A notice went out over the Chicago Opera mailing list that they were giving out free tickets to a benefit concert, and after looking over the star-studded list of performers, I jumped at the opportunity.
Rhapsody in Blue is a benefit concert for Blue Gargoyle Community Services, a nonprofit based in Hyde Park that focuses on literacy, tutoring and family counseling services. All of these services are provided free of charge. So naturally, the evening began with an introduction from Blue Gargoyle's director, Pamela Bozeman-Evans, who elegantly pleaded her case as she shook us down for donations. She told us that Blue Gargoyle serves over 1,300 families on the Southside and operates with a $3 million annual budget. And with the ongoing economic strain, 1 in 6 nonprofits in Illinois were slated to close by June, just when their aid was needed most desperately by the community. Please, could we spare some change? I caved and dropped a $5 bill in the basket.
On with the show. Merle Reskin Theater is mid-sized, but since the concert was not sold out, we were all seated fairly close to the stage. With rude black floorboards and corkboard risers, I was reminded of a high school auditorium. However, the extraordinarily intimate environment more than compensated for the austere surroundings. I could see every raised eyebrow and intake of breath, Aleksandra Kurzak's vibrating tongue and Rachel Barton Pine's flexing bicep muscles. Though the venue was much less grand than what they were accustomed to and no one was getting paid, you could see that every artist was still giving 110%.
The program was impressively long (about 3 hours) and focused primarily on operatic pieces, with some other fun, miscellaneous items in the mix. It included old favorites like "La donna è mobile" from Rigoletto and "Brindisi" (translation: drinking song) from La Traviata. (In fact, these are so popular that they are even arranged for the Cornell Chimes.) I thought "Ombra mai fù" from Xerxes sounded oddly familiar...then I realized that the music is more commonly known as Handel's "Largo." Apparently Handel wrote originally wrote the piece for an opera, which was a commercial failure. There were also some more obscure numbers (who's ever heard of Stolz's operetta Venus in Seide?), an African-American piece ("Deep River," by Samuel Coleridge Taylor, not to be confused with Samuel Taylor Coleridge), and a piece from Bernstein's Candide (in case you weren't aware, this includes my favorite overture of all time).
Ironically, the highlight of the concert was not a singer at all, but Chicago violinist Rachel Barton Pine. I might be in love. She opened with Sarasate's "Fantasy on Themes from Carmen." This (along with all the rest of Sarasate's compositions) is a tour-de-force in technical virtuousity. My jaw was dropping. Later, Pine returned with Massanet's "Méditation" from Thais. This is a beautifully lyrical piece that is unfortunately the only memorable part of the opera. The closing number was a "Chicago Medley" arranged by Pine, incorporating several kick-ass blues and jazz numbers named after our hometown. Finally, let's discuss the awesome gold sparkly low-cut dress that Pine was wearing. It was quite a break from the normally staid, all-black attire that one sees at classical performances.
Also, she has recorded several heavy metal albums and she uses Twitter: "What a great day, performing with Wagnerian opera star Petra Lang this afternoon, doing Spanish music with guitarist Rene Izquierdo tonight."
The master of ceremonies for the evening was Andrew Patner, a critic for WFMT, Chicago's classical station. At one point, he commented that he felt voice and dance were the most democratic of arts disciplines, since you need neither fancy equipment nor expensive lessons to hone and develop those talents (though money obviously helps). This has a good deal of populist appeal to it, but I wonder if it's actually true. Is your average opera company or dance troupe more international, more socioeconomically varied or more ethnically diverse than your average orchestra or theater company?
At the end of the concert, they announced that we'd raised nearly $7,000 by passing the basket during the show. Here's to fighting illiteracy!
Showing posts with label opera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opera. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Tristan und Isolde
The Lyric Opera opened a run of Tristan und Isolde tonight, and armed with a student id card, I scored some terrific main floor seats for a measly Jackson. This was my first Lyric production and my first Wagner opera, so it didn't quite dawn on me until I noticed the early 6 pm curtain time that this might be a very long night. Indeed, upon receiving a program, I was informed that the expected running time for this show would be 4 hours and 45 minutes. Let me reiterate, if you have ADD, this is not the show for you.
