DOCSLIB.ORG

1. SUNSCREEN BOSSA NOVA I. Hand It Here, I Need to Rub My Legs

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
1. SUNSCREEN BOSSA NOVA I. Hand It Here, I Need to Rub My Legs LIBRETTO 1. 3. SUNSCREEN BOSSA NOVA VACATIONERS’ CHORUS I. I. Hand it here, I need to rub my legs... TODAY THEY HAVE RAISED ‘Cause later they’ll peel and crack, THE RED AND YELLOW FLAG UP And chap. HIGH: THE WHIRLPOOLS OF THE SEA, Hand it I will rub you… DROP-OFFS, Otherwise, you’ll be red as a lobster… R IP-TIDES, UNDERTOWS. Hand it I will rub you… YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO WADE IN 2. DEEPER THAN YOUR KNEES! YOUNG MAN FROM THE VOLCANO COUPLE 4. SIREN’S ARIA I. I flew to a Portuguese corrida – I. A short trip, just for fun. The man I once married, But then the pilot had to land the plane My ex, he drowned in South-East Asia. in London: He was the best of swimmers, So I called up my friends On vacation with his girlfriend. And stayed over for a couple of days. To this very day, no one can understand And from that day on, how it could happen to him: Linda and I never been apart. Some say he was swimming out too far beyond the shore, Not a single climatologist predicted a And the deep waters took him in. scenario like this. Others, knowing him better, Maybe someone had a feeling – perhaps Claim he had suffered a cramp due to the bull?… a magnesium deficiency… …perhaps the bull?… 5. O la vida VACATIONERS’ CHORUS La vida... II. 8. YOU ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO SONG OF EXHAUSTION. STAY ON SHORE, WORKAHOLIC’S SONG YOU SHOULD NOT LEAVE YOUR CHILDREN UNOBSERVED! I. JUST BUILD CASTLES IN THE SAND, I really don’t feel that I can let myself WALK THE BEACH COLLECTING slow down, STONES, SHELLS, AMBER, AND Because my colleagues will look down BABY TEETH!… on me. They’ll say I have no strength of will. 6. And I’ll become a loser in my own eyes. WEALTHY MOMMY’S SONG Exhaustion, exhaustion, exhaustion, I. exhaustion… My boy is eight and a half Exhaustion, exhaustion, exhaustion, And he has been swimming in exhaustion… The Black, The Yellow, Exhaustion – The White, I like to say it as a joke – The Red, It’s like a mammoth, The Mediterranean, A nonexistent creature, gone extinct. Aegean seas... Encyclopedias have it, He has already visited two of the world’s But in life – a thing you’ll never meet. great oceans, And we’ll visit the remaining ones this 9. year! CHANSON OF TOO MUCH SUN Two weeks ago, my husband took me II. diving in Australia. My eyelids are heavy, Two photographers swam after us – My head is dizzy, included in the price! Light and empty body, Our little one stayed on shore together There’s no water left in the bottle. with our nanny… MY EYELIDS ARE HEAVY, We explored the coral forests, MY HEAD IS DIZZY, We climbed through their branches, LIGHT AND EMPTY BODY, It certainly tired us, such density!… THERE’S NO WATER LEFT IN THE B O TT L E . What a relief that the Great Barrier Reef has a restaurant and hotel! 10. We sat down to sip our piña coladas – DREAM included in the price! They taste better under the water, I’m a guest at the house of the author of Simply a paradise! this book. It’s pleasant and comfy atmosphere, I feel 7. like laughing. CHANSON OF ADMIRATION But all of a sudden, the host starts massaging his temples, I. Closing his eyes, What a sky, just look, so clear! He says: I don’t feel too well, it’s back Not a single cloud… again, it’s time! What is there? – seagulls or terns? Time for what? – I ask him, feeling I can never tell… concerned. And then he explains it all to me: I come home from the shore, covered with I HAVE IN MY HEAD A TUMOR bites, and my skin itching like mad. THE SIZE OF AN EGG, IT GIVES ME PAINS THAT I CAN What’s wrong with people – they drink HARDLY BEAR! beer in the heat of the day! I NEED TO EAT A HANDFUL OF They spill it and it seeps into the sand, SHRIMP, Then it smells like a slum-hole! AND ONLY THEN DOES THE SUFFERING END. Which then plays a nice duet with bites I HAVE