The Opera Haters Guide.

The Opera Haters Guide.
By Gerald Lively
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 1

Introduction .........................4
Chapter 1 Oh, God! Uncle George is Listening to Opera Again! ...6
Chapter 2 Does That Come from an Opera? ..............9
Chapter 3 Ready or Not, Here We Go! ................13
Chapter 4 Opera-for-Orchestra as Heresy ...............21
Chapter 5 “In the Beginning”....andSomewhat Beyond ......25
Chapter 6 That Sounds Like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! .....31
Chapter 7 Opera’s Red-Headed Stepchild ...............37
Chapter 8 A Voice to Meet Every Need ................45
Chapter 9 Is It Time for the “Total Experience”? No, Not Yet! ...51
Chapter 10 Now You’re Ready!. ....................57
Chapter 11 One More Time? ......................73
Chapter 12 Your First Live Opera. ...................87
Chapter 13 Did I Ever Tell You the Story About .... .........91
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Introduction
Some years ago while watching the movie A Room With A View, my sister heard Kiri Te
Kanawa singing the Puccini aria “O mio babbino caro.” As she listened she thought, “That’s
beautiful! Where have I heard that before?” Then she remembered that the music (but not the
words) to that aria is on a tape I made for her. She had heard the music so often on that tape that
when she eventually heard a vocalized version of the aria, she thought it was gorgeous. That tape is
one of the devices I use to introduce people to the beauties of opera - one of the great loves of my
life.
I grew up listening to rock and roll, not opera or classical music. The great composers were
not at all appealing to me. So, what happened along the way to make me change my mind about
classical music and then opera? I think it was an urge to explore new ideas, coupled with the
willingness to take the time necessary to acquire a taste for something new and, at first, foreboding.
Now I produce a program called Opera Showcase on a local public radio station and teach a class on
opera at a local university.
When I decided to teach the class, I had to analyze the process through which I went in
learning to love opera so I could help them to love it too. Judging from the results of the class I
teach, my analysis was successful. What I experienced seems typical of what most people go
through when first exposed to opera, and the approach I formulated for introducing others to opera
works well. In fact, many of my students asked me to teach a follow up class that would continue
what I started in my first class.
In looking through the existing books on opera that populate the libraries and book stores, I
noticed that none of the authors use a technique like mine. Furthermore, most of the books are old
and, therefore, fail to take note of many changes in our world that make opera appreciation much
easier and more pleasant.
Opera on television is one example. Each year since the late 1970’s the Metropolitan Opera
has telecast many operas complete with subtitles and background information. Other programs such
as Great Performances on Public Television and Stage on the Arts and Entertainment network on
cable TV do the same. With the introduction of VCRs it is very easy to tape these operas and to view
them at your leisure in parts or as a whole.
Another innovation in opera is the use of supertitles - English translations that are projected
onto a screen just above the stage. The use of supertitles is the single most important innovation in
the performance of live opera in the twentieth century. Finally, the casual operagoer can understand
what is happening on the stage while the seasoned operagoer can concentrate on the performance,
totally disregarding the unobtrusive projected translations.
This is indeed an exciting time in the history of opera, a time in which this wonderful art
form is available and accessible to anyone anywhere. But beware, there are certain ways to learn
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about opera and particular things that should be avoided. The method you use can spell the
difference between a rewarding experience and a frustrating, unpleasant ordeal.
My method for introducing you to opera is virtually painless. All it takes is a commitment on
your part to expend the time and effort necessary to cultivate a new taste. As you read this book and
listen to the music I recommend, you will find that you are really enjoying yourself. The music is
truly beautiful and you will recognize much of it the first time you listen to it because you have been
hearing it on the radio, on television, and in the movies all your life. You just didn’t know it was that
God-awful opera!
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Oh, God! Uncle George is Listening to
Opera Again!
Everybody has an Uncle George.
He’s the one who is always listening to opera and the one who is always forcing you to
listen “just one more time” because he has finally found just the opera that will magically transform
you from an opera hater into an opera lover. Uncle George doesn’t know it, but he’s fighting a
losing battle.
Why does Uncle George always fail? Why do people hate opera? One reason is because
he and others like him use the wrong approach. Too many people are forced to listen to the fat lady
sing by well-meaning but misguided relatives and friends who assume that your first experience
with opera has to be a marathon session with one of the heavy duty classics. The sitting usually
goes something like this: You are directed to listen in total silence and are expected to take on a
contemplative demeanor. When the inevitable question, “Isn’t that beautiful?” is asked, you are
required to smile and nod affirmatively. It is easy to forget that opera is an acquired taste -
somewhat like enjoying spinach. Opera is an art form that is so complex that it takes awhile to
really understand and appreciate it. One must be eased into opera, not thrust into it without any
preparation.
A second reason Uncle George fails is because most operas are written in a foreign
language, and it is difficult for even the most determined individuals to sit through three or more
hours of something that makes absolutely no sense to them. Even when opera is sung in English,
people complain that it is difficult to understand the words. For years there has been a debate over
the merits of presenting operas in English instead of in their original languages. This debate, as we
shall see in a future chapter, is of little relevance to the present-day operagoer because of
supertitles.
So why would anyone possibly want to invest the time and effort required to develop a taste
for this strange concoction? Because hearing and seeing an opera well performed is like a taste of
heaven right here on earth. It fills you with joy and gives you goose bumps. If you love opera, you
cannot help responding to a splendid performance. It captures you, takes you to almost unbearable
heights of pleasure and refuses to let you go. It is an experience that remains with you as long as
you live.
For anyone who loves music and theater, opera is a natural step forward. In it you get a
large orchestra playing gorgeous music, thrilling drama, beautiful scenery, single and multiple
voices singing, and (on occasion) ballet. Unlike ordinary theater, knowing your lines is not nearly
enough, it is only a beginning. There also has to be a rapport between the singers and the conductor
and between the singers themselves for a performance to be more than mediocre.
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Enjoying opera is somewhat like enjoying the sight of a beautiful, sleek, souped-up
automobile racing around a track. It is stimulating to see this machine operating at the peak of it’s
capabilities. Every aspect of it is optimized, and if it were pushed even a little bit more, it would
disintegrate! An opera lover sees the human voice much the same way. In opera the human voice is
pushedtoitsabsolute,gloriouslimits.....andsometimes,beyond.
There is a tension present during an operatic performance that is only approximated in a live
play. That is because in opera, a performer may sing magnificently one evening and completely
bomb the next because the human voice can be totally unpredictable. Take time to read about Maria
Callas, one of the greatest singers who ever lived. She was often petrified even after a triumph
because she knew that she might fall flat on her face the next time she stepped onto a stage. She
knew that many in the audience would pick up on the slightest flaw, the slightest mistake and boo her
unmercifully. That is the way true opera lovers are. They demand that their opera be pure and
sweet, and they will turn on an errant singer in a second. In his book, Critic at the Opera, author
Paul Henry Lang writes about one of the most stunning arias, “Caro nome,” from Verdi’s
masterpiece Rigoletto like this:
Caro nome is about to be sung and the big auditorium is hushed. The patrons know what is
coming, high notes, long-held ones, trills, and coloratura; this is the real stuff, and they do not
want to miss a single note. The soprano sings Gilda for the first time. She will be measured
note for note against the other heroines of Rigoletto, past and present; her fate is inescapable,
because everyone knows every turn in “Caro nome” and the firing squad awaits the
transgressor.
When you hear something like “Caro nome” it is impossible to listen to it without at least
subconsciously comparing what you are hearing to versions of that aria that you have heard before.
That may be unfair to the singer before you, but that is the way opera lovers react. There are certain
songs sung by popular entertainers like Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis Presley that, to
most people, cannot be sung as well by anyone else. Their voices are distinctive and their delivery is
too. For instance, Streisand and only Streisand can sing what most would consider the definitive
version of “People.” No other singer’s version sounds quite as good as hers.
No two voices are ever alike and a true opera lover can tell one voice from another as surely
as you can tell your mother’s voice from your father’s voice. When you put those different voices
together in an opera you may get a stunningly exquisite combination or something grotesque. You
never know until you try it. It is like mixing different colors together. What will you get? Will it be
strikingly beautiful, unbearably dull or totally ugly?
Ask an opera lover to recommend a perfect recording of, let’s say, Mozart’s The Magic
Flute, and the reply will be that there is no perfect recording. The perfect recording, like the perfect
live performance, is an elusive dream. In any given recording the orchestra may be great, but the
singers might be all wrong; or the lead tenor may be wonderful but the soprano is a pig; or the lead
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soprano can sing, but a dead woman could express more feeling than she can. 1 There is no perfect
recording or performance because the list of requirements is endless and each opera lover’s list
is different from every other opera lover’s list. Still, the true opera lover will spend a lifetime
looking for that evasive, perfect performance. It is part of the love affair.
These people tend to be very vocal about their feelings. They seldom suffer in silence.
Late one Saturday night the station manager at our local public radio station received a phone
call from a very upset opera aficionado. The caller complained bitterly about the cast in that
afternoon’s Metropolitan Opera broadcast. It did not matter that the poor station manager had
absolutely no control over casting for the Met (casting that, as the caller surely knew, is usually
completed years in advance due to the international fame of many singers). The caller was
frustrated and he had to let somebody know.
I know what you are thinking right now. You are not at all sure that you want to get
involved in opera if you are going to turn out like the individuals I have just described. Fear not,
it is possible to love opera and still maintain your sanity. I know three or four people like that.
Well, one or two anyway.
1 Strong feelings, to be sure, but very indicative of the intense emotions that singers produce in dedicated
opera
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Does That Come from an Opera?
I begin my class on opera by telling my students that I am about to play selections from a
dozen or so operas. I assure them that they will recognize most of the music if not the opera from
which it comes. Usually they laugh nervously, tell me that they don’t know the first thing about
opera, and that I am going to be terribly disappointed in them. One lady who very adamantly made
that declaration recognized eleven of the twelve selections I played. I really wasn’t surprised.
In fact, all of us have been exposed to opera since childhood without knowing it. Here is an
example. Have you ever watched The Lone Ranger on television? Or for you older folks, did you
listen to the program on the radio? I will not even ask if you remember the theme song. Everybody
in the United States can hum the Lone Ranger’s theme song. Did you know that it is from an opera
by the Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini? It is the fourth section of the overture to his opera
William Tell and represents a call to the Swiss people to take up arms and overthrow their Austrian
oppressors - a very fitting theme song for a man who roams the west helping people to fight the forces
of evil.
The section that precedes this part of the overture is also well known. It is music that brings
to mind a pastoral scene, and I remember it from an old Warner Brothers cartoon in which an Indian
is paddling his canoe down a quiet river that wanders through a forest full of fluttering, chirping birds
and other animals.
If you are old enough, you probably connect the William Tell overture to the madcap music of
Spike Jones. Remember the horse race? Remember who won?
After the William Tell Overture, the most popular bit of operatic music would have to be one
of two selections from Georges Bizet’s magnificent opera Carmen. One of the two is the “Toreador
Song” sung by the braggart antagonist in the opera. The other is the “Habanera” sung by the lusty
Carmen herself. That aria was called the “Habanera” by Bizet, by the way, because it was supposed
to represent the type of music one would hear in the Spanish colony of Cuba (in Havana, specifically).
This music has turned up in all sorts of places including commercials, the movie The Bad News
Bears, and a comedy song recorded by a 1960’s comedian.
Speaking of comedians, what comedian used the ballet music from Amilcare Ponchielli’s
opera La Gioconda in one of the most popular and hummable comedy numbers ever written? The
comedian’s name is Alan Sherman and the song is “Camp Granada.” Remember it from the 1960’s?
“Hello, Mudda. Hello, Fadda. Here I am at Camp Granada.” The real title of the music is “The
Dance of the Hours” and it was used by Ponchielli to represent a dance done by the various hours of
the day. When you read my explanation of this ballet music later in this book and listen to the music,
you will understand that it transmits exactly what Ponchielli intended - even if you cannot see the
dancers performing the ballet. Spike Jones used a different section of this ballet music for another of
his comedy numbers about a race, not a horse race this time, but an automobile race.
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Are you familiar with the “Anvil Chorus” from Giuseppe Verdi’s famous opera Il Trovatore?
If you remember Glenn Miller, then you remember the “Anvil Chorus.” He had a very popular
recording of it in the 1940’s. More recently it has been used for commercials on television including
a Sears Diehard battery commercial. The music, with its hammers banging on anvils gives one the
feeling of strength and durability - something that advertising executives picked up on long ago.
There is one piece of operatic music that causes many women to cry when they hear it, and
more than a few men cry when they hear it, too. The music is the “Bridal Chorus” from Richard
Wagner’s opera Lohengrin, and it is commonly used as processional music in weddings. It is
popularly referred to as “Here Comes the Bride.”
“The Ride of the Valkyries” from Wagner’s opera Die Walküre is another Wagnerian
selection that is extensively used by advertisers. It is forever showing up on television in adds for
many different products including electronic products from the national chain store, Silo. It, like the
“Anvil Chorus,” gives one the feeling of strength with its stirring, energetic melody. When you hear
it, you immediately want to jump out of that easy chair and rush to the store to buy something.
Would you believe that even those big, tough marines sing operatic music? Well, they do.
Every time they sing the “Marine Hymn” they are singing the music from an obscure Jacques
Offenbach operetta entitled GeneviPve de Brabant. GeneviPve de Brabant has a military theme and,
it is said, an American Marine stationed in Mexico heard some of its music including the “Galop” and
decided to put words to it. If it’s good enough for the marines, it’s good enough for me.
And speaking of Offenbach, what music do you always hear when the ladies do the can-can?
Why the “Can-Can” from his operetta Orpheus in the Underworld, of course! Offenbach wrote other
can-can music, but it is not nearly as well known as that from Orpheus.
I can’t hear the “Barcarolle” from Offenbach’s only opera The Tales of Hoffmann without
thinking of those old television commercials advertising 50 (or was it 100) of the world’s greatest
moments in classical music for only...Idon’t remember the price, but it was unbelievably cheap. A
barcarolle is a boat song and if you close your eyes and listen to this particular barcarolle, you can
almost feel the boat swaying beneath you. What magic!
Our friends from England have also contributed some memorable music to us. The song
“Hail, Hail, the Gang’s All Here” is from the well known Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of
Penzance. It is first heard in the overture and then again as a vocal selection in the operetta itself. It
is likely that you have heard some music from other Gilbert and Sullivan operettas as well including
“OnaTreebyaRiver....Willow, Titwillow” from The Mikado and “I’m Called Little Buttercup”
from H. M. S. Pinafore. Trust me, you’ve heard them.
The movies often use music from operas. Besides the recent movies like Moonstruck and
Fatal Attraction, that use music from Puccini’s La BohPme and Madama Butterfly, there are several
movies that use somewhat more obscure music. A Room with a View used the gorgeous aria “O mio
babbino caro” from Puccini’s comic opera Gianni Schicchi, and the foreign film Diva gave us
Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez singing “Ebben? Ne andrb lontana” from Catalani’s seldom
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performed opera La Wally. Ms. Fernandez sang that beautiful aria over and over in the movie and
probably gave the opera more exposure than it has had in all of its stage performances combined. I
have had many requests for that aria during my radio show, with my callers often referring
specifically to the movie Diva.
One night as I was listening to an opera my wife came into the room and announced, “I know
that music. It’s the ‘kangaroo song.’ ” “What,” I asked, “is the ‘kangaroo song?’ ” It turns out that
the music, actually the “Soldier’s Chorus” from Gounod’s opera Faust, had been adapted for
children. The children’s version had words that went something like this:
My uncle roasted a kangaroo.
Gave me the grizzly end to chew.
Was that a very nice thing to do,
To give me the gristly end to chew?
You never know where opera will turn up or what form it will take!
Are you familiar with an opera by the Russian composer Alexander Borodin? Whether you
know it or not, you are if you are familiar with the Broadway musical Kismet because the melody for
the very popular song “Strangers in Paradise” was taken from Borodin’s opera Prince Igor. The
“Polovtsian Dances” is the source of that luscious melody. 1
Are you familiar with any entire operas? By that, I mean familiar with some of the
“songs” and at least part of the story. Answer carefully, because this is a trick question. Should
your answer be “no” - and I suspect that it will be - then I must assume that you have never
heard any of the music from George Gershwin’s 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. That is right,
Porgy and Bess is an example of American opera. “Summertime,” “I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin,” “A
Woman is a Sometime Thing,” “Bess, You is My Woman,” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So” are all
musical numbers that come directly from this beautiful work.
By this time, you must be truly surprised at just how much you know about opera even
though you have perhaps never seriously listened to it. You are familiar with opera, and you do
enjoy the music you have heard from them.
1 Borodin, who died in 1887, was awarded a posthumous Tony award in 1954 for his composition of the
music for Kismet. Who has the Tony?
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We are about to begin learning more about opera, but it will be awhile before we
concentrate on entire operas. Instead, I will begin by introducing you to the parts of operas to
which many authors pay little or no attention at all. They generally get so wrapped up in the
arias that they forget that the whole is made up of many delightful, diverse parts. Arias are
important, but so are overtures, preludes, choruses, ballet music and all the rest. Opera is
fascinating because it is made up of so many different elements. A steady diet of arias and
nothing but arias would be as unappealing as a steady diet of nothing but ice cream, ice cream,
and more ice cream.
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Ready or Not, Here We Go!
You really need to know a little about the history of opera before we continue. It will not
make you enjoy an aria more than you do right now, but it may better help you to understand why the
operas of Mozart sound different from those of Puccini. Or did you know that they sound different? I
hope it will also give you a sense of the evolution than has taken place in the composition of operas
over the past 400 years. The “feel” of this chapter is, by necessity, different from either the chapter
that precedes it or the chapter that follows it. If you become too bored with it, skip ahead to Chapter
4. I’ll never know the difference.
The end of this chapter contains a chronology of the best known composers and their major
works. You will notice that the list of operas attributed to most of the composers in the chronology is
longer than the listing provided in the discussion below. The history contains only the best known
works of these men while the chronology contains lesser-known works that may interest you once
you have listened to the basic operas.
You will, without a doubt, find these people interesting. They were not stodgy intellectuals
who lead boring, uneventful lives. Indeed, they lead fascinating lives, lives that would make
interesting movies - movies like Amadeus. Upon completion of this chapter you may find that you
would like to know more about them. I assure you that learning more about these composers will be
an interesting, rewarding use of your time.
And now, a brief history lesson.
In the city of Florence, Italy, in the 1590’s a group of musicians, noblemen, and poets who
were interested in ancient Greek tragedies convinced themselves (erroneously) that the Greeks sang
rather than spoke their ancient plays. In trying to reproduce this form of theater, that group, called the
Camerata, developed the first operas. The word opera comes from the term opera in musica (musical
works). Opera is, in fact, the plural form of the word opus (meaning “work”).
During the Baroque period (1600-1750) the Italians composed many operas. These operas
consisted largely of recitatives (sung rather than spoken dialogue) and choruses until the aria (a vocal
solo usually with a recognizable melody) gradually emerged as separate from the recitatives. The aria
was at times used to allow the singer to express emotion and feelings and at other times simply to
showcase the singer’s voice. This period saw the development of a particular kind of aria called a da
capo (“from the beginning”) aria. It was composed of three parts: a beginning section, a middle
section, and a final section that was a variation of the beginning section. The variation usually
contained embellishments such as scales and trills that were largely devised by the singer. The
embellishments seldom had anything to do with the dramatic situation and added nothing to the opera
except to display the singer’s vocal talents.
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In 1607, Claudio Monteverdi wrote the first opera masterpiece Orfeo, and in 1637, the
world’s first public opera house, the Teatro San Cassiano, opened in Venice, Italy. By the late
1600’s, operas were being written and performed in many European countries, but the operas were
always written in the Italian style and to Italian libretti (very similar to the scripts for plays) because it
was felt that Italian was a superior language for opera.
Italian opera of the late Baroque period developed into two different types: stuffy, formal
opera seria (serious opera) based loosely (often very loosely) on ancient myths and history, and the
much more entertaining opera buffa (comic opera) that had stories based on the common people of
the time including merchants, soldiers, and servants. Opera buffa, originally one, short act in length,
was inserted between the acts of an opera seria, to provide comic relief. It was during this period that
the bel canto (“beautiful singing”) opera became popular in order to highlight the vocal skills of the
singers.
Many operas written during this time were performed once and then forgotten. Also, the
libretti from operas were used repeatedly with different music. This practice, which equates to using
the book and lyrics of Camelot repeatedly with different music, was a totally acceptable practice.
Around 1670, France developed its own distinct form of opera thanks in part to the works of
Jean Baptiste Lully and Jean Philippe Rameau 1 They did this in protest of the Italian style,
thinking that they could write original works that would be as good or better than those produced
in the Italian style. The French avoided the showy arias of Italian opera, opting instead for
expressive melodies and simple arias. Were their operas as good as the Italian operas? It is
impossible to say because the musical forms are so different. This is one of those “comparing
apples and oranges” situations. The performance history of opera houses in the United States
does, however, show a distinct preference for Italian operas.
Opéra Comique was the outgrowth of the French need to produce their own, unique form
of vocal theater. The stories were sometimes crude and the music often contained music that
was popular among the masses, but opéra comique has long been popular among the French
people.
Dissatisfaction with the Italian form of opera in the early 1700’s also lead to the
development of what is generally called classical opera. This period began with the works of
the German composer Christoph Willibald von Gluck. Gluck rejected the unbelievable plots and
flashy arias of Italian opera in favor of simpler music that served the opera’s plot. He firmly
believed that the embellishments common to many operas of the time were totally out of place in
opera, and that the music should be strictly tied to the drama that was unfolding on the stage. An
excellent example of Gluck’s art is his opera Orfeo ed Euridice.
1 The conductors of that day did not use a baton. Instead, they would bang a large staff on the floor to
help their orchestras keep time. During a performance Lully, a conductor as well as a composer,
accidentally hit his big toe instead of the floor, the toe became infected (gangrene) and he died!
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The greatest composer of the classical period was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who wrote
some of his 17 operas in Italian, and others in German. Mozart is to some extent responsible for
the formation of a German style of opera in that he incorporated the German Singspiel (song
play) tradition into certain of his operas. This musical genius could write one opera in the Italian
style and the next in a unique, plainly German style - with each being a timeless masterpiece.
His most popular operas are The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, and
CosX fan Tutte. Beethoven, who wrote only one opera, Fidelio, further developed German
opera.
Romanticism, which affected many art forms, also affected opera. This period, which ran
from the late 1700’s to the middle 1800’s, emphasized emotionalism. Operas written during the
Romantic period usually took place in nature, had a theme based on the supernatural or folklore,
and had very colorful music. Composers of this style of opera include the German Carl Maria
von Weber, and the Italians Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti. Many of Bellini and
Donizetti’s operas required singers trained in the bel canto style of singing. Bellini is best
known for Norma while Donizetti is best remembered for Lucia di Lammermoor, The Elixir of
Love, and his comic opera Don Pasquale. Bellini died at the tragically young age of only 34
from syphilis so it is said.
Grand opera became popular in the early 1800’s especially (but not exclusively) in
France. Composers of grand opera favored stories based on heroic incidents from history, in
which they could use crowd scenes, spectacular stage effects, and complicated and elaborate
vocal and instrumental music. Two composers who wrote grand opera were the German-born
composer Giacomo Meyerbeer and Italian-born Gioacchino Rossini, both of whom moved to
France. Meyerbeer’s operas are largely unheard today except for the occasionally performed Les
Huguenots. Rossini has fared somewhat better with one of his operas, The Barber of Seville,
being performed regularly.
Three well known French composers are George Bizet, Jules Massenet, and Charles
Gounod. When you listen to their operas, except for Bizet’s Carmen and a few by the
ever-exploring Massenet, you are listening to typical French-style opera. Bizet wrote an opera
entitled The Pearl Fishers before Carmen and it is typical French opera. Massenet’s operas
Manon and ThaVs are performed more often than any of his other operas. Gounod is best
remembered for Faust, one of two popular operas based on the Faust legend. 22
Giuseppe Verdi’s AVda is an example of grand opera. This gentle, unpretentious man
was the dominant opera composer of the mid- and late-1800’s and probably the most popular
opera composer who ever lived. His operas contain beautiful but dramatic music and very
2 The other is Mefistofele written by Arrigo Boito, the man who wrote the libretti
for Verdi’s last two operas Otello and Falstaff as well as the libretto for
Amilcare Ponchielli’s La Gioconda. Gounod’s work is far more popular than
Boito’s opera.
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emotional stories. Not all of his operas are considered grand opera. It is somewhat difficult to
categorize them since his style changed as he grew older. He gave us many great operas
including La Traviata, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and La Forza del Destino. In his 80’s, he
produced two masterpieces based on Shakespeare - the tragedy Otello and the comedy Falstaff.
His genius is unmatched in the history of opera.
During the 1800’s nationalism influenced the operas of many composers including the
Czech composer Bedøich Smetana as well as Russian composers Modest Moussorgsky and
Alexander Borodin. Smetana’s opera The Bartered Bride is occasionally performed, but seldom in
its original language. Most singers, already required to know Italian, French, and German, are
unwilling to spend time learning an obscure language like Czechoslovakian. Russian operas have
suffered a similar fate, but to a lesser degree since there are a few Russian-born singers on the
international operatic scene. 33 Moussorgsky ‘s most popular opera is Boris Godunov and
Borodin’s is Prince Igor.
In the late 1800’s, some Italian composers began to write grimly realistic operas dealing with
everyday life. These verismo (“true” or “realistic”) operas focused on strong emotions and violent
actions. The best known verismo operas are Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni and I
Pagliacci by Ruggiero Leoncavallo.
Probably the most popular Italian composer after Verdi is Giacomo Puccini. His operas are
very melodic and have well crafted libretti. His opera La BohPme is often cited as the opera that
beginners should hear or see first. His other popular operas include Manon Lescaut, Madama
Butterfly, Tosca,andTurandot,
which was completed after his death. Puccini was a handsome man who enjoyed life immensely. By
his own admission he was always on the lookout for “good libretti and beautiful women.” When he
was questioned about writing Manon Lescaut, an opera using essentially the same story that
Massenet had already used for his opera Manon, Puccini replied that a woman like Manon could
have many lovers. Intrigued? Perhaps you should read more about Manon and about Puccini.
The most popular German composer of the 1800’s, and perhaps all time, was Richard
Wagner. He believed that all aspects of an opera - acting, costumes, drama, orchestral music, singing,
and staging - should have equal value. He wrote his own libretti and developed the idea of a theme
for a person with this theme recurring each time they appear in the drama. He, more than any other
composer of his time, broke away from the tradition of the aria as a set piece with a definite beginning
and ending point as well as a definite, formulated structure. His operas are very complex and are
3 Swedish born tenor Nicolai Gedda, the son of a Russian choir director and a Swedish mother, was fluent
in at least six languages-Swedish, Russian, English, Italian, French and German. His Russian was so
flawless that he was often mistaken for a native-born Russian. He was an intelligent, stylish singer who
has a vast number of excellent recordings to his credit.
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 16

