Saturday, March 10, 2007
TWO OF MY FAVORITE MOZART ARIAS
OK, OK, I know cartoonists hate opera but you can't hate ALL opera, that doesn't make sense. What's there not to like in this beautiful song by Mozart, "Voi Che Sapete?" I love songs that make an argument, as this song does. With a little time I might be able to articulate what that argument is. Reading the lyrics will probably be slight help. The content of musical argument usually has more to do with subtext than with formal story points.
Too bad YouTube didn't have Elizabeth Schwarzkopff's version of this song.
This (above) is from Ingmar Bergman's version of "Magic Flute." It's not the best aria in the film, that would have been the one that's sung earlier in the story when the queen is first introduced to the knight, but this is still pretty good.
Radical feminists hate this song because it portrays the heroine's mother as crazy, or at least lacking balance, and sets up the case that the father would be a more fit guardian for the daughter because he's more...what's the word...philosophical. I'm not taking sides here, you be the judge!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
20 comments:
While I agree with you about Voi che sapete? (I was in a production of Figaro once; wonderful stuff), I have to commit a heresy here. The Magic Flute is truly, truly dumb. Oh, some of the tunes are good, but the story is probably the dumbest that any opera audience has ever had to sit through. OK, with the possible exception of Turandot.
Mind you, I'd love to see Bruno Bozetto's take on it.
Thanks, Eddie, good choices!
I hope you are wrong about cartoonists hating opera. I've always thought that the only way to properly present Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungen would be -- to animate it! It contains so many impossibly spectacular events, ones that can't really be represented on the stage. (I saw a performance of Siegfried where the dragon was "suggested" by means of a large puppet!)
Oooh, these are so lovely! I love Mozart arias! Have you heard the ones from Don Giovanni, like "La Ci Darem La Mano"? Well, that's a duet.. but still beautiful.
Opera was reaaaally open and free before the first half of the 20th century... like Strauss' "Salome". I really don't criticize their content.
Hmmm--I never thought of "Voi, che sapete" as an argument. Isn't Cherubino singing--at Susanna's & the Countess's insistence--his love poem to the Countess? He starts out shyly, then as his passion builds up he winds up trilling out the full ecstasy of his love for her(and all women, but her at that moment). There's another version in color on toutube with subtitles with a really nice performance of the aria(might be the most famous in all opera--next to the one used in the British Airways commercials).
I don't think cartoonists 'hate' opera out of hand(you simply must stop measuring all cartoonists by Mike, lol--just kidding)!
They like the rest of modern society just never go so they don't have it on their radar, and seeing opera is very expensive--like, a mediocre seat is usually over 50 bucks. I think to get an opera's best impact you can't just sit though the music on cds, you must see the staging and performances live, and there's the rub. It's hard to get into songs sung in another language unless you know the context first--all those glorious overtures excepted, of course.
Me again. Now I'm logged in, sorry.
Here's a performance of Figaro with a good Cherubino and Countess peformances(yes, I'm aware the Countess doesn't sing in it, but watch and tell me it ain't sweet and sexy).:Voi Ce Sapete.
Jenny: you're right, the Shaham version with the subtitles is definitely worth hearing. The sexy version, mmmmm, not so much, in my opinion. The sexiness overwhelms the piece, gives it an eroticism that's not in the song. The singer also puts too much empasis on the acting.
There's always a lot to argue about in opera. The medium attempts to wed pop vocals which are all on the surface with classical music which is all about visceral, hard-to-articulate emotion. It often happens that the music says one thing and the lyrics another, forcing hard, controversial choices on the directors and singers. I like opera because it's a medium at war with itself yet at its best it delivers a depth of insight that's hard to match.
Lester: I wanted to put up the part of Solti's Valkyrie that ranges from Winter Storm to Hoyoto but YouTube didn't have it.
Mozart Opera is full of stuff that would appeal to cartoonists.
hilarious misunderstandings, pratfalls, busty women of loose morals, men dressing up like women and vise versa.
I think Mozart must have invented the sit-com.
"busty women of loose morals"...
Oh Rod, Rod--it ain't the women, it's all about the corsets. I'll bet the average woman in the 1780s was an B cup at best(people were smaller then--you should see the clothes)....but wear an 18th century corset and VOOM! The world's greatest push-up bra. ; )
So, Eddie: where's the argument in Cherubino's love song? I'm not challenging you, I'm really curious as to what you think about it.
I like both of those modern performances, so we'll have to agree to disagree on the other one.
I didn't think either actress was overdoing it, when you consider that they're on a huge stage at a vast distance from most of the audience...but I thought both Countesses were charming, even if very different.
