There was always that one kid at school. You know, the non-athletic one who wore glasses, wrote poetry and, of course, loved opera.
But opera isn't just for stuffy old ladies and nerdy children. It can actually be great fun. And if you haven't taken advantage of the Opera de Montréal's first 26 seasons, now's the time to check it out. Even if you don't know real opera from the soapy kind, we'll help you get your bearings.
Basically, operas are just plays with singing instead of spoken dialogue. Traditionally, this is divided into recitative, sparsely orchestrated bits that allow for plot development and most closely resemble actual conversation, and arias, the musically dense parts in which the characters get melodramatic and talk about their feelings. The female leads are usually played by sopranos and the males by tenors (singers with a higher range, as opposed to mezzo-sopranos and altos, and baritones and basses, respectively) though in a ghastly nod to certain aesthetic preferences in the 17th and 18th centuries, some main parts were sung by a castrato, a male singer who was castrated before puberty to produce a high, robust and flexible voice.
If opera calls up images of stricken lovers, family betrayal and finales garnished with piles of dead bodies, you're probably thinking of opera seria.
There are generally two kinds of opera: dramatic (opera seria) and comedic (opera buffa), though as with any art, these genres have increasingly been blended and redefined. If opera calls up images of stricken lovers, family betrayal and finales garnished with piles of dead bodies, you're probably thinking of opera seria, whose mission was perfectly summarised by composer Vincenzo Bellini: "[it] must draw tears, cause horror, bring death, by means of song." Sounds like fun, doesn't it?
Well, it can be. The melodrama, the vocal acrobatics and the imaginative sets all contribute to the kind of indulgent spectacle that an episode of CSI and heavy plays about relationships just don't provide. And this year in Montreal is a great time to dive in, with classics like Don Giovanni and Delibes' Lakmé. (The latter features the famous duet most commonly associated with the steamy love scene between Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon in The Hunger -- that, or British Airways commercials.)
In November, Montrealers were treated to Verdi's masterpiece, La Traviata. The 2001 blockbuster Moulin Rouge borrowed heavily from the plot of this opera, in which Violetta, a courtesan, falls madly in love with Alfredo, a young poet. They move together to the country, but the affair has damaged the honour of Alfredo's family; at the request of his father, Violetta abandons Alfredo but keeps the father's visit a secret, pretending instead that she has strayed. He follows her to a party where he throws money at the desperate lady, declaring that his bill for her false love has been paid. Violetta is sick with tuberculosis -- then more poetically called "consumption" -- which is a favourite among operatic diseases as it allows the sufferer to waste away slowly and gaze into the distance in a deliciously haunted manner. Overcome with guilt, Alfredo's father finally tells him the truth and the lovers reunite. Sadly, though, they have time only for an impassioned duet (full of rather impressive notes for someone suffering from a lung disease) before Violetta drops dead, natch.
Tragically, La Traviata's run is finished; but the OdM's season is far from over. With all the drama, intrigue and ludicrous plot turns, Desperate Housewives has nothing on opera. Trust me -- I've been into it since I was a kid.
Impress Your Date: Basic Opera Terminology
- Timbre: The tone and quality of vocal sound; "He has a rich, meaty timbre to his voice that suits the part perfectly."
- Vibrato: The warbling sound characteristic of operatic voices, ideally produced by the proper control of the breath; "Her vibrato sounded a little forced to me."
- Libretto: "Little book," the script for the opera; "Say, wasn't the libretto for La Traviata based on a play by Dumas?"
- Bel canto: "Beautiful song," an early opera style that venerates virtuosic singing; "Don't you love how Donizetti's arias champion the principles of bel canto?"
- Leitmotiv: "Leading motive," a technique pioneered by Wagner, in which a small musical theme associated with an emotion, idea, person, or thing is repeated at appropriate times in the score; "Frankly I thought his use of the love leitmotiv was rather hackneyed."
- Gesamtkunstwerk: "Total work of art," also associated with Wagner, who advocated a blending of artistic forms, including music, poetry, painting, set design, drama and philosophy; "I thought this production was the very essence of a Wagnerian Gesamtkunswerk." WARNING: only to be used by the exceedingly ambitious.
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Opera Box
Tickets: By phone (514) 985-2258 or 1-877-385-2222; at the box office at Place des Arts; on the web: https://billetterie.pda.qc.ca/index_en.html
Lakmé: February 3rd, 8th, 10th, 14th, 2007
Le Monde de la Lune: March 27th, 30th, 31st, and April 1st, 2nd, 4th, 2007
Don Giovanni: May 19th, 23rd, 26th, 28th, 31st, and June 2th, 2007
For more information, visit http://www.operademontreal.com |
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