probably the most difficult operas for beginners to enjoy. 44 His best known operas include
Lohengrin, The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, and the four operas that comprise Der Ring
des Nibelungen.
After Wagner, the most popular and successful German composer of opera is Richard
Strauss (no relation to Johann Strauss). His operas, like those of Wagner, require singers with
great vocal power. His operas are very different from one another with Der Rosenkavalier being
most accessible to anyone just beginning to learn about opera. His early opera Salome created a
scandal when Salome, who has just been handed the head of John the Baptist on a platter,
proceeds to deliver a kiss to the bloody lips. You can imagine this opera’s initial reception.
Most operas written after World War I are not well known and generally lack the
melodies that seem to attract most opera lovers. The Three Penny Opera of Kurt Weill, Alban
Berg’s Lulu, and Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors are examples of some
modern-day operas. The recent work Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim is considered opera
by many.
Undoubtedly, the best known American opera is George Gershwin’s beautiful Porgy and
Bess. This 1935 opera, about the life and loves of blacks in 1920’s Charleston, South Carolina,
is truly a magnificent work with music that is recognized by both young and old alike.
The above is a very brief history of opera. There are many books and articles that better
chronicle the history of opera and even sets of records that can give you a taste of opera from
Monteverdi to Berg. You should sample opera from various periods to see if anything in
particular strikes your fancy. For the record, they say that the three best operas are ABC-
AVda, ‘BohPme, and Carmen. For the record, what “they” say is not important. Listen to opera
and decide what you like best, and don’t be surprised if you come to a different conclusion than
“they” did.
A CHRONOLOGY OF GREAT OPERA COMPOSERS AND THEIR BEST KNOWN WORKS
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
The Coronation of Poppea
Orfeo
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Dido and Aeneas
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Julius Caesar
Christoph Willibald von Gluck (1714-1787)
4 Wagner is one of the most interesting composers to read about because of his many eccentricities. He
was an unprincipled opportunist who used everyone to obtain what he wanted in life. He was a vocal
anti-Semitic whose music was championed by Adolph Hitler. Even today, his music is not performed in
Israel.
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 17

Alceste
OrfeoedEuridice
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Abduction from the Seraglio
CosX Fan Tutte
Don Giovanni
Idomeneo
TheMagicFlute
The Marriage of Figaro
Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842)
Medea
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Fidelio
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Der Freischhtz
Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)
Les Huguenots
Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)
The Barber of Seville
La Cenerentola
Semiramide
William Tell
Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
Anna Bolena
The Daughter of the Regiment
Don Pasquale
The Elixir of Love
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucrezia Borgia
Maria Stuarda
Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)
Norma
I Puritani
La Sonnambula
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Les Troyens
Ambroise Thomas (1811-1896)
Mignon
Friedrich von Flotow (1812-1883)
Martha
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
The Flying Dutchman
Lohengrin
Die Meistersinger
Parsifal
Tannhäuser
Tristan und Isolde
Der Ring Des Nibelungen
Das Rheingold
Die Walküre
Siegfried
Götterdämmerung
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
AVda
Un Ballo in Maschera
Ernani
Falstaff
La Forza del Destino
Luisa Miller
Macbeth
Nabucco
Otello
Rigoletto
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Simon Boccanegra
La Traviata
Il Trovatore
Charles Gounod (1818-1893)
Faust
Roméo and Juliette
Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
The Tales of Hoffmann
BedÍich Smetana (1824-1884)
The Bartered Bride
Johann Strauss, Jr. (1825-1899)
Die Fledermaus
Alexander Borodin (1833-1887)
Prince Igor
Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-1886)
La Gioconda
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Samson and Delilah
Leo Délibes (1836-1891)
Lakmé
Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Carmen
The Pearl Fishers
Modest Moussorgsky (1839-1881)
Boris Godunov
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Eugene Onegin
Pique Dame
Jules Massenet (1842-1912)
Manon
ThaVs
Werther
Arrigo Boito (1842-1918)
Mefistofele
Engelbert Humperdinck 55 (1854-1921)
Hansel and Gretel
Leoš Janáèek (1854-1928)
Jenùfa
Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1858-1919)
Pagliacci
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
La BohPme
Gianni Schicchi
The Girl of the Golden West
Madama Butterfly
Manon Lescaut
La Rondine
Suor Angelica
Il Tabarro
Tosca
Turandot
Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956)
Louise
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Pelléas et Mélisande
Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945)
5 That’s right, Engelbert Humperdinck was a composer long before the British pop singer of the 1960’s
took that as his stage name.
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 19

Cavalleria Rusticana
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Arabella
Ariadne auf Naxos
Capriccio
Elektra
Die Frau ohne Schatten
Der Rosenkavalier
Salome
Francesco Cilea (1866-1950)
Adriana Lecouvreur
Umberto Giordano (1867-1948)
Andrea Chénier
Alban Berg (1885-1935)
Lulu
Wozzeck
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
The Love of Three Oranges
War and Peace
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Porgy and Bess
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Dialogues of the Carmelites
La Voix Humaine
Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Vanessa
Gian Carlo Menotti (1911- )
Amahl and the Night Visitors
The Consul
The Medium
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Peter Grimes
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 20

Opera-for-Orchestra as Heresy
If you really want to punish an opera lover, make him listen to Mantovani and his orchestra
playing “Un bel dX” from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. You will have committed the unforgivable
sin. To these people operas are sacred and are only to be performed the way the composers wrote
them. The masters put music where they wanted music and singing where they wanted singing.
Don’t forget it, and don’t mess with it!
That attitude is fine for the purist, but how do you introduce people to opera when the human
voice singing opera is only slightly less irritating than fingernails slowly scraped across a blackboard?
The answer is really quite simple. You remove the offensive singing and they find that those stodgy
old composers wrote some ravishing melodies, as wonderful as anything they will ever hear. Later,
sometimes much later, you introduce them to the music with the human voice superimposed, so to
speak. The whole process is similar to building a house - you first construct a solid foundation and
then, and only then, do you build the walls and the roof.
The music you use for this building process is generally referred to as opera-for-orchestra. It
includes most of the types of music sung in an opera - arias, duets, and choruses all “transcribed” for
orchestra - and “suites” from operas like Carmen, Der Rosenkavalier,andThe Merry Widow. There
are even ballets made up of music from operas. Some of Offenbach’s most beautiful melodies were
fashioned into a ballet called Gaite Parisienne after his death, and a ballet was constructed from
Johann Strauss’ delightful opera Die Fledermaus.
Quite a few conductors have produced opera-for-orchestra recordings. The most popular
recordings are by Sir Neville Marriner, Camarata, André Kostelanetz, and Mantovani. They
generally take arias like Puccini’s “O mio babbino caro”, and “Vissi d’Arte” and Verdi’s “La donna P
mobile” and substitute musical instruments for the human voice. A woman’s voice may be
represented by a high-pitched violin and a man’s voice by a cello or a viola depending on how old he
is and whether he is a good guy or a villain.
The recording by Marriner, entitled The Academy Plays Opera, is very funny. The
orchestrations are unlike anything he would typically record. One must wonder if he is poking fun at
all the Uncle Georges of the world. His rendering of “The Anvil Chorus” from Verdi’s Il Trovatore
is particularly funny with its truly strange orchestration that includes many stops and starts and an
organ thrown in just for the fun of it.
Camarata, with the Kingsway Symphony Orchestra, has recorded entire operas, in compacted
form of course, and like Marriner, he uses instruments to simulate the types of voices you would
ordinarily hear in the actual operas. His recording of La BohPme is particularly enjoyable. Puccini’s
music is considered the most beautiful of all by many and this would be an excellent way to introduce
yourself to his acknowledged masterpiece.
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 21

Like Camarata, André Kostelanetz has taken music from operas and created beautiful
melodies that you will thoroughly enjoy hearing. In his case, though, he has chosen to use only
excerpts from operas (mostly arias) instead of entire acts. Two low-budget tapes that are available
should be especially interesting to you. One contains music strictly from Puccini operas while the
other has music from Puccini operas plus many of the most famous operas of other composers. For
instance, you get an orchestral version of the “Barcarolle” from Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann
and the “Love Duet” from Act I of La BohPme. While Kostelanetz’s orchestrations tend to be a bit
too “syrupy,” for some, the melodies are undeniably beautiful. Much of Kostelanetz’s opera music is
now available on a CD entitled Opera Without Words. It is seventy-six minutes long and contains
some of his best work of this type.
What has been said of Kostelanetz can also be said of Mantovani. He recorded a broad range
of opera music during his life and most of it is very pleasant to the ear if you can tolerate the overly
lush arrangements that he uses. Mantovani’s orchestra was large and overflowing with violins. On of
his best pieces is “Softly Awakens My Heart” from Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah. Delilah sings
this to Samson as part of her seduction scene. He is seduced and sheared, you may remember, but
later gets his revenge by bringing down the temple on his captors. 1
If you want more than just a taste of the music from an opera, you may be interested in
some of the suites from operas. Two magnificent suites have been formed from the music in
Georges Bizet’s masterpiece Carmen. Almost all of the music is immediately recognizable.
Suite number 1 contains six sections. It begins with “Les toreadors” and is followed by the
prelude that introduces the music that symbolizes Carmen’s fatal influence on José. Music
representing a mood or theme and recurring throughout an opera is called a “motive.” Act II
takes place in a tavern where the smugglers and their women are drinking and plotting together
and the third selection we hear is the prelude to that act. Next, an intermezzo leads us into Act
III that takes place in the smugglers camp in the mountains. The “Aragonaise” is the music we
hear before the curtain goes up on Act IV, the act that takes place outside a bull ring in Seville.
Suite number 1 ends with the “Seguidille,” a very fast paced, energetic aria which Carmen sings
in Act I.
Suite number 2 is in five distinct sections. The first is the “Marche des contrabandiers,”
which is the music we hear at the beginning of Act III. This is followed by an orchestral version
of Carmen’s famous first act aria, the “Habanera.” “Chanson du torJador” is the well known
song of the egocentric toreador, Escamillo, from Act II and that is followed by “La garde
montante” which is from that part of Act I where a group of children mimic the changing of the
guard. The second suite ends with the “Danse bohPme” the gypsy dance that we hear at the
beginning of Act II.
French opera is usually delicate, like fine French pastry. Listen to Bizet’s music for
Carmen and you will soon conclude that it is definitely not typical French opera. This opera is
too raw, too robust. 2 The Carmen Suites should be a part of everyone’s classical music library,
whether you appreciate opera or not.
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 22

The suite from Richard Strauss’ famous 1911 opera Der Rosenkavalier was put together
by the well known conductor Antal Dorati back in the 1940’s. Dorati set out not to tell the story
of the opera, but rather to create something called a symphonic poem in which he would
introduce us to some of the music that is identified with the main characters and some of the
crucial sequences in the opera. It’s six parts are in the following sequence: Introduction
(Octavian and the Marschallin); The Silver Rose (Octavian and Sophie); The Intrigue; Baron
Ochs von Lerchenau; The Denouncement (Trio and Closing Duet); and Resume - The Great
Waltz. Der Rosenkavalier is one of Strauss’ more accessible operas, but the neophyte opera
listener should avoid most of his work. He loved the female voice and wrote most of his operas
around that voice with little emphasis on the male voice. This makes many of his operas quite
unpleasant to the uninitiated.
Strauss himself wrote a suite for his opera Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman
Without a Shadow). While not as interesting as the suite from Der Rosenkavalier, it is worth
hearing.
And now we come to Franz Lehár’s ever popular operetta The Merry Widow. This
operetta was composed in 1905 and has been a favorite the world over ever since. The Merry
Widow is even a favorite of Hollywood, having been filmed on at least four occasions (The best
version to see is the 1934 MGM remake that paired Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette
MacDonald.) The music that you hear in any of the many suites or medleys is likely to include
“Vilia,” a czardas (a type of music that is common to the people of eastern Europe), “Maxims,”
and the Grand Waltz. Listening to the Music from The Merry Widow is truly a pleasure. Don’t
deny yourself that experience.
The information presented in this chapter is sufficient to allow you to intelligently choose
opera-for-orchestra recordings. Below is a list of selections you will typically find on those
recordings. Tapes and CDs are constantly being added to and removed from the catalog, so it is
impossible to tell you with any certainty what is and is not available in your favorite record
store.
1. “Largo al factotum” from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville
2. “Vesti la giubba” from Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci
3. “The Jewel Song” from Gounod’s Faust
4. “The Anvil Chorus” from Verdi’s Il Trovatore
5. “The Children’s Prayer” from Humperdinck’s Hänsel and Gretel
6. “Evening Star” from Wagner’s Tannhäuser
7. “M’Appari” from Flotow’s Martha
8. “The Habanera” from Bizet’s Carmen
9. “The Toreador Song” from Bizet’s Carmen
10. “Un bel dX” from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
11. “Caro nome” from Verdi’s Rigoletto
12. “La donna P mobile” from Verdi’s Rigoletto
13. “O mio babbino caro” from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi
14. “Celeste AVda” from Verdi’s AVda
15. “Musetta’s Waltz” from Puccini’s La BohPme
16. “Che gelida manina” from Puccini’s La BohPme
17. “Mi chiamano Mimi” from Puccini’s La BohPme
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 23

18. “O soave fanciulla” (Love Duet) from Puccini’s La BohPme
19. “The Barcarolle” from Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann
20. “Softly Awakens My Heart” from Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah
21. “The Brindisi” (also called “Libiamo”) from Verdi’s La Traviata
22. “E lucevan le stelle” from Puccini’s Tosca
23. “Vissi d’Arte” from Puccini’s Tosca
24. “Nessun dorma” from Puccini’s Turandot
25. Medley from Lehár’s The Merry Widow
26. Suites from Bizet’s Carmen
27. Suite from Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier
28. Suite from Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten
29. Gaité Parisienne by Offenbach
30. Intermezzo from Giordano’s Fedora
31. Intermezzo from Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana
32. “Meditation” from Massenet’s ThaVs
33. Ballet Music from Gounod’s Faust
34. Ballet Music from Verdi’s AVda
35. Dances from Smetana’s The Bartered Bride
36. The Polovtsian Dances from Borodin’s Prince Igor
Since most of the music I’ve been discussing was recorded many years ago, it is usually
available on either low priced CDs or on budget label cassettes. The CDs will generally cost less
than $10.00 and the cassettes can usually be obtained for less than $5.00.
Your first step in learning to enjoy opera is to listen to some of this music in order to get
a good feel for the beautiful melodies. Should you have a cassette player in your car, you may
want to listen to it as you travel about town. The selections are generally three to five minutes
long and you may find that it makes very pleasant “drive-time” music.
A friend of mine tells me that she and her husband both like the opera-for-orchestra tape I
gave her so much that they have to plan who will get to listen to it when. Will this spark a
custody battle? Stay tuned.
One last comment: Don’t worry about what your opera-loving friends will think about
you listening to opera-for-orchestra. We won’t tell them.
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 24

“In the Beginning” ....andSomewhat
Beyond
Do you attend symphony concerts? If you do, then you are familiar with opera because
symphony orchestras invariably perform opera overtures, preludes, ballet music, and incidental music.
Rossini and Wagner overtures are particularly popular because there is so much energy in them.
Also, their music is symphonic in nature, that is, it is meant to be performed by large orchestras and is
structured much like symphonic music. It is interesting to speculate on how successful these two
composers might have been if they had decided to write symphonies instead of operas.
Rossini is remembered by the public, as it turned out, more for his overtures than for his
operas. His best loved overtures include those from The Barber of Seville (his best known opera),
William Tell (his best known overture), La Cenerentola (the story of Cinderella), and La Gazza
Ladra. Most people have heard his overture to William Tell at some time, but how many people have
heard this five-plus hour opera in its entirety?
Richard Wagner’s operas are performed more often than those of Rossini, but since many
concertgoers are not particularly opera fans, he is represented at symphony concerts best by his
non-vocal music. His best known non-vocal music includes the prelude to Die Meistersinger,“The
Ride of the Valkyries” from Die Walküre, the preludes to Acts I and III of Lohengrin,andthe
“Festmarch” from Tannhäuser.
Concert favorites by other composers of opera include “The Dance of the Hours” from
Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, the “Bacchanale” from Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah, the overture to
Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, the overture to Mozart’s The Magic Flute,andthe“Carmen
Suites” from Bizet’s famous opera.
In this chapter we will look at some of the music that has just been listed. This music is every
bit as important to opera as the arias and a lot more fun to listen to, you will probably agree.
Overtures and Preludes
Opera overtures were originally written to give the people in the theater time to get to their
seats and to stop talking before the action of the opera began. In the days when most of our favorite
operas were written, there was no way to conveniently “dim the house lights” since the house lights
were candles, so they used music to get everyone’s attention instead.
Early French overtures followed a three-part pattern. They started out with slow music,
moved into a fast section, and then ended with a slow section. The early Italian overture pattern was
fast-slow-fast, their thinking being that you need to begin with fast music in order to catch your
audience’s attention immediately. It was possible, the Italians argued, tongue-in-cheek, to confuse the
slow opening of a French overture with the continued tuning of the orchestra’s instruments.
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 25

