opera Category
Alles Gute zum Geburtstag Richard Wagner
Posted on May 22, 2013 1 Comment
Today is the 200th birthday of Richard Wagner, for many the greatest composer who ever lived. Germany has been celebrating. A monument is to be erected in Leipzig, his birthplace, and there will be concerts at Bayreuth. Wagner once said, “I hold the Jewish race to be the born enemy of pure humanity and everything […]
Savage Amusement
Posted on April 15, 2013 Leave a Comment
This bright and sunny Monday (though still bitterly cold and windy, I must say) I felt like getting off to a lively start. Last week a follower commented how he rarely gets much enjoyment from dance, so this little excerpt from Rameau’s 1735 opera-ballet Les Indes galantes will hopefully set him off on the right […]
To Hell With It
Posted on April 10, 2013 6 Comments
I’ve been awake rather a long time and it’s barely turned 9am. Why? Getting angry. I don’t get angry much, I’m a calm person as a rule and others tell me I have a calming influence. But last night I read something that really upset me, and I’ve been writing a blog post in my […]
Verdi: Otello – Horror in Tragedy
Posted on January 10, 2013 Leave a Comment
For my third instalment on the great composer Giuseppe Verdi, I’m jumping forward to his last but one opera – Otello. Why do this at such an early stage? Well, because I note that Otello is being performed by Opera North from January to March, and if I can help sell a single ticket for […]
Verdi: Macbeth And Terror At The Opera
Posted on January 7, 2013 3 Comments
Who needs a happy ending? Not me, for sure. Recently, and I wish I’d tagged it, the great Clive Barker declared on Facebook that any any good horror avoids a happy ending. I’m no fan of romance either, not in books and generally not in film. Opera is about the only place for romance, yet […]
Steve Emmett 