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Ron Dough
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« Reply #1 on: 10:45:47, 03-09-2008 » |
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Glad the article mentions the Darcos initiative, Oz: that seems potentially a much bigger story, with far wider implications.
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #2 on: 13:33:43, 03-09-2008 » |
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It's surprising - or rather, perhaps not, given the personalities involved - that Wainwright believed, and still believes, that opera is supposed to be a drizzly mess in a language incomprehensible to its audience. This is quite as expected in fact - since American composers have recently seen fit to write works in Sanskrit, French, and Ancient Egyptian.  "Pretentious? Moi?" |
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« Last Edit: 13:36:15, 03-09-2008 by Reiner Torheit »
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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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Don Basilio
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« Reply #3 on: 14:22:16, 03-09-2008 » |
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The 35-year old gay icon  |
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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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stuart macrae
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« Reply #4 on: 14:31:46, 03-09-2008 » |
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I'm tempted to say that it doesn't make much difference what language operas are sung in as long as there are surtitles to aid understanding...oh, I just said it! Seriously though, it's not a simple issue: I'm one of those people who can't hear enough of the text, even if it's in English, to get the most out of it, and I often find I get more out of an opera in a foreign language with surtitles than I do out of an opera sung in English. Having said that, one of the most enjoyable opera experiences I've had was The Cunning Little Vixen in Amsterdam, sung in Czech with Dutch surtitles (I don't know either language). I couldn't remember or work out what was being sung most of the time, but I was still captivated and absorbed in the piece (probably because I'd done my homework  ) Then there's the question of English-sung operas with English surtitles to aid comprehension (which I don't object to); and also the particular timbre that certain languages bring to the singing voice - surely a part of the music too? It's surprising - or rather, perhaps not, given the personalities involved - that Wainwright believed, and still believes, that opera is supposed to be a drizzly mess in a language incomprehensible to its audience. Imagining the way these things actually happen, isn't it possible that the Met don't really mind the fact that it's in French, but perhaps don't think it's a very good French libretto...? |
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #5 on: 14:42:33, 03-09-2008 » |
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Imagining the way these things actually happen, isn't it possible that the Met don't really mind the fact that it's in French, but perhaps don't think it's a very good French libretto...?
C'est plus possible, ca....  |
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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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oliver sudden
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« Reply #6 on: 16:44:06, 03-09-2008 » |
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"Pretentious? Moi?"
I don't quite see how it's pretentious for him to have written it in what as far as I can gather from the article seems to be his own first language... |
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Swan_Knight
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« Reply #7 on: 16:52:29, 03-09-2008 » |
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Good for him! Rufus Wainwright - who, incidentally, is one of the few post-1980 rock artists represented in my collection - has struck a fine blow for high culture by his principled stance against the troglodytes of the Met. He should be applauded. |
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...so flatterten lachend die Locken....
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #8 on: 17:31:55, 03-09-2008 » |
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A long time ago in San Diego I saw for the first time production of opera with text projected on the side. It was new to me then and I did not like it. Now I have changed my mind about it. I also don't understand what they sing some times. I can not even say what language they are singing (even if they sing in my own languge). I am used to disregard text and just listen to the music. But I am exception. This year we will not have opera in our season.  The season program just came out and it looks bad. I probably will not go to anything, or may be one concert. That is the difference between when people care about the audience and when people only care about their own career and agenda. As far as I can see it is going to be a disaster again (with regard to the program). Or may be it will attract tiny minority with majority staying away. |
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #9 on: 18:05:23, 03-09-2008 » |
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written it in what as far as I can gather from the article seems to be his own first language...
Didn't seem to worry him when taking the Disney megabucks, though...? |
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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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oliver sudden
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« Reply #10 on: 18:09:09, 03-09-2008 » |
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written it in what as far as I can gather from the article seems to be his own first language...
Didn't seem to worry him when taking the Disney megabucks, though...? That was a handful of songs though, no? Not quite a full-scale opera and anyway the Met wasn't short of bucks itself last I checked. Naïf as I by all accounts am I'd certainly like to believe this part: Initially open to the idea of translating it, he said the French had become too "entrenched" with the music to change it. |
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harmonyharmony
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« Reply #11 on: 18:12:05, 03-09-2008 » |
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I'd be curious to know how the contract was worded.
I'm assuming that there was one.
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'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
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richard barrett
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« Reply #12 on: 18:28:50, 03-09-2008 » |
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Currently in repertoire at the Met:
Adriana Lecouvreur, La Bohème, Cav & Pag, La Cenerentola, La Damnation de Faust, Doctor Atomic, Don Giovanni, L'Elisir d'Amore, Eugene Onegin, La Gioconda, Götterdämmerung, Lucia di Lammermoor, Madama Butterfly, The Magic Flute (in English), La Rondine, The Queen of Spades, Das Rheingold, Rigoletto, Rusalka, Salome, Siegfried, La Sonnambula, Thaïs, La Traviata, Tristan und Isolde, Il Trovatore and Die Walküre.
As far as I can tell, all but two of these are in "foreign languages" as the Academy Awards call them.
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #13 on: 18:36:33, 03-09-2008 » |
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I think it all depends on the city and country and region.
We here are not New York. There are so many people in New York.
We have different situation here. Some people here will be interested in opera that is done in the original language. We have French speakers, Italians, etc.
But the mass audience is attracted to production in their own language.
It is of course only my opinion based on what I see.
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« Last Edit: 18:38:36, 03-09-2008 by trained-pianist »
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harmonyharmony
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« Reply #14 on: 18:41:33, 03-09-2008 » |
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From this article in the New York Times, it loks like the work hadn't even been commissioned yet (it talks about the 'would-be commissioners') Also of interest is this: In a telephone interview Wednesday, Mr. Wainwright said another stumbling block was the date of a potential production at the opera house. The earliest the Met could offer, he said, was in 2014. “They work on that sort of scale; I wanted to get it out as soon as possible,” he said, adding wryly, “because I’m an impatient pop star.” And it appears that the Met knew that the work was going to be in French from the beginning. Peter Gelb, the general manager said he knew from the beginning that Mr. Wainwright, who was raised in Montreal, was writing in French. “I hoped he would switch over, but he was determined to do it in French,” he said. “Presenting a new opera that is not in English at the Met, when it could be in English, is an immediate impediment to its potential success with audiences.” It's obviously not as straightforward as it appears in the Telegraph article, since I can't see that the extensive process of workshops (and is it just me or is there an implication that the productions would happen elsewhere first?) before moving to the Met and/or the Lincoln Center Theatre appealing to Wainwright if he's far enough down the line to be premièring it in Manchester in July. |
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'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
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