The early overtures had nothing to do with the music one would hear later in the opera; they
only served as fill music until the action got under way. Later they came to set the mood for what was
to follow and even, at times, contained themes that would be fully developed in the body of the opera.
The audience was in effect given a preview of what was to come, an example of opera-for-orchestra,
so to speak.
Since these overtures were not meant to fully explore the music in the opera, you may wonder
if the composers took much time to write them. Some overtures were written spontaneously while
others were written and rewritten over a period of years. The overture that Beethoven ultimately used
for his only opera Fidelio evolved over many years and revisions to the opera. It’s predecessors, the
three “Leonore Overtures” that we occasionally hear in concerts, preceded it by as much as nine years
whereas Mozart wrote the overture for his opera Don Giovanni the night before its premiere in a
room filled with people and never changed it! Which of the two overtures do we most often hear?
The overture to Don Giovanni.
Preludes are much like overtures but were originally shorter and were used to introduce some
of the music that would be heard later in the opera itself. Through time, some preludes have become
longer than some overtures and the distinction between the two has become very blurred. Moreover,
preludes are sometimes heard within an opera rather than at the very beginning. Examples of this
include the Prelude to Act III of Verdi’s La Traviata and the Prelude to Act III of Wagner’s
Lohengrin.
Just in case you are not totally confused at this point, Verdi, who as we just saw used preludes
at the beginning and within his operas, used neither preludes nor overtures for his two final operas
Otello and Falstaff. Puccini, who wrote operas after the time of Verdi, declined to use the
overture/prelude completely opting instead to get right to the meat of the matter. So, don’t arrive late
for a Puccini opera, he won’t wait for you!
Some well known overtures and preludes that you should become familiar with include those
described below. Most of these works are readily available on cassette and compact discs and are
often heard during symphony concerts and on classical radio stations. Take time to listen to them as
you read the information below.
Overture to Gioacchino Rossini’s William Tell - First performed in 1829, this was the last opera
written by Rossini. 1 The action takes place in 13th century Switzerland, which was then under
the rule of the Austrians. The Overture is a wonderful tone-painting in 4 parts. First, there is a
quiet introduction for five solo cellos, then a raging Alpine storm, followed by a pastoral (i.e.,
quiet) episode, and concluding with the famous “gallop” representing a call for the Swiss patriots
to overthrow their Austrian overlords.
Prelude to Georges Bizet’s Carmen - This was Bizet’s last opera, performed for the first time on
March 3, 1875 just 2 months before his death at the age of 36. It is interesting to note that he
went to his grave thinking that Carmen was a failure. The prelude immediately makes you think
of the sun-drenched landscape of Spain and is built on three themes from the opera. First comes
the march that in the last act accompanies the procession to the Plaza de Toros. It is followed by
the refrain of the “Toreador Song” heard in Act II, after which the march returns. Then there is a
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 26

sudden change of pace and atmosphere. To an accompaniment of what seems to be trembling
strings, the lower instruments of the orchestra play a somber theme - the “Fate” motive, which is
echoed again and again during the drama.
Prelude to Giuseppe Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera and the following chorus - When Verdi
wrote Un Ballo in 1859, Italy as we know it today did not exist. What did exist were many
independent city-states that were ruled with an iron hand by Austria. The Austrians, being astute
dictators, censored all plays, operas, and literature that had to do with political unrest or the
murder of rulers. Since Un Ballo was based on the assassination of Gustav III of Sweden which
took place at a masked ball in Sweden in 1792, the Austrian censors made Verdi change the
location to Boston in the late 17th century, and Gustav III became Riccardo, the “governor” of
Boston. Boston seemed uncivilized enough and remote enough to be no threat. The prelude
reflects several musical pieces that occur in the opera including the chorus “Posa in pace,” which
immediately follows it, and the aria “La rivedrB nell’estasi,” which is sung shortly after the just
mentioned chorus. The chorus begins with these words, “Let your noble heart rest, Riccardo,
return to your fond dreams, you are shielded in this dwelling by the love of a virgin world.”
Overture to Mozart’s The Magic Flute - This is one of Mozart’s most beloved operas with good
reason. You can enjoy it on a purely superficial level or look into it and see deep, universal
meanings. Most of Mozart’s operas were written for royalty, but The Magic Flute was written
to be performed for the common people of Vienna. Mozart was a Mason and many see profound
Masonic symbolism in this work while others feel that the seeming tie-ins with Masonry are
merely coincidental. This is an argument that will never be settled because Mozart was silent on
the issue. This overture does not hint at the music in the opera itself except in Mozart’s use of
three chords that are repeatedly used in the opera. The number three is supposed to have
mystical meaning in Masonry.
Ballet, Intermezzi, and Incidental Music
Operas are a rich source of different forms of orchestral music besides overtures and
preludes. This music includes ballet music, intermezzi, and incidental music that is included to
produce some desired dramatic effect.
Ballet has existed even longer than opera and was used by the earliest opera composers to
create effects that could not be produced with music alone. To ballet, we must add dance in
general since the stories often include settings where the principals and the members of the
chorus waltz or perform other non-ballet dances.
Dance is used in several different ways. It can be an integral part of what is going on and
thus further the action, or it can be used as a divertissement, that is, an amusing or entertaining
addition to the action of the opera. Sometimes, the exact extent of the ballet music is up to the
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 27

director as it is not written into the opera specifically. For example, the dancing at Prince
Orlofsky’s party in Act II of Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus.
Ballet has long been of importance to the French while the Italians have seen it as far less
important. Consequently, most French operas contain ballet music while only some Italian
operas contain it. Ballet is so important to the French that it was once considered mandatory in
every opera - specifically in the second act. It was required in that particular spot because the
members of the Jockey Club, an exclusive club for the rich young men of Paris who “supported”
certain ballerinas, did not arrive at the opera until just before the beginning of the second act
because they wanted to dine at a leisurely pace. When they arrived at the theater, they expected
to see their favorite ballerinas performing.
There is a well known story about how Wagner created a scandal at the Paris premier of
his opera Tannhäuser by staging it without the mandatory ballet in Act II. Tannhäuser had
had its premier in Dresden 16 years before and Wagner felt that including a ballet sequence in
Act II for the Paris premier would be totally incongruous with the action that was taking place,
so he refused to insert the “required” ballet. Consequently, he incurred the wrath of the members
of the Jockey Club who jeered openly during the performances. They made sure that the Paris
premier of Tannhäuser was a total failure.
Ballet is usually performed by the ballet corp, but in some operas it is performed by the
singers. Rimsky-Korsakov calls for the singers in his seldom performed opera Le Coq d’Or to
also be good ballet dancers. That is why it is seldom performed. On those rare occasions when
it is performed, you can expect the singers to stand near the sides of the stage singing while the
corp-de-ballet acts out what is being sung.
Other forms of orchestral music include intermezzi and incidental music - music inserted
for dramatic effect. Intermezzi are sometimes included to break the tension in an act while
incidental music may be played while the singers are otherwise occupied either to remind us of
something that occurred earlier in the opera or for dramatic effect. This music may be played
while the principals are silently completing an action as when Tosca, after murdering the evil
Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca, retrieves a passport from his hand, places lighted candles on each
side of his head, and a cross on his chest. The music that is played as she moves silently about
the room accentuates her every move perfectly.
Now, let’s look at some other orchestral music from operas. Most of the selections listed
are probably known to you already if you have any interest at all in classical music. In some
cases the works from which they come are mainly remembered by the public because of the
music that will be described rather than for the entire opera.
“The Dance of the Hours” from Amilcare Ponchielli’s La Gioconda - This 1876 opera is a story
of love and intrigue. “The Dance of the Hours” takes place at a ball. The music begins by
creating a picture of the first faint rays of dawn. Twittering birds and shimmering waters are
heard in the violins and upper woodwinds, as the dancers enter. Slowly the music rises in
intensity as the morning passes. At high noon, the bright hours of day dominate the stage. As
evening approaches, the music grows serene, and darker, then twilight arrives. When night
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arrives, the music becomes very soft just as it was in the early morning. By midnight, the music
thins out into almost nothing. Finally, all 24 hours gather as a unit and plunge into a rival whirl
of dancing with each hour fighting for dominance. Victory goes to the hours representing light.
Waltz from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin - This lyric waltz, which you will often find on
“sampler” albums of classical music, occurs in Act II during a ball to celebrate the birthday of
Tatiana, one of the main characters in the opera. This is a beautiful example of what
Tchaikovsky was able to compose.
Intermezzo from Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana - Cavalleria Rusticana is a one act
opera with two scenes. The intermezzo occurs between the two scenes. This story deals with
love, passion, lust, and a Sicilian vendetta. Scene 1 ends with Alfio, one of the main characters
in the opera, swearing to revenge his wife’s unfaithfulness. The stage is momentarily deserted
and a calm mood rises from the orchestra as the “Regina coeli,” sung earlier by the choir, returns
to remind us that it is Easter, a day of peace. A haunting melody full of religious fervor follows,
but the music also reminds us of the searing passions of the previous scene. This intermezzo is a
favorite concert piece the world over.
“Meditation” from Jules Massenet’s ThaVs - This 1894 French opera takes place in and around
Alexandria, Egypt in the 4th century. The monk Athanaël decides that he must save the
beautiful courtesan ThaVs from her life of sin and debauchery. The meditation theme occurs at
the end of Act II, scene I. ThaVs, who is world weary, is visited by Athanaël who attempts to
convert her and then waits to see what she will decide to do. He declares, “On thy threshold till
dawn I shall await thy coming!” The curtain then falls, but the orchestra continues playing the
“Meditation” which is symbolic of her conversion. 2 After her conversion, he realizes that he is
hopelessly in love with her, but by then, she has entered a convent. He goes to the convent to
profess his love for her only to find that she is dying.
Yes, some operas are very sad. Perhaps that’s why Uncle George always looks so
serious.
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 29

That Sounds Like the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir!
Thank God for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. While introducing some of my students to
opera choruses one evening, one lady kept telling me she had heard the choruses before on her
recording of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I was delighted. It does not matter where she heard the
music, I only care that she had heard it before because choruses are another of those essential
elements of an opera.
Choruses represent some of the most exquisite, stirring music you will ever encounter, and
they are usually easy to love because most of us have been exposed to choral music through our
churches and synagogues if nowhere else. We also hear grouped voices in popular music. Most
successful Broadway shows contain musical numbers with a group of singers in the background.
Listen to the musicals Oklahoma or South Pacific. In them, you hear numerous numbers with
choruses. The blending of the voices seems to take the edge off the individual types of voices of
which the chorus is composed. For instance, the soprano voice is often present in a chorus, but it
doesn’t seem so offensive when blended with many other soprano voices.
Choruses have been around for a long, long time. They were used extensively in the ancient
Greek dramas like Antigone. Those choruses served several roles. First, they commented on the
action of the play or provide needed information; second, they physically participated in the action of
the plays; or third, they added an active background element to accentuate what the main characters
were doing.
In opera, the chorus serves essentially the same three purposes. In some operas, like Verdi’s
Un Ballo in Maschera, to which you were introduced in the last chapter, the chorus that you hear
immediately after the Prelude tells you that Riccardo is loved by his people. You get the feeling that
all is well, though things soon start going downhill for Riccardo. They are giving you some essential
information that we need to know when the opera begins.
In some operas, such as Bizet’s Carmen and Verdi’s La Traviata, the chorus actually takes
part in the action. This creates serious staging problems since it is difficult enough to simply get a
group of people to sing together. When you then ask them to perform additional duties, such as
dancing, you are asking for trouble. In a later chapter you will learn more about the problems that
Bizet ran into because he expected the women in the chorus for Carmen not only to dance
strenuously, but to smoke as well. Ladies in France in 1875 did not smoke! The chorus members in
La Traviata do not have to smoke, but they do have to waltz in one act, while in another act the
women, dressed as gypsies, dance while singing and the men, dressed as matadors, dance and sing
also.
In operas like Puccini’s La BohPme, the chorus is mainly expected to be there because of the
setting of the action. Act II of La BohPme takes place in the streets of Paris and in a cafe on
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Christmas Eve, and if the only people present were the principal singers, it would seem strange
indeed. So, we add street vendors trying to sell last minute Christmas gifts, people anxious to finish
their Christmas shopping, and even children greedily trying to get their parents to buy everything in
sight. Now you have a scene, more in fact, than you can take in with just one pair of eyes. But, these
people are not really taking part in the main action of the act. Though a few of the chorus members
occasionally interact with the main characters in the opera, they are mainly there as “window
dressing.”
There are four main types of voices used in choruses, high and low male voices (tenor and
bass), and high and low female voices (soprano and alto). A chorus may be made up of all these
voices or of varying combinations of them. Furthermore, there are all male choruses, all female
choruses, and even choruses made up solely of children. In some choruses, a single voice will rise
above the rest, while in others, the voices are perfectly blended throughout. Puccini’s opera Madama
Butterfly even contains a chorus without words, yet it effectively transmits strong emotion.
Here are some of the most beautiful choruses you will ever hear and a brief description of
each. Again, I strongly suggest that you find a record store that sells records, tapes or CD’s and
purchase a recording of some of these great works. They are pleasant to hear even if you never take
time to listen to the operas from which they are excerpted.
Choir!
If you can’t find an operatic recording of them, buy a recording of the Mormon Tabernacle
“The Anvil Chorus” from Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore - First performed in 1853, this is
one of the three well known operas from what is called Verdi’s “middle period.” The other
two are Rigoletto and La Traviata. Il Trovatore has a very complex, muddled story line that
many feel is not really worth trying to follow. This opera is a classic in spite of its story line.
Act II, Scene II opens in the gypsy camp. It is dawn and the gypsies are already hard at work.
As they forge their weapons, they sing happily of their lives: “See! The endless sky casts off
her somber nightly garb, like a widow who lays aside at last the sad, black veils of mourning.
To work! Strike, my hammer! Who brightens the life of the gypsy? The gypsy maiden!”
“The Humming Chorus” from Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly - The setting for this
opera, one of Puccini’s most beloved, is Japan where the fifteen year old girl Cio-Cio San has
forsaken her family and “married” the perfidious American Naval officer, Lieutenant
Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton. At the end of Act II, Butterfly awaits the return of her lover
after a three-year absence. With their child and her friend Suzuki, she sits patiently, peeking
through a small hole in a sliding panel wall so that she may see him come up the hill. They
wait and wait, but he does not appear. At last, they fall asleep to the lullaby of a quiet offstage
chorus - a chorus without words.
“O Isis und Osiris” from Mozart’s The Magic Flute - This is an example of a chorus made up
of male voices only. In Act II, Tamino, the hero of the opera, and his love, Pamina, are with
the priests of a mysterious cult. The priests sing to the gods, “O Isis and Osiris, what bliss!
Dark night retreats from the rays of the sun. Soon the noble youth will feel a new life. Soon
he will be wholly dedicated to our order. His spirit is bold, his heart is pure, soon he will be
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 32

worthy of us.” The subdued, reverent singing of the priests is contrasted at certain points by
fervent, emotional outbursts that add immeasurably to the feel of the music.
“Va, pensiero” from Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco - Produced in 1824 when Verdi was only 28
years old, this opera introduced the world to his genius. The story concerns King
Nebuchadnezzar and his imprisonment of the Hebrew people in Babylonia (the Babylonian
Exile). In Act III, the Hebrews, in chains and at forced labor, sing longingly of the homeland
they love but have lost. The music begins quietly and then rises, but eventually becomes quiet
once more echoing first their despair, then their momentary joy as they remember their
homeland, and finally despair again as they realize that they may nevermore return. “Go, my
thoughts, on golden wings. Go, alight upon the slopes, the hills, where, soft and warm, the
sweet breezes of our native land are fragrant!” The Italian people, suffering under Austrian
occupation, identified themselves with the enslaved Hebrews and virtually adopted the great
chorus “Va, pensiero” as their national hymn.
“The Huntsman’s Chorus” from Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz - With Der
Freischütz (The Freeshooters), Weber was one of the first composers to write true German
opera. He heavily influenced the future course of German opera in general and Richard
Wagner in particular. He captured the interaction between man and nature and brought to life
the German woodlands and the excitement of the hunt. Just before the shooting contest that
sets the stage for the opera’s climax, the foresters sing this rousing chorus in praise of hunting.
“What pleasure on earth equals that of the hunt? For whom does life’s cup brim so full? To
lie in the grass while the horns sound, to follow the stag through thicket and ditch is the
pleasure of princes, the desire of men, gives strength to the limbs and spice to the meal.”
“Entrance of the Guests” into the Hall of Song from Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser -The
story of this opera concerns a knight minstrel named Tannhäuser who has succumbed to the
pleasures of Venus. Though he forsakes Venus for the pure Elizabeth, he lapses into a song
praising the delights of Venus during a minstrel contest. He is commanded to make a
pilgrimage to Rome to seek forgiveness from the Pope who tells him that anyone who has
tasted the pleasures of Venus is as likely to receive forgiveness as his staff is likely to sprout
leaves. Dejected, Tannhäuser returns home only to see his beloved Elizabeth being buried.
She has died of grief, but has gained forgiveness for him through her death. The papal staff is
then seen in full bloom. This chorus from Act II is sung just before the minstrel contest. It is
immediately recognizable with its dramatic orchestration and brilliant musical setting.
“Joyfully we greet the noble Hall where art and peace forever reside where long the hearty
shout shall echo.”
“The Triumphal March and Chorus” from Act II, Scene 2 of Verdi’s AVda - The Egyptian
army under the leadership of Rhadames has defeated the Ethiopians. Outside the city walls, a
great throng of people has gathered to welcome the returning heroes. There is dancing,
singing, and (when a company can afford it) even wild animals on the stage as the heroes are
welcomed home. “Glory to Egypt and to Isis, protectress of the sacred land! To the king who
rules the Delta joyful hymns we sing. Glory! Glory! Glory!” Pageantry like this is what
makes AVda a spectacle to behold! This is also what makes AVda a very difficult opera to
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present unless you are at the Met with almost unlimited money, manpower, and musical
resources.
“Libiamo” from Verdi’s La Traviata - La Traviata is one of Veri’s richest veins for those
who are mining for beautiful melodies. The beautiful Parisian courtesan, Violetta Valery, is
introduced to Alfredo Germont during a party at her home. She is told that he is one of her
admirers. He tells her that he has loved her from afar for a year. She invites him to make a
toast, and he begins this beautiful drinking song sung in waltz time. “Let us drink from the
mirth-giving cup which beauty adorns and may the fugitive moment be filled with sweet
intoxication...Letusdrink‘midthewinecupsmoreardentlove’skisses will be.” She then
joins him in song and the other guests soon follow. Verdi used this device to show us how a
relationship begins. First there is Alfredo alone, then he is joined by Violetta - it is as though
she is won over by him - and then the guests, by way of their joining in, bless their union.
“Per te d’immenso giubilo” from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor - Lucia is a very somber
opera based on The Bride of Lammermoor, a novel by Sir Walter Scott. This chorus
represents one of the few bright moments in the entire work. In the great hall at Ravenswood
Castle many have gathered for the signing of the marriage contract between Lucia and Arturo.
Theirs is a marriage of convenience that promises to restore wealth and status to Lucia’s
family and, in particular, to her brother Enrico. To Enrico the chorus sings, “Full of great joy
for you, all gather here together. For you we see dawning anew the day of hope.”
“Don din don” (The Chorus of the Bells) from Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci - This is probably
the best known verismo opera. In Act I, a troop of actors has come to town to perform for the
people. After a scene in which we get a preview of the violent jealousy that will be the
culmination of the opera, the church bells are heard ringing, a group of pipers enter the stage,
and the people move off toward the church. “Ding dong, the shadows fall. Then come one
and all. Ding dong, to the church come away.”
“Gloire immortelle” (The Soldier’s Chorus) from Gounod’s Faust - This is the chorus that my
wife called the “kangaroo song.” It has a military feel to it and gives you a break from the
despair that you feel knowing that Faust has defiled the gentle Marguerite. The soldiers,
including her brother Valentine, are returning home from war, victorious over their enemies.
“Glory to those who in battle fall, their bright deeds we can with pride recall. May we, then,
honor and fame acquire their glorious deeds our hearts will inspire!” Sentiments from a
bygone era.
“Treulich gefhhrt” from Wagner’s Lohengrin - “What in the world is this?” you ask. Well,
though you do not recognize it by its proper name, this is the chorus “Here Comes the Bride”
that was mentioned in chapter 1. Technically speaking, it is the Bridal Chorus from Act III of
this great German masterpiece - the first of Wagner’s operas to become popular outside
Germany. The chorus takes place in the bridal hall where Lohengrin, a knight of the Holy
Grail, is about to marry Elsa. Would you like to know what the real words are to this music?
“Faithfully guided, come to this place where the blessings of love shall enfold you. Love, the
reward of courage triumphant, truly makes you a most happy pair. Champion of virtue,
proudly advance! Flower of youth, gracefully advance.”
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Most of the best known operas contain choruses. Many other lesser known operas have
beautiful choruses if nothing else to recommend them. After you have listened to some of the above
music, you will have to admit that opera is worth listening to because of the choruses alone.
Whenever you are ready, I’m ready to introduce you to someone very special who has been
about as popular as a red-headed stepchild with the purist. Just turn the page.
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Opera’s Red-Headed Stepchild
Long before I learned to love opera, I loved opera’s red-headed stepchild - operetta. How can
you help but love operetta? It’s so full of sparkling, gay melodies. Waltzes, beautiful duets, arias that
floatlikeacloud...whatmorecouldyouaskfor?
You will have your first introduction to the various operatic voices through operetta rather
than through opera if you follow the plan of this book. This is done on purpose since you, being new
to this kind of music, will find the melodies more familiar and more pleasant than those you will hear
in most operas. Indeed, the melodies are irresistible.
Operetta has been around for a long time and was at its best when written by people like
Jacques Offenbach, Johann Strauss, and Franz Lehár. Then it was written and performed in America
in an area of New York City called Broadway, and eventually evolved into our answer to European
opera and operetta - the American Broadway musical. As you will soon learn, much of our early
Broadway theater was composed by men who were trained in the European (especially Viennese)
style of writing musical theater.
The literal meaning of the word operetta is “little opera” (because they were originally one act
operas) and it can be characterized as very light opera. Its elements include waltzes, gaiety, parties,
glittering ball gowns, champagne, romance, sentiment, and lots and lots of schmaltz. Most people
who enjoy operettas do so because of the exquisite melodies, not because of the depth of the stories or
the technical difficulty of the singing. The difference between operetta and opera is the difference
between a Strauss waltz and a Beethoven symphony. Both are beautiful, but the waltz is not nearly as
complex as the symphony and the waltz is much more accessible to the public.
Though there are some who preceded him, Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) is generally
considered to be the father of operetta. His father, Issac Juda Eberst, was a traveling cantor who
changed his last name to Offenbach after a town near Frankfurt in which he lived. Young Jakob
changed his first name to Jacques after he moved to Paris to attend the Paris Conservatoire. He
remained in France and there composed approximately 100 operettas. 1 Some of his best known
operettas include Orpheus in the Underworld, La Belle HélPne, Barbe-Bleue, and The Grand
Duchess of Gérolstein. His light, fanciful works were considered fluff and were not taken
seriously by the critics. He opened his own theater to assure that his operettas would be staged.
Late in life he yearned to compose a serious opera and did so by writing the well known Tales of
Hoffmann shortly before his death. Unfortunately, he did not live long enough to finish the
1 Offenbach was such a “workaholic” that he had a writing table installed in his carriage so that he would
be able to compose while traveling
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 37

orchestrations or to see it performed. He never knew how much the world would come to love
his final work.
Johann Strauss II (1825-1899), known as the Waltz King, ushered in the Golden Age of
Viennese Operetta. His father, who was a renowned Viennese composer, wanted no competition
so Johann II had to take music lessons secretly to avoid his father’s wrath. He proved to be more
talented than his jealous father and composed many beautiful operettas that remain very popular
today, especially in Europe. They include Die Fledermaus (his most famous work), A Night in
Venice, The Gypsy Baron, and the posthumous pasticcio (an operetta made up of bits and pieces
of a composer’s previous works) Wiener Blut (Viennese Blood). Strauss’ operettas have a lot in
common with those of Offenbach. It is said that Offenbach convinced Strauss to write for the
stage and like Offenbach, Strauss is not taken seriously by most of the operagoing public. What
a shame. His operettas are so melodic.
Some of Strauss’ contemporaries include the following:
Franz von Suppé (1819-1895), a Viennese conductor, wrote over forty delightful
operettas, but is remembered today mostly for his overtures especially the “Pops” favorite
Leichte Kavallerie (Light Cavalry). He is considered by some to be the true father of Viennese
Operetta. Two of his operettas, Boccaccio and Die Schöne Galathee (The Beautiful Galathea)
were well-liked once. Die Schöne Galathee is one of many theater works dealing with the
Pygmalion theme. In this one, a sculptor creates a statue depicting an attractive woman and it
magically comes to life.
Karl Millöcker (1842-1899) was the son of a Viennese goldsmith. At one time, he
worked as a flautist (he played a flute) in an orchestra conducted by Franz von SuppJ. His
operettas include Gasparone and his most popular work, Der Bettelstudent (The Beggar
Student). His operetta Dubarry was produced on Broadway in 1932 and starred the celebrated
Grace Moore.
Carl Zeller (1842-1898) was a boy soprano in Vienna’s Imperial Boys Choir. He later
became a prominent civil servant in the Bureau of Arts and Education and composed music in
his spare time. He is best remembered for Der Vogelhändler (The Birdseller).
Richard Heuberger (1850-1914) was the son of a bandage manufacturer. Trained as an
engineer, he soon gave up this profession to become the director of various singing groups. He
was also a music critic in Vienna and Munich and wrote several books about music. He is best
remembered for the waltz-laden Der Opernball. He was asked to compose the music for The
Merry Widow, but was unable to come up with anything suitable, so the project was given to
Franz Lehár instead. What a break for Lehár!
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Franz Lehár (1870-1948) initiated the Silver Age of Viennese operetta. Though born in
Hungary, the son of a military bandleader, he moved to Vienna where he wrote many splendid
operettas, most notably The Merry Widow and The Land of Smiles. He wrote The Land of
Smiles for his great friend Richard Tauber who is remembered as the greatest interpreter of
Lehr’s music. The aria “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” (Yours is My Heart Alone) from that
operetta is arguably the greatest tenor aria in operetta. Under Lehár, operetta underwent a
change. As Richard Traubner states in his wonderful, exhaustive book, Operetta, A Theatrical
History:
Lehár’s melodic gifts were prodigious, and he had a penchant for sweepingly
romantic phrases which at once define his era. By the 1920’s, the romance overshadowed any
comedy or gaiety in Lehár’s operettas, so that any connections with the comic operas of Strauss
and Suppé and Millöcker were becoming remote. ....Lehár was ultimately responsible more
than any other composer for changing the course of Viennese operetta from its original
dependence on satire and fantasy to romantic sentimentality.
No one in the Silver Age of operetta comes close to Lehár, and when he died, operetta in the
grand, Viennese style died with him.
Lehár’s contemporaries include:
Emmerich Kálmán (1882-1953), a Hungarian like Lehár, wanted to be a concert pianist
but was forced to give up that idea because of health problems (neuritis) that kept him from
playing the piano. His most performed works are The Czardas Princess and Gräfin Mariza.
Gräfin Mariza contains the aria best known to us as “Play, Gypsies - Dance, Gypsies.”
Oscar Straus (1870-1954) was born in Vienna but was not related to Johann Strauss. His
operettas The Opera Ball, A Waltz Dream, and The Chocolate Soldier were very famous. The
Chocolate Soldier was made into a movie by MGM in the 1940’s and starred Nelson Eddy and
Metropolitan Opera superstar RisN Stevens. Unfortunately, the movie’s story, as so often
happened in Hollywood musical history, had absolutely nothing to do with the original operetta
and only a few of the original numbers were retained.
Leo Fall (1873-1925) was, like Lehár, the son of a military bandleader. He was born in
Moravia (now Czechoslovakia) and is best remembered for The Dollar Princess and Der Rose
von Stambul (The Rose of Istambul).
Here in the United States, we are more familiar with Gilbert and Sullivan operettas than
any others. William Gilbert (1836-1911) wrote the librettos while Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900)
composed the music. Richard D’Oyly-Carte, an agent and theater manager, purchased the Savoy
Theater especially to house the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. To this day, those who enjoy
their works are called “Savoyards.” The British group that produced the works of Gilbert and
Sullivan for many years was the D’Oyly-Carte Opera Company. Their recordings are still
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 39

