Opera for People Who Don’t Like It
This is going to be long. There is just too much here to laugh at: Sopranos and Mezzo-Sopranos I used to have a wonderful vocal coach who, when she heard me say something that she […]
Tag: music
Tenors and Bullets
This is a true story. I am not making it up. I was there, and I saw the whole thing. The opera was Puccini’s Tosca, produced by The Israel National Opera in their home theater, […]
Opera for People Who Don’t Like It
Tenors Yes, tenors get their own chapter. You’ll see why. Tenors and sopranos are natural enemies, passionate lovers or both. Whatever the state of the relationship, it is never dull. Tenors are the rock stars […]
Opera For People Who Don’t Like It
There was a time in the history of opera when singers ruled. If you had a great voice, it wouldn’t matter if you looked like a gorilla. You were in. Stage directors would never dare […]
Opera for People Who Don’t Like It
The So-Called Life of an Opera Singer Life upon the wicked stage ain’t nothin’ for a girl. Ellie in Jerome Kern’s and Oscar Hammerstein II’s musical Show Boat* People outside “The Business” are fascinated when […]
Opera for People Who Don’t Like It
THE FRENCH AND THE RUSSIANS Once everybody else saw that the Italians had come up with a Good Thing, other countries wanted to get in on it. I already covered the Germans in an earlier […]
Opera for People Who Don’t Like It
DEATH, OPERATIC STYLE In most operas, somebody dies. Usually it’s the hero or the heroine, or both of them. Occasionally, someone else will get in on the act, too, not wanting to be left out […]
Opera for People Who Don’t Like It
Those Crazy Germans In my last lesson, I mentioned opera plots and how they are reminiscent of lurid cable TV channels that specialize in re-enacted crimes. As an example, I gave the plot of Verdi’s […]
Opera for People Who Don’t Like It
The Stories Opera is more than just middle-aged fat people in period costumes making funny sounds. An opera is a play, with a plot. The only differences between operas and spoken plays are: (1) operas […]
And Yet More Opera for People Who Don’t Like It
The Men (i.e. Tenors, Baritones and Basses) Male opera singers are just as crazy as the females, and just as likely to flay you alive if you get them mad, especially at performance time. Add […]