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Opera-Online! Week 13

Click here to download study guideWelcome to Opera-Online!

After a break for a few weeks, we're back with Opera-Online! We begin our look at Benjamin Britten's fascinating The Rape of Lucretia. You may be going through the items in the student guide with your teacher. If not, this source has opportunities for you to do your own preparation for the opera with plenty of online content, including the complete student guide, and almost 100 online links within the Lucretia portion of the Sounds of Learning web pages.

Youtube Clip of the Week

Our first clip contains some of the most famous music in the opera. It's Tarquinius's ride over the Tiber on his way to Lucretia's home. He's racing on his way there. As the Male Chorus comments regarding Tarquinius, "Now who rides? Who’s ridden? Tarquinius, the stallion? Or the beast, Tarquinius?"

When the clip opens, listen for the cricket theme that is repeated by the harp before the Male Chorus begins to sing. While the Male Chorus sings Lucretia's name, he does not sing Lucretia's motive. Why is that?

The video comes from the The Châteauville Foundation and features Vale Ridout as the Male Chorus. We will briefly see Tamara Mumford as Lucretia at the end of the clip. The Opera Company presents this production of Lucretia from The Châteauville Foundation which will star Ms. Mumford in the title role as well.




Web Site of the Week

This week, we'll suggest two online resources. The first is the Opera Company's own website: operaphila.org. Here you'll find fascinating information about the Benjamin Britten, The Rape of Lucretia, and resources including links to the Britten-Pears Foundation, artists' websites, and engrossing information about the volatile Etruscans and Romans!

The other web site of the week originates from the Philadelphia area. The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has a phenomenal collection of ancient relics from the time of Lucretia. We suggest stopping by their web site to learn more about these people - better yet, stop by the museum itself and ask for Dr. Jean Turfa, Curator of the Etruscan Collection. She'll be able to give you tons of information to help you further prepare for the opera. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 4:30pm and on Sundays from 1pm-5pm.

You're Invited!

Please join us for A Taste of Opera, a free event that will help you get ready for Lucretia. The event is held on May 31, 2009, from 2:00-3:00 PM at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, located at 118 N. Broad Street in Philadelphia. It is free and open to the public! We'll preview Lucretia with live music and fun commentary. Plus, you get to look at all of the famous art work at the museum for free, too! If you'd like to attend, please email us at outreach@operaphila.org with your name, number of people attending, and your address and phone number.

Don't forget to invite your friends to sign up to receive these alerts by emailing their name, school, and age to us at outreach@operaphila.org.

Until next week...

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