available and I highly recommend them if you are interested in hearing Gilbert and Sullivan at
their best. Their operettas are excellent, once you become accustomed to British humor and the
fact that they are often making fun of various aspects of British government and military life, as
well as the mores of the British people. Gilbert and Sullivan were the original odd couple,
feuding and fighting, much to the chagrin of D’Oyly-Carte, whose economic well-being
depended on their continued output. Their most memorable operettas include The Mikado, The
Pirates of Penzance, H. M. S. Pinafore, The Gondoliers, and Yeomen of the Guard.
Now we come to four operetta composers who are well known here more for the many
movies made from their operettas than for the live productions of their works. During the 1930’s
and 1940’s the American movie-going public could not get enough of these musicals. The
darlings of the genre were, of course, the incomparable Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy.
Victor Herbert (1859-1924) was born in Dublin but was half German. He was trained in
the Stutgart Conservatory as a cellist and followed his fiance to New York City when she got a
job with the Metropolitan Opera. He was hired as a cellist for the Met orchestra. He is
remembered for the operettas Babes in Toyland, Naughty Marietta, Sweethearts, and The Red
Mill. The beloved music from his operettas, a number of which were made into movies, includes
“Toyland” from Babes in Toyland, “The Italian Street Song” and “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life”
from Naughty Marietta, and “Sweethearts” from Sweethearts.
Rudolf Friml (1879-1972) was born in Prague. He toured the U. S. as a pianist and
decided to stay. He composed The Firefly, Rose-Marie, and The Vagabond King. Of the many
memorable numbers from his operettas, the best known are “The Donkey Serenade” from The
Firefly (made famous by Alan Jones the father of the 1960’s pop singer Jack Jones), “The Indian
Love Call” from Rose-Marie (who can forget Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in this 1936
classic?), and “Song of the Vagabonds” from The Vagabond King.
Sigmund Romberg (1887-1951), who was born in Hungary, moved to the United States
and became a pianist and restaurant orchestra bandleader in New York City for a time. He is
remembered for Maytime, Blossom Time, The New Moon, The Desert Song, and The Student
Prince. In the movie version of The Student Prince, we got Mario Lanza’s voice and Edmund
Purdom’s body because of a dispute Lanza was having with MGM. 22 Romberg’s works were a
gold mine for Hollywood. A listing of all the memorable musical numbers from his operettas
could go on forever! A partial listing would have to include “Lover Come Back to Me” and
“Softly As In a Morning Sunrise” from The New Moon, “The Desert Song” and “One Alone”
2 Lanza, born the same year that opera great Enrico Caruso died, seriously believed that he was the
reincarnation of the great tenor. The stories about the popular, unpredictable Lanza are numerous and
generally accurate. See chapter 13 for further details.
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from The Desert Song, and “Serenade,” “Golden Days,” and “Drink, Drink, Drink” from his
greatest hit The Student Prince. 33
Now we come to Jerome Kern (1885-1946), the last of the great operetta composers.
Born in New York City, he studied music there and in Germany. He is most remembered for
Show Boat and Roberta. Kern’s best known songs from these operettas include “Ol’ Man
River” (definitively sung by William Warfield), “You are Love,” and “Make Believe” from
Show Boat, and “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” and “Lovely to Look At” from Roberta.
American musical theater had its roots in the works catalogued above. As time went by,
these musicals evolved into the shows produced by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Lerner and
Loewe, Rogers and Hart, Rogers and Hammerstein, and others. As we enter the 1990’s, we find
that Broadway has moved away from the musicals that had you humming their hit tunes as you
left the theater. Furthermore, you no longer have the movie musicals that made us love
MacDonald, Eddy, Lanza, Chevalier, and all the rest. We do, however, have a recorded legacy
upon which we can draw to take us back to those golden days.
Operetta is one of the most delightful forms of music that exists. It can be enjoyed by
everyone with no effort at all. When you listen to operetta you hear all the basic elements found
in opera, though you will not be conscious of it. Jeanette MacDonald’s soprano voice was loved
by millions of Americans who would not have considered listening to an opera under any
circumstances. And, Mario Lanza probably did more, through his movies, to introduce us to
opera than any other human being who ever lived. These, people and others like them, can help
you to love operetta. Once you learn to love opera’s red-headed stepchild, you will be ready to
begin your love affair with opera itself.
When searching for recordings of Viennese operetta, look for those that feature either the
tenor Fritz Wunderlich or the soprano Elizabeth Schwarzkoph. Wunderlich, who died tragically
at the age of 36, was the natural successor of Richard Tauber (mentioned above). In the 1950’s,
Schwarzkoph made many recordings of operettas that are considered classics today.
Remember, the members of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company have produced the best
recordings of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas.
There are still a few recordings around that feature the operettas of Herbert, Friml,
Romberg, and Kern including old movie soundtracks. Some of these musicals were recorded in
the 1950 by “studio casts” that included singers like Mary Martin, Barbara Cook, and John Raitt.
3 The very popular “I’ll Walk With God” was not written by Romberg. It was
written by Nicholas Brodszky for the movie version of The Student Prince.
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Below are some selections, both instrumental and vocal, that you will surely enjoy. You
may wish to buy a complete operetta or two after you have listened to this music for a while.
Most of the operettas highlighted here contain many delightful melodies.
This music is so easy to love that you really don’t need an explanation of what is
happening. Don’t try to understand it, simply enjoy it!
Overture to Jacques Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld
Overture to Jacques Offenbach’s The Grand Duchess of Gérolstein
Overture to Jacques Offenbach’s La Belle HélPne
“Galop” from Jacques Offenbach’s GeneviPve de Brabant
“Air de lettre” (The Letter Aria) from Jacques Offenbach’s La Périchole
“Voici le sabre de mon pPre” from Jacques Offenbach’s The Grand Duchess of Gérolstein
Overture to Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus
“Mein herr Marquis” (Adele’s Laughing Song) from Johann Strauss’ Die
Fledermaus
“Trinke Liebchen, trinke schnell” from Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus
“Alle maskiert” from Johann Strauss’ A Night in Venice
“Frutti di mare” from Johann Strauss’ A Night in Venice
Overture to von Suppé‘s Light Cavalry
“Sol ich reden, darf ich schweigen” from Karl Millöcker’s Der Bettelstudent
“Ich bin die Christel von der Post” from Carl Zeller’s Der Vogelhändler
“Im Chambre séparée” from Richard Heuberger’s Der Opernball
Medley from Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow
“Vilia” from Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow
“Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” from Franz Lehár’s The Land of Smiles
“Wolgalied” from Franz Lehár’s Zarewitsch
“Komm Zigany” (Play, Gypsies - Dance, Gypsies) from Emmerich Kálmán’s Gräfin
Mariza
“H`re ich Ziegunergeigen” from Emmerich Kálmán’s Gräfin Mariza
“My Hero” from Oscar Straus’ The Chocolate Soldier
“O Rose von Stambul” from Leo Fall’s Die Rose Von Stambul
“Wien, du Stadt meiner Träume” (Vienna, City of My Dreams) a song by Sieczynski
“I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of
Penzance
“I’m Called Little Buttercup” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore
“A Wandering Minstrel, I” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado
“On a Tree by a River . . .Willow, Titwillow” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado
“Toyland” from Victor Herbert’s Babes in Toyland
“Italian Street Song” from Victor Herbert’s Naughty Marietta
“Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life” from Victor Herbert’s Naughty Marietta
“Love Me Tonight” from Rudolf Friml’s The Vagabond King
“Rose-Marie” from Rudolf Friml’s Rose-Marie
“Indian Love Call” from Rudolf Friml’s Rose-Marie
“The Donkey Serenade” from Rudolf Friml’s The Firefly
“Giannina Mia” from Rudolf Friml’s The Firefly
“Serenade” from Sigmund Romberg’s The Student Prince
“Golden Days” from Sigmund Romberg’s The Student Prince
“Drink, Drink, Drink” from Sigmund Romberg’s The Student Prince
“Lover, Come Back to Me” from Sigmund Romberg’s The New Moon
“The Desert Song” from Sigmund Romberg’s The Desert Song
“One Alone” from Sigmund Romberg’s The Desert Song
“Ol’ Man River” from Jerome Kern’s Show Boat
“Make Believe” from Jerome Kern’s Show Boat
“You are Love” from Jerome Kern’s Show Boat
“The Touch of Your Hand” from Jerome Kern’s Roberta
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While you are exploring the music from this and the previous chapters, we are going to
take a little time to catch up on some information that you really ought to know. What kind of
teacher would let you go to an opera without knowing something about the different types of
voices you will be enjoying?
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A Voice to Meet Every Need
How may times have you heard the expression, “It’s not over ‘till the fat lady sings?” The fat
lady they are talking about is the often massive soprano in one of Wagner’s seemingly interminable
operas. You know her, she’s the one with the breast plates, the pigtails, and the helmet with the
horns. When people are not making the above unkind comment about opera, they are saying things
like, “I’d love opera if it wasn’t for all that singing,” or “How can you stand that screaming?”
Ninety-nine times out of a hundred the voice that these critics object to the most is the soprano
voice. They interpret the high notes not as beautiful singing, but simply as screeching. When I teach
my opera class, I am very careful to avoid most recordings that feature the soprano voice because of
the invariable reaction of my students. They can enjoy the lower female voices, and all the male
voices, but definitely not the soprano voice.
Despite this extremely negative initial reaction, once people begin to listen to opera seriously,
they are drawn to the soprano voice more than to any other. Magically, what was once screeching is
transformed into hauntingly beautiful singing. What brings about the change? Nobody knows. That
is part of the magic.
If you look at a synopsis of Puccini’s opera La BohPme you will notice that Mimi, the
heroine, is a soprano and Rodolfo, the hero, is a tenor. If you look at the main characters in Bizet’s
Carmen, you will see that the major male role of Don José is written for a tenor, but Carmen can be
either a soprano or a mezzo-soprano. Some operas, like Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and Mozart’s
The Marriage of Figaro, have sopranos and mezzo-sopranos singing male parts. Looking at the
supporting casts of these operas, you will see that we have a total of six different categories of voices
that a composer can call upon. What’s going on here? Why do we have these different types of
voices and why does a composer choose a particular voice for a particular character? In this chapter
we will discuss the six main voice types, and as we discuss them, I will tell you where and why each
voice is used.
The human voice has a range of approximately five and one-half octaves, that is, for those of
you interested in such, from C below the bass staff to F above the treble staff. As far as we know, no
human has ever been able to sing this entire range. A range of two octaves is the approximate limit
for anyone, and many who can reach the notes in that range cannot actually sing them. Also, it is
self-evident that a man can sing lower notes than a woman and a woman can sing higher notes than a
man. Based on these mechanical limits, the human voice is broken down into three types for men and
three for women. The three male voice types, from highest to lowest, are tenor, baritone,andbass,
while the three female voice types, again from highest to lowest, are soprano, mezzo-soprano,and
contralto. Not all singers fit neatly into one of these six ranges. All singers have a primary range, but
they can sometimes sing, to a limited extent, in an adjacent range. The example I presented above of
Carmen is a good one. The role of Carmen has been sung by both Maria Callas, a world class
soprano, and by Marilyn Horne, a world class mezzo-soprano. The notes that Bizet assigned to his
Opera Hater's Guide Page: 45