Isn't it fun to watch the different interpretations of Mozart's direction? What's fascinating is how much the same they are, so the instruction(say, about Cherubino's initial shyness & awkwardness)must be written in very specifically by Mozart--your first commenter pseudonym might know, since he/she was in it.
The first time I saw "Figaro live we lucked out incredibly and had front row seats; I felt like I was ON the stage. When Cherubino went into that famous song I think I and everyone in the row held our breath until he'd(well, she'd) finished. God! I love Mozart. I will say that our class saw "Magic Flute" when I was in grade school, on a field trip...that was a "not so much" for m, alas. It was my age and the production, not the music.
Are there any "radical" feminists still around these days? Or "feminists" in the 1972 sense, for that matter? To me the term seems outmoded now--somewhat like "abolitionist" would be. ; )
Thanks for posting the clips and writing about them.
Cartoonists hate opera? Sadly, my first thought when I think opera is What's Opera Doc, and The Rabbit of Seville. Classics, if I do have to say so myself. I haven't had much exposure to opera myself, with my background in playing violin and guitar, my classical collection is a bit heavy with the likes of Itzhak Perlman, and classical guitarists like the Romero family and flamenco. Currently have Angel Romero playing Vivaldi.
Hi Eddie
I was just watching your "Worm Paranoia" cartoon on Youtube. It is AWESOME!!! I love your drawings in that cartoon! I also love the beautiful animation by Bob Jaques & Kelly Armstrong. I hope that you will get to make another cool cartoon in the future! You should create a new series for Adult Swim!
Hey Eddie
If ya get the chance, Go to my website and check out my drawings on my pics. My website is the following.
www.myspace.com/jesseoliver1
"Enjoy my drawings!!!"
I need culture like this badly. Have you ever tried Peking Opera Eddie? A former girlfriend of mine was totally into it and she'd go to Chinatown to get the Video Cd's of them. Whaddya think?
Try this one Eddie, it's annoying and funny all in one :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CQX8fG5Zq0
Hi Jesse! Thanks for the kind words. I checked out your MySpace site and was happy to see that so many sexy women wanted to talk to you. It confirms my theory that Theory Corner attracts only the best!
Sean: I've seen three or four Chinese operas. The Maoist propaganda one was the most accessable, maybe because the tunes sounded Western. The others were pretty to look at but sounded like cymbals and boxes of cats falling down a staircase.
Jenny: I'm envious. I never saw an opera till I was old enough to pay for it myself. I always sat in the cheap seats at the back of the top balcony.
What does the argument consist of? I'd have to listen to it 30 or 40 times then, if I'm lucky, I might get an idea. On the surface it seems to be an argument for the celebration of grace, intellect, innocence, youth, playfullness, life, our need for and delight in other people, our delight in finding someone to love and our extreme vulnerability to pain if they don't love us back, and the Christian idea that we all have a divine spark in us. That's the best I can do now. I think it's a mistake to reduce 1/2 of these points to eroticism.
I'm not put off that you have a different opinion. That's opera for you, nobody agrees.
I'm not what you call a huge opera fan but the things I like, I like a lot. Poor opera is usually too long, too rambling and contains too much filler but when it works, and it's good, you can hear the angels sing.
Pseudonym: Gee, I like the story myself.
Why, who's reducing anything to mere "eroticism"? Not that there's anything wrong with that. ; )
Hm...I think I misunderstood your definition of the word "argument"-I thought you meant Cherubino was "arguing" something with the song as in disagreeing, not as in "making a case for"; in that sense, I would certainly say that "Voi che sapete" is a luminous statement of the beauty of love--and by extension, life. That's pretty all-encompassing.
Heh, believe me, the cheap seats we got for "Flute" in school weren't front row, but guess where? 3rd blacony, or something like that.
I too had to wait until I bought them myself to get the great seats (actually, they were a birthday present IIRC). Even then, back in those days the front row of the Dorothy Chandler was considered "blocked" viewing(for the screen above the stage), so that's why there were even any seats there available--what a deal! If they'd been a few rows back they'd have cost about 175 a piece; instead they were half that. That's unlikely to happen for me again-they don't give that discount anymore.
Mozart is unique, isn't he(now there's an original thought, huh?). I'm trying to learn a little Mozart on the cello right now.
Believe it or don't!
Can't wait to see what you think on next!
For the record, the part I played was first cello. I know a bit about the interpretation of different musical directors, but you don't really get to develop a fine-tuned appreciation for the subtleties of singers from an orchestra pit.
Oh, I just noticed! That's two cellists here! Woo!
Chris: Fascinating! Ill look those up!
I think you can't beat Bizet's Au fond du temple saint. Best area EVER.
Pseud: I put it on my list of things to do! Thanks!
Post a Comment