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'Eugene Onegin' on PBS tonight
Jan. 17th, 2014 01:23 pmRemember that wonderful Live in HD opera I told you about? It's going to be on TV! And it's coming out on DVD! SQUEE! I really wanted a permanent copy of this -- I'm so excited we're going to get one.
Speaking of opera
Oct. 14th, 2013 10:50 pm. . . I've been meaning to post this.
"Giuseppe Verdi at 200: An appreciation"
It's not like I know much about Verdi -- as I said, opera newbie here. But I love the writer's enthusiasm. I love this:
"Here’s where I’m supposed to sit down and write some big expository paragraph in sober-sounding prose explaining all the facts and why Verdi is amazing and why you should care. And I can’t do it. Verdi is way too personal for me. . . .
"I can’t explain to you why you should like Verdi, because I can’t believe you won’t hear it for yourself. It’s hardest for us to teach, or explain, the things that come most naturally to us, and for me Verdi has always made perfect sense. Something about his work accords with my sense of how life works, and how stories can be told and experienced."
We all have artists (composers, writers, whoever) that we feel like that about. I love that Anne Midgette has expressed this so well for all of us.
(Also, I like this: ". . . the plot synopses, which I find almost impossible to understand . . ." I looked up some Verdi plot synopses, and they are almost impossible to understand. Maybe that's why Eugene Onegin's lack of plot doesn't bother me, or even appeals to me -- because so many operas with plots just get silly!)
"Giuseppe Verdi at 200: An appreciation"
It's not like I know much about Verdi -- as I said, opera newbie here. But I love the writer's enthusiasm. I love this:
"Here’s where I’m supposed to sit down and write some big expository paragraph in sober-sounding prose explaining all the facts and why Verdi is amazing and why you should care. And I can’t do it. Verdi is way too personal for me. . . .
"I can’t explain to you why you should like Verdi, because I can’t believe you won’t hear it for yourself. It’s hardest for us to teach, or explain, the things that come most naturally to us, and for me Verdi has always made perfect sense. Something about his work accords with my sense of how life works, and how stories can be told and experienced."
We all have artists (composers, writers, whoever) that we feel like that about. I love that Anne Midgette has expressed this so well for all of us.
(Also, I like this: ". . . the plot synopses, which I find almost impossible to understand . . ." I looked up some Verdi plot synopses, and they are almost impossible to understand. Maybe that's why Eugene Onegin's lack of plot doesn't bother me, or even appeals to me -- because so many operas with plots just get silly!)
Impressions of an opera
Oct. 13th, 2013 12:00 amI saw Eugene Onegin from the Metropolitan Opera at one of the local movie theaters on Wednesday (the encore screening, not the live one). I've been wanting to write about it ever since, but I'm such an opera ignoramus, I wasn't sure what to say. I could say it was brilliant and wonderful, and Anna Netrebko was perfect, and it would all be true, but that doesn't convey much!
( However, I shall try . . . )
( However, I shall try . . . )
