The Chick Opera
A friend once told me that the Puccini opera La Bohème is a chick opera. It made me laugh when he said it, but I suppose it is true. So if you like chick flicks, why not attend this Saturday’s Metropolitan Opera live broadcast of La Bohème at a movie theater near you? It is an easy opera, as they go, approachable and very melodic; a very good first opera, if you’ve not been before. (Hey, remember the movie Moonstruck, with Cher and what’s his name? Remember when he took her to the opera? They went to the Met and saw La Bohème. And you remember what happened after that. So.)
Here’s a taste. This is from the first act, when the struggling seamstress named Mimi, ailing and pale, and the muy romantico Rodolpho (sung here by the great tenor Jose Carreras) first meet in his Parisian loft amid all its Bohemian splendor. And what do you suppose happens when they first meet? They fall in love, of course, as is made known by Rodolpho in this gorgeous aria “Che gelida manina” (translation: What a cold, little hand).
Sniff, sniff.
My daughter and I saw a good performance last summer at Sante Fe. My kid strongly dislikes Rent because it is a soft version of La Boheme.
Well, I happen to know that our fine host, like I, prefers to get his culture from opera and not yogurt.
Right, Steve?
ed
You know, I like Classical music. Love Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven etc.
That being said, I’ve never “gotten” opera. And I don’t really understand why. I do appreciate what good operatic music can do for a scene in a film, but I’ve never been able to sit through an opera performance without squirming half way through.
Maybe it’s my ambivelence to musicals in general (except for “Once More With Feeling”, Joss Whedon Rules).
Or maybe I’m just, how the Russians say, nekulturny?
90% of opera is Chick Opera.
Show me a Chick March, and you’ll have something unique.
I loathe musicals and musical theater — pttooey! — but I soak opera in through my pores, or something. I can’t get enough of it. I’ve been an opera buff for about 15 years, and still it amazes me that human beings can sing like that.
Ed,
Sorry you don’t have an email address here, could’ve sent you a far superior, but no video, mp3 version of “Che gelida manina”.
Jussi Bjorling http://www.amazon.com/Puccini-Boh%C3%A8me-Giacomo/dp/B000002RXE/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1207021109&sr=1-5
However, as far as Puccini is concerned, I’ve always favored “Tosca” http://www.amazon.com/Puccini-complete-Giuseppe-Stefano-Orchestra/dp/B000002RXZ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1207021281&sr=1-3
Callas & di Stefano, nothing better!
Mike
“getting opera” is sometimes tough. I suggest you start with a good comedy, Verdi’s “Falstaff” is perhaps a good start. Or perhaps Rossinni’s “Gianni Schicchi”.
That looks like the same soprano who played Violetta in the movie of La Traviatta, with Placido Domingo that Franco Zefferelli produced about 24 years ago. Amazing movie! I’m forever grateful I was introduced to opera!
Teresa Stratas sang Mimi in this 1982 recording. There are several excerpts of her singing from this same recording out on YouTube, she is a terrific Mimi and was, they say, the Zeffirelly soprano of choice. I just checked Amazon for a DVD recording of this 1982 staging. They say it’s out of print but a copy can be had, used, for $165. Yikes. But that’s an indicator of the popularity and value of this particular production with these particular singers.
This Franco Zeffirelli production has been going since 1981, according to this recent article in the New York Lying Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/arts/music/31bohe.html?ref=arts
An opera “production” refers to the physical sets, backdrops, stage props, lighting, costumes, etc. You’ll sometimes hear people refer to the Zeffirelli Bohème, and that’s what they mean — the sets etc that he designed back in ’81 are still being used today (with perhaps some minor tweaks). So this Saturday, we will see the Zeffirelli Bohème, with Angela Gheorghiu as Mimi and Ramón Vargas as Rodolfo.
My first live opera was Verdi’s Il Trovatore, which I saw at the San Francisco Opera. I had heard the music before attending the performance so I knew what to expect in that regard. What I absolutely did not expect, however, was when the audience would sometimes interrupt the performance with applause after a particularly good aria. I was expecting something like church, everyone just politely sit very quietly until it’s over, so it really floored me when the audience took control like that! Just stopped the show for a few minutes to express their approval; the conductor stopped the orchestra from playing, and the singers froze in place on the stage until the applause died down. In some opera houses in Italy, audience participation can be even more, um,… robust.
Boheme was the one that won me over. I was a sophomore in college – a jazz musician who didn’t have time for “legit” music at all, much less opera. Now I’m all grown up I actually listen to more opera than jazz. Ironic, but indicative. Opera is certainly not for the immature ear.
Thanks, Mike, for mentioning Jussi Bjorling, who I was raised on. My mother got to see him at the old Met in the standing room section. He was the greatest tenor (Domingo is the next best and the greatest actor). The best “La Boheme” is the Sir Thomas Beecham version with Bjorling, Merrill, & De Los Angeles.
Oxmyx;
Yeah, that’s the one I have!
Mike