earthy lady are neither particularly high nor particularly low, and both Callas and Horne could sing
them with very pleasant results.
Another interesting aspect of the human voice is that it changes with time. Of course you
know that a boy’s voice changes dramatically when he reaches puberty (interestingly, girls do not go
through a similar abrupt transition), but our voices also change as we grow older. It is said that our
voices “darken” with age. This darkening occurs because our vocal cords, like our bodies, thicken
with the passage of time. Maria Callas was never known for the beauty of her high notes. Her voice
often grudgingly did as she directed and, more than once, totally refused to produce the high notes
demanded of it. As she grew older, her voice darkened and her range became closer to that of a
mezzo-soprano. It is unfortunate that she refused to sing more of the roles assigned to the mezzo
voice since her career might have lasted much longer and her final years might have been happier if
she had done so. Thankfully, we do have a single recording of her in the role of Carmen (a role she
never sang on stage, it is said, because she felt that her ankles were too fat for the dresses she would
have to wear in the role of the gypsy) and she did record a few mezzo arias including some from
Saint-Saëns opera Samson and Delilah.
With training, singers can stretch their vocal cords and reach notes they could not previously
even approach. Sometimes, they can actually move from one voice classification to another. Grace
Bumbry started out as a mezzo-soprano and became a well-respected soprano, while Carlo Bergonzi
started out as a baritone and became a fine tenor. Though transformations of this type do take place,
they are somewhat rare.
We will begin our discussion of the six voice types by describing the range of each. I will
refer to notes on a piano as a reference point. Though the information below is somewhat academic,
it is important information that you may want to refer to as you learn more about opera, so wade
through it if you can.
The highest female voice is the soprano. This voice ranges from middle C to two octaves
above middle C.
The mezzo-soprano voice, literally the “middle” voice, has a range from A to two octaves or a
little more above A.
The contralto voice is the lowest female voice and has a range from two octaves from F below
middle C to F one and a half octaves above middle C.
The highest male voice is the tenor. Its range is from C below middle C to C above middle C,
if he is lucky.
The middle male voice is the baritone. It has a range from G one and a half octaves below
middle C to F above middle C.
The bass is the lowest of the male voices with a range from E nearly two octaves below
middle C to middle C.
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These classifications are only approximate. Some singers can sing pleasing notes outside the
above-mentioned ranges, while others are unable to sing all the notes within the range assigned to
them. Some sopranos can sing F sharp over two octaves above middle C, while others do not sound
very good singing beyond A an octave plus a little above middle C. Some basses can sing a C two
full octaves below middle C.
The variability of the range of notes one can sing and the tone and suppleness of the voice has
lead us to further break down the voice classifications into sub-classifications. I will discuss only the
main sub-classifications. The Italians, and to a lesser extent the Germans, take great delight in
providing a different name for every slight variation in voice type. We could spend much of this book
going through their groupings if we were so inclined - but we are not and so we will not.
The coloratura soprano is the most interesting of the sopranos. She can perform vocal
gymnastics with her voice that will send chills down your spine. She is the high wire artist of the
soprano group. Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti wrote for these ladies. Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di
Lammermoor and Olympia (well named since she has an Olympian job to do) in Offenbach’s Tales
of Hoffmann are fine examples of coloratura soprano roles. Joan Sutherland is a noted coloratura
soprano who can sing trills and move up and down the scale of notes so effortlessly and with such
precision that the Italians call her “La Stupenda.”
The lyric soprano is the gentle, innocent, angelic young thing in the world of opera. Her roles
include Mimi in La BohPme,Michaëla in Carmen, and Marguerite in Faust. Puccini wrote many
good roles for the lyric soprano. Victoria De Los Angeles and Renata Tebaldi, two very well-known
singers from the 1950’s, are examples of noted lyric sopranos.
The dramatic soprano is the lady with the powerful, soaring voice in most of Wagner’s
operas. She expresses strong emotions with it. This is the darkest of the soprano voices. Verdi’s
operas are filled with strong emotions and many of his best roles are for the dramatic soprano.
Leontyne Price was a noted dramatic soprano who will long be remembered for her interpretations of
Verdi heroines. She was also the first black superstar.
Many sopranos can cross from one type of role to another. A soprano who sings a coloratura
role also may do well as a lyric soprano. As they get older, the coloratura and lyric soprano’s voices
may darken to the point where they are able to take on dramatic roles, but once the transition is made,
there is no turning back. Many young sopranos have destroyed their light, beautiful voices by singing
the heavy dramatic roles before their voices were mature enough to handle them. The soprano voice
is fragile and must be handled with care. Even when this is done, a singer cannot expect to sing in a
major opera house far beyond her mid-40s (one interesting exception to this is Magda Olivero whose
career ended in the 1980’s when she was over 70 years old).
Mezzo is an Italian word that literally means “middle,” and the mezzo-soprano voice is the
middle female voice. There is a saying that mezzos are cast as witches, bitches or boys. While this is
not always true, many of the roles for these ladies are “heavier” than those for the sopranos. Mezzos
do seem in many cases to be troubled, brooding women.
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The coloratura mezzo-soprano has the highest notes of the mezzo group. She is an upbeat
character who can perform such vocal pyrotechnics as runs, trills, and cadenzas with ease. Some of
the operas of Rossini are well suited to this voice type and the undisputed queen of the coloratura
mezzos is Marilyn Horne.
The lyric mezzo-soprano has a voice that lies in the middle range of the mezzo voice. Often
called a French mezzo, she has a soft, gentle voice that is well suited to playing the part of a young
man. Siebel, a young soldier in Gounod’s Faust, is an excellent example of this voice type.
The weightiest of the mezzo voices is the dramatic mezzo. They have a voice and range that
easily expresses great emotional turmoil. They might be characterized as “low women.” The witch
Ulrica in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera is a good example of this voice type.
The contralto group is not broken into subdivisions as are the other female voices. They are
the deepest of the female voices and are usually elderly or wicked individuals. The old, vengeful
gypsy woman, Azucena, in Verdi’s Il Trovatore is a fine example of this type of voice.
In general it can be said that the sweet young things tend to be the sopranos, the middle aged
or bitchy women tend to be the mezzos, and the old or evil women tend to be the contraltos. By using
this device, composers can create a mood without ever having you understand a word that these
women sing. A similar comment would be accurate about the male voices.
Tenors, say the wags, can reach the high notes they sing because of the way the sound
resonates through their empty heads. This may have been said by someone who was jealous of the
notoriety that the tenors get. After all, they are the guys who always get the girls. If the sopranos tend
to be the prima donnas, in the worst sense of the word, then the tenors might be called the primo dons
of the opera world. Their tantrums and peccadillos are legendary.
The lyric tenor has the voice that most readily makes the women swoon. It is high, pure, and
light, and it seems that he hits the stratospheric high notes effortlessly. A lyric tenor who takes good
care of his voice can, like Pavarotti, expect to sing into his fifties. Rodolfo in La BohPme is probably
the best known lyric tenor role in opera. As these tenors get older, their voices darken and they can
move into heavier roles such as Rhadames in AVda, but they must use caution because they can, like
lyric sopranos, move into a new, heavier repertoire and then be unable to return to their previous,
lighter roles.
The dramatic tenor has a heavier, clarion voice that is well suited to many Italian and French
operas. These tenors are very expressive. It can generally be stated that the tenor roles in Italian and
French opera that are not lyric roles are dramatic roles.
The heldentenor, literally “heroic tenor” in German, is much like the dramatic tenor in Italian
and French opera. He has a booming voice that can be heard above the large orchestras used for the
operas of Wagner and Strauss. This is the heaviest and rarest of the tenor voices.
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The lyric baritone has the lightest of the baritone voices. This is also called a French baritone
since many French operas are written for this type of baritone voice. The top notes of the baritone
range are easily accessible to them. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a noted lyric baritone.
The dramatic baritone is next. Most baritones want to sound like this. Verdi essentially
defined the abilities of this kind of voice. The voice must be light, but dramatic. Much of his singing
is in the upper half of his range. The role of Rigoletto is an example of this voice.
The heldenbaritone is the German equivalent of the dramatic baritone. Once again, we see
that Wagner is the main composer of music for this voice type.
The bass-baritone is a hybrid of a bass and a baritone. He can sing the heavier baritone roles
or the lighter bass roles. Dapertutto in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann is an example of this.
The basso cantante has the highest bass voice. His voice is the smoothest, most lyrical of the
bass voices. Sparafucile in Rigoletto and MéfistophélPs in Gounod’s Faust are examples of this type
of voice.
The basso buffo is the comic bass voice. The quality of the voice is not as important as the
ability to achieve a comic effect with it. Both Rossini and Donizetti wrote for this kind of voice. Dr.
Dulcamara, the traveling quack doctor in Donizetti’s comic opera L’Elisir d’Amore is an example of
the basso buffo at its best.
The basso profundo is the most “profound” of the bass voices. Also called a black bass or
Russian bass, he has the deepest, darkest, wooliest voice of all. The Russians are notorious for
writing melancholy music and novels whose main characters always seem depressed about
something. This is a perfect voice to showcase their moroseness.
So the tenors get the beautiful women, the baritones are either fathers or evil-doers, and the
basses are evil or depressed. Very similar to what was said about the women, isn’t it? You can
imagine the endless variety of voice type combinations that a composer can give us in a single opera.
On top of that, consider that singers with identical voice classifications normally have their own, very
distinctive sound, so even if you see your favorite opera ten or fifteen times, you will, without a doubt,
hear something different in it every time because each time the voice blend will be different.
Now that we have done our scholarly work concerning voices, let’s take a few minutes to talk
about a vocal oddity of which you may have heard - the castrati. These were men who lived in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries primarily, who sounded like sopranos. They were actually male
sopranos.
Most boys have vocal ranges similar to that of a soprano, but this changes when they reach
puberty. Someone discovered, however, that if these young boys were castrated before puberty, their
voices would remain high all their lives. It is said that some of the greatest singers who ever lived
were castrati.
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How did they become castrati? You may find this hard to believe, but it is reported that
sometimes poor parents with a son who could sing well would have that child castrated to insure his
fortune in life as well as a comfortable old age for themselves. This practice, probably similar to a
vasectomy today, was condemned by the Catholic Church, but it did not stop even the popes from
using these emasculated men in their choirs whenever possible. Furthermore, it did not stop early
composers, like Handel, from writing operatic parts that required that voice type. The Catholic
Church further complicated this issue by banning women from performing on stage, so composers
hadtousemeninwomen’sroles.
There are many stories of castrati who lead long, full lives. They often obtained great wealth
and were respected by those around them. Contrary to what some may say, the castrati could function
normally, sexually speaking, and were, it is said, in great demand since a tryst with them would not
result in an embarrassing pregnancy. They were forbidden to marry by the Church since they were
incapable of procreation - the only reason for having sex in marriage, you know.
We have no recordings of these singers in their prime, though there are a few rare recordings
of castrati who lived into the early twentieth century. The castrati were a thing of the past by the time
modern recording techniques were perfected. 1 Had we been able to hear the greatest of the castrati,
we might better understand the excited exclamations of some who heard and enjoyed them.
“Long live the knife!” they would shout.
There is a male voice type called a countertenor that is somewhat like that of a castrato,
but the singers are really baritones or tenors singing falsetto. Alas, even the art of the
countertenor is disappearing.
So there you have it, a quick review of the human voice as used in opera. Though much
of this information may seem totally useless to you now, it will be valuable as you continue
listening to and learning about opera. And, if you decide to amaze your friends with the depth of
your intellect, the above information, committed to memory will surely do it.
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Is It Time for the “Total Experience”?
No, Not Yet!
One Saturday afternoon while I was working at the radio station, I played the “Cherry
Duet” from the opera L’Amico Fritz by Mascagni. Later, a lady called to ask for some information
on the opera and the composer so that she could buy a recording of the entire opera. She thought the
duet was beautiful. When I had to spell “Mascagni” for her 3 or 4 times, I realized that she was not
very familiar with opera. I began asking her questions and found out that she had only been listening
to opera for a very short time, so I suggested that she buy the recording I had played instead of the
entire opera. My recording contained arias and duets from several operas including Verdi’s La
Traviata, Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, and Donizetti’s L’Elisir D’Amore. The opera L’Amico Fritz is
not very well known and I suspected that she would play it once, have trouble even finding the duet
she thought was so beautiful, and put the recording away forever. What a waste that would be and
what a negative experience for someone who had been so bowled over by that beautiful duet.
Did I do the right thing or the wrong thing? Should I have encouraged her to buy an obscure
opera and listen to it over and over, or did I do her a service by encouraging her to listen, instead, to a
single record with beautiful selections from many different operas? In other words, should you
encourage someone who knows little or nothing about opera to sit and listen to a three hour opera that
may have only a few minutes of music they will enjoy on first hearing, or should you encourage them
instead to buy an album of opera highlights or a recital recording full of music they will enjoy
immediately? The operatic purist will say I was wrong. My experience in producing an opera
program for radio and teaching an introductory opera class is that the beginner is much better off with
highlights from operas rather than one complete opera - even if that opera is La BohPme or Carmen.
Unfortunately, almost every book I have ever seen instructs the neophyte to pick an opera,
buy a recording of it, and listen to it with the libretto in hand (most complete recordings come with a
libretto) until you enjoy what you are hearing. That is not pleasure, it is torture.
At this point you are not ready for a complete opera, but you are ready for vocal music from
operas. I strongly suggest that you purchase recordings of some of the music I will discuss and listen
to it at your leisure and in short sessions. Let’s break the recordings into two categories: opera
highlights and recital recordings. We will further break the recital recordings into groups, but I will
get to that a little later.
At the top of the list of opera highlights would be excerpts from Puccini’s masterpiece La
BohPme. I recommend the London recording that features the great Luciano Pavarotti and Mirella
Freni (who happens to be from the same town as Pavarotti - Modena, Italy). There are many beautiful
melodies in La BohPme and Pavarotti considers this opera one of his best. When he sings in an opera
house for the first time, he always tries to “break in” with La BohPme. Listen, especially, to the
music from Act I. You will hear one beautiful melody after another, and the love duet at the end of
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the act is one of the most beautiful duets in opera. “Musetta’s Waltz” in Act II is one of those very
hummable arias that you have most likely heard before in some different context.
My second choice would be highlights from Bizet’s opera Carmen, and the recording to have
is the Maria Callas version. She is the definitive Carmen - lusty, earthy, and totally free. It is difficult
to single out one or two selections to which you should pay particular attention. It’s all spectacular. If
you have listened to the Carmen Suites that I recommended to you earlier in this book, you are
already familiar with most of what you will hear in this recording. Anyway, you heard much of this
music when you went to see the Bad News Bears at the movies.
Now we have one Italian opera and one French opera. To be fair we need a German opera
and I have the perfect opera for you - Mozart’s masterful The Magic Flute. A good recording to
listen to is the Angel recording that features Nicolai Gedda as Tamino, Gundula Janowitz as Pamina,
and Walter Berry as Papageno. Don’t be put off by the German language. The music is quite lovely.
Of particular interest are the arias “Dies Bildnis ist Bezaubernd schön,” “Ach, ich Fühl’s,” and the
delightful “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen.” The duet between Pamina and Papageno, “Bei Männern,
welche Liebe fühlen,” and the Priest’s Chorus, “O Isis und Osiris” are also very enjoyable.
I also recommend three Verdi operas: the first is AVda, the second is La Traviata,andthe
third is Rigoletto. All three operas have so many beautiful selections that one could list everything on
each disk as worthy of your attention.
AVda is by far the most spectacular of the three operas with its pageantry and massive
choruses. It contains many excellent arias and duets as well as lots of beautiful ballet music. The final
scene where Rhadames, who is condemned to death in a sealed tomb, finds that his love AVda has
chosen to die there with him is one of the most beautiful duets in opera.
La Traviata is, for the most part, much lighter than AVda yet there is a pervading sense of
despair throughout this work. The opera, which is based on a novel by Alexander Dumas, takes place
in France. Violetta, a courtesan, falls in love with Alfredo. They live together awhile, part, and then
are reunited at Violetta’s deathbed.
The drinking song, “Libiamo,” is beautiful and gay, and the aria “Di provenza il mar” is one
of the best known, most loved baritone arias in the repertoire. When you see La Traviata live, note
whether the Violetta is large or small. A criticism of live opera is that the heroine of this opera and
others, such as La BohPme, is often much too large to be convincing in the role of a woman who is
dying of tuberculosis.
Rigoletto is one of Verdi’s most beautiful operas, but from the very first notes of the overture
you get a feeling of foreboding. Rigoletto, jester to the Duke of Mantua, has made many enemies in
the court. When his beloved daughter, who he has kept hidden from everyone, is seduced by the
Duke, Rigoletto decides to have the Duke killed. Later, he discovers that his daughter has sacrificed
herself to save the Duke’s life.
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Despite the sad story, this opera contains much beautiful music including probably the
best-known tenor aria ever written. Verdi was so sure that the aria “La donna P mobile” would be a
success that he refused to share it with the lead tenor until the day of the premier performance. He
knew that the people of Venice, the site of the performance, would be humming it long before the
opening curtain if he was not careful. Opera was at least as popular with the common people of Italy
as Broadway music is here.
Listen closely to the quartet “Bella figlia dell’ amore” in Act III. This is the most beautiful
quartet in opera. In it, Verdi weaves four different voices together so carefully that they seem to sing
almost the same notes at times though you will notice, if you listen closely, that each is singing
separately and each is expressing a different mood.
Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, while not as popular as La BohPme, is a masterpiece and very
accessible. It is the story of a Japanese geisha who “marries” a U.S. naval lieutenant against the
wishes of her family. Long after he has left Japan she waits patiently for him to return for her. He
does return - with his American wife to get the child which Butterfly has borne him. Her life
shattered, Butterfly commits suicide.
This opera contains a considerable amount of well known music including the very popular
soprano aria “Un bel dX,” a beautiful love duet between Butterfly and Lieutenant Pinkerton, and the
famous “Humming Chorus.” This is a good addition to your library of Puccini’s music after you have
digested La BohPme.
Let’s round out this section of opera highlight recordings with two French-language operas,
Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann and Charles Gounod’s Faust. One is a comic opera,
while the other is a tragedy.
In Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann, we hear first-hand about the three great loves of the
writer E. T. A. Hoffmann. Loves that were in vain. He first falls in love with a mechanical doll, then
with a courtesan, and lastly with a desperately ill singer.
Of particular interest are “The Ballad of Kleinzach” from the prologue, the stratospheric “Doll
Aria” from Act I, and the “Barcarolle” from the beginning of Act II. The “Doll Aria” is thrilling to
listen to when done well because it is a spectacular showpiece for the soprano voice, and it is lots of
fun to watch in a live performance. The “Barcarolle” is one of those operatic selections that you will
never forget once you have heard it.
Gounod’s Faust is, of course, the story of a man who sells his soul to the devil in return for
youth and power. He uses this power to seduce a beautiful innocent woman, Marguerite, who bears
their child, kills it, and then goes insane.
“Valentine’s Aria,” “The Soldier’s Chorus,” “The Song of the Golden Calf,” and “The Jewel
Song” are especially interesting selections. “The Song of the Golden Calf” is a well known bass aria.
In the final scene of the opera, Faust and Mephistopheles break into the prison where
Marguerite is awaiting execution. They attempt to convince her to escape with them, but she realizes
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that Mephistopheles is the devil and refuses to go with them. As she sinks to the ground dying, the
devil damns her, but a choir of angels proclaims her salvation as her soul rises to heaven. The final
trio in this scene is wonderful.
Many well-known singers have produced recordings containing arias from various operas.
Also, most of the large record companies have produced recordings that feature several singers in a
number of operas on one recording. These recordings offer a wonderful sample of the best vocal
selections from some of the greatest operas. I recommend that you explore some of those recordings.
The most pleasant voice, for most people who are new to opera, is the tenor voice. I would
recommend that you listen to either Pavarotti’s Greatest Hits or The Best of Pavarotti as a first step.
Pavarotti has also made several recordings of popular Italian songs that are pleasant to listen to. You
probably will enjoy any of his many recordings.
After Pavarotti, I would recommend recordings featuring either the Swedish tenor Jussi
Bjoerling or the Spanish tenor Placido Domingo. Bjoerling had a very distinctive voice and is
considered one of the greatest tenors who ever lived. Domingo is very popular and has a huge
repertoire. Domingo also conducts and has made many recordings of popular music, occasionally
teaming with people like John Denver.
I highly recommend that you listen to the magnificent voice of the late German tenor Fritz
Wunderlich. He died tragically at the age of 36 from a fall down a flight of stairs, but left us many
recordings that mark him as a truly great tenor within a certain repertoire. Wunderlich had a light,
lyric voice that was extremely well suited to singing operetta and light operas. Any album featuring
Wunderlich backed by an orchestra will be pleasant to you the first time you hear it.
The baritone voice is well represented on record by two men in particular, Robert Merrill and
Sherrill Milnes. You probably will enjoy any recital disk by these men. You will find, though, that
the arias written for the baritones are not nearly as luxuriant as those written for the tenors.
The real treasure trove for the opera lover is the vast amount of music written for the soprano
voice. It may be difficult to appreciate at first, but in my experience, it is the voice that most people
find interesting to listen to when they develop a true love for opera. The question is, where does one
begin when listening to that voice?
I would suggest beginning with the recordings of Renata Tebaldi. Tebaldi, a contemporary of
Maria Callas, was very popular in the 1950’s and was especially good at interpreting the music of
Puccini. The press made a big thing of the rivalry between Tebaldi and Callas. It was rumored that
they hated each other, though the rivalry was not nearly as intense as the press would have made you
believe.
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While Tebaldi had a beautiful voice, Maria Callas had a voice that was much more dramatic.
With Tebaldi, the notes are there, but it is only beautiful singing. With Callas, the voice is often
reluctant to do what she wants it to do, but the dramatic intensity of each phrase is overpowering.
One must become accustomed to Callas’ voice. It may not strike you as very appealing when you
first hear it.
Of the sopranos currently singing, none match the vocal beauty of Kathleen Battle. Miss
Battle possesses a supple, beautiful voice that effortlessly moves between notes. She is a truly
amazing singer and will be remembered for a long time to come. Any of her recordings are fun to
listen to and her recording of Christmas music is sure to become a classic. I heartily recommend it to
you.
The soprano Leontyne Price was a very well known interpreter of the music of Verdi. Her
best known role was that of AVda in Verdi’s opera of the same name. Look for recordings where she
portrays Verdi heroines.
Beverly Sills, long associated with the New York City Opera, also possessed a beautiful voice
and could sing bel canto roles with ease and assurance. It was late in her career before she was
invited to sing at the Met. She later became the manager of the New York City Opera company and
was the person most responsible for putting it back on a sound financial footing.
Turning now to the mezzo-soprano voice, one would have to mention the great Marilyn
Horne before anyone else. Her voice is so fantastic that she must be considered one of the greatest
mezzos who ever lived.
Another very popular mezzo is Frederica von Stade. She is a polished, stylish singer.
The above is only a very brief, very incomplete list of singers who you may enjoy. You
probably should avoid some of the early singers such as Caruso, though they are considered great by
many. The old acoustical recordings of the time did not capture the true beauty of their voices, and
you probably will be disappointed in what you hear. Let’s save Caruso, Gigli, Ponselle, and the
others for another time - probably far in the future. You can find more than enough recordings from
the 1950’s onward to satisfy your taste.
Once you spend awhile listening to the music suggested in this chapter, you will be ready for
the “total experience” of a complete opera. Have I got a treat in store for you!
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Now You’re Ready!
You have now reached the point where you are ready to listen to a complete opera. Since
everything in this book is part of a building process, we will go back to three operas that you were
introduced to in the previous chapters. The operas I have chosen are three of the best known, most
loved operas in the repertoire. They are Puccini’s most melodic opera La BohPme, Bizet’s
incomparable Carmen, and Mozart’s comic masterpiece The Magic Flute. You will notice that the
first is Italian, the second is French, and the third is German. Also, you will notice that they are
gorgeous.
La BohPme
Story of La BohPme
Puccini did not compose conventional overtures, so after a few notes, we find ourselves in a
large, sparsely furnished garret occupied by four men - Rodolfo (tenor), a poet; Marcello (baritone), a
painter; Colline (bass), a philosopher; and Schaunard (baritone), a musician. It is Christmas Eve and
the garret is so cold that Marcello occasionally has to put down his paint brush to blow his warm
breath across his half frozen hands. Marcello and Rodolfo trade quips about the cold and Marcello
picks up one of the few chairs in the room intent on turning it into firewood. Rodolfo offers instead to
burn one of his plays to provide heat. As the play is consumed in the fire, the two men stand near,
gathering as much warmth as possible from the quickly disappearing pages. The music rises and falls
appropriately as the flames grow and then die.
Colline enters and is soon followed by Schaunard who bursts in with not only a bundle of
firewood, but food to eat, wine to drink, and money for them all to spend. Schaunard explains that a
wealthy, eccentric Englishman hired him to play music for a neighbor’s parrot - the idea being to play
music until the parrot died. After three days, Schaunard gets a maid to feed the parrot a sprig of
