Last Night at the Opera

For over 20 years, Sean Bianco has hosted a weekend radio show where he played an opera from cover to cover followed by opera potpourri. This show has been a lovely ritual for me, time I promise to myself each week to rest, to hear something beautiful. Tonight is his last show, and there will be no archive of past episodes to listen to. 

I used to post Lego representations of the operas here. I lost time for that somewhere along the way, though I still listened faithfully. Tonight's show is all potpourri, so there's no opera to Lego, so instead, to honor my 20 years of ritual, I have built Legos of the people I've been and places I've lived while I listened to this show. 

+ Fort Klugman, where I lived with my ex. Hardwood floors, a huge heater, the chest-high cylinders that used to be somebody's chimney, (at times) a bed in the living room, and always a big mess. 

+ My little apartment on N Street where I lived alone - brighter, necessarily sparer, and where I first brought home two little kittens.

+ And now Rosings Park, with a big dining room table (even though it's in the living room), still with the two cats but now adding two dogs and a great guy. 

I realized long ago that I will have to let go of every single thing I love, but I will never have to let go of love. Put another way, as I read on a gravestone as the sun rose over a Magnolia- studded cemetery in Auburn, Alabama, "God gives us love. Things to love, God lends us." Or as Cosmo says in Moonstruck "Everything is temporary. That don't excuse nothing."

Change is coming for me. I will miss this show and who I am when I listen to it. But I will always keep opera in my heart. 

 

 

La Rondine

 Act II of La Rondine (The Swallow) takes place in a crowded Paris nightspot, 1920. 

To listen to tonight's opera, click here.

For more information about the opera, click here.

Salome

In Strauss' interpretation of the biblical story, Salome dances the Dance of Seven Veils for Herod, then demands the head of John the Baptist.

If you're looking for your typical light-hearted Strauss, look elsewhere.

You can read more about this one-act opera here.

You can listen to the recording here. 

La Gioconda

La Gioconda means "The Ballad Singer" or "The Happy Woman," a sadly ironic title for an opera whose heroine meets a tragic end. In the final scene of La Gioconda, the heroine arranges a secret meeting in the ruins of an island castle.

This is an opera unique for having a major role for each of the voice types (soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone, bass). The result is a rich and beautiful score with several familiar tunes, including "The Dance of the Hours" (the one in Fantasia where the hippos and the crocodiles dance). You can listen to the broadcast of this beautiful opera here.

You can read more about this opera here.

Werther

In Act 2 of my favorite opera, the newly married Charlotte and Albert walk to church on an autumn day. The creepy, tortured, sexy Werther follows.

You can read about the opera Werther, based on a story by Goethe, here. A link to the show will be posted when it becomes available.

Faust

In this first act of Gounod's Faust, based loosely on Goethe's legendary story, Mephistopholes visits Faust in his study, where he has devoted his life to the pursuit of science and scholarship. Faust has recently tried to end it all by poisoning himself, but Mephistopholes gives him a (dubious) reason to live.

You can read more about the opera here.

You can listen to the recording here.

Die Walkure

Tonight's opera features nine sisters who usher Norsemen to Valhalla when they die during glorious battle. Here, they prepare and confer on a mountaintop before the battle, and the Flight of Valkyries, begins.

You can listen to Die Walkure here (on the miniplayer) or here (for the general website).

You can read more about the opera here.