The Civic Opera House is located a couple blocks west of the Loop, and the story is that the architect designed the building such that the audience would sit facing west, with their backs to New York City, because the architect's daughter was rejected by the Metropolitan Opera. Intercity rivalries aside, the building is quite grand, with the appropriate gilded flourishes that befit an opera house, however I prefer the Met's back-of-the-chair subtitle system to the Lyric Opera's over-the-stage subtitles.
Some research prior to the show revealed that staging and performing Tristan und Isolde is no small feat. As with any Wagner production, a certain amount of stamina is required from the performers (and the audience). Not one, but two conductors have died while conducting this show, collapsing in the middle of the second act. As for the singers, Wagner originally wanted the tenor Alois Ander for the role of Tristan, but eventually he proved incapable of learning the part. The premiere in 1865 had to be delayed because Isolde had gone hoarse. And five weeks after the production finally opened, Ludwig Schnorr, who was playing Tristan, suddenly died at the age of 29, after catching a chill, then contracting excruciating rheumatism and apoplexy. On his deathbed, he deliriously burst into song, with his final words being, "Farewell, Siegfried! Console my Richard!" His friends firmly believed that the stress of performing Wagner's music led to this tragedy.
On with the show. Punctually at 6 pm, the curtain parted and the orchestra began playing the prelude, led by the infamous Tristan chord. (I was quite tickled to learn that Debussy's Golliwog's Cakewalk parodies the Tristan chord, who knew?) As it turns out, this chord spurred a great deal of harmonic development in classical music, since it contains not one but two dissonances. Wagner also made innovative use of harmonic suspension, chromaticism and orchestral colour, bridging the moment towards atonalism.
The opera follows the tale of Isolde, an Irish princess, who is being taken by Tristan to Cornwall, where she will be wed to his uncle, King Marke. As you can imagine, Isolde is rather unhappy about this, and tries to kill Tristan and herself by drinking a deadly potion. Alas, at the last minute, her maid switches out the death potion for a love potion instead. This makes things rather awkward when they land in Cornwall, where King Marke expectantly awaits his bride. Passionate arias ensue, fights break out, and finally, we have several drawn-out, dramatic death scenes. In essence, the stuff of any proper opera.
Much to my chagrin however, I found that I didn't have the patience to be completely engaged by this show. In the back of my mind, I couldn't get over the fact that Tristan and Isolde's love was corrupted from the beginning by the potion, and there was no real basis for the passionate duets they were performing. Furthermore (and this may be a sign of how much stimulation we require in modern times), I couldn't help thinking the plot was far too static, with nothing happening for much of the show. Compared to say, The Marriage of Figaro, the amount of action in this opera would have fit into a thimble.
All right then, what about the music? Yes, the orchestration is lush and soprano Deborah Voigt did a phenomenal job of tackling the part of Isolde. The audience is wrapped by a glorious, never-ending wall of music...so continuous that it is difficult to tell where pieces end and begin; even ordinary dialogue is accompanied by the orchestra. Or maybe Wagner intended it to be that way, with his insistence on gesamtkunstwerk, or total artwork. Walking out of the performance, if you were to ask me what the highlights or "greatest hits" of the opera were, I wouldn't know what to say. Well, there was that really great duet in the second act...but that was about 40 minutes long...maybe we can do a radio edit. I fully understand why two people have keeled over and died during this show.
A random aside: I was particularly amused to see that the Lyric Opera's Board of Directors includes none other than the "Honorable Rod Blagojevich."
In conclusion, I will have to echo Mark Twain's opinion of what is widely considered Wagner's greatest single opera. On a visit to Bayreuth, Twain heard Tristan and remarked, "I know of some, and have heard of many, who could not sleep after it, but cried the night away. I feel strongly out of place here. Sometimes I feel like the one sane person in the community of the mad."
