What’s Opera, Doc?
Big voices, big egos, big emotions, big budgets: opera goes all out. And people’s opinions of it vary on a similarly grand scale. Although H.L. Mencken once opined that “the opera … is to music what a bawdy house is to a cathedral,” plenty of scholars consider opera the highest of highbrow art forms. While some radio listeners hasten to switch the channel if they happen on a Met broadcast, devotees of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle jet all over the globe to take in every possible incarnation of its fifteen-hour-long magnificence. Where on this spectrum do you fall?
For those who might find opera just plain intimidating, journalist and composer Matt Dobkin offers help with his informative and irreverent Getting Opera: A Guide for the Cultured but Confused. Dobkin provides a refreshingly accessible take on the world of opera in his 2000 book, which includes plot summaries, colorful anecdotes, lists of recommended recordings, and opera jokes.
Opera companies, too, have taken steps to draw in new audiences. When we made a long-awaited trip to the Santa Fe Opera recently, we experienced a state-of-the-art update to surtitles: translations displayed on small screens on the back of the seats in front of every patron. Your Italian’s a little spotty? No problem! Glance at the text (translated to the language of your choice), visible just below your sightline to the stage. Don’t want or need the words? Switch ’em off. What a fabulous feature, much less distracting than those giant screens hanging over the stage.
If you’re looking for yet another way into opera, there’s always the Looney Tunes masterpiece “What’s Opera, Doc?” Here’s an excerpt:
In constructing this puzzle, we included allusions to our personal favorites: Mozart, Puccini and Wagner. Here’s a fun, whimsically staged clip from the opera referenced in Answer A:
The placing of so many topical clues and/or answers adds to the enjoyment of solving these Acrostics. Encore!
Another opera-related Looney Tunes gem is “The Rabbit of Seville.” It’s set to the Rossini overture to his opera “The Barber of Seville.” Here’s a clip:
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lucXbsbRpw4
That is one fearsome looking Brünnhilde in your photo. No wonder Siegfried fell for her so hard.
As it happened, my ticket for Tristan und Isolde at the San Francisco Opera was the evening of Nov 5th. So even though many characters died, there was some very dynamic music and arias (and we all enjoyed the 4 1/2 hours avoiding election results). I do like the Ring Cycle, but don’t have to travel to see it with such an excellent company in our city. Our supertitles are projected on a strip at the top of the proscenium, making it possible to read the translation and still watch the action on stage. It’s not a giant screen, and personally, I would find the seat thing distracting. Oh, the puzzle… lots of fun. And Scarpia does deserve to get stabbed. Nice shout out for Marian Anderson.