Friday, July 23, 2010

The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny

The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny is an opera by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. The story concerns a city, Mahagonny, that is centered around whiskey, women, and money. There are two pictures below. One is of the city in full-swing, with women being bartered over. The other is of the city after a major hurricane.






You can listen to the recording of the opera here. You can read more about the opera here.

Friday, July 9, 2010

L'Orfeo

L'Orfeo is a retelling of the classic story of Orpheus, and is one of the earliest known operas. The scene below is the hallmark of the story - Orpheus leading Euridice out of the Underworld, not (yet) looking back.




You can learn more about the opera here.

You can listen to the recording here.