Reply With QuoteLeggenda was the second opera of Italian composer Alessandro Solbiati. It's inspired in a passage of Dostoievsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" and was commisioned by the Teatro Regio, Turin, in 2011:
No, I haven't watched any opera by Mr. Tinoco, only heard some orchestral pieces at the Gulbenkian Foundation at Lisbon, some years ago, as well as a CD, also with instrumental music.
Leggenda was the second opera of Italian composer Alessandro Solbiati. It's inspired in a passage of Dostoievsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" and was commisioned by the Teatro Regio, Turin, in 2011:
Of course, Krzysztof Penderecki is one of the best known composers in the second half of the 20th century.
In the field of opera, he wrote four pieces. The first, and more succesful, was Die Teufel von Loudun, written in 1969 (revised twice, in later years) with a libretto by Penderecki himself, based on Aldous Huxley's novel. However, since his premiere in Hamburg, the opera was then staged in several cities across Germany, as well as the US, France, Italy and the UK, and was received with mixed reviews. Clearly, this is not the rigth work for the lover of traditional melody, or the faint-hearted, but is a powerful piece of music theatre:
Paradise's Lost, based on Milton, was called by Penderecki, 'a Sacred Representation'. It was premiered in the late '70s, and perhaps is not aging well:
Already in 1986, Die schwarze Maske, with a libretto by Penderecki and Harry Kupfer, was premiered at the Szalburg Festival, and it has been properly forgotten.
Ubu Rex was another try, in the 1990s, to recover some ground, using the popular play by Alfred Jarry, but it was again a failure, both with critics and audiences:
Salvatore Sciarrino's Da Gelo a Gelo complete in youtube:
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The beautiful aria "Che occhi meravigliosi" from La visita meravigliosa (1970) by Nino Rota.
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Salvatore Sciarrino is simply fascinating. He is a master manipulator of sound - not only instrumental but also vocal. His innovative approach to the sung word - stretching the syllables to impossible lengths and then delivering the continuation in rapid bursts - achieves an ethereal and hypnotic quality that is the hallmark of his distinctive style. Sciarrino also works a lot with silence (although this is less used here than in his spectacular masterpiece Luci mie traditrice - My betraying eyes). His works also possess a solemn quality like a slow moving wave that to the uninitiated listener can at times be perceived as monotonous - but actually they are quite rich and detailed, and carry a lot of emotional punch when one pays attention to his libretti, mostly authored by himself and often focusing on particularly intense moments of interpersonal conflict, fished out of very ancient literature.Originally Posted by Schigolch
Here we have an 11th century story of a Japanese courtesan and poet by the name Izumi Shikiby who wrote a diary describing her affair with Prince Atsumishi. This lady was very interesting indeed - she quit her husband and two kids to become the mistress of Prince Tameka. He died, and undeterred, she started an affair with his younger brother Atsumishi - which is what the opera depicts, as recovered from her diary and from the letters the two lovers wrote to each other.
It is slow moving. The two characters tell themselves stories about their moods and the weather - thus the title Da Gelo a Gelo (from frost to frost). They rarely meet. It all has the solemn heaviness of Noh theater.
This piece was co-commissioned by the Schwetzingen Festival (where it premiered in 2006 - this recording presented by Schigolch is of that performance), the Grand Théâtre de Genève, and L'Opéra de Paris. Well, as one of the co-commissioners, L'Opéra de Paris presented the piece at Palais Garnier - and it was received with boos!
Oh well, it's not the first time in the history of opera that outstanding pieces are booed, so, Sciarrino is in good company. Innovation is hard to stomach by the unsuspecting public, at times. But those who decide to give Sciarrino a try will be in for a treat. This is phenomenal contemporary music, of the highest grade. There are moments of rarefied and at times static music, so one needs to be in a sort of contemplative mood to enjoy it. However there are also moments of extremely rich sounds. Pay attention to all the variations in color, intensity, and volume, and to the intriguing use of the instruments that produce surprising sonorities.