poisoned parsley so that the bird will die. The Englishman in thanks has paid him well for his efforts!
The ecstatic mood is soon broken by the arrival of their landlord, Benoit (bass), there to
collect his long overdue rent. They invite him to join them in a drink or two and he does so,
becoming increasingly talkative as the alcohol takes effect. With a little prodding (very little), he
begins to boast of his love affairs, and the men pretend to be shocked by what they are hearing from
this married man. In disgust, they throw him out protesting that they will not have such a man in their
home. As you might have suspected by now, Benoit has again been fooled out of collecting the rent
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money. All quickly leave for the Café Momus to celebrate their good fortune except for Rodolfo
who stays behind to finish an article he is writing.
A quiet knock on the door heralds the beginning of a love affair - not only for Rodolfo, but for
us too, because we are about to hear some of the most stunningly beautiful music ever written for an
opera. Opening the door, he is face to face with a beautiful young woman (soprano) who says that
she is a neighbor and that her candle has blown out. Her speech is interrupted by a coughing attack
that almost causes her to faint. Her candle and key fall to the floor and Rodolfo catches her, helps her
to a chair, and offers her a drink of wine. When she recovers he lights her candle and walks her to the
door but just then she remembers that she has never found the key that she dropped earlier. Not only
does her candle go out again, but so does Rodolfo’s (with a little help) leaving them together in the
suddenly darkened room. Rodolfo finds the key, quickly slips it into his pocket and moves through
the darkness toward the young woman. His hand touches hers and as she exclaims in surprise, he
comments that her tiny hand is cold - and offers to warm it for her (“Che gelida manina”).
Rodolfo tells his guest that it is too dark to search for the key, so he proceeds to tell her about
himself instead. He is a poet, he says, with hopes and dreams and castles in the air. He is a
millionaire in spirit who has just been robbed of his wealth by a pair of pretty, thieving eyes, but he
isn’t upset because he still has hope. Then he asks to hear about her.
“They call me Mimi,” she says, “but my real name is Lucia” (“Mi chiamano Mimi”). She
tells him that she embroiders for a living and lives alone. She loves all things that have a gentle
magic, that talk of love, and spring, and dreams. Though she seldom goes to church, she often prays.
The spell is momentarily broken by voices from the street. Rodolfo’s friends are calling him
to join them as they journey to the Café. He answers that he is not alone and that he and his friend
will join them soon. He turns back to Mimi praising her beautiful face bathed in the moonlight (“O
soave fanciulla”). He is in love and so is she. He kisses her gently and though she pulls away, she
agrees to go with him to the Café andhintsthatwhentheyreturn...perhaps...whoknows. As Act
I closes with this famous love duet, the lovers leave arm-in-arm singing “Amor! Amor!”
As Act II opens it is only slightly later that same night and Rodolfo and the rest are in the
Latin Quarter. The streets are packed with people running here and there and with vendors hawking
their wares. Schaunard, who has been looking at a trumpet, tries it out; Colline is having a
rag-woman sew up a used coat he has just bought; Rodolfo is buying Mimi a bonnet; and Marcello is
flirting with every woman who passes by.
After a while all five sit together at a table at the Café Momus. Rodolfo introduces Mimi to
his friends saying, “...I am a poet, and she is poetry itself.” Their conversation turns to talk of love
and Marcello begins to brood over his lost love, Musetta (soprano). As they talk who should appear
but Musetta on the arm on Alcindoro (bass), a pompous but wealthy old man with whom she is
having an affair.
She and Marcello begin to play a game in which she does everything in her power to get
Marcello’s attention, while he refuses to acknowledge her existence. This infuriates Musetta who,
after all, still loves Marcello deeply. She openly calls for Marcello to look at her, but Alcindoro, not
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understanding what is happening, responds to her as though she is speaking only to him. In one of the
best known soprano arias in opera, Musetta’s Waltz (“Quando me’n vo soletta”), Musetta sings of
how people on the street stop to admire her beauty as she walks by.
When she has had enough of the “old pelican” she is with, she screams that her shoe is hurting
her foot and demands that Alcindoro take the shoe off and buy her a new one while she remains at the
Café. He grudgingly but dutifully does as the beautiful young woman demands. When he has gone,
Musetta and Marcello fall into each other’s arms. Using a parade of soldiers to hide their exit from
Alcindoro, the whole group leaves. Meanwhile, Alcindoro returns to find Musetta gone and the
waiter expecting him to pay two bills - his and that of the bohemians. He sinks in his chair in despair
and confusion.
Act III takes place on a snowy, February night near the gates of Paris. Singing can be heard
from a nearby cabaret. As Mimi approaches the cabaret she is racked by a violent coughing spell.
She asks a maid to tell Marcello, who she knows is inside, to come out to her. A moment later,
Marcello appears and tells her that he and Musetta have been there for a month at the owner’s
expense. While Marcello paints signs, Musetta teaches the guests to sing. Mimi confides that she and
Rodolfo are not getting along. In fact, Rodolfo has walked out on her and she is devastated. She
accuses him of being jealous and of possessing a violent temper. Rodolfo, as it turns out, is in the
cabaret at that very moment, Marcello tells her. He is asleep, having arrived an hour before dawn.
As they talk they see him awaken and begin searching for Marcello. Mimi hides as Rodolfo
steps outside. Marcello and Rodolfo begin talking and Rodolfo at first pretends that he no longer
loves Mimi, but he soon admits that he cannot stand to see Mimi stay with him because he knows that
her terrible cough and pale complexion are signs that she is gravely ill and will soon die. He feels that
she must get away from his unheated hovel and find someone who can take better care of her. Mimi
overhears what he is saying and realizes for the first time that death may be near. Her violent
coughing and sobbing give her away, the two lovers embrace and promise that they will not part until
the spring. As they sing of their love for each other, Marcello hears Musetta laughing inside the
cabaret and rushes inside in a fit of jealous rage. Both soon return screaming insults at one another
while Mimi and Rodolfo sing of parting in the spring (“Addio, dolce svegliare”).
Act IV takes place back in the garret. Rodolfo and Marcello are attempting to work, but are
plainly distracted. They have both lost their loves to men with money. Rodolfo tells Marcello that he
has seen Musetta in a carriage complete with footmen. Marcello, in turn, tells Rodolfo that he has
seen Mimi who was dressed like a queen. Both men profess their pleasure that their former lovers
have done well for themselves, and both men are obviously lying. Deep in thought, the men sing a
duet (“O Mimi tu pij non torni”) in which they give full vent to the torment they are feeling inside.
Colline and Schaunard enter carrying meager provisions - four rolls and a single herring. As
they eat, they pretend that they are royalty enjoying a sumptuous meal complete with salmon, trout,
and champagne. Then they pretend that they are dancing with fine ladies, and then they pretend to
fight - Colline wielding the fire tongs and Schaunard the poker.
Suddenly Musetta rushes in with news that Mimi is there and is gravely ill. Hearing that
Mimi has left her lover Musetta has searched Paris finally finding Mimi stumbling along, nearly
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exhausted. Musetta says that Mimi knows she is dying and wants to be with Rodolfo in her last few
hours. Rodolfo rushes into the hall to help Mimi into the room. She and Rodolfo are immediately
reconciled. Finding that there is nothing to eat or drink in the garret, Musetta hands her earrings to
Marcello instructing him to buy something for Mimi to drink and to bring a doctor back for her.
Mimi complains about how cold her hands are so Musetta decides to buy her a muff. Musetta and
Marcello leave together. Colline leaves to sell his greatcoat so that there will be money to take care of
Mimi. He suggests that Schaunard leave the lovers alone.
Rodolfo gives Mimi the bonnet he had bought her on Christmas Eve. This brings back
memories to both of them and Mimi and Rodolfo tenderly recount their first meeting. Once again we
hear the music they sang when they met, but their musings are interrupted when Mimi has a severe
coughing attack. Musetta, Marcello and Schaunard return. Musetta hands Mimi the muff to warm
her hands. When Mimi asks Rodolfo if he bought the muff for her, Musetta answers “Yes.” Musetta
prays for Mimi while Rodolfo tries to convince himself that Mimi is not really very ill after all.
Mimi says that she is very tired and must sleep for awhile. A few moments later, all except
Rodolfo realize that Mimi has died. Suddenly he notices that the others are looking at him strangely.
He asks, “What does this mean? This going back and forth? Why are you looking at me like this?”
Marcello’s only answer is “Coraggio” (Courage). Rodolfo rushes to the bed clutching Mimi and
screaming desperately “Mimi! Mimi!” as the curtain falls on the most beautiful opera ever written.
Background
The world’s favorite opera, without a doubt, is La BohPme. It won the hearts of operagoers
from the time of its premier in Turin on February 1, 1896. The critics, however, were less taken by it,
referring to it as a mere flash in the pan, one of Puccini’s least memorable works, and even aa an
opera with a story that was inappropriately lurid for the stage. Yet, even its severest critics were won
over after a time, seduced by the music and the intensity of the drama. How could anyone not love La
BohPme?
The opera was based on Henry Mürger’s ScPnesdelaViedeBohPme. The libretto was
written by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. The conductor of the premier performance was a 28
year old up and coming conductor named Arturo Toscanini.
The story, which takes place in Paris around 1830 is about the tempestuous love affairs of two
different couples. Secondarily, it tells about the bohemians living, loving, and occasionally working
in a setting that would remind us of Greenwich Village in the 1960’s. The story is both comic and
tragic at the same time. Seeing La BohPme is a moving experience, and when the final curtain falls,
you may very well rise from your seat with tear clouded eyes.
La BohPme is based on the experiences Mürger had when he was living the bohemian life as
a young man in Paris. Puccini and his librettists distilled the best of what Mürger had to say into four
very compact, very intense acts. His music is not simply beautiful, it fits the needs of the opera as
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well. At times, you will hear this wonderfully melodic music interrupted by voices or by music that is
seemingly unrelated, but remember that Puccini is moving the plot along and perhaps doing what all
great entertainers do, leaving us wanting more. Perhaps that is why one can see and hear La BohPme
again and again and never be bored. Each experience with this opera affords the opportunity to learn
something new about it. Each new encounter is a thrilling, insightful experience.
The characters in the opera are somewhat softer and more idealistic than those in the book.
Musetta, one of the women, is much more free spirited in the book, and Mimi, the heroine, is not
nearly so sweet and faithful as Puccini would have you believe. In fact, many characters in the opera
are composites of two or more characters that Mürger wrote about.
One model for Mimi was a married woman named Marie who was Mürger’s mistress for a
long time. Like Mimi, Marie was a sweet, frail woman. Another of Mürger’s mistresses was Louise
whose candle did go out in his presence. Louise, incidentally, also became Marcel’s mistress in the
book. Then there was Laurie, a shy but willing milliner, and Lucile who was described by Theodore
de Banville as “the real Mimi.” She is a sickly Parisian flower, “pale with dead white skin and
blue-gray eyes.” In the book, Mimi (i.e., Lucile) is very promiscuous, and takes great delight in
making Rodolphe jealous. She eventually dies of consumption in a hospital and her body is dissected
for medical purposes. Not exactly the Mimi that Puccini gives us, is she?
If the above is a true picture of Mimi, then what can we expect of the real Musetta? Puccini’s
Musetta is based on two real people. The first is Marie Roux, a well endowed model of easy virtue.
After saving up a fortune of 40,000 francs, she left the port of Marseilles on the ship Atlas to live with
her sister in Algiers. Marie, the ship, and the other passengers all disappeared without a trace. The
second model for Musetta was Lise Dupont, a married woman who had numerous, very satisfying
love affairs. In the book, Musetta cannot be faithful to Marcel, but she always returns to him after her
affairs. “I need to go back from time to time and breathe the air of that life,” she says. “My foolish
existence is like a song: each of my love affairs is a stanza, but Marcel is the refrain.”
Musical Highlights
Act I
“Che gelida manina” (Rodolfo)
“Mi chiamano Mimi” (Mimi)
“O suave fanciulla” (Love Duet) (Rodolfo and Mimi)
Act II
“Quando me’n vo soletta” (Musetta’s Waltz) (Musetta)
Act III
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“Donde lieta uscX”(Mimi)
“Addio, dolce svegliare” (Rodolfo, Mimi, Marcello and Musetta)
Act IV
“O,Mimitupij non torni” (Rodolfo)
“Vecchia zimarra, senti” (Colline)
“Sono andati?” (Mimi and Rodolfo)
Carmen
Story of Carmen
The setting for Carmen is Spain in the year 1820. Act I takes place in a square in Seville.
A group of soldiers amuses themselves by watching the women pass by. Micaëla (soprano)
appears looking for her fiancee, Don José. She is told that he is not there but will soon arrive. The
soldiers try to entice her into their guard house, but she refuses, preferring to wait elsewhere for her
sweetheart. Soon, a group of soldiers arrives accompanied by a group of street boys who mimic the
marching men (Chorus of the Street Boys). José (tenor), who is a part of this group is told that
Micaëla is looking for him. They tease him about her and he says that he is only interested in
Micaëla and has absolutely no interest in other women including the immoral women who work in
the nearby cigarette factory. At that point the women come out of the factory for a break. They are
all smoking. As a group of young men follow the women and sing to them of love, the women walk
about throwing saucy glances at the men.
Suddenly, Carmen (mezzo-soprano or soprano) is there, a cassia flower clenched in her teeth. This
is the flower used by gypsies to cast spells on people. All the men, except José, are watching her
intently. They ask her when she will love them. In reply, she sings the famous “Habanera.” “Love,”
she says, “is a rebellious bird which no one can tame.” It comes and goes as it wishes and is as free as
“a gypsy child who has never heard of law.” Suddenly Carmen throws the cassia flower at José who
has been entranced in his work and has not been paying attention to her at all. He acts like he is
unmoved by her, but a moment later admits to himself that the flower has had the impact of a bullet.
Despite his best intentions, he is suddenly, overwhelmingly attracted to the gypsy. Micaëla enters
and informs José that she has come to deliver a letter from his mother and a kiss that she sends him.
When Micaëla kisses him, he says that her kiss has saved him from falling into a demon’s clutches.
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She leaves while José reads his mother’s letter. Aloud he proclaims his love for Micaëla and calls
Carmen a filthy witch.
Just as he is about to destroy the flower she threw him, screams are heard and women come
streaming out of the factory. Lieutenant Zuniga (bass), José‘s superior orders him to find out what is
happening. A moment later José returns with Carmen who, he reports, has knifed another girl.
Despite Zuniga’s demands, she refuses to discuss what happened, so Zuniga orders her to prison, as
much for her insolence as anything. Carmen tells José that the flower she threw him has put a spell
on him and that he will help her to escape. She tells him that she will meet him at Lillas Pastia’s
where she will dance the seguidilla and drink manzanilla (“Seguidilla”). He tries to resist, but quickly
realizes that he is powerless. As they leave for the prison, she knocks him down, releases herself from
the bonds that he has loosened for her, and runs away, laughing all the while.
Act II takes place at the tavern of Lillas Pastia. Carmen, who is at first seated, suddenly arises
and begins to dance and sing (“Chanson BohPme” or “Gypsy Song”) and her friends MercédPs
(mezzo-soprano) and Frasquita (mezzo-soprano) join her. When the song is over the people begin to
leave. Zuniga, who has been watching, tries without success to seduce her. He tells her that José has
just that day been released from prison, and she makes it clear that she prefers the corporal to his
superior.
Singing is heard and they are joined by the bullfighter Escamillo (baritone) who, in the
famous “Toreador Song,” brags about his bravery in the face of death in the bullfights. When the
song ends he looks at Carmen and asks, “What do they call you? In my worst danger I want to utter
your name?” She tells him her name, and tells him that she is not interested in him at that time. Both
Escamillo and Zuniga leave.
MercédPs, Frasquita, El Dancairo (baritone), and El Remendado (tenor) say that they need
her assistance in a smuggling project, but she insists that she is not interested. She is in love, she tells
them, and love must come before duty. The current object of her affection is the corporal who
recently saved her from prison only to be sent there himself. Her friends grudgingly accept her
decision, but suggest that perhaps the soldier could be persuaded to join them. She says she will see
what she can do. All except Carmen leave.
When José appears, Carmen begins to dance for him. Suddenly he hears the bugle sounding
retreat and reluctantly declares that he must leave her. Enraged, she calls him a coward and accuses
him of not loving her. He pulls the crushed cassia flower from his tunic and says that the flower was
his only solace in prison the past two months. He would smell its perfume and be entranced for hours
on end. He dreamed of her, he says, and thought of only one thing - seeing her once again (“Flower
Song”). She replies that if he really loved her he would take her to the far mountains where they
would live free - the only law being their will. Despite her entreaties, he insists that he must return to
his regiment and moves toward the door. Suddenly, there is a knock. It is his superior, Zuniga, who
has returned to pursue Carmen. Seeing José, Zuniga chastises Carmen for settling for the soldier
when she could have the officer. He orders José to leave but José refuses. When they begin to fight,
Carmen tries in vain to separate them. Others enter and Zuniga is restrained and disarmed. José
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ealizes that he has no choice but to join Carmen and the others. In one sense he has become free, but
in another he is now a slave - a slave to his love for Carmen.
Act III takes place in the mountains where the gypsy band, José among them, is about to
undertake a plot to smuggle contraband. José looks down into the valley where his village is located
and expresses sorrow for dishonoring his mother. Carmen angrily tells him to leave since he
obviously doesn’t care for their life. When he tells her not to mention parting again, she asks why.
“Would you kill me? What do I care. After all, Fate is master.” She leaves José and goes to sit with
MercédPs and Frasquita who are reading their fortunes in the cards. For themselves they see love and
wealth. When Carmen reads her fortune, the cards invariably predict death, first for her and then for
him. “Toujours la mort!” (Always death!)
A short time later Micaëla sneaks into the camp very afraid, but very determined to find José
(“Micaëla’s Air”). She spies José on a rock, but before she can call to him, he fires at someone.
Momentarily, Escamillo emerges, his bullet riddled hat in his hand. He identifies himself at José‘s
demand and says that he has come to find his lover, a gypsy named Carmen. He knows that she used
to love a deserter, but that affair must have ended long ago, he says, for her affairs never last long.
From José‘s look, Escamillo realizes that he is confronting the deserter. They begin to fight,
Escamillo slips, and José is about to kill him when Carmen stops him. Escamillo is overjoyed that it
is she who has saved his life. He invites them all to the bullfight in Seville. Anyone who loves him,
he says looking at her, will be there. He then leaves at an unhurried pace.
Micaëla is discovered hiding behind the rocks and is brought out. She tells José that his
mother is near death and wants to see her son one last time to forgive him. Though reluctant to leave
Carmen, he knows that he must go to his mother at any cost to himself. He tells Carmen that he will
see her again and then hurries off with Micaëla. In the distance we hear Escamillo singing the
toreador song.
We are outside an arena in Seville as the curtain rises on Act IV. The crowd is preparing for
the bullfight. A procession of town dignitaries and those involved in the bullfight begins. At the end
we see the matador, Escamillo, accompanied by Carmen. Frasquita and MercédPs inform her that
José is hiding in the crowd, and they warn her to be careful. She says that she knows that he is there
and plans to meet him. All enter the arena leaving Carmen and José alone. He tells her that he has
come to take her far away to a place where they will begin a new life. She no longer loves him, she
says, and will never give in to him. “Carmen will never yield! Free she was born and free she will
die!” She tries to get past him but he blocks her. He pleads with her to go away with him, but she
refuses admitting that she loves Escamillo and not him. In the arena the crowd shouts out the victory
of the matador, while outside, José and Carmen remain locked in a life and death battle. Totally
distraught and tired of pleading, José stabs Carmen. As she falls to the ground lifeless, the crowd
begins to exit the arena. José admits that he has killed her and then throws himself on Carmen
sobbing and calling the named of his adored.
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Background
The Carmen that Bizet presents is somewhat like Musetta in La BohPme. It would be easy to
think of Carmen as opera’s quintessential bitch, but she is no more than a liberated woman who is far,
far ahead of her time. She does not pretend to be a saint, and she is very up-front about the life she
leads. She loves a man for a time and then leaves him for someone new. Nothing can sway her, not
even the threat of death. This concept is important to grasp before you meet this earthy lady. Accept
her as she is and enjoy her pleasures, but don’t expect more from her than she can give.
Carmen was premiered at the Opéra Comique in Paris on March 3, 1875 exactly three
months before Bizet’s untimely death at the age of 37. The opera, while not a complete success, was
being performed for the thirty-third time as Bizet expired.
It was difficult for some people to accept Carmen because of the stark realism of the story and
the blatant, unabashed immorality of its heroine. They also objected to some dialogue, women
smoking cigarettes, and the music that was new and somewhat unsettling to people who preferred the
comfortably familiar. The people of Paris had only recently been introduced to the works of Wagner
with their symphonic orchestrations and recurring motives that were used to represent a character or
idea repeatedly. They found this new style unpleasant. To them, Bizet’s opera was too much like
those of Wagner.
In the Paris of 1875 you had two forms of opera - grand opera and opéra comique. Grand
opera was by far the oldest form. It had set formulas for its composition and was the favorite of the
aristocracy. You could attend the Opéra with your family with complete confidence that no one
would be embarrassed by what they saw or heard. Opéra comique, by contrast, was more the music
of the people. The music, which was sometimes innovative, was used to further the story line, and the
stories themselves tended to be about the common people and their flawed, often tragic lives. Bizet’s
opera was commissioned by the Opéra Comique and it was performed there until 1959 when a
decision was made to transfer it to the Paris Opéra. It took a long time for Carmen to become
respectable, but by the time she gained her respectability, she had been enjoyed by millions of people
in thousands of performances all over the world (there were over 2900 performances of the opera at
the Opéra Comique alone by 1959).
Carmen is based on a novella of the same name written by Prosper Merimée. The libretto
was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Bizet’s Carmen, like Puccini’s Mimi, is
somewhat softer in the opera than in the source material. The other principal female character in the
opera, Micaëla, does not appear at all in Merimée’s work, but is an invention of the composer to
provide a woman who is the diametrical opposite of the immoral gypsy. Notice that Micaëla is a
lofty soprano while Carmen is an earthy mezzo-soprano or soprano who sings in the low range for the
soprano voice.
Musical Highlights
Act I
Prelude
“Avec la garde montante” (Chorus of Street Boys)
“Laclocheasonné” (Chorus)
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“L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” (Habanera) (Carmen)
“Parlez-mois de ma mPre” (Don José and Micaëla)
“PrPs des ramparts de Séville” (Seguidilla) (Carmen)
Act II
Prelude
“Les tringles des sistres tintaient” (Gypsy Song) (Carmen)
“Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre” (Toreador Song) (Escamillo)
“Nous avons en tLte une affaire” (Quintet) (El Dancairo, MercédPs, Frasquita, Le Remendado, and Carmen)
“La fleur que tu m’avais jetée” (Flower Song) (Don José)
Act III
Prelude
“Écoute, écoute, compagnon, écoute” (Chorus)
“MLlons! Coupons!” (Card Trio) (Frasquita, MercédPs, and Carmen)
“Quant au douanier” (Carmen, MercédPs, and Frasquita)
“Je dis, que rien ne m’épouvante” (Micaëla’s Air) (Micaëla)
Act IV
Prelude
“A deux cuartos! A deux cuartos!” (Chorus and Dance)
“Les voici! Voici la quadrille!” (March and Chorus)
“C’est toi!” (Final Scene) (Carmen and Don José
TheMagicFlute
Story of TheMagicFlute
The setting for The Magic Flute is Egypt. After the well known and very popular overture,
the curtain rises and we find Tamino (tenor) running across the stage with a serpent in hot pursuit.
Tamino is carrying a bow, but his quiver is empty. After calling futilely for help, he collapses. Three
ladies (soprano, mezzo-soprano, and contralto respectively) appear, slay the serpent, and marvel at the
handsome, unconscious man they have just saved. Each instructs the others to go tell their Queen
what has happened while she guards the youth. When none will leave the others alone, all three leave
to find the Queen. Soon after they depart, Tamino revives and hides in the rocks. A moment later, a
strange looking half-bird, half-man appears playing a panpipe and singing happily. He announces
that he is Papageno (baritone) the Queen’s birdcatcher (“Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja”). He also tells
us that he would prefer catching pretty girls to birds.
Tamino steps out into the open to thank Papageno for killing the serpent, thus saving his life.
Papageno accepts full credit for the deed, explaining that he killed the serpent with his bare hands.
The three ladies, who have heard Papageno’s lies, reappear and inform him that the Queen has
decided that this day he should have water instead of wine to drink, a rock instead of bread, and a
lock to seal his lying mouth.
One of the ladies offers Tamino a portrait of the Queen’s daughter and he immediately falls in
love with the young girl, vowing to make her his own (“Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön”). There
is a loud clap of thunder as the Queen of the Night (soprano) appears. She tells Tamino that her
lovely daughter has been abducted by an evil man named Sarastro, and begs Tamino to rescue the girl
and slay the evil man who abducted her (“O zittre nicht...Zum Leiden bin ich auserkoren”). His
reward will be Pamina’s hand in marriage. Tamino immediately agrees and is given a magic flute
that, he is told, will protect him from all danger. As the lock is removed from Papageno’s mouth, he is
instructed to accompany Tamino. Though reluctant, he has no choice but to agree and is given some
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magic bells for protection. They are told that three boys will accompany them and point the way to
Sarastro’s palace.
The scene changes to Sarastro’s palace where Pamina (soprano), who has fainted, is being
guarded by the Moor, Monostatos (tenor), who has been attempting to force his attentions on her.
While he is absorbed in looking at the beautiful girl, Papageno appears. Each man is equally startled
by the appearance of the other and each runs for cover in a different direction. Pamina awakens to
find Papageno at her side. He compares her to the portrait that Tamino had given him, and when he is
satisfied that she is really Pamina, he tells her what has happened. He says that Tamino has fallen in
love with her at the sight of that portrait and has determined to rescue her. In a duet of great beauty
Pamina, who has just learned that Papageno has neither wife nor girlfriend, counsels him to have
patience (“Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen”). After this duet, which is based on an old German
folk song, they attempt to escape.
In a nearby grove, Tamino comes upon three temples. He is denied admittance to two of the
three. When he attempts to enter the third, a priest (bass-baritone) emerges, they talk, and Tamino
learns the truth about the nature of Sarastro who is, contrary to what he has been told, a virtuous man
with lofty ideals. Before leaving, the priest tells Tamino that there is a good reason why Sarastro
abducted Pamina. Left alone, Tamino is in deep thought as he tries to sort out what is true and what is
false. He is determined to know. A chorus tells him that Pamina is still alive and that soon he may
know the answer to his questions. He begins to play his flute and soon hears Papageno’s answering
panpipe. He rushes off to find his friend. No sooner has he left than Papageno and Pamina arrive.
Pamina calls out Tamino’s name and brings forth not Tamino, but Monostatos and some other slaves.
Papageno remembers his magic bells, takes them out and plays them. Monostatos and the others
dance crazily to the music while Papageno and Pamina set out again in search of Tamino.
