I am writing a piece which has attending opera as a theme. I know some bit about opera etiquette, and as an opera enthusiast myself I know a deal about the shows I'm going to discuss in the piece
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Wow that seems like it'd be really hard to place the context of what the songs were about and what was occurring - at least in the arias that are more about their inner thoughts than 'today I am washing my clothes'. Hmm. May have to take that into consideration.
This book looks useful. If you can't get a hold of it through a library and don't feel like buying it, I'm more than happy to get my hands on a copy and do some research for you if you think it would be useful.
Oh thank you. I shall seek it out at the local library at my first convenience! I love research, but it's hard to find out some details of random stuff I need to know.
if it's totally wacky that any proper English gentleman would go see something in Italian
Covent Garden/Royal Opera House was called the Royal Italian Opera until 1892, so going to see an opera in Italian would've been the norm. Even when it lost the "Italian" from its name, it was apparently because more French and German operas began to be performed there as well.
Opera was popular entertainment. People went knowing the stories and generally following the action pretty easily, even when it was in Italian -- and Italian was the most populat language for opera. German opera, like Wagner, was considered a minority taste. Holmes confesses a liking for German opera -- it's a mark of his Bohemian nature. Wagner was very controversial in the late 19th century. French opera was also much rarer and liking it was again the sign of a Bohemian nature -- going to Paris to the opera was something mainly wealthy people or artists would do.
Gilbert & Sullivan were only one team who wrote operas in English, There were many of them, although few are revived today. Remember that Walt Whitman was a huge opera fan and he considered it a "democratic" art form because all people could enjoy it, even the "uneducated."
Thank you - though Carmen is in French and I believe it enjoyed a massive amount of success even then (in England more than it's initial run in France where no one liked it. HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE CARMEN?), but that seems to be the exception to the rule. French opera was not terribly enduring.
Opera then (as now) was as much a theatrical event as a musical one - one did not have to understand the language to follow the performance (indeed, most of the time one could not hear enough individual words to follow the text - one reason why so many arias are so repetitive). The programme would give a guide to the story, and an educated gentleman would be expected to know the plot well enough to explain it to his lady companion - while not needing to understand the words (though some did).
Operetta (Gilbert & Sullivan and their equivalents) in English had a slightly different audience (only a few steps up from Music Hall!). Opera in English (translated) didn't really appear until the late 1890s - and to this day is rather regarded as 'cheating' by serious English opera lovers. (As are surtitles and English translations.)
I think I would have been quite lost at Tosca or Rigoletto without the supertitles, actually. I mean yes, you can obviously see what is happening, but there are complicated intricacies in the words, such as motive for actions, or things that are supposed to happen but didn't
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Hmm. I usually do read reviews of films before I see them (it's how I knew that Ritchie was making his version of Holmes more of an 'action man' than is usually the case - and I went to see it because I was intrigued to see how he interpreted canon).
Opera-goers would also read newspaper reviews of performances in advance - which explained relevant parts of the plot (you might see whether there are any contemporary reviews of works in The Times archives).
I also suspect that modern stage directors may get a bit lazy in getting their singers to act since they have the tech available to explain the complicated bits.
Of course it does help if you know the plot - but you can just sit back and enjoy the music - without having to understand the words (see 'The Eurovision Song Contest' - or perhaps don't *g*
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Covent Garden/Royal Opera House was called the Royal Italian Opera until 1892, so going to see an opera in Italian would've been the norm. Even when it lost the "Italian" from its name, it was apparently because more French and German operas began to be performed there as well.
Reply
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stories and generally following the action pretty easily,
even when it was in Italian -- and Italian was the most
populat language for opera. German opera, like Wagner,
was considered a minority taste. Holmes confesses a liking
for German opera -- it's a mark of his Bohemian nature.
Wagner was very controversial in the late 19th century.
French opera was also much rarer and liking it was again
the sign of a Bohemian nature -- going to Paris to the
opera was something mainly wealthy people or artists
would do.
Gilbert & Sullivan were only one team who wrote operas
in English, There were many of them, although few are
revived today. Remember that Walt Whitman was a huge
opera fan and he considered it a "democratic" art form
because all people could enjoy it, even the "uneducated."
Reply
Reply
Reply
Operetta (Gilbert & Sullivan and their equivalents) in English had a slightly different audience (only a few steps up from Music Hall!). Opera in English (translated) didn't really appear until the late 1890s - and to this day is rather regarded as 'cheating' by serious English opera lovers. (As are surtitles and English translations.)
Reply
Reply
Opera-goers would also read newspaper reviews of performances in advance - which explained relevant parts of the plot (you might see whether there are any contemporary reviews of works in The Times archives).
I also suspect that modern stage directors may get a bit lazy in getting their singers to act since they have the tech available to explain the complicated bits.
Of course it does help if you know the plot - but you can just sit back and enjoy the music - without having to understand the words (see 'The Eurovision Song Contest' - or perhaps don't *g*
Reply
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