I hereby renounce my spot on the 8-year wait list for Bayreuth.
The Civic Opera House is located a couple blocks west of the Loop, and the story is that the architect designed the building such that the audience would sit facing west, with their backs to New York City, because the architect's daughter was rejected by the Metropolitan Opera. Intercity rivalries aside, the building is quite grand, with the appropriate gilded flourishes that befit an opera house, however I prefer the Met's back-of-the-chair subtitle system to the Lyric Opera's over-the-stage subtitles.
Some research prior to the show revealed that staging and performing Tristan und Isolde is no small feat. As with any Wagner production, a certain amount of stamina is required from the performers (and the audience). Not one, but two conductors have died while conducting this show, collapsing in the middle of the second act. As for the singers, Wagner originally wanted the tenor Alois Ander for the role of Tristan, but eventually he proved incapable of learning the part. The premiere in 1865 had to be delayed because Isolde had gone hoarse. And five weeks after the production finally opened, Ludwig Schnorr, who was playing Tristan, suddenly died at the age of 29, after catching a chill, then contracting excruciating rheumatism and apoplexy. On his deathbed, he deliriously burst into song, with his final words being, "Farewell, Siegfried! Console my Richard!" His friends firmly believed that the stress of performing Wagner's music led to this tragedy.
On with the show. Punctually at 6 pm, the curtain parted and the orchestra began playing the prelude, led by the infamous Tristan chord. (I was quite tickled to learn that Debussy's Golliwog's Cakewalk parodies the Tristan chord, who knew?) As it turns out, this chord spurred a great deal of harmonic development in classical music, since it contains not one but two dissonances. Wagner also made innovative use of harmonic suspension, chromaticism and orchestral colour, bridging the moment towards atonalism.
The opera follows the tale of Isolde, an Irish princess, who is being taken by Tristan to Cornwall, where she will be wed to his uncle, King Marke. As you can imagine, Isolde is rather unhappy about this, and tries to kill Tristan and herself by drinking a deadly potion. Alas, at the last minute, her maid switches out the death potion for a love potion instead. This makes things rather awkward when they land in Cornwall, where King Marke expectantly awaits his bride. Passionate arias ensue, fights break out, and finally, we have several drawn-out, dramatic death scenes. In essence, the stuff of any proper opera.
Much to my chagrin however, I found that I didn't have the patience to be completely engaged by this show. In the back of my mind, I couldn't get over the fact that Tristan and Isolde's love was corrupted from the beginning by the potion, and there was no real basis for the passionate duets they were performing. Furthermore (and this may be a sign of how much stimulation we require in modern times), I couldn't help thinking the plot was far too static, with nothing happening for much of the show. Compared to say, The Marriage of Figaro, the amount of action in this opera would have fit into a thimble.
All right then, what about the music? Yes, the orchestration is lush and soprano Deborah Voigt did a phenomenal job of tackling the part of Isolde. The audience is wrapped by a glorious, never-ending wall of music...so continuous that it is difficult to tell where pieces end and begin; even ordinary dialogue is accompanied by the orchestra. Or maybe Wagner intended it to be that way, with his insistence on gesamtkunstwerk, or total artwork. Walking out of the performance, if you were to ask me what the highlights or "greatest hits" of the opera were, I wouldn't know what to say. Well, there was that really great duet in the second act...but that was about 40 minutes long...maybe we can do a radio edit. I fully understand why two people have keeled over and died during this show.
A random aside: I was particularly amused to see that the Lyric Opera's Board of Directors includes none other than the "Honorable Rod Blagojevich."
In conclusion, I will have to echo Mark Twain's opinion of what is widely considered Wagner's greatest single opera. On a visit to Bayreuth, Twain heard Tristan and remarked, "I know of some, and have heard of many, who could not sleep after it, but cried the night away. I feel strongly out of place here. Sometimes I feel like the one sane person in the community of the mad."
I hereby renounce my spot on the 8-year wait list for Bayreuth.
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