When he was a bassoon-playing band kid, Greg fell in love with operas and would listen to them alone in his room. But it wasn't until he fell in love with another opera nerd (a slightly older New Yorker, also named Greg, adorably) that he realized there were others like him. Soon, he was whisked away on bohemian visits to New York and deeply emotional experiences in darkened theaters -- the only place where Greg permitted himself to cry.
But like so many love affairs, this one wasn't fated to last. After devoting his entire life to opera for years, Greg started to find that his relationship to the art form had cooled ... but saying goodbye was a painful experience.
Greg did me the favor of recommending several fantastic operas to watch, which is fortunate because I would have had no idea where to begin. Behold:
El compositor italiano Francisco Cilea (Palmi 1866 - Varezze 1950) representa un verismo más elegante que el practicado por Mascagni y Leoncavallo, un verismo que se podría decir está influido por un cierto espíritu belcantista. Adriana Lecouvreur sobresale por derecho propio entre todas sus obras.
Start listening at 1:39:00. Greg explains, "It's a play within a play -- and she just supposed to be a speaking actress -- but her passion grows SO HOT that she HAS to burst into song. And her singing is three times louder than her yelling which shouldn't be possible?"
Stage direction: Patrice Chéreau Conductor: Pierre Boulez Siegmund: Peter Hofmann Sieglinde: Jeannine Altmeyer Brünnhilde: Gwyneth Jones Wotan: Donald McIntyre Hunding: Matti Salminen Fricka: Hanna Schwarz Gerhilde: Carmen Reppel Ortlinde: Karen Middleton Waltraute: Gabriele Schnaut Schwertleite: Gwendolyn Killebrew Helmwige: Katie Clarke Siegrune: Marga Schiml Grimgerde: Ilse Gramatzki Rossweisse: Elisabeth Glauser Der Ring des Nibelungen: Festspielhaus Bayreuth Filmed in 1980 Chor und Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
In the above clip from Wagner's The Ring, Greg describes the singing that follows 1:02:00 as "choice."
Richard Strauss "Salomé" Salomé: Hildegard Behrens Herodes: Karl-Walter Böhm Herodias: Agnes Baltsa Jochanaan: José van Dam Narraboth: Wieslaw Ochman Page der Herodias: Heljä Angervo Wiener Philharmoniker Herbert von Karajan; 1978
Start at 46:00 for some beautiful music from Richard Strauss's Salome.
O terra addio.Domingo-Millo-Zajick.1989.Metropolitan. Giuseppe Verdi. "AIDA". Atto 4. Scena 2. AIDA Triste canto!... RADAMES Il tripudio Dei Sacerdoti... AIDA Il nostro inno di morte... RADAMES Nè le mie forti braccia Smuovere ti potranno, o fatal pietra! AIDA Invan!... tutto è finito Sulla terra per noi... RADAMES È vero! è vero!...
That's a particularly moving death scene from Aïda.
Milton Cross opening the March 1, 1941 TEXACO-METROPOLITAN OPERA Saturday afternoon radio broadcast of Rossini's THE BARBER OF SEVILLE (IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA)
The above clip is a radio broadcast of Figaro from the '40s, which isn't what Greg was listening to as a kid, but "the thing is the narration was NOT THAT DIFFERENT when I started listening in the '90s," he says. "Oh did I mention they always describe the dresses during the curtain call? 'Miss Malfitano in taking another bow, in her scarlet empire-waisted gown and velvet cape,' so you can picture it in your mind."
Acte 2 - Final Figlia impura di Bolena!
And let's end it on one more big diva moment: Figlia impura di Bolena. Magnifico!
Music:
Parisian Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/