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.

Die Tote Stadt

This is Paul, a guy who is kind of crazy, with the shrine he has made to his wife, who is kind of dead. Opera!

You can listen to the recording here.

You can read more about this opera here.

La Forza del Destino

In this scene of La Forza del Destino, a disguised nobleman and several muleteers meet in the kitchen of a roadside inn.

This beautiful recording features Leontyne Price, Placido Domingo, and Sherill Milnes. You can listen here. Read more about the opera here.

The Marriage of Figaro

This is Act 2 of the splendid comedy of delightful errors The Marriage of Figaro. In this scene, the countess tries (unsuccessfully) to convince the count that there is a woman, not a man, hiding in her closet. Her maid Susanna hides behind a couch.

Please forgive the photo quality. I am in need of a new camera. 

You can read more about this opera here.

You can listen to the beautiful recording here.

Edit: I added this photo to show the scene from the point of view of Cherubino who is, in fact, hiding in the closet.

Attila

This opera deals loosely with the facts when it comes to Attila the Hun and the Roman Empire. In the prologue, Attila surveys a village his Huns have ransacked. He is about to meet Odabella, daughter of the lord of the ruined town.



WARNING: Graphic Lego violence depicted.

You can read more about the opera here.

You can listen to the broadcast here.

I Puritani

In this final act of I Puritani (The Puritans), which is set during the English Civil War, the royalist hero Arturo is set to be executed by soldiers while his temporarily insane lover Elvira looks on. But a messenger arrives from Oliver Cromwell bearing good news.

Listen to the opera here. This is an all-star recording with Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Pierro Cappuccilli, and Nicolai Ghiaurov.

Read more about the opera here.

Martha

In this comic opera, two noble women disguise themselves at a fair where women are hired as servants. As you can probably guess, antics ensue.

You can read more about the opera here.

You can listen to the recording here.

Guglielmo Tell

On March 2, 2013, At the Opera broadcast a recording of Rossini's Guglieilmo Tell, or as well call it in English, William Tell. It is a long but exciting opera, and of course, everybody knows the overture. And everyone knows the scene Lego'ed bellow, where Mr. Tell is made to shoot an apple off his son's head.

You can listen to the broadcast here.

You can read more about the opera here.

Lucia de Lammermoor

Pay no attention to the date above. This opera was broadcast on Saturday, February 23, 2013.

In this last scene of Lucia de Lammermoor, after the soprano has both gone insane and died (that's opera, folks), Edgardo takes his own life in the graveyard of the Lammermoors.

You can listen to the beautiful broadcast of this opera here.

You can read more about the opera here.

Pagliacci

In the final scene of Pagliacci, the on-stage audience applauds at the realism of a performance, unaware that the drama is real. The clown, Pagliacci, has killed his wife in a jealous rage. This is not an opera for anyone afraid of clowns.

You can learn more about the opera here.

You can listen to the recording here.

La Forza Del Destino

In the first act of La Forza Del Destino, Leonora spends time with her lover, Alvaro, when her disapproving father, the Marquis of Calatrava, surprises them. A fight ensues, but Alvaro decides to act honorably and drop his gun in surrender. But the force of destiny is strong - the gun goes off and kills the Marquis.




Click here to listen to the recording, which stars the inimitable Placido Domingo and Leontyne Price.

You can read more about the opera here.

Werther

Werther is my favorite opera. I love the music, the mezzo-soprano heroine, the changing of the seasons, and especially that it's based on a story by Goethe. The love story is dramatic, yes - but unlike many operas, it is entirely plausible. In fact, it could take place in 2004 in Amarillo, Texas just as easily as in Germany in 1780. So I have chosen to set it in 2004 in Amarillo, Texas. Here, the children's singing group has taken over the parking lot of Charlotte's apartment building, and Werther broods in his leather jacket.



You can read more about the story here.

You can listen to the broadcast here.

The Flying Dutchman

The Flying Dutchman has a special place in my heart, since it was the first opera I ever saw in the theater (at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles in 1995). Before that, I had only ever seen televised versions. And while broadcasts are great and Legos are fun, there is nothing quite like live opera.

So it was only fitting that this be my favorite opera to design so far, and also the opera on which I spent the most money. Opera is an expensive pastime, as all opera fans know.

I give you the cursed Flying Dutchman and his ghostly ship and crew.



You can read more about this opera here.

You can listen to the broadcast here.

Carmen

This amazing production of Carmen starred two of my favorites: Marilyn Horne and Joan Sutherland. Here, Carmen enchants the soldiers with her famous aria, "Habanera," during a break from her work at the cigarette factory.




You can learn more about the opera here.

You can listen to the historic production here.