Category Archives: Opera
Puccini’s Edgar – Not Even a Cigarillo
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd August 2024Puccini’s second opera Edgar (accent on the second syllable) was first performed at La Scala in 1889. It was adapted from a verse play by Alfred de Musset. Set in 14th century Flanders it describes the contrast between the saintly and virginal Fidelia and the wildly sensual Tigrana. Not surprisingly Tigrana lights the passion fires…
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Giulietta Simionato
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th August 2024Giulietta Simionato (1910-2010) was one of the greatest singers of the middle of the last century. Born in Forlì, Romagna, she studied in Rovigo, and then in Padua. Though she made her stage debut in 1927 while still a teenager she gradually progressed up the ladder of Italian theaters until she made it to the…
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Le Villi – The Emergence of a Genius
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 10th August 2024Puccini’s first work for the stage was Le Villi (best translated as The Fairies). It is based on the same story as Adam’s ballet Giselle. Puccini’s opera, with dancing, takes little more than an hour. It is a slender work with only three characters – Gulielmo the head forester, Anna his daughter, and Roberto her…
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John McCormack
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 11th July 2024John McCormack (1885-1945) was an Irish tenor active from about 1909 to the early 1940s. Born to Scottish parents who had emigrated to Ireland, his interest in singing began as a child. In 1903, he won the coveted gold medal of the Dublin Feis Ceoil. A friend of James Joyce, who was two years older than…
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Casa Verdi
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd July 2024The Casa di Riposo per Musicisti (Rest Home for Musicians) in Milan is almost always referred to as the Casa Verdi after the titan of opera who built and paid for it. Verdi’s operatic career was over; he was in his eighties when he decided to build a home for retired musicians. Working closely with the architect…
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The Ride of the Valkyries
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd June 2024With the possible exception of the Bridal March from Lohengrin, the music that opens Act 3 of Die Walküre – The Ride of the Valkyries – is the most familiar written by Richard Wagner. The Ride takes around eight minutes, and begins in the prelude to the third act, building up successive layers of accompaniment…
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Maria Jeritza
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th June 2024Maria Jeritza (1887-1982) was one of opera’s most glamorous and accomplished sopranos of the pre-World War I years extending to the early 30s. She was famous for her large and silvery spinto and her flamboyant acting which sometimes crossed the border into overacting. Born Marie Jedličková in the Moravian city of Brno, she trained at…
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Misalliance
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 4th June 2024In art, as in life things go awry. People have relationships and interactions that burn with disatisfaction and frustration. Opera depicts these calamaties with unsurprising frequency. Today’s offering is a litany of bad behavior – sometimes on the part of one half of a pair other times by both. I’ll start with opera’s biggest kvetch…
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Mimì è Tanto Malata!
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th May 2024The title translates to “Mimì is very sick.” It’s from Act 3 of Puccini’s La Bohème. The outline of the episode is below. Mimì is dying from tuberculosis and her lover Rodolfo is too poor to help and wants her to leave him for another man who will better care for her. The scene represents…
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Madama Butterfly Partially in HD -2024
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 11th May 2024No composer ever wrote a better opera than Puccini’s sad tale of love and abuse set in early 20th century Japan. The late Anthony Minghella’s production has been regularly staged at the Met since it opened the season in 2006. I was at that first performance and liked its colorful and spare staging except for…
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