Immediately trumpets and drums sound and Sarastro (bass), the high priest of Isis,
majestically appears followed by a group of priests. Pamina admits that she is trying to escape but
accuses Monostatos of trying to seduce her. Sarastro forgives her and warns her that her mother is a
proud woman. Concerning women, Sarastro says, “A man must guide your hearts, for without him
all women tend to step outside their own sphere of activity.” Monostatos and the other slaves appear
with the now captive Tamino, and he and Pamina rush to embrace each other. Monostatos tells the
high priest that he should receive a reward for what he has done, and Sarastro agrees. His reward is
seventy-seven lashes on the soles of his feet. The two lovers are ushered into the temple to be
purified by the secret rights of the priests.
Act II opens in a grove where Sarastro and his priests are trying to decide if Tamino is worthy
of initiation into the mysteries of the cult. Sarastro pleads Tamino’s case forcefully and his priests
accent. He and his priests then pray that the lovers will be granted the courage to endure the trials that
are to come. In the temple courtyard, Tamino and Papageno are told that they must undergo certain
trials. Tamino’s reward will be the hand of Pamina, and Papageno’s reward will be a Papagena.
They are told that they must not speak to women at all, not even Pamina and Papagena if they should
appear. Unexpectedly, the Queen’s three ladies materialize and rebuke Tamino and Papageno for not
keeping their word that they would rescue Pamina and take revenge on Sarastro. They urge the two
men to flee before it is too late. Papageno begins to speak to the ladies, but Tamino scolds him for
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eaking his vow of silence to women. Thunder is heard as the priests enter and condemn the women
for defiling the temple.
Meanwhile, Pamina is asleep on a bench in the temple courtyard. Monostatos determines that
he must have a kiss from her. As he approaches, the Queen of the Night appears and orders him back.
In a dramatic soliloquy she orders her daughter to take a dagger that she gives her and to kill Sarastro.
Also, she is ordered to recover the sacred zodiac that he wears on his chest (“Der Hölle Rache”), then
her mother disappears. Monostatos, who has been watching, comes forth and promises to help
Pamina if she will give in to his desires. As she recoils in terror, Sarastro steps in and orders
Monostatos to leave. When Pamina pleads for Sarastro to be merciful toward her mother, he assures
her that within the temple walls vengeance is unknown and enemies are forgiven. In a hall in the
temple, Tamino and Papageno are again reminded that they must remain silent. Yet, Papageno is
unable to keep quiet when an old crone appears bringing him a drink of water. When he asks her if
she has a boyfriend, she answers that she does, and that his name is Papageno. A loud clap of thunder
scares her away and reminds Papageno of his vow of silence. The three boys (soprano,
mezzo-soprano, and contralto) appear with the flute and the bells. Then a table filled with food
appears. Papageno eats voraciously while Tamino plays his flute. Hearing the music, Pamina enters
and greets Tamino only to be met by total silence. Convinced that he no longer loves her she sings a
truly touching aria expressing her feelings of despair (“Ach, ich fühl’s”). Her desolation is so great
that she now wishes only for death. As Tamino watches her leave in despair, he and Papageno are
summoned to continue their trials.
They, along with Pamina, appear before the priests and Pamina is told to bid Tamino farewell.
Again Tamino refuses to speak to her and she declares that her love is much stronger than his.
Sarastro bids her be patient and assures her that she and her lover will soon be reunited. As all depart
except Papageno, he tells the speaker that he would give up all hope of future happiness for one glass
of wine. At that, a large glass of wine appears. He drinks it and begins to play a tune on his magic
bells in which he tells how all he wants in life is a little wife (“Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen”). At
that, the old crone reappears declaring eternal love for him. He is asked to make the same declaration
to her but he is reluctant until he is told that refusal will result in an everlasting diet of bread and
water. “Drink water?” he says. “Abandon the world? In that case I’d rather take an old woman than
no woman at all.” Reluctantly, he vows his willingness to be true to her with the whispered aside that
he will be true to her until someone prettier comes along. The crone is immediately transformed into
a beautiful young Papagena, but before he can embrace her the speaker hurries her away maintaining
that Papageno is not yet worthy of her.
In a garden Pamina in desperation is about to commit suicide with the knife her mother
brought her earlier, but the three boys appear and stop her. They assure her that Tamino loves her
deeply. She joyously asks them to reunite her with Tamino.
Tamino, who is about to undergo the trials of fire and water, is assured by the priests with him
that “if he can conquer the fear of death, he will soar from the earth up to heaven! Enlightened, he
will then be able to devote himself wholly to the mysteries of Isis.” He says that he is fearless and,
having heard Pamina’s voice, asks that she be brought to him. The lovers embrace warmly, then
Tamino shows her what lies ahead for both of them. She takes him by the arm and walks forward
urging him to play the magic flute that, she reveals, was hewn by her father from a thousand year old
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oak. With the music of the flute as their protection, they brave first the trial of fire and then the trial of
water unharmed. After the ordeals, the priests sing of the couple’s consecration to Isis.
In a small garden Papageno prepares to hang himself because he feels that he will never again
see Papagena. His only hope is that someone will stop him before he counts to three. He counts very
slowly,“One,two,three...” Theboys appear and chastise him for what he is about to do. Why,
they ask, didn’t he use his magic bells to gain his maiden? He immediately takes their suggestion and
Papagena appears. They embrace warmly and begin to chatter like birds about the little Papagenos
and Papagenas they will have.
Outside the temple in the darkness Monostatos, the Queen of the Night, and the three ladies
appear. They are still determined to destroy Sarastro. Monostatos has been promised the hand of
Pamina in return for his help. Immediately, thunder is heard and the ground opens up swallowing
them all and condemning them to eternal darkness.
In the Temple of the Sun, Sarastro and the priests declare Tamino and Pamina consecrated.
The forces of darkness have been destroyed by the sun’s rays they say. Then, they all raise their
voices to Isis and Osiris saying that “strength has triumphed, rewarding beauty and wisdom with an
everlasting crown.”
Background
Now we come to our third and final opera, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s comic masterpiece
The Magic Flute. It is interesting that one author of a book on how to interest people in opera has
consigned this opera to his list of operas that should be used to introduce children rather than adults to
opera. On the other hand, the genius Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had the highest regard for The
Magic Flute feeling that it (through its libretto) taught what one needed to know about spiritual
emancipation and the passage from darkness into light (i.e., from ignorance into knowledge). Who is
right, and who is wrong? My feeling is that in this opera we have one of the loftiest pieces of music
ever written - a masterpiece if ever there was one. On a completely different plain, a child can see
The Magic Flute and remain totally enchanted during its entire performance if the singers are good
and if they can act. This is an opera that can be enjoyed on either a superficial level or on a very, very
deep intellectual level. Take your choice. This opera, says Alfred Einstein,
...isoneofthosepieces that can enchant a child at the same time that it moves the
most worldly of men to tears and transports the wisest. Each individual and each generation finds
something different in it; only to the merely “cultured” or the pure barbarian does it have nothing to
say.
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Most of Mozart’s operas were written for royalty, but The Magic Flute was written for the
common people of Vienna for performance in a small, somewhat disreputable music hall owned by
the opera’s librettist, Emanuel Schikaneder. 1 It was first performed there on September 30, 1791.
This opera was commissioned at a time when Mozart was ill, hounded by bill collectors, and
denied the respect that he so richly deserved for his unequalled musical genius. It was finished
only months before his death in December, 1791 at the age of 36.
It is mind boggling to imagine that the composer of The Magic Flute and so many other
monumental operas could have been buried in a pauper’s grave without so much as a marker to
indicate exactly where the grave is located.
This opera is rich in symbolism. It is felt that much of that symbolism is tied to the
beliefs of the Freemasons, a group to which both Mozart and Schikaneder belonged. The
masons at first enjoyed a period of tolerance under Joseph II, but under his successor, Leopold
II, they were persecuted. On one level this opera represents Mozart’s slightly veiled attempt to
express his belief that the light of truth and brotherhood would triumph ultimately over the
darkness of inerrancy and intolerance.
The symbolism of the Freemasons is evident literally from the beginning of the opera to
the end - the first and final chords being an E-flat major, the Masonic key. Three, a number
prominent in Freemasonry, appears repeatedly in the opera - the three opening chords, the three
women, the three boys, the three doors. Also, Mozart made extensive use of woodwinds in this
opera, the group of instruments most favored by Vienna’s Masonic lodges. Furthermore, it is
felt that certain characters in the opera represented people active during Mozart’s day. The
Queen of the Night probably represented Leopold’s mother, the Empress Maria Theresa, for
instance. Sarastro and his priests, whoever they represented in real life, would oppose and
ultimately liberate the world from the darkness characterized by the Queen of the Night and her
followers.
Clearly, The Magic Flute is on a totally different plain from the two previously
discussed operas. While the other two deal with the problems and desires of ordinary people,
Mozart’s masterpiece deals with the highest yearnings of the human spirit. But do not forget that
this opera can also be unabashedly enjoyed for the beauty of its music and the humor of its
characters. In fact, that may be the best way to begin your association with The Magic Flute.
Musical Highlights
Act I
“Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja” (Papageno)
“Die Bildnis ist Bezaubernd schön” (Tamino)
“O zittre nicht...Zum Leiden bin ich auserkoren” (Queen of the Night)
“Hm! hm! hm!” (Quintet) (Papageno, Tamino, and the three Ladies)
“Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen” (Pamina and Papageno)
Act II
“O Isis und Osiris” (Sarastro)
“Der Hölle Rache” (Queen of the Night)
“In diesen heil’gen Hallen” (Sarastro)
“Ach, ich fühl’s” (Pamina)
“O Isis und Osiris welche Wonne!” (Priests)
“Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” (Papageno)
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So, there you have the stories and musical highlights of three of the greatest operas ever
written. I would suggest that you purchase a recording of one of them, listen to it, and then
consider renting or buying a video of it. Make plans to see the opera as well if you have the
opportunity to do so, but be sure to read Chapter 12 first. I’ll have a complete check list on your
first live opera in that chapter.
In the next chapter, I will give you information on three more magnificent operas. When
you are ready, turn the electronic page and see what awaits you there.
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One More Time?
We have completed our initial voyage into the world of complete operas (with pleasing
results, I hope) and we are now about to embark on another excursion into the world of opera. I have
chosen three more “beauties” for you - Verdi’s La Traviata, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly,and
Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. La Traviata and Madama Butterfly are very sad operas about
passionate romances just as were La BohPme and Carmen while The Tales of Hoffmann is, like The
Magic Flute, a tale of the supernatural.
La Traviata
Story of La Traviata
The opera begins with a very quiet prelude that immediately sets the mood that Verdi’s music
sustains throughout the work. The music is similar to that of the Prelude to Act III. It begins with
very soft, gentle melodies played by the violins. Then we hear the melody that occurs late in Act II
when Violetta is about to leave Alfredo. At times we hear music characteristic of gay times, but there
is always the sense of foreboding. Soon, the music fades away completely.
The scene is the salon in the Paris home of our heroine, Violetta Valery, (soprano) the
beautiful mistress of Baron Douphol (baritone). As we hear a beautiful chorus, she is introduced to a
young man named Alfredo Germont (tenor) who makes no secret of his love for her. At her invitation
he leads the guests in a rousing drinking song (“Libiamo ne’ lieti calici”). He sings the first stanza,
she sings the second, they alternate lines in the third, and ultimately, they sing in unison. It is as
though they are becoming closer as the music progresses.
After the drinking song, the guests proceed to the ballroom, but Violetta remains behind,
racked by a fit of coughing. Alfredo, who has also remained behind, professes his love for her and
declares that he has loved her ever since he first saw her a year ago. She is stunned by his revelation
and tells him that he must not love her. Together they express their feelings in a beautiful duet (“Un
dX felice”). 1 To Alfredo’s profession of love she replies that he must forget her because she is
incapable of love. Despite her denial, she has fallen in love with Alfredo. As he leaves, she
gives him a flower, telling him to bring it back when it has faded. He joyfully exclaims that he
will return with it the following day.
As the guests depart, Violetta is left alone with her thoughts. She is in rapture at the
thought of real love - of loving and being loved (“Ah, fors’ P lui”). Then, as though awakening
from a dream she screams, “Madness! Madness! This is a vain delirium! ...What must I do?
Plunge into the vortex of pleasure engulfed in pleasure to die!” These thoughts culminate in a
beautiful aria (“Sempre libera”) in which she says, “Always free, I must flit dizzily from pleasure
to pleasure.” As she sings, she hears Alfredo singing the melody that they sang earlier. This is
an excellent example of the use of offstage voices in opera. We will encounter another example
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of the use of offstage voices in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Though she tries to deny her
feelings, it is obvious that she is filled with joy at the thought of a true, lasting love in her life.
Act II, Scene 1 finds Violetta and Alfredo living together in a country house outside
Paris. Alfredo is extremely content with his life now and contrasts it to his earlier life (“De’ miei
bollenti spiriti”). Violetta is, unknown to Alfredo, in the process of selling everything she owns
so they may continue to live together. When Alfredo learns of this from Violetta’s maid,
Annina, (soprano) he decides to go to Paris to raise the money they need. While he is gone,
Violetta receives a note from her friend Flora who has discovered her hiding place. Flora invites
Violetta to a dance that evening, but Violetta remarks that Flora will wait for her in vain.
A servant informs her that a gentleman is there to see her and in comes Alfredo’s father,
Giorgio Germont (baritone), who believes that Violetta is after Alfredo’s money. She shows him
papers that prove that it is she not Alfredo who is providing the money on which they live. That
does not mater, he tells her. She must leave Alfredo forever to save Alfredo’s sister from
spinsterhood. It seems that his daughter’s fiance is scandalized by Alfredo’s affair and is
threatening to break off the engagement if his future brother-in-law persists in his adultery. In
addition, he insists that Alfredo must never know why she has left him. She reluctantly agrees
but asks Germont to tell his daughter of her sacrifice (“Dite alla giovine”). She also wants
Alfredo to know of her sacrifice after her death.
Shortly after Germont leaves, Alfredo returns and tells Violetta that his father is there
though he has not yet seen him. Violetta insists that Germont must not find her there. She asks
Alfredo to always love her as much as she loves him, then hurriedly leaves the room. We hear
just a little of the melody from the Prelude to Act I as she tells him goodbye. A few minutes
after she leaves, a messenger cones to the door with a note that Violetta has written to Alfredo.
As he reads the note, his father enters, and in one of the most beautiful baritone arias in all opera,
implores him to return to his childhood home and the family that loves him (“Di provenza il
mar”). Alfredo hardly hears what his father has said because he has read Violetta’s note and can
only think of revenge. Finding the note which Flora had written to Violetta, he decides that he
will also go to the dance that evening.
Scene 2 of Act II opens with beautiful choruses performed by the guests at the dance.
The women are disguised as gypsies, while the men are disguised as matadors (“Noi siamo
zingarelle” and “Di Madride noi siam mattadori”). Alfredo enters and is soon engaged in a game
of cards with some other guests. Violetta and Baron Douphol then enter. Alfredo is winning
every hand and proclaims, so that all can hear, that he will return to the country with both his
winnings and the woman he loves. At this, the Baron becomes infuriated and challenges Alfredo
to a game of cards. Alfredo accepts and promptly wins the hand. Again they play and again
Alfredo wins. Flora quips that the Baron is going to pay for the lover’s stay in the country. The
tension is eventually broken when the guests are called to dinner. The Baron, frustrated and
angry, tells Alfredo that he will have his revenge later and Alfredo tells him to choose whatever
game he likes.
All leave the room, but a moment later Violetta and Alfredo return separately. She asks
Alfredo to leave because she fears that the Baron will kill him. He says that he will go if she will
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accompany him, but she replies that she has made a solemn promise to leave him. He asks if the
promise was made to Douphol and she lies, “Yes.” Angrily, he calls the guests back, tells them
that she has sold everything to pay for their life together, and throws money at her as repayment.
Violetta collapses and the guests and Germont, who has just entered, in unison chastise Alfredo
for his conduct. Germont tells Alfredo that he can no longer find his son and the Baron swears
revenge on Alfredo.
The prelude to Act III has much the same feel as that of Act I. It is soft, quiet, and full of
foreboding. The setting is Violetta’s sparsely furnished room. Dr. Grenvil, her physician, tells
her that she is getting better, but privately he tells Annina that Violetta has only a few hours to
live. As Annina leaves the room Violetta reads a letter she has received from Germont, a letter
that she has often read. In the letter, Germont tells her that Alfredo and Baron Douphol had a
duel and that Douphol was wounded but is recovering. Alfredo has gone abroad, but Germont
has told him of Violetta’s sacrifice and Alfredo is returning to seek her forgiveness. Germont
says that he will also be there soon to seek her forgiveness. She looks in the mirror to find a
frail, thin, dying woman. She sings an aria in which she laments the loss of not only her beauty,
but of Alfredo’s love as well (“Addio, del passato”). Outside her window revelers are singing
gaily.
Annina rushes in with the news that Alfredo has arrived. His father is not far behind him.
The lovers embrace passionately professing their mutual love. They talk of the future (“Parigi, o
cara”), but are brought back to reality when Violetta suddenly becomes weak. They know that
the end is near. Seeing the love between the two, Germont realizes how wrong he was to make
them part. Violetta gives Alfredo a locket with her portrait and tells him to give it to the woman
he marries and to tell her that she is in heaven praying for them. For a moment she feels that life
has returned to her tortured body, but then she collapses and dies.
Background
The very prolific career of Giuseppe Verdi can be broken into three different periods: an
early period, a middle period, and a late period. His middle period produced three of our most
popular operas: Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and La Traviata. While all three operas are much loved
and often performed, La Traviata actually rivals his AVda as one of the most popular operas ever
written by any composer. The opera contains one beautiful melody after another and, in
addition, has a libretto that actually makes sense - no small feat in opera as evidenced by the
opera he composed just before this one, Il Trovatore. This opera marks a turning point for Verdi
in that he changed his style from even Il Trovatore which directly preceded it. His
orchestrations are somewhat more developed than before and he, at times, interrupts the arias,
duets, and such to further the action. He does this to such an extent that it is sometimes difficult
to tell where an aria ends and the recitative begins. You will see this idea further developed in
some of his later operas.
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La Traviata is based on a novel and play written by Alexander Dumas fils. When Dumas
was a young man, he fell in love with the woman who was to become Violetta Valery in Verdi’s
opera. Her real name was Marie Duplessis and she was born in 1824. She was a courtesan of
unusual qualities - she was not only beautiful, but also very intelligent. Both characteristics
made her a social asset to any man who could possess her, and many wealthy men in Paris did, in
fact, possess her. Dumas met and fell in love with her when he was only twenty years old and
they had a brief but passionate affair that obviously made a tremendous impression on the young
man. Marie, unfortunately, died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-three.
Dumas’ novel about her, La Dame aux Camélias, was popular, but it was the play
produced from the novel that caught Verdi’s eye. Shortly after seeing the play in Paris in 1852,
he gave a copy of it to his librettist, Francesco Maria Piave, and they were soon working on the
opera. The opera premiered the following year in Venice and, like Bizet’s Carmen, was poorly
received by the public and the critics. Some of the parallels between the two are remarkable.
Both operas were seen as scandalous in their choice of the heroines who seem to be totally
immoral. Also, both were considered devoid of melody! Additionally, it did not help that the
heroine, supposedly dying of tuberculosis (a disease that leaves its victims emaciated) was
portrayed by a woman who was terribly overweight. To top it all off, the lead tenor had lost his
voice and the Germont didn’t deliver a satisfactory rendering of his aria, “Di provenza il mar,”
one of the most popular baritone arias ever composed.
It was the following year when La Traviata was again staged. This time Verdi used a
totally different cast and changed the setting from contemporary Paris to the Paris of 1700. The
different cast and the movement away from contemporary times (and contemporary costumes)
made the difference for La Traviata. Even the heroine was more acceptable because she was no
longer perceived as a woman of the times, but as a resident of an earlier, less moral age. The
second production was a resounding success and La Traviata has been one of the most beloved
operas ever since.
La Traviata, though filled with beautiful melodies, is a melancholy opera that gives you
the feeling from the very first notes of the prelude that things will not end well. Even the music
for the party scenes smacks of the emptiness of the lives of those who are ostensibly living such
fine, enviable existences. When we come to the final act and find our heroine alone and near
death, we are not surprised.
Musical Highlights
Act I
Prelude
“Libiamo” (Alfredo)
“Un dX felice” (Alfredo and Violetta)
“Ah, fors’ P lui” (Violetta)
“Sempre libera” (Violetta)
Act II
“De’ miei bollenti spiriti” (Alfredo)
“Dite alla giovine” (Violetta and Germont)
“Di provenza il mar” (Germont)
“Noi siamo zingarelle” (Women’s Chorus)
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“Di Madride noi siam mattadori” (Men’s Chorus)
Act III
Prelude
“Addio del passato” (Violetta)
“Parigi, o cara” (Alfredo)
Madama Butterfly
Story of Madama Butterfly
As with La BohPme, Puccini did not compose an overture for Madama Butterfly. When
the curtain rises we see two men inspecting a small Japanese house located on a hilltop near
Nagasaki, Japan. The Japanese man is Goro (tenor), a marriage broker and the American is
Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton (tenor), a naval officer who is temporarily assigned to
duty in Japan. They discuss the ways one can change the rooms in the house by sliding the walls
around.
When Goro claps his hands, three servants enter. He introduces one of them as Suzuki
(mezzo-soprano), the trusted servant of the woman Pinkerton is about to marry. As they discuss
the coming event, they are joined by Sharpless (baritone), the U. S. consul. Sharpless
compliments Pinkerton on finding such a lovely house with such a beautiful view of Nagasaki
and the harbor. Pinkerton explains that he has purchased the house for nine hundred ninety-nine
years with an option to cancel the contract each month. Pinkerton then comments that Yankees
travel the world over going from one country and one love to another, always restless and always
determined to win the most beautiful women they meet (“Dovunque al mondo il yankee
vagabondo”). Sharpless proclaims this an “easy going gospel” that could have fatal
consequences. Unmoved, Pinkerton tells Sharpless that his upcoming Japanese marriage, like
the house is for nine hundred ninety-nine years with the option to annul it each month. Again
Sharpless entreats Pinkerton not to harm his bride in any way and Pinkerton answers that he has
no intention of harming her. They have a drink and Sharpless toasts to Pinkerton’s friends and
relatives back home while Pinkerton’s toast is to the day when he will wed “in real marriage” an
American wife. During their dialogue we hear strains of our national anthem and the words
“America forever!”
Goro returns to announce that the women are on their way up the hill. We hear the
voices of many women and then the offstage voice of Pinkerton’s bride, Cio-Cio San, known as
Madama Butterfly (soprano). She proclaims herself the happiest maiden in the world. Butterfly
appears with her girl friends, each carrying a brightly colored parasol. She speaks with the three
men and explains to Sharpless that her family was wealthy once, and that she has had to become
a geisha to make a living. She informs them that she is fifteen years old.
Goro announces that others are on their way up the hill. The new visitors talk among
themselves - gossiping about both the bride and groom. Food and drink are brought out as
Butterfly introduces the guests to Pinkerton.
Butterfly tells Pinkerton that she has brought a few cherished possessions with her
including handkerchiefs, a buckle, a ribbon, a little jar of rouge, and a dagger in a sheath. She
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throws away the rouge when Pinkerton expresses only slight displeasure over it, but gently
refuses to discuss the dagger. It is the dagger her father used to commit suicide when ordered to
do so by the Mikado and it is Butterfly’s most cherished possession. Then she takes him aside to
confides that she has become a Christian, thereby forsaking both her family and her heritage.
Goro calls for silence, and the Imperial Commissioner (baritone) proceeds to marry the
couple. The reception is suddenly interrupted by the entrance of Butterfly’s uncle, the Bonze
(bass), who is extremely upset with Butterfly. The guests cower in fear as he tells her that he
knows she has been to the mission and that she has denounced her true religion and her people.
The guests are horrified. “In everlasting torment may your wicked soul perish!” he thunders. He
and her friends and relatives leave declaring that since she has renounced them, they in turn
renounce her. The poor child is devastated.
As Pinkerton consoles her, she tells him that he is now her whole life and that she will
not worry about anyone else. A beautiful love duet follows in which they pledge their love to
each other forever and express their happiness (“Vieni la sera”). She tells him that she has heard
that in his country when someone catches a butterfly he pierces its heart with a needle and then
leaves it to perish. He replies that this is only done so that it will not escape. She is satisfied
with his reply and, enraptured, they disappear into the marriage chamber as Act I comes to a
close.
It is three years later when we next see Butterfly. Pinkerton has long ago left Japan and
she has shed many tears of longing. Suzuki kneels before an image of Buddha praying that
Butterfly will weep no more while Butterfly stands nearby. Butterfly accuses the Japanese gods
of being lazy and suggests that the god of her husband would answer prayers more quickly if
only He knew where they lived.
She and Suzuki discuss their financial situation and they agree that they will starve if
Pinkerton does not return soon. Suzuki expresses doubt that he will ever return and Butterfly
defends him. Suzuki’s rebuttal is that she has never heard of a foreign husband returning to his
Japanese wife. “Silence, or I’ll Kill you,” Butterfly shouts. “Why, just before he went, I asked
of him: ‘You’ll come back again to me?’ And with his heart so heavy, to conceal his trouble,
with a smile he made answer: ‘O Butterfly, my tiny little child-wife, I’ll return with the roses, the
warm and sunny season, when the red-breasted robins are busy nesting.’ And he’ll return.”
What follows is one of the most beautiful soprano arias in opera (“Un bel dX”). In it, Butterfly
sings of the fine day when Pinkerton’s ship will glide into the harbor and he will come up the
path calling her name.
Sharpless appear in the garden and Butterfly is obviously delighted to see him. He
uncomfortably goes through the Japanese formalities of greeting a guest and then pulls a letter
from his pocket. He has come to tell her that Pinkerton is returning, but does not wish to see her.
Before he can tell her this, they are interrupted by Goro and Prince Yamadori, a wealthy man
who wants to marry her. Yamadori and Butterfly engage in a conversation concerning her
unwillingness to marry him. Sharpless puts the letter back in his pocket, realizing that he will
not be able to deliver his message concerning Pinkerton. Both Goro and Yamadori tell Sharpless
that Butterfly thinks herself still married and she replies indignantly that she is still married.
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They tell her that under Japanese law a woman may divorce her husband if he deserts her, and
she replies that while true under Japanese law, it is not true under the laws of her country - the
United States.
When Butterfly leaves the room to make tea for her guests, the men engage in a
conversation in which Sharpless tells the others about the letter he has received from Pinkerton.
Butterfly returns and the conversation between the men ends abruptly. Yamadori leaves shortly
after that still professing his love for Butterfly and Goro promptly follows.
Once again, Sharpless pulls out the letter and begins to read it, but each time he
completes a few words, Butterfly joyfully interrupts him - each time completely misinterpreting
what he has just read to her. During this time, we hear strains from the beautiful “Humming
Chorus” that will be sung in full at the end of the act. Eventually, he gives up and puts the letter
away, cursing Pinkerton under his breath. Looking into her eyes, he asks Butterfly what she
would do if Pinkerton should fail to return to her. Two things she might do, she says, she might
go back and entertain people with her songs, but better to die. Sharpless, overwhelmed by her
faith in Pinkerton, pleads with her to marry Yamadori. Enraged that he of all people would
suggest this, she calls Suzuki to show him to the door and then, in tears, begs him to forgive her.
She runs into the next room and returns a moment later with a small boy. It is the child that she
bore Pinkerton after he left Japan. Sharpless is astonished and asks if Pinkerton knows about the
child. She replies that he does not and asks him to inform Pinkerton. Sharpless assures her that
Pinkerton will be told and then leaves.
Suzuki enters with Goro who has been hiding outside. She accuses him of telling
everyone in the town that no one knows who the baby’s father is, and that such a child in
America would be shunned for life. Butterfly grabs her father’s dagger and threatens to kill
Goro if he repeats what he just said. Suzuki moves between them, possibly saving Goro’s life.
Goro slinks away as Butterfly mutters that her son’s avenger will soon arrive.
As if in answer to her pronouncement, the harbor cannon is fired - the signal that a ship is
docking. She uses a telescope to see it clearly and reads the name on the bow. It is the Abraham
Lincoln, Pinkerton’s ship. Joyfully, she runs out of the house declaring that her faith in
Pinkerton has been rewarded. During this time we hear strains from “Un bel dX,” our national
anthem, and the love duet from Act I - all of this amplifying her believed vindication and
expressing her love for her American husband. She orders Suzuki to gather every flower she can
find so that she may bathe her husband in their scent. When she looks at herself in a hand mirror
she is appalled, thinking that she looks old and tired. Throwing herself at Suzuki’s feet, she begs
Suzuki to make her look pretty for her husband. She orders Suzuki to bring her wedding dress to
her and, after putting it on, she tells Suzuki that they will make three little holes in the wall
through which they may watch for her husband’s return. And there they wait as night falls.
Suzuki and the child soon fall asleep, but Butterfly remains awake, motionless as a statue,
waiting patiently for the return of her beloved. At this point we hear the beautiful “Humming
Chorus” sung by an off stage chorus.
An intermezzo is heard before the final act begins. It is dawn and the noise of the people
bustling around in the nearby city arouses Suzuki. She gently awakens her mistress who had
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eventually fallen asleep. “He will come. He will come,” Butterfly maintains as she awakens.
Suzuki convinces her to rest awhile, so Butterfly picks up the child and leaves the room.
A gentle knock at the door announces the arrival of both Sharpless and Pinkerton who
urge Suzuki to remain quiet and to refrain from calling Butterfly. Suzuki tells them everything
that has happened since Butterfly recognized the ship in the harbor. Pinkerton seems deeply
moved by Suzuki’s words. Hearing a noise in the garden, Suzuki investigates and finds that
there is an American woman there. It is Pinkerton’s American wife, Kate (mezzo-soprano).
Suzuki falls to the floor bemoaning the situation. Sharpless explains that they came so early to
enlist her aid in solving a very delicate problem - they want to take the child with them to
America so that he will have a good life. Sharpless asks Suzuki to bring Mrs. Pinkerton inside
though it means that Butterfly might see her. While Suzuki is in the garden, the two men talk
and Pinkerton instructs Sharpless to tell Butterfly what has happened. Sharpless repeatedly
chastises Pinkerton for his actions toward Butterfly much as a father would scold his son.
Pinkerton leaves (“Addio fiorito asil”). Now Suzuki and Kate enter and Kate reassures Suzuki
that the child will be treated like her own son. At that point, Butterfly calls to Suzuki and enters
the room. She sees Sharpless and rushes around looking for Pinkerton. Instead of finding her
husband, she sees Kate and realizes, though reluctantly, that Kate is Pinkerton’s wife. Desolate,
she asks Suzuki to confirm her fears. She also realizes that they want her to give up her baby.
He may have his son, she declares, if he will come in person to get him in half an hour. Poor
Butterfly is near the point of collapse as Suzuki leads Sharpless and Kate out of the house.
When she orders Suzuki to go play with the child, Suzuki falls at Butterfly’s feet crying
and refusing to leave her alone, but Butterfly forcefully orders her to leave the room. Walking
over to the Buddha, she removes her father’s dagger from its sheath and reads the words
inscribed on the blade: “To die with honor when one can no longer live with honor.” Just as she
puts the point of the dagger to her throat a door opens and Suzuki thrusts the child into the room.
Butterfly throws the dagger down, holds her cherished child close for a moment and talks gently
to him. Then she orders him to go play, hands him a doll and an American flag and bandages his
eyes so he cannot see what she is about to do. She moves behind a screen and shortly the dagger
falls to the floor. She staggers from behind the screen, goes over to her son, embraces him one
last time, and dies. At that point, Pinkerton and Sharpless enter the house and see what has
happened. Pinkerton, filled with shame, kneels near Butterfly’s body sobbing while Sharpless
picks up the boy to keep him from seeing what has occurred. As we hear a Japanese melody, the
curtain falls on this tragedy.
Background
Our second opera had much the same reception as Verdi’s La Traviata and Bizet’s
Carmen. Puccini was very attracted to the play Madama Butterfly by the playwright,
David Belasco. This play was in turn based on a story written by John Luther. Puccini saw the
play in London while there for a staging of his opera Tosca. Though he did not understand a
word of the English dialogue, he found that he could easily follow the action of the play. This
was a good indication to him that an opera based on the story would be easy for his audiences to
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follow also. In preparation for the writing of the opera, Puccini immersed himself in everything
Japanese: customs, musical instruments, names, and entertainment.
Puccini was normally reluctant to have family and friends at the premier of an opera in
case it was a dismal failure, but for Madama Butterfly, he made an exception. He loved his
heroine, Cio-Cio San, and had taken great pains to make sure that every note of her opera was
just right. La Scala was presenting the premier, tickets were going for a premium, even during
the rehearsals people had tears in their eyes, and everyone expected Madama Butterfly to be an
enormous success. So, why shouldn’t he invite his family to witness his triumph? By the time
the premier ended, Puccini deeply regretted violating his rule, because the premier of Madama
Butterfly turned out to be a thoroughly humiliating experience for this proud man.
The opera premiered on February 17, 1904. Inexplicably the audience was very quiet
until the entrance of Butterfly - an ominous sign from an Italian audience. When Butterfly
entered singing her first aria, someone called out that this was no more than a rehash of La
BohPme and that they wanted a new opera. Then, everyone settled back into silence. During the
intermission, no one ventured backstage to be with Puccini - no one.
Act II was even worse. The cat calls and hisses began and the prima donna sang her
beautiful aria “Un bel dX” through her tears. As Butterfly, Suzuki and the child are waiting
patiently for Pinkerton’s return, Puccini had inserted some bird calls to augment the soft
contemplative music. The audience took its cue, adding its own whistles, howls and growls.
Finally - mercifully - the audience settled back into silence again and the opera moved on to it’s
conclusion. At the close of the opera, there were no curtain calls, no bows, and no bravos.
Puccini’s beloved Butterfly had bombed!
Why did it fail? There could be many explanations. It is believed that certain members
of the audience were paid to create pandemonium. These groups, called “claques,” were not
uncommon for there were enormous jealousies that existed between composers and performers.
It is very possible that a rival composer or singer planted troublemakers in the audience with
instructions to be as disruptive as possible.
Another reason for the failure could have been the length of the opera, which was
presented in two acts instead of three. The second act alone (in two scenes) lasted for
approximately an hour and a half, much too long for most audiences to endure comfortably.
Puccini was a master at judging what was and was not good “theater,” but he obviously
misjudged his audience on this occasion.
Puccini, after licking his wounds, set about revising Butterfly. The revised, three act
version was first performed in a small theater in Bresia, a small town near Milan, and what a
different reception it received. The scenery was applauded, several arias and the love duet had to
be repeated, and no one wanted to leave at the end of the opera. Puccini had been vindicated.
As with La Traviata, Madama Butterfly soon became a “must” for the world’s great and not so
great opera companies and it has maintained its position of eminence ever since.
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Musical Highlights
Act I
“Dovunque al mondo il yankee vagabondo” (Pinkerton)
“Vieni la sera” (Pinkerton and Butterfly)
Act II
“Un bel dX” (Butterfly)
“The Humming Chorus”
Act III
“Addio fiorito asil” (Pinkerton)
The Tales of Hoffmann
Story of The Tales of Hoffmann
The prologue takes place in Luther’s tavern in Nuremberg, Germany. Next to the tavern
is an opera house that is currently presenting Mozart’s Don Giovanni. One of the leading roles
is being performed by Hoffmann’s current flame Stella (soprano).
Lindorf (baritone) enters and bribes AndrPs (tenor), Stella’s servant, to give him an
envelope that is addressed to Hoffmann. In the envelope is a letter and a key to Stella’s room.
In some performances, this entire scene is omitted.
Between acts of Don Giovanni, a group of students leaves the opera house to quench
their thirst in Luther’s tavern. They sing their “Drinking Song” while imbibing. They are soon
joined by Hoffmann (tenor) and his constant companion, Nicklausse (mezzo-soprano). The
character Nicklausse is an example of a “trouser role” or “pants role” in which a woman portrays
a man. The students demand that Hoffmann sing a song for them so he delivers the “Ballad of
Kleinzach,” (“Il était une fois, B la cour d’Eisenach!”), a very interesting but strange story about
a dwarf. While he is singing this song, he occasionally wanders off the subject, instead praising
beautiful women - especially Stella. At the close of this song, he decides to tell his friends the
stories of his three great loves - Olympia, Giulietta, and Antonia.
In Act I we hear about his love, Olympia (soprano). She is supposedly the daughter of
the inventor Spalanzani (tenor), but is, in fact, a wonderful, mechanical doll invented by
Spalanzani and his partner Coppélius (baritone). Hoffmann has seen Olympia through a
window and has decided to become Spalanzani’s student so that he can be near Olympia. He
rapturously declares that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her (“Ah! Vivre deux”).
Coppélius, who has entered the room, convinces Hoffmann to wear a certain pair of glasses
when he looks at her. The glasses, so he claims, allow a man to look into the heart and soul of a
woman. The glasses actually impair Hoffmann’s vision so that he is unable to see the truth about
his love. 2
At a party given by Spalanzani, Olympia sings one of the most delightful coloratura arias
you will ever hear. It is called the “Doll Aria” (“Les oiseaux dans la charmille”), and it is a tour
de force for any soprano who can sing it well. The aria is accompanied by appropriately
mechanical movements of the automaton, Olympia, who at two points stops singing because her
spring winds down. When this occurs, her voice sounds much like a record player that has lost
power. Both times she is rewound and again soars into her beautiful song.
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Hoffmann is totally smitten by Olympia and tells her of his love. Her only reply to his
amorous overtures is an occasional “Yes, yes” when he happens to touch her shoulder. They
begin a dance that becomes so fast and agitated that Hoffmann is whirled around the room
dizzily until he is flung to the floor where he remains for awhile totally stunned.
Finding that Spalanzani has paid him for the doll with a worthless check, Coppélius
destroys the doll, he and Spalanzani get into a fight, and the guests have a hearty laugh at
Hoffmann’s expense. Ultimately, he realizes that he has fallen in love with an automaton. Thus
ends the tale of Hoffmann’s first great love.
We next find Hoffmann in a palace on the Grand Canal in Venice. Act II opens with
Nicklausse and the beautiful courtesan, Giulietta (soprano), singing the famous barcarolle, “Belle
nuit, o nuit d’amour.” Nicklausse is afraid that Hoffmann will again engage in a fantasy love
and tells him so. Hoffmann answers that the only person there for him to love would be the
courtesan, Giulietta, and he says that if the devil can make him love her, then the devil may
damn him. Dapertutto (baritone), an evil magician who has a spell over Giulietta, overhears this
and determines to take Hoffmann’s soul by having Giulietta steal his reflection. By using a
sparkling diamond ring on his finger, he casts a spell and draws Giulietta to him (“Scintille,
diamant!”). She has already stolen the reflection of her lover, Schlemil (bass), and now sets
about doing whatever it takes to steal Hoffmann’s reflection. Just as you might expect, our boy
falls madly in love with the courtesan (“O Dieu de quelle ivresse embrases”). He is an incurable
romantic.
Unfortunately, they are discovered by her lover Schlemil who goes into a jealous rage.
Hoffmann admits that he is hopelessly in love again and a beautiful trio follows (“Hélas! Mon
coeur s’égare encore”). Hoffmann and Schlemil duel and Schlemil is mortally wounded.
Dapertutto and Giulietta disappear and shortly thereafter Giulietta is again seen, this time in a
gondola with the dwarf Pitichinaccio (tenor). The faithful Nicklausse hurries Hoffmann away
before he can be charged with the murder of Schlemil. Hoffmann’s second great love has ended
in tragedy just as his first did.
The final act finds Hoffmann in Munich in the home of Councillor Crespel (baritone).
Hoffmann has fallen in love with Crespel’s lovely, consumptive daughter, Antonia (soprano).
Antonia, like her mother before her, has a remarkably beautiful voice, but her father has
forbidden her to sing since the stress would probably kill her. Despite her delicate condition, she
sings a song (“Elle a fui, la tourterelle”). When her father hears this, he makes her promise
never to sing again. When Crespel leaves, Hoffmann enters and she tells him that her father has
forbidden her to sing. Despite this, she and Hoffmann sing a love duet (“C’est une chanson
d’amour”), but when Hoffmann later overhears a conversation between Crespel and the
physician, Dr. Miracle (baritone), about the danger of Antonia singing, he makes her promise
never to sing again.
This Dr. Miracle is the same evil genius who has thwarted Hoffmann before in the guise
of Coppélius and then Dapertutto. He now determines to destroy Hoffmann’s latest love by
resurrecting the spirit of Antonia’s mother (who he has also killed). Through this means, he
persuades Antonia to sing with her mother and she falls to the floor dying. Hoffmann and
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Crespel find her and she dies in her father’s arms. For the third time, Hoffmann’s love has
tragically been taken away from him.
The epilogue again finds Hoffmann in Luther’s tavern where his listeners thank him for
his wonderful stories. The Muse of Poetry (soprano) comes to console Hoffmann who sings part
of the passionate aria he sang to Giulietta in Act II. Then he falls face down on the table - dead
drunk. Stella leaves with Lindorf.
Background
Our third and final opera has a very interesting history just as the first two did. Jacques
Offenbach spent much of his adult life in Paris composing operettas that were performed in a
theater that he owned. He composed over 100 operettas in all. His goal during the final years of
his life was to compose a grand opera that would be taken seriously by the critics. Tales of
Hoffmann was that opera, but unfortunately, Offenbach died before the opera was ever
performed. Luckily, he had completed a piano score of it and the orchestrations for Act I so that
it was easy for someone else, in this case Ernest Guiraud, to complete the task. It is said that he
dictated information on the scoring of the opera to Guiraud from his death bed. (Coincidentally,
Guiraud, who was from New Orleans, is the same man who added the recitatives to Carmen
after Bizet’s death.)
Hoffmann had its premier at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on February 10, 1881 less than
a year after its composer’s death. It was performed there 101 times during the following year.
Today it is considered his masterpiece, and his many operettas are seldom heard here in the
United States. The Tales of Hoffmann is based on three fanciful stories written by Ernst
Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, an author, lawyer, composer, literary critic, and caricaturist who
was born in 1776 and who died an alcoholic at the age of forty-six in 1822. 3 Hoffmann was a
romantic dreamer whose life experiences became transformed into the material he used for his
stories. The basis for the three stories used in the opera is believed to be a completely platonic
love that he had for one of his music students, a fifteen year old girl named Julia Marc.
Hoffmann was, then, a thirty-five year old married man. As Julia’s teacher, he had the pleasure
of molding her musical tastes. He composed many arias for her, and some romantic duets that
they sang together. In life, just as in the opera, Hoffmann lost his love to someone else and sadly
concluded that he could only find true happiness through his art.
Thirty years before the opera was written, Jules Barbier and Michel Carré adapted the
three stories for a play that turned out to be unsuccessful. In the play they made Hoffmann the
central figure in all three stories. When they decided to turn the play into an opera, Barbier
offered the idea to a number of composers before he offered it to Offenbach. Those composers
included Charles Gounod, who is remembered for the opera Faust, and Hector Salomon,
chorusmaster of the Opéra-Comique. Salomon actually composed part of an opera based on the
stories before relinquishing his rights in deference to a talent that he realized was far superior to
his. Barbier and Carré altered the stories somewhat for the opera, making them a bit less
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melodramatic than the originals. Then, they added both a prologue and an epilogue to tie the
tales together.
In this opera we hear some of Offenbach’s most beautiful melodies including the
beautiful Barcarolle from Act II. The music is beautifully matched to the mood of the action that
takes place.
Musical Highlights
Prelude
“Il était un fois B la cour d’Eisenach” (The Legend of Kleinzach) (Hoffmann and
students)
Act I
“Ah! Vivre deux” (Hoffmann)
“Les oiseaux dans la charmille” (The Doll Aria) (Olympia)
Act II
“Belle nuit, o nuit d’amour (Barcarolle) (Nicklausse and Giulietta)
“Scintille, diamant (Dapertutto)
“O Dieu de quelle ivresse embrases” (Hoffmann)
“Hélas! Mon coeur s’égare encore” (Hoffmann, Giulietta and Dapertutto)
Act III
“Elle a fui, la tourterelle” (Antonia)
“C’est une chanson d’amour” (Hoffmann and Antonia)
Now you know all about six different operas. Surely one of them interests you enough to
entice you to a CD store or even a theater.
These six operas are not the only interesting beginner operas, but they do represent a
broad spectrum of musical taste and moods. Some are tragic, some are funny. They are in the
three major languages of opera - Italian, French, and German.
I must assume that you are still with me since you are reading these words, so let me
congratulate you. You are ready for your first live opera.
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Your First Live Opera
It is a quiet Sunday morning and you are drinking a cup of coffee as you look through the
newspaper. Suddenly, you see that the local opera company will present Carmen in a few weeks.
Good news? Maybe. How do you feel about Carmen at this point? Your feeling may be that you
have done all your homework and now you are ready and willing to attend a full length opera.
The other reaction may be that you are sick of Carmen and never want to see or hear that
opera again if you live to be a hundred years old. “I bought the music you suggested,” you say. “I
listened to it, I read about the story behind the opera and about Bizet. I even managed to find a video
tape of the opera, but now, I’m burned out on Carmen! There is absolutely no reason for me to now
pay $25.00 or more to see that opera.”
Would you calm down for just a minute? May I make one small point?
There is one major reason you should see Carmen in a live production. If you attend theater,
you know that there is nothing like it for transmitting the feeling of a play. You can read a play or see
a movie of it in a theater filled with people who are thoroughly enjoying it, but there is nothing like
the feeling of seeing real, live people in costume on a stage performing that play. Right?
Opera is no different from other live theater in that respect. You cannot get the feel for an
opera by listening to a recording of it or by seeing a video of it. You have to be there. You have to
feel the tension in the air. A live performance, and only a live performance, is the “total experience”!
You will get something out of that live performance, if the singers are good, that you will never get
out of watching a video tape so please give it a try. You’ve come this far, so why not take this one
final step?
Assuming that you are now willing to see the opera live, let’s review what you have done, or
what you should do, before you go to the theater. Little preparation is needed if you have tickets for
one of the operas discussed in the previous chapters. You are almost ready right now. Just in case the
opera is not one discussed in this book, let’s look at some things you might wish to do before the big
night. Hopefully, you will be able to borrow books from the library and rent tapes instead of buying
them. We don’t want to spend a fortune on this, do we?
Begin by learning the story of the opera. There are many books and magazines that give you
anywhere from a few paragraphs to a 15 or 20 page synopsis of the action. There are even entire
books that are devoted to the best known operas. Many operas are based on plays or novels. You
may find a book that contains the source material in its entirety, background information on the opera
and even a complete libretto all in one. You are only limited by your level of enthusiasm to learn.
Make sure that you take time to digest the information at hand. See if you can close your eyes and
silently review each act.
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Read the libretto for the opera if you have time (this step is optional). It will tell you exactly
what each character is saying or singing and will give you information on the staging of the work.
This is important so that you will have a clear idea of what you can expect to see when you get to the
theater. The libretto will read faster than you think. Composers often have their characters repeat
pertinent phrases or portions of arias, a practice peculiar to sung music. Libretti usually do not print
the repeated material.
Where do you get a libretto? If you can find a complete recording of the opera, a libretto will
be included with it. Libraries occasionally have several libretti in the section where they keep the
opera books. Optionally, you can get libretti from the Metropolitan Opera Guild through the mail.
Find a copy of Opera News in your library for more information on how to purchase libretti and other
items from the Guild.
You may be surprised to see that your live opera does not exactly follow the libretto. In rare
cases, portions of the opera may be left out or the director may tell the singers to vary their actions
slightly from what is called for in the libretto. Do not be dismayed by this, there are many cases
where the operas are improved by removing portions of the work. Composers tend to forget that we
are not as wrapped up in what they are writing as they are and the action, therefore, often tends to
move along at a snail’s pace. Wagner, in particular, was guilty of this.
The next step is to listen to a recording of some music from the opera. I strongly suggest that
you do this. You might enjoy an orchestrated version of the music if it is available. The other
reasonable action is to find an album containing highlights. Make a cassette tape of the music you
find and play it in the car while driving or listen to it while you are working around the house. You
will be absolutely amazed at how much you absorb without even trying.
By this time, you should feel quite comfortable with the music and you should know the story
of the opera as well. You are two steps ahead of many in the audience and are on your way to having
a most enjoyable evening.
Next, rent or buy a video tape of the opera if you can afford it. Most movie rental stores have
one or two opera tapes or you may have a friend who records operas that have been shown on TV.
Another source might be your local library.
Another possibility is to buy the tape. Again, Opera News is a good source for locating video
tapes. There are many advertisements for opera tapes in each issue. You should be able to find the
tape for about $30 or $40. Some of the tapes are from live Met performances, while others are from
other opera houses around the world. Many operas have been filmed on location with beautiful
costumes and superstars like Placido Domingo in the leading roles, though we seldom see these
movies in our local theaters. Opera movies usually only play in art theaters.
Your tape should have subtitles so you will be able to follow what is going on. Pick a quiet
time, get comfortable, and turn on the VCR. When you get tired, turn the machine off and continue
watching later. Do not force yourself to watch a three hour long opera in one sitting if you become
uncomfortable. Remember, you are doing this for pleasure. It may take you a week to watch the
entire performance, but that is perfectly all right.
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You may find that you did not absorb everything that was thrown at you during the first
sitting. If so, then take time to watch that part again. Things may make more sense the second time
around, and you may find that the music even seems more appealing.
Again I must warn you that what you see at the theater may be somewhat different from what
you have watched on tape. Most opera companies cannot afford the elaborate sets and costumes used
by the major companies and movie producers. Do not be surprised if the sets and costumes that you
see at your live performance seem positively spartan when compared to what was on the Met tape that
you have been watching. Your local company may do a creditable job despite the simple
surroundings.
Only after you have done most or all of the above should you even consider sitting and
listening to a complete recording of the opera with libretto in hand. I suspect that you will be happier
if you do this after you have gone to the opera.
Once you have done all of the above, you are ready for the theater. Is there anything else you
should consider before going? Yes. I strongly recommend that you attend an opera where supertitles
are used. No matter how much you read about and listen to an opera beforehand, you will still get a
bit confused while the opera is in progress. Supertitles are the best way to keep from sitting there for
extended periods of time unsure of exactly what is taking place on the stage. Most opera companies,
with the notable exception of the Met in New York, are using supertitles because the audiences love
them. Supertitles represent the greatest advance in making live opera meaningful to the public in this
century.
You should be able to follow most of the story without looking at the supertitles at all, so do
not look at them unless you really need to do so. Looking at supertitles does distract slightly, and you
want to concentrate as much as possible on the stage and the music. Those who oppose supertitles
point to this as an excellent reason for not using supertitles, but they fail to realize how important it is
for newcomers to fully understand what is happening on the stage.
By the way, why don’t you treat yourself to dinner before you go to the theater? Make it a
very special evening. When it’s time to order dessert, ask for peach melba. To find out why, read on.
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Index
!
lyric soprano 47
Merry Widow 23
A
Amahl and the Night Visitors 17
Amilcare Ponchielli 9
André Kostelanetz 22
B
Borodin 11,16,19,24
C
Carmen 9
Carmen 22
coloratura mezzo-soprano 48
coloratura soprano 47
D
Der Rosenkavalier 23
Die Frau ohne Schatten 23
Die Walküre 10
dramatic soprano 47
F
Franz Lehár 23
G
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George Gershwin 17
Georges Bizet 22
Giuseppe Verdi 10
H
Hoffmann 10,19,22,24,37,47,49,53,73,82-85
I
Il Trovatore 10
L
La BohPme 22
La BohPme 10,45
La Gioconda 9
Lohengrin 10
M
Mezzo 47
O
Offenbach 10,19,21-22,24,37-38,42,47,49,53,73,84-85
P
Paul Henry Lang 7
Puccini 4,10,13,16,19,21-24,26,28,31-32,45,47,51,53-54,57,60-61,65,73-74,77,80-81
R
Rigoletto 7
T
The Magic Flute 7
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The Tales of Hoffmann 22
W
William Tell 9,18,25-26
William Tell 9
William Tell Overture 9
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