Folks, Sciarrino is the real thing - a composer who is carrying the operatic art form forward into the 21st century, and doing so very competently - and steeped in tradition - both that of his lyric homeland (there is also a lot of lyricism in his works - of a strange kind, but definitely present), and that of his unusual literary sources. He will be remembered. One day people will think of the booing public at Palais Garnier like today we think of the La Fenice public that booed the première of La Traviata.
So, I encourage anybody reading this to give Da Gelo a Gelo a try. Recently a brand new DVD of one of Sciarrino's best works was released, and it is a truly extraordinary opera (it does carry more emotional punch then Da Gelo a Gelo, from the fact that it depicts a much more intense story of jealousy and murder), so, don't miss it:
Available at Amazon.com for just 20 bucks: http://www.amazon.com/Luci-Mie-Tradi...mie+traditrici
I'm a big fan. I hope to make some converts.
Last edited by Almaviva; August 21st, 2012 at 01:03 AM.
"J'ai dit qu'il ne suffisait pas d'entendre la musique, mais qu'il fallait encore la voir" (Stravinsky)
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Traviata was booed for the "scandalous" content of the libretto and the not good enough actors, but soon after was met with big and spread success everywhere.
Sciarrino will likely be remembered but by who?
We'll see if , let's say in 2050, Luci mie traditrici will be performed often enough on worldwide stages.
I know.
Probably not often, because contemporary opera has a hard time catching on. But musicologists at least will likely regard Sciarrino in high esteem - they do already.Sciarrino will likely be remembered but by who?
We'll see if , let's say in 2050, Luci mie traditrici will be performed often enough on worldwide stages.
"J'ai dit qu'il ne suffisait pas d'entendre la musique, mais qu'il fallait encore la voir" (Stravinsky)
I would be Eighty-eight in 2050, so I'd be delighted to be a witness to Luci mie traditrici ups and downs.
My personal feeling is that it will be indeed performed and well considered.
We will (hopefully) see.
Indeed!
From the Spanish composer Cristóbal Halffter, we can watch complete in youtube the opera Don Quijote:
Tobias Picker, (New York, 1954), is one of the several American composers that are leading the creation of contemporary opera in the US. He was a child prodigy, and the author of a sizable number of works in different musical fields. Restricted to Opera, some of his major pieces are:
Emmeline, premiered in Santa Fe, in 1996, and based on Judith Rossner's novel. Neither the book, nor the opera, are of gripping interest. Picker's music, frankly tonal, immediately accesible, can be inspired in some moments, but helas!, there are few of these moments. Everything it's just too conventional, and Picker's melodies can't carry the day.
Patricia Racette singing Emmeline:
Picker's third opera, Thérèse Raquin, was premiered in San Diego, and has been performed in several theaters, including the Covent Garden. It's of course based on Zola's novel, but it plays in the same division as Emmeline:
Picker received a commission from the MET to write an opera based on a true American classic: "An American Tragedy". At the end of 2005, it was premiered. Picker insisted in exploiting his considerable talent as a melodist, and added some elements like American folklore, popular music, the occasional atonal passage in a dramatic scene... Nothing new under the Sun, but overall his best intent so far:
Canadian composer John Estacio has written three operas.
Let's hear an aria from the first one, Filumena, premiered back in 2003:
Feng Yi Ting (The Phoenix Pavillion) is an interesting proposal. Based on a traditional Chinese opera, composer Guo Wenjinga has created a new piece with a score combining Chinese and Western instruments, but sung in Chinese, with Chinese performers. It's being staged this year at the Lincoln Center, and the Spoleto Festival:
Elliot Carter (New York, 1908) is one of the more respected composer of the 20th century. In a career spanning more than seventy years he has written some great music, starting with an style resembling Stravinsky's neoclassicism, but always in search of a personal answer, the "Carter" way. His only opera, What next?, was premiered when Carter was already 90 years old.
And it's built around the reaction of six characters to a road accident. It was staged in the US, after a concert version in Berlin, the year 1999. Carter was sometimes charged with using a cold, almost scientific approach to music, but to be able to write this piece at his advance age, it's a testament to the creativity of the human spirit.
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