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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #180 on: 17:46:29, 16-03-2008 » |
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A promising start. We once took a group of schoolchildren to see a production of Così fan tutte at Grange Opera. It was sung in English, but when the lovers returned in their disguises, they sang in Italian.
There's a brief smattering of English in Butterfly - 'Milk punch or whisky?' and 'America forever'.
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« Last Edit: 17:49:46, 16-03-2008 by Il Grande Inquisitor »
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #181 on: 21:17:39, 16-03-2008 » |
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A promising start. We once took a group of schoolchildren to see a production of Così fan tutte at Grange Opera. It was sung in English, but when the lovers returned in their disguises, they sang in Italian.
And, if Latin is permissible, Despina spouts quite a lot of Latin - some of it quite bogus - when she is in disguise. |
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #182 on: 21:22:01, 16-03-2008 » |
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Death in Venice has token lines in various languages for the other guests at Aschenbach's hotel - bits of Russian, Danish and Polish and others, as well as one American chap talking about his 'most inneresting excursion'. And there is the odd bit of Italian of course.
Unfortunately one then tends to wonder what a German author is doing singing in English.
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #183 on: 21:45:26, 16-03-2008 » |
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I around 1982 I saw a TRAVIATA in Tbilisi (Georgia) in which the chorus sang in Georgian, the tenor sang in Russian, Germont sang in Ukrainian, and the soprano sang in Estonian. No wonder they all split up, eh?  And what Ukrainian dad wouldn't give his son a bunch of fives for speaking Russian in the house, eh?  |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #184 on: 22:19:25, 16-03-2008 » |
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In such company, the demise of the Estonian is sadly predictable  |
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #185 on: 22:24:16, 16-03-2008 » |
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She probably ate the sushi...
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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Tony Watson
Guest
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« Reply #186 on: 22:31:29, 16-03-2008 » |
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There's a bit of English and a bit of Chinese in Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortileges.
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #187 on: 22:39:01, 16-03-2008 » |
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English there certainly is (how's your mug?) - but there's not actually much in the way of Chinese apart from 'mah jong'... most of the 'Chinese' is Chinesified bits of French and there's also the name Sessue Hayakawa for no apparent reason! For example "puis' kong kong pran' pa" is more or less "puisqu'on ne comprend pas" - "since no one understands". And the last words the teacup and teapot sing might well be translated as "what the hell have you done with my coffee?"  |
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« Last Edit: 22:46:27, 16-03-2008 by oliver sudden »
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #188 on: 23:20:10, 16-03-2008 » |
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FAERIES: PEERS:
Your powers we dauntlessly pooh-pooh: Although our threats you now pooh-pooh,
A dire revenge will fall on you. A dire revenge will fall on you,
If you besiege Should he besiege
Our high prestige-- Your high prestige--
(The word "prestige" is French). The word "prestige" is French).
PEERS. Our lordly style
You shall not quench
With base canaille!
FAERIES. (That word is French.)
PEERS. Distinction ebbs
Before a herd
Of vulgar plebs!
FAERIES. (A Latin word.)
PEE
RS. 'Twould fill with joy,
And madness stark
The hoi polloi!
FAIRIES. (A Greek remark.)
PEERS. One Latin word, one Greek remark,
And one that's French.
(from IOLANTHE, of course)
And there's a Japanese exclamation in THE MIKADO, too  |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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harpy128
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« Reply #189 on: 23:45:10, 16-03-2008 » |
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There's an Italian aria in Weir's "A Night at the Chinese Opera". And bits of Latin prayers in "Tosca".
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #190 on: 23:46:57, 16-03-2008 » |
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And there's the Italian Singer's aria in Rosenkavalier.
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #191 on: 23:57:01, 16-03-2008 » |
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In Act II Scene ii of Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, the Countess, reminiscing, slips into French for half a dozen lines, just before Herman enters.
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #192 on: 12:28:15, 17-03-2008 » |
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And another Sullivan - in the opening scene of The Gondoliers the girls and gondoliers exchange greeting in school room Italian.
And another work of music theatre which will never see the stage of ROH, South Pacific opens with the two kids singing Dites moi.
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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operacat
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« Reply #193 on: 12:55:13, 17-03-2008 » |
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Ladies & Gentlemen! The Third Bell is already sounding, and I encourage you to take your seats as quickly as possible - the Opera Quiz is about to recommence! Please make sure you have switched off your pagers and mobile phones, and then...
.... tell us about operas which begin without overtures or preludes?
TOSCA. That's what I love about Puccini - none of this mucking about with setting the scene, just straight on with the action! |
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nature abhors a vacuum - but not as much as cats do.
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operacat
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« Reply #194 on: 13:00:25, 17-03-2008 » |
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Quartets – I’d second Parsifal’s suggestion of the Don Carlos quartet between Philip, Eboli, Posa and Elisabetta, all expressing their different emotions at a pivotal point in the drama.
I endorse this choice - and also I would say the best performance of this (of DON CARLOS as a whole) is the Chatelet performance, conducted by Pappano. I would query Parsifal's choice of the Conspirators' Trio at the end of Goetterdaemmerung Act II as 'the most beautiful' - most DRAMATIC, yes, but I don't find it exactly beautiful!! |
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nature abhors a vacuum - but not as much as cats do.
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