tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post113985021865582637..comments2024-03-16T08:02:38.070-04:00Comments on wellsung.blogspot.com: News from the Gelb eraAlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15748408812275965064noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-1140043795697965962006-02-15T17:49:00.000-05:002006-02-15T17:49:00.000-05:00I love your thoughts on Golijov. Very well-put. ...I love your thoughts on Golijov. Very well-put. Swing by backstage after La Pasion?ACBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06869696013809730116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-1140012196520484982006-02-15T09:03:00.000-05:002006-02-15T09:03:00.000-05:00The arrival of Peter Gelb has prompted some soul-s...The arrival of Peter Gelb has prompted some soul-searching at the MET regarding its mission. It has also prompted some sould searching for me, a relatively young lover of classical music and opera. <BR/><BR/>What would I want to see the MET do in the next few years? Would I want to see a more aggressive effort at commissioning new operas, performing new operas commissioned elsewhere, and work-shopping younger composers? Or would I rather see the so-called "standard rep" (I know it is a loaded term) fleshed out, with works by composers not commonly presented (e,g, Salieri, Meyerbeer, Auber, Schubert, etc) and by composers whose works beyond a popular few are not done (Saint-Saens, Offenbach, Smetana, Dvorak), and works by early modern voices not heard enough (Schrecker, Martinu, Britten). <BR/><BR/>I know it is not an either/or, but I would much rather the MET focus on the "older" stuff and let other companies do the new material. <BR/><BR/>This eminates from my belief that classical music is on its death bed, and that those who write now in its idiom are singing with its last breaths. To use the "English department" analogy - it is an idiom now for literature appreciation and not creative writing. There are many 20-somethings who go to the MET museum to see the classic art works; we should aim to teach them about classical music. (I mention the word "museum", which used to be an anathematic word to me when thinking about classical music, but which seems more appropriate as the years go by.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-1139961569408776782006-02-14T18:59:00.000-05:002006-02-14T18:59:00.000-05:00Alex--I'm a big fan of Strauss' sense of humor in ...Alex--I'm a big fan of Strauss' sense of humor in so many areas, and that's certainly one of them. There's some lovely music in the opera, though, and if one is inclined to take the time to listen to it with a thorough knowledge of Wagner, you can read it as an opera with an anti-Wagnerian metaphysics agenda. Youmans' argument on that line is very persuasive (in my humble opinion).<BR/><BR/>JSU--I love me the Finnish music, and there are some real gems in there. Mattila would make a great Marja in either <I>Juha</I>, although she's more important in the Madetoja (which is also more easily digested in terms of musical language) than the Merikanto (which is more daring and modernist). But where's the next Jorma Hynninen when you need him?<BR/><BR/>Do those of us in our 20's but not hipsters count as a target audience? If the Met wants to pull in more musicologists, they should get more consistent program notes...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-1139951467786954422006-02-14T16:11:00.000-05:002006-02-14T16:11:00.000-05:00Straussmonster, that sounds like an excellent earl...Straussmonster, that sounds like an excellent early-summer idea, now that we've seen all the Kirov stuff twice and raided all their singers. Maybe something in there would even keep Mattila from getting bored.JSUhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-1139946866135687672006-02-14T14:54:00.000-05:002006-02-14T14:54:00.000-05:00Heh, I'd love to see a production of Strauss' Gunt...Heh, I'd love to see a production of Strauss' Guntram, except that it's genuinely undoable in any number of ways (tenor role=worse than Tristan) and it's an absolute mess. I think it's a *fascinating* mess, but a mess nonetheless, and my nom de guerre notwithstanding, I'm not sure the Met should take a run at it. Props to the more Czech opera thing.<BR/><BR/>What I'd personally love to see the Met do is bring in someone like the Finnish National Opera to do some of their traditional works. I think there's material there just as compelling as the Czech operas, and the language is equally unintelligible to J. Random Operagoer, so that's no longer a valid objection--why not do either of the Juhas or Pohjalaisia, or something more modern? So many great Finnish singers out there to wave the flag for that repertory.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-1139946315196733682006-02-14T14:45:00.000-05:002006-02-14T14:45:00.000-05:00Hail...just FYI, if the MET does indeed put togeth...Hail...just FYI, if the MET does indeed put together this theatre workshop with the Beaumont, it won't be the first or only new-opera workshop in town: for seven years City Opera has been presenting VOX: Showcasing American Composers, which consists of excerpts of new or unproduced operas in rehearsed unstaged readings with our young singers and orchestra. It's less a workshop than a preview, true, but it's been utterly committed to new composers of all stripes--from Bright Sheng to David Del Tredici to Anne LeBaron, as well as Michael John LaChiusa--and we'll be back this year at NYU's Skirball center May 6 and 7. (I say "we" because I'm the composer-in-residence there, and my Lysistrata, which goes up next month, was featured on the program in 2001.) Forgive me for tooting the company horn so obviously, but it must be said: in this idea of a new opera workshop, as with so many new music issues (e.g., the first New York stagings of Schoenberg, Tan Dun, and Tobias Picker) City Opera, once again, got there first...Cheers, Mark AdamoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-1139886530090158722006-02-13T22:08:00.000-05:002006-02-13T22:08:00.000-05:00If I were Peter Gelb I would1) Nix the whole Broad...If I were Peter Gelb I would<BR/><BR/>1) Nix the whole Broadway-Opera connection. <BR/><BR/>2) Commission stagings of some classical music non-operas - e.g Schumann's Scenes from Faust, Mahler 8, Haydn's The Creation and The Seasons, any of the Max Bruch oratorios, <BR/><BR/>3) Bring back Meyerbeer. Do I have to wait until I die and go to heaven to see a Meyerbeer opera staged? (God is Joe Volpe without union troubles.) <BR/><BR/>4) More Czech opera - something Dvorak IN ADDITION to Rusalka, something Smetana in addition to The Bartered Bride. <BR/><BR/>5) Has anyone ever seen a production of Wagner's Die Feen, Das Liebersverbot, or Rienzi? How about Strauss's Guntram? I would love to see them.<BR/><BR/>6) Commission some modern stuff and have them do it in a workshop at Juilliard - then bring the good ones to the Met. One a year in workshop - if good, then to the Met. If not, then to NYCO (just kidding.) My own personal preference would be to let other operas commission modern works and let the Met focus on what's already written, but I realize I am a Philistine for thinking that. <BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>7)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com