TO GET SOME SHRIMP, of sandwich left behind – QUICKLY, It feels like lying all day by a homeless man! TAKE ME TO A RESTAURANT, UP THERE, ON THE HILL, INSIDE Recently, I stretched my blanket out – right THE CASTLE… on the old remains of smoked fish – It was all rotten skin and bones! He starts to panic, I could smell the stench as I lay down. I say: OK. Turning on my stomach, a foreign body – Only Wait, I say, I don’t know how to drive. A champagne cork – poking my ribs! And wait, I say again, now getting angry: What’s wrong with people – is it so hard How can you eat shrimp when you are the to walk to a trash bin, or what? ambassador of eating raw? You are the spokesman for uncooked, What’s wrong with people – they come vegetarian food, here with their dogs, How can you be such an impudent liar? Who leave shit on the beach, fleas on the You fraud! sand!… I start to hit him with my fists, and wake 13. up soaking in sweat – I’ve never had a stranger dream! SOLO: The colours of the sea and sky have changed. 11. PHILOSOPHER’S COMMENTARY CHORUS: THIS SEASON THE SEA IS AS GREEN AS THE FOREST X3 I. Is it not a comical even grotesque situation: 14. Ancient Persia, China, India – SIREN’S ARIA Some of the oldest civilizations in the world. II. A thousand years went by and we are The great-great-great-grandmother of fish Lying here on the beach, Passed on to her descendants the secrets Snacking on super sweet dates imported of gill control: from Iran, Every animal kingdom has its special Playing a game of chess invented by privileges, Indian Brahmins, Everything is wisely planned out, but Wearing swimming suits made in the humankind – factories of China – Well, you don’t have to look far – my Is this not a parody of the Silk Road? aforementioned husband, my ex – Was so inclined to rash behavior. 12. This mammal with limited lung power, SONG OF COMPLAINT Still tries so hard to go into the sea, To dive down deep: I. He wants to conquer and control what is What’s wrong with people – they come not his to own… here with their dogs, Who leave shit on the beach, fleas on Acidy waves, the sand! Ivory foam, Rocking the boats full of canned goods, 17. tourists, fruits, and weapons. PHILOSOPHER’S COMMENTARY Airplanes in the sky, II. Ships sailing the sea. The banana comes into being, ripens somewhere in South America, ACIDY WAVES, And then it ends up on the other side of IVORY FOAM – the planet, AIRPLANES IN THE SKY, So far away from home. SHIPS SAILING THE SEA… It only existed to satisfy our hunger in one bite, 15. To give us a feeling of bliss. THE COUPLE’S DISTANCE SONG Serotonin from Ecuador – in our – So what time in the morning is your northern flatland, flight? For any time of day or time of year… – It’s quarter past seven! 18. – So you need to be there before five… SONG OF COMPLAINT – I am already getting sad… II. – In the morning, I’ll make an omelet… …ever since my childhood, smoked fish Then we’ll see each other in a week… carries unpleasant associations: – But that week seems so long… My grandmother used to make me eat smoked fish with mayonnaise for – We should remember to get some gas! breakfast – – Can you rub my shoulders? They’re Everyday, the same. burning. A strange bird, now passed away. 16. Our farmhouse is full of grandmother’s WEALTHY MOMMY’S SONG things, we didn’t want them anymore at home: II. We’re going out there next weekend, …we said we’d celebrate our son’s birthday I’ll carry out all the coats, and furs, and there in a year and a half! books into the sun. What an amazing sight! Only that sun… Those coral horns, that bleached, pallid One doesn’t know what to expect… whiteness… Even snow in summer wouldn’t surprise me! You have to see it, words cannot describe it! Everything is out of joint: The beginning of May brought frost and …our baby boy will be ten in a year and snow a half! And winter gives us buds and mushrooms… I want him to see the Great Barrier Reef with his own eyes! You see, we had Christmas at our farmhouse, My boy is eight and a half But this year, there was no frost, no snow, And he’s already been swimming in it felt like it could be Easter! The Black, The Yellow, Unusual, very unusual, it made for a The White, very strange mood: The Red, In the morning, I rose before everyone else The Mediterranean, And I went into the woods – Aegean seas... There was refreshing green moss, He has already visited two of the world’s Just like in springtime! great oceans, And as I walked the path, there beyond And we’ll visit the remaining ones this year! the well, I found three chanterelles! YOU’LL NEVER MEET... The end of December, how come? VACATION IS WHAT KILLED THE As granny liked to say: The end of the MAMMOTH – world! OFFICIALLY, THE CREATURE DOES NOT EXIST, BUT ACTUALLY, 19.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • LIBRETTO LOOP” (Created by Todd Woodard)
    OPERA WARM UP ACTIVITY: “LIBRETTO LOOP” (created by Todd Woodard) • OBJECTIVE: To build a foundational knowledge of some basic Opera terms through physical and vocal engagement, while simultaneously building energy and ensemble. • STARTING POSITION: A Standing Circle (or “Loop”) • Sample TA Intro: “What is Libretto? … Yes, Libretto might be the text of an opera, but those words are brought to life through music, movement, emotion and ENERGY. So in this game, we are going to use some Opera terms as our simple libretto, and share them by passing ENERGY through, across and within our LOOP, using music, movement, and emotion.” • TERMS with ACTIONS: o RECITATIVE: • Pass LIBRETTO Energy to the person next to you by singing the word “Recitative” to a TA-set or individualized melody with a directional clap • This continues in same direction until someone changes it with a different term o ARIA: “Hold onto the energy before you pass it by taking a solo moment in the spotlight” • Person sings “Aria! Aria! Aria!”, perhaps bending on a knee with arm outstretched, or striking another strong emotional pose • Then pass the energy with “Recitative” or with one of the terms below o VIBRATO • Person with energy shakes hands out in the direction of previous person to induce a vibrato in the voice while singing an extended “Vi- brAAAAA-TOOOOOO”) • This bounces the energy back to the previous person and they continue with energy pass in the opposite direction o MELODY • First person sings “Melody” to a melody of their choice as they pass it to another person
    [Show full text]
  • Sariah Gonzalez My Libretto Was Inspired by the Greek Mythological
    Sariah Gonzalez My libretto was inspired by the Greek mythological story of Leda and the Swan, which is ​ ​ about the god, Zeus and a young woman named, Leda. Zeus, in the form of a swan, rapes the helpless Leda; as a result of this violent act, Leda gives birth to Helen of Troy. I chose to recreate this narrative in my libretto because it allowed for the exploration of many themes that were discussed in class this semester. The text of my libretto explores the themes of sexual violence, the exploitation of women, and social class. The theme of sexual violence is introduced in the very first scene of my libretto. I felt compelled to incorporate this theme into my work because sexual violence is a prevalent issue in contemporary culture. In the first act, Leda’s body is hypersexualized by the Greek god, Zeus. Because he is a powerful being, Zeus feels entitled to enjoy Leda’s body. Leda is raped by her husband on the same night of the swan’s attack because he feels she owes him for lying with another. The attitudes of Zeus and Tyndareus are reflective of ideas that are still enforced today. Ultimately, these attitudes are condemned by the end of the opera because Leda’s rape is linked with causing the destructive trojan war. Moreover, there are several instances of human exploitation displayed in the libretto. The first female character to be objectified is Leda. She is treated as a means to appease the carnal desires of men. Leda’s daughter, Helen is the next victim of exploitation.
    [Show full text]
  • The UNC Italian Opera Libretto Collection SEMLA Presentation by Renée Mcbride Oxford, MS, October 12, 2019
    SEMLA 2019 presentation The UNC Italian Opera Libretto Collection SEMLA presentation by Renée McBride Oxford, MS, October 12, 2019 In 1983 the Music Library at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries purchased a collection of Italian opera libretti through the British antiquarian Richard Macnutt. According to a description that accompanied the collection, it totals 4,183 libretti and relates to productions in at least 160 theaters in 84 Italian towns and cities. The collection turned out to consist of 4,418 libretti – 51 from the 17th century, 272 from the 18th century, 3,201 from the 19th century, and 709 from the 20th century. These numbers do not add up to the total due to duplicate copies (or so very close to duplicate that I treated them as duplicates, for reasons I can explain during our Q&A). A few notable aspects of the collection include: • First editions of Jacopo Peri and Ottavio Rinuccini’s Dafne [slide 2] and L’Euridice [slide 3], both published in Florence in 1600. • A fine representation of libretti by Pietro Metastasio. • A substantial group of 18th-century libretti from performances in Rome, where women were then banned from the stage, resulting in many of the great castrati being found in the cast lists; and, • Synopses of ballets offered with the evening’s opera: approximately 230 libretti contain such synopses, forming an important source for the study of dance in Italy. 1 SEMLA 2019 presentation While most of the composers represented are Italian, there are a number of libretti for works by non-Italian composers, among them – I’m not mentioning them all, nor are they in any particular order – Meyerbeer, Haydn, Mozart, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Berlioz, Gounod, Massenet, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Richard Strauss.
    [Show full text]
  • ATINER's Conference Paper Proceedings Series HUM2020
    ATINER CONFERENCE PRESENTATION SERIES No: HUM2020-0172 ATINER’s Conference Paper Proceedings Series HUM2020-0172 Athens, 14 January 2020 Georg Friedrich Handel’s Music: From the Baroque Era to the Present Mingjie Fang and Tatiana Samsonova Athens Institute for Education and Research 8 Valaoritou Street, Kolonaki, 10683 Athens, Greece ATINER‟s conference paper proceedings series are circulated to promote dialogue among academic scholars. All papers of this series have been blind reviewed and accepted for presentation at one of ATINER‟s annual conferences according to its acceptance policies (http://www.atiner.gr/acceptance). © All rights reserved by authors. 1 ATINER CONFERENCE PRESENTATION SERIES No: HUM2020-0172 ATINER’s Conference Paper Proceedings Series HUM2020-0172 Athens, 14 January 2020 ISSN: 2529-167X Mingjie Fang, Postgraduate Student, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Russia Tatiana Samsonova, Head of Musical Disciplines Department, Faculty of Philosophy, Culture Studies and Fine Art, Professor, Pushkin Leningrad State University, Russia Georg Friedrich Handel’s Music: From the Baroque Era to the Present ABSTRACT Georg Friedrich Handel (1685-1759) is a German and English composer of the Baroque era, known for his operas, oratorios and concerts. Handel was born in Germany in the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach. After receiving a musical education in Germany and the experience of opera productions in, he moved to London, where he later became an English citizen. Handel„s first opera was the production of ―Rinaldo‖ in 1711 in the theater of His Majesty. The opera Rinaldo was a resounding success. From 1720 to 1728, Handel was director of the Royal Academy of Music.
    [Show full text]
  • LULLY, J.: Armide (Opera Lafayette, 2007) Naxos 8.66020910 Jeanbaptiste Lully (1632 1687) Armide Tragé
    LULLY, J.: Armide (Opera Lafayette, 2007) Naxos 8.660209­10 Jean­Baptiste Lully (1632 ­ 1687) Armide Tragédie en musique Libretto by Philippe Quinault, based on Torquato Tasso's La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered), transcribed and adapted from Le théâtre de Mr Quinault, contenant ses tragédies, comédies et opéras (Paris: Pierre Ribou, 1715), vol. 5, pp. 389­428. ACTE I ACT I Le théâtre représente une grande place ornée d’un arc de The scene represents a public place decorated with a Triumphal triomphe Arch. SCÈNE I SCENE I ARMIDE, PHÉNICE, SIDONIE ARMIDE, PHENICE, SIDONIE PHÉNICE PHENICE Dans un jour de triomphe, au milieu des plaisirs, On a day of victory, amid its pleasures, Qui peut vous inspirer une sombre tristesse? Who can inspire such dark sadness in you? La gloire, la grandeur, la beauté, la jeunesse, Glory, greatness, beauty, youth, Tous les biens comblent vos désirs. All these bounties fulfill your desires. SIDONIE SIDONIE Vous allumez une fatale flamme You spark a fatal flame Que vous ne ressentez jamais ; That you never feel: L’amour n’ose troubler la paix Love does not dare trouble the peace Qui règne dans votre âme. That reigns in your soul. ARMIDE, PHÉNICE et SIDONIE ensemble ARMIDE, PHENICE & SIDONIE together Quel sort a plus d’appâts? What fate is more desirable? Et qui peut être heureux si vous ne l’êtes pas? And who can be happy if you are not? PHÉNICE PHENICE Si la guerre aujourd’hui fait craindre ses ravages, If today war threatens its ravages, C’est aux bords du Jourdain qu’ils doivent s’arrêter.
    [Show full text]
  • Richard STRAUSS Intermezzo Elisabeth Söderström
    RICHARD STRAUSS INTERMEZZO Elisabeth Söderström Glyndebourne Festival Opera London Philharmonic Orchestra Sir John Pritchard RICHARD STRAUSS © SZ Photo/Lebrecht Music & Arts Photo Library Richard Strauss (1864 –1949) Intermezzo A bourgeois comedy with symphonic interludes in two acts Libretto by the composer English translation by Andrew Porter Christine Elisabeth Söderström soprano Robert Storch, her husband, a conductor Marco Bakker baritone Anna, their maid Elizabeth Gale soprano Franzl, their eight-year-old son Richard Allfrey spoken Baron Lummer Alexander Oliver tenor The Notary Thomas Lawlor bass-baritone His wife Rae Woodland soprano Stroh, another conductor Anthony Rolfe Johnson tenor A Commercial Counsellor Donald Bell Robert’s Skat baritone partners A Legal Counsellor Brian Donlan baritone { A Singer Dennis Wicks bass Fanny, the Storchs’ cook Barbara Dix spoken Marie, a maid Susan Varley spoken Therese, a maid Angela Whittingham spoken Resi, a young girl Cynthia Buchan soprano Glyndebourne Festival Opera London Philharmonic Orchestra Sir John Pritchard 3 compact disc one Time Page Act I Scene 1 1 ‘Anna, Anna! Where can the silly creature be?’ 5:52 [p.28] The Wife, the Husband, Anna 2 ‘Have you got all the master’s things?’ 6:02 [p.32] The Wife, Anna, the Husband 3 ‘And now I’ll have my hair done!’ 11:16 [p.35] The Wife, Anna, The Son, Housemaid, Cook 4 'Oh! Frau Huß! Good morning' 2:59 [p.39] The Wife, Anna Scene 2 5 ‘You blockhead! Can’t you see, this is a toboggan run?’ 4:08 [p.39] The Wife, Baron Lummer 6 Waltz 1:55 [p.40]
    [Show full text]
  • 12. Comic Intermezzo [PDF]
    COMIC INTERMEZZO INTERMEZZI are comic 2-act interludes sung between the 3 acts of an opera seria Intermezzi originate from the Renaissance INTERMEDIO, the musical numbers sung between acts of a spoken theatrical play COMIC INTERMEZZO In their original form an INTERMEZZO was composed for an OPERA SERIA and was thematically related to the main opera. COMIC INTERMEZZO COMIC INTERMEZZO Pergolesi’s two-act La Serva Padrona, was performed between the three acts of his opera seria, Il Prigioner Superbo in 1733. COMIC INTERMEZZO The traditions of Commedia dell’Arte, Italian improvised comic theater, serve as models for character types and plots in the intermezzo 1725-1750! “Golden Age” of Intermezzo COMMEDIA dell’ARTE ARLECCHINO Probably the most famous of Commedia characters, Arlecchino is a good-hearted and well-intentioned buffoon. He can be crafty and clever, but is never malicious. COMMEDIA dell’ARTE COLOMBINA is a clever female servant with a keen and active wit and able to hold her own in every situation and emerge triumphant from the most complicated intrigues. A country girl, she takes a frank attitude towards men and sex. COMMEDIA dell’ARTE PANTALONE The Old Man, often a rich miser, though he pretends to poverty. He suspects everyone of trying to dupe him (he is usually right) even as he plans his own schemes. COMMEDIA dell’ARTE CAPITANO is a swaggering braggart soldier, usually foreign (and sometimes pretending to be of noble blood). Capitano boasts of great prowess at both love and war, but is in reality an abject failure at both. COMIC INTERMEZZO Giovanni Battista PERGOLESI (1710-1736) Writes intermezzo La Serva Padrona in 1733 COMIC INTERMEZZO LA SERVA PADRONA [The Maid Mistress] “Intermezzo Buffo in Due Atti” (1733) Libretto by G.
    [Show full text]
  • Hansel and Gretel Synopsis 5 Guiding Questions 6
    2 Table of Contents An Introduction to Pathways for Understanding Study Materials 3 Production Information/Meet the Characters 4 The Story of Hansel and Gretel Synopsis 5 Guiding Questions 6 The History of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel 7 Guided Listening Goosey goosey gander, the mouse in the straw 10 Little brother, dance with me 13 At night it’s a gruesome and sordid place 15 Cuckoo, cuckoo, eggs are blue 17 Where each child lays down its head 19 Hansel, don’t be greedy 21 So hopp hopp hopp, galopp lopp lopp 23 The dead arise but cannot see 25 Hansel and Gretel Resources About the Composer 27 Online Resources 28 Additional Resources Reflections after the Opera 30 The Emergence of Opera 31 A Guide to Voice Parts and Families of the Orchestra 35 Glossary 36 References Works Consulted 40 2 An Introduction to Pathways for Understanding Study Materials The goal of Pathways for Understanding materials is to provide multiple “pathways” for learning about a specific opera as well as the operatic art form, and to allow teachers to create lessons that work best for their particular teaching style, subject area, and class of students. Meet the Characters / The Story/ Resources Fostering familiarity with specific operas as well as the operatic art form, these sections describe characters and story, and provide historical context. Guiding questions are included to suggest connections to other subject areas, encourage higher-order thinking, and promote a broader understanding of the opera and its potential significance to other areas of learning. Guided Listening The Guided Listening section highlights key musical moments from the opera and provides areas of focus for listening to each musical excerpt.
    [Show full text]
  • Weisstein, Introduction to the Libretto As Literature
    Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma The Libretto as Literature Author(s): Ulrich Weisstein Source: Books Abroad, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Winter, 1961), pp. 16-22 Published by: Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40115290 Accessed: 12-01-2017 16:07 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Books Abroad This content downloaded from 67.80.80.37 on Thu, 12 Jan 2017 16:07:24 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Libretto as Literature By ULRICH WEISSTEIN ^considering the wealth of operatic ma- their influence has hardly been such as to rt terial hidden in the world's libraries, effect an appreciable change in critical opin- ^^ a disproportionately small amount ion. On the whole, then, we are still faced of scholarship has, so far, gone into its crit- with the situation described by Dent: "The ical evaluation. It seems especially desir- libretto, as a thing in itself, has never re- able that the "ancillary" genre of the libretto ceived the systematic analytical study which should receive fairer treatment both with is its due."4 This is all the more perplexing regard to its dramatic and its poetic quali- since, in a number of notable instances, the ties, for the serious critical attempts to deal collaboration between composer and libret- with this stepchild of literature are few and tist has been exhaustively documented in far between.
    [Show full text]
  • Bach's Cycle, Mozart's Arrow: an Essay on the Origins of Musical
    1b.Berger,Bach's Cycle 5/7/07 3:14 PM Page 45 1 The Arrested Procession Those who heard bach lead performances of his St. Matthew Passion dur- ing Good Friday Vespers at St. Thomas’s in Leipzig in 1727 (and later, in 1729, 1736, and perhaps around 1742) probably had a printed libretto avail- able to them.1 To be sure, this would have included neither the text of the gospel (Matthew 26–27) nor the words of the independent Lutheran chorales that Bach periodically interpolated into the evangelist’s story. But it would have allowed listeners to follow the free poems that framed the story and occasionally punctuated it, as well as the chorale texts (and in the case of No. 30, “Ach, nun ist mein Jesus hin,” at the beginning of Part 2, a verse from the Song of Solomon 6.1) that Bach had intertwined with the free po- ems to form a single dialogical whole.2 No exemplar