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An Opera Primer

An Opera Primer. The Libretto. Play= Script Movie= Screenplay Opera- Libretto Means “Little Book”. Composer or Librettist?. Composer writes the music Librettist writes the songs Sometimes the same person but not usually Often feuded. Why not in English?. Usually in Italian or German

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An Opera Primer

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  1. An Opera Primer

  2. The Libretto • Play= Script • Movie= Screenplay • Opera- Libretto • Means “Little Book”

  3. Composer or Librettist? • Composer writes the music • Librettist writes the songs • Sometimes the same person but not usually • Often feuded

  4. Why not in English? • Usually in Italian or German • Hard to translate- words don’t rhyme, beats don’t fit • Operas in English are recent, usually rock operas

  5. Opera or Musical? • Operas are completely sung • Musicals intersperse songs with spoken lines • Opera is traditionally not amplified- singer does it all without microphones • Opera stars do not dance!

  6. Supertitles to the Rescue! • Also called “surtitles” • Similar to close captioning • At opera= translation on screen or the back of the seats • 35% growth in sales!

  7. No supertitles:What the heck is going on? • 1. Libretto sometimes has a synopsis • 2. Libretto sometimes has a translation • 3. Cognates (look alike words)- Italian very close to Spanish

  8. That’s gonna sting! • Castrati (eunuchs) were the superstars of the opera scene • Boys would be castrated before puberty • Voices would remain high • Paid big bucks if they became opera stars

  9. High Class Entertainment?Mozart’s Don Juan!! • Italian= Don Giovanni • Sleazy man seduces dozens of women (old and young) • Girl’s dead father drags him to Hell as punishment

  10. Horn Helmet and Metal Bra! • The Ring takes 16 hours • Typically shown in four nights • Separate acts range from 2 ½ hours to 6 ½ hours • “Ride of the Valkyries” most famous song • Original horn hat and metal bra opera

  11. Wagner’s The RingAn Opera in Four Parts! • God’s live in Valhalla- fight over a magic, powerful ring • Meanwhile…Man meets women- they fall in love- he turns out to be her brother- they marry! • Gods get involved- the immortal Brunhilde saves the girl, who is carrying her twin brother’s child….

  12. The Ring: cont’d • Goddess Brunhilde is punished by her God father and put into a long sleep • Siegfried (Sieglinde’ infant son), now grown, obtains his dead father’s magic sword • Find’s Brunhilde and wakes her with a kiss

  13. The Ring: finally ends • Brunhilde is stolen and forced to marry another man • Brunhilderushes into his funeral pyre and throws the ring into the fire • The gods are destroyed- true love triumphs-audience dies of exhaustion

  14. A Story Retold! • “Whosoever holds the ring, by the ring they shall be enslaved” • Obvious connections to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings • Parodied in “What’s Opera Doc?”

  15. Strauss’ Salome • Based on the Biblical story of John the Baptist • Salome loved John but he denies her • King Herod lusts after her- tells her if she does the “Dance of the Seven Veils, she can have whatever she wants

  16. Salome: The disgusting ending • She demands her reward from Herod- the head of John the Baptist • When the head is presented to her, she wildly makes out with it… • What is wrong with these people!

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