Hansel and Gretel

Many operas are based on stories that you already know. For example, Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is based on the fairy tale of the same name. In this familiar scene, Hansel and Gretel discover a gingerbread house in the forest. The wicked witch is about to make her appearance.



You can read more about the opera here.

You can listen to the beautiful broadcast here.

Madama Butterfly

SPOILER ALERT: In this scene of Puccini's Madama Butterfly, the broken-hearted ChoCho-San blindfolds her son before committing suicide. ChoCho-San has given up her religion and most of her culture to marry an American, who jilts her in the end. She has decorated her house in the most American style she can manage in 1904 Japan.




You can read more about the opera here, or listen to the broadcast here.

Il Turco In Italia

My mother, who introduced me to opera many years ago, helped me put together this scene from Il Turco In Italia (The Turk in Italy): a moonlit rendezvous on the seashore.



You can read more about the opera here.

You can listen to the broadcast here (once it becomes available).

Thank you, Mom! I love you!

Cosi Fan Tutte

Cosi Fan Tutte, set in 18th century Italy, opens in a coffee shop, where two officers discuss the faithfulness of their fiancees. This faithfulness is to be tested in the rest of the opera, at the urging of their friend Don Alfonso.



You can read more about the opera here.

You can listen to the recording here.

La Traviata

Tonight's opera is the beautiful La Traviata. Here is the first scene, in which the party goes on while Violetta stays behind due to illness, and Alfredo stays behind to confess his love.




This is a truly wonderful opera. You can read about it here. And you really ought to see a production of it someday.

The soon-to-be-happy and then-to-be-unhappy and then-to-be-ever-so-briefly-happy-again couple:

Manon Lescaut

Tonight's opera is by Puccini, who loves a sad ending. And here is the end to this handsome couple: dying of exposure in the desert.



You can learn more about Manon Lescaut here.

Götterdämmerung

This is the final installment of Wagner's Ring Cycle. The final Immolation Scene has already been Legoed, so this is a scene from Act One. Siegfried arrives in Gibichung Hall to meet Gunther (who I imagine is surrounded by hunting dogs). Gunther's sister Gutrune, who as Anna Russell points out is the only woman that Siegfried ever meets who is not his aunt, prepares a fateful love potion.





Read more about this opera here.

Listen to the recording here.

Siegfried

In this third installment of The Ring Cycle, Siegfried, the son of Siegmund and Sieglinde, forges himself a sword in Mime's workshop, which is in a cave in a forest. Siegfried has broken every sword that Mime has tried to forge him, but this sword, Nothung, will be different.



You can read more about this opera here.

You can listen to the beautiful recording here.

Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)

In this second installment of Wagner's Ring, we meet the ill-fated sister/brother/lover duo Siegmund and Sieglinde. They meet each other, fall in love, realize they are twins, and do it anyway. In this scene, Sieglinde (who, most inconveniently, lives in a house with a tree growing in the middle of it) tells Siegmund how she longs for a hero to come pull the sword out of the tree and rescue her from her husband, who is currently in a drugged sleep. Scandalous!




You can read more about the opera here.

You can listen to the recording here.

Das Rheingold

Each of the four Fridays in June, Sean is playing us one opera of the Ring Cycle. Das Rheingold is first. I have Lego'ed the first scene already (See October 23, 2009). Below is the third scene of the opera, in the underground workshop where Alberich oversees the other dwarves as they create the ring and helmet out of the magical Rheingold.


This is of course the magic helmet of Elmer Fudd fame.

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

Don Giovanni

Mozart's Don Giovanni blends melodrama, dark action, and comedy. I think you probably have to see it in person to find it comic - just listening to it, Don Giovanni seems like the worst kind of human being. Cleveland Opera's production was beautiful nonetheless.

Here, I have depicted a scene from the first act: a wedding party proceeding through a plaza in front of Don Giovanni's castle. Don Giovanni stands to welcome them into his home (with nefarious intent, of course).



You can read more about the opera here.

You can listen to the Cleveland Opera performance here.

Ernani

Verdi's Ernani takes place in Spain in 1519 , based on a play by Victor Hugo. In the scene shown here, a plot is hatched (and overheard) in the burial crypt of Charlemagne. Nathan Davis helped recreate Charlemagne's sarcophagus, which can be seen in non-Lego form here.



You can learn more about Ernani here. You can listen to tonight's gorgeous recording here.

Don Pasquale

Don Pasquale is an enjoyable comic opera by Gaetano Donizetti. In the scene here, Norina spends some time on her terrace.













You can read about the opera here. You can listen to the broadcast here.

Andrea Chenier

I have depicted here the final scene of Andrea Chenier, an opera set during the French Revolution. The hero and heroine sing together one last time before stepping onto the cart that will take them to the guillotine. Let me tell you, a guillotine for Legos is probably the most fun thing I've made to date.

You can read more about this opera here.

You can listen to Sean Bianco's broadcast of the opera, starring Placido Domingo, here.

By popular request, here is a close-up of the Lego guillotine. Note the basket of heads.

Aida

Set in ancient Egypt, Aida is one of the most well-loved grand operas. Here is my rendition of Act 1, set in a hall of the king of Egypt's palace. The libretto specifies that Egyptian architecture is visible through the rear gates.

You can read more about the opera here.

You can listen to tonight's recording here.

I hope to Lego the crypt scene (Act 4) soon, as well.