Welcome to Opera Online!
Last week we looked at three excerpts from the dawn of opera. This week, we'll travel down the operatic time line a bit further to see three excerpts from one of the greatest early operas ever written: Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.
Youtube Clip of the Week
We'll start off with a clip from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice. During the mid 20th Century, this opera was performed quite frequently for famous mezzo-sopranos like Rise Stevens, Kathleen Ferrier, Grace Bumbry, Marilyn Horne, and Janet Baker. While less frequently performed today, Orfeo has had a resurgence in the past few years and will be performed by the Opera Company of Philadelphia in June, 2010. Orfeo is a legend from Greek mythology. It is the story of a man who goes to the underworld and pleads to the gods to bring his dead wife back to life. The gods are so moved by Orfeo's song that they agree, but on one condition!
I won't tell you what that is, so you'll have to watch this clip to find out that answer! We'll see American mezzo-soprano Shirley Verrett as Orfeo. Orfeo was originally written for a castrato male singer. Castratos were men who had beautiful voices when they were boys. They underwent an operation which stopped their voices from changing.
In this next clip Polish contralto Ewa Podleś (pronounced EH-vah POHD-lesh) sings another aria from the opera in its French version Orphée et Euridice, the version that will be performed by the Opera Company.
The third excerpt we'll see is a very modern and spare production by Robert Wilson. it's so spare, there's almost nothing on the stage! In this scene, Orfeo, performed by Magdalena Kožená (pronounced ko-CHAY-na), is on his way to the Underworld. The music is dramatic and the staging is very dramatic.
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. Again, if you have suggestions of things you'd like to see, please let me know and I'll find a few clips as well.
Until next week...
Last week we looked at three excerpts from the dawn of opera. This week, we'll travel down the operatic time line a bit further to see three excerpts from one of the greatest early operas ever written: Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.
Youtube Clip of the Week
We'll start off with a clip from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice. During the mid 20th Century, this opera was performed quite frequently for famous mezzo-sopranos like Rise Stevens, Kathleen Ferrier, Grace Bumbry, Marilyn Horne, and Janet Baker. While less frequently performed today, Orfeo has had a resurgence in the past few years and will be performed by the Opera Company of Philadelphia in June, 2010. Orfeo is a legend from Greek mythology. It is the story of a man who goes to the underworld and pleads to the gods to bring his dead wife back to life. The gods are so moved by Orfeo's song that they agree, but on one condition!
I won't tell you what that is, so you'll have to watch this clip to find out that answer! We'll see American mezzo-soprano Shirley Verrett as Orfeo. Orfeo was originally written for a castrato male singer. Castratos were men who had beautiful voices when they were boys. They underwent an operation which stopped their voices from changing.
In this next clip Polish contralto Ewa Podleś (pronounced EH-vah POHD-lesh) sings another aria from the opera in its French version Orphée et Euridice, the version that will be performed by the Opera Company.
The third excerpt we'll see is a very modern and spare production by Robert Wilson. it's so spare, there's almost nothing on the stage! In this scene, Orfeo, performed by Magdalena Kožená (pronounced ko-CHAY-na), is on his way to the Underworld. The music is dramatic and the staging is very dramatic.
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. Again, if you have suggestions of things you'd like to see, please let me know and I'll find a few clips as well.
Until next week...
Comments