Even if you can't get downtown to the Lyric this winter, you can still enjoy opera in the cozy Multi-purpose room of the Glenview Public Library. Come join other opera enthusiasts and a docent from the Lyric Opera Lecture Corps at 7:00 p.m. Materials can be found in the Audiovisual Department.
Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck (Thursday, December 6)
Hansel and Gretel was based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. It began with some verses that Humperdinck's sister had written for her children that she wanted set to music. The first performance was given as a Christmas entertainment in Frankfurt and later elaborated into a full-lenth Wagnerian-like opera. Humperdinck based musich of the material on popular songs and
folk-tunes.
La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini (Thursday, January 10)
The critics savagely blasted La Boheme on opening night, complaining that the music was too simplistic, and that there wasn't enough action. Little did they know then that La Boheme would go on to be the second most-performed opera in the world.
Debussy is alleged to have said that no one had detailed Paris at that time better than had Puccini.
Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg by Richard Wagner (Thursday, January 31)
Wagner's most outspoken detractor was an obnoxious know-it-all music critic named Eduard Hanslick. The Master-Singers features a nasty, narow-minded music judge named Beckmesser who hates anything new or innovative. In the first draft of the opera, Beckmesser's name was Hans Lick!
Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi (Thursday, February 21)
Rigoletto was originally based on a Victor Hugo play about teachery in the court of the French King Francois I. But Italy, uner Austria's rule, was in considerable political turmoil; Verdi and Piave ran into trouble with the Italian censors, who felt that the people didn't need a play about a malicious, philandering king. So Verdi and his librettist changed the setting of the opera to Mantua, which was governed by a small-time nobleman.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment