Welcome to Opera Online!
We're back from a little summer break. This week we'll finish up the summer edition by seeing a few clips from a few Italian opera giants: Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, and Ruggero Leoncavallo.
We'll start with Verdi's popular Aida. An Ethiopian princess is enslaved by her Egyptian conquerors and falls in love with the Egyptian general. In "O patria mia," she sings of her beloved homeland and fears that she will never see it again. Here American soprano Leontyne Price sings the role that made her famous. It's taken from her final operatic performance ever.
Puccini's La Boheme is one of the most popular operas ever written. It's the story of two young lovers with a stormy relationship, but a love that will never die. This clip is actually a trailer for a movie version of the opera starring Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon. This film will be screened at the Bryn Mawr Film Insitute on Wednesday October 14th at 7:00 PM and on Sunday, October 25th at 1:00 PM. It will be a unique opportunity to see this opera.
In Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, the village woman Santuzza has been excommunicated from the church when she becomes pregnant by her boyfriend, Turridu. In this scene set during Easter, she confronts Turridu in the town square when she finds out that he's been cheating on her with a married woman. He ignores her pleas to be reunited, and she curses him, wishing him a "Mala Pasqua" or a bad Easter. We'll see Waltraud Meier as Santuzza and Jose Cura as Turridu.
One of opera's most famous images is that of the clown. Enrico Caruso was famous for portraying Canio, the emotional stage performer who traveled with his comedy troupe throughout Italy entertaining villagers in the opera Pagliacci. It also features one of the most famous opera arias, Vesti la giubba (Put on the costume). This one act opera is frequently paired with another opera. Here we'll see famous tenor Placido Domingo as Canio. He's upset that he has to put on a show while he thinks his wife is cheating on him with another man.
Opera on the Radio this weekend
This weekend WRTI, 90.1 FM features Erich Korngold's lush Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City) in a production from San Franciso Opera. The opera is know mostly because of it's gorgeous "hit tune" Glück das mir verblieb (My happiness that remained). This performance stars American soprano Emily Magee and Torsten Kerl.
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.
Next week we'll start our look at Puccini's Madama Butterfly.
Enjoy!
We're back from a little summer break. This week we'll finish up the summer edition by seeing a few clips from a few Italian opera giants: Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, and Ruggero Leoncavallo.
We'll start with Verdi's popular Aida. An Ethiopian princess is enslaved by her Egyptian conquerors and falls in love with the Egyptian general. In "O patria mia," she sings of her beloved homeland and fears that she will never see it again. Here American soprano Leontyne Price sings the role that made her famous. It's taken from her final operatic performance ever.
Puccini's La Boheme is one of the most popular operas ever written. It's the story of two young lovers with a stormy relationship, but a love that will never die. This clip is actually a trailer for a movie version of the opera starring Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon. This film will be screened at the Bryn Mawr Film Insitute on Wednesday October 14th at 7:00 PM and on Sunday, October 25th at 1:00 PM. It will be a unique opportunity to see this opera.
In Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, the village woman Santuzza has been excommunicated from the church when she becomes pregnant by her boyfriend, Turridu. In this scene set during Easter, she confronts Turridu in the town square when she finds out that he's been cheating on her with a married woman. He ignores her pleas to be reunited, and she curses him, wishing him a "Mala Pasqua" or a bad Easter. We'll see Waltraud Meier as Santuzza and Jose Cura as Turridu.
One of opera's most famous images is that of the clown. Enrico Caruso was famous for portraying Canio, the emotional stage performer who traveled with his comedy troupe throughout Italy entertaining villagers in the opera Pagliacci. It also features one of the most famous opera arias, Vesti la giubba (Put on the costume). This one act opera is frequently paired with another opera. Here we'll see famous tenor Placido Domingo as Canio. He's upset that he has to put on a show while he thinks his wife is cheating on him with another man.
Opera on the Radio this weekend
This weekend WRTI, 90.1 FM features Erich Korngold's lush Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City) in a production from San Franciso Opera. The opera is know mostly because of it's gorgeous "hit tune" Glück das mir verblieb (My happiness that remained). This performance stars American soprano Emily Magee and Torsten Kerl.
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.
Next week we'll start our look at Puccini's Madama Butterfly.
Enjoy!
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