and very apt for the production from the Royal Opera House which I attended December 4, 2010. Continue reading »

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Das Rheingold HD La Scala Review – See It If You Can

Posted on November 26, 2010 by philip

To paraphrase an infamous quote of one of our late presidents, “You seen one Das Rheingold, you seen ‘em all.”  Right?  Wrong!  Continue reading »

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Don Pasquale – Another MetHD Must See

Posted on November 22, 2010 by philip

Thirty years ago I saw Donizetti’s Don Pasquale for the first time.  I remember only one thing about that performance: I disliked it.  I use the word intentionally.  I didn’t just fail to enjoy it, I actively disliked it. I’ve done a little sleuthing in my own records and on the Met Archives web page and deduced that the performance I saw was a PBS rebroadcast of a Met Live TV broadcast.  In the early 1980’s I sat in front of my small-screen TV set and watched many operas.  I enjoyed almost all of them, despite the fact that they were technically far inferior to today’s HD theater performances.  This was the only one I disliked.  Why? Continue reading »

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The Makropulos Case – Karita Mattila stars in the role of a 337-year old woman

Posted on November 17, 2010 by philip

The story of Elina Makropulos is a strange one.  She was born in 1537 in Greece.  When she was a teenager her father gave her a potion he had invented which would enable her to grow normally to the peak of her maturity, and then to live for three hundred years without aging. Continue reading »

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Tosca at Opera San Jose – The Ultimate Opera

Posted on November 14, 2010 by philip

No question about it.  As of this moment, Puccini’s Tosca is my favorite opera.  At its best it has everything you could ask for in an opera.  It has Floria Tosca, a beautiful devout heroine who commits murder.  It has Baron Scarpia, the very personification of evil.  It has Mario Cavaradossi who submits to torture rather than betray his friend.  It has spine-chilling climaxes to each of its three acts.  And it has Puccini’s music which is not only wonderful in its own right, but which perfectly fits the plot and the action.  Not a note is misplaced, not a note is extraneous, not a note is missing.  Tosca at its best is THE essential tragic opera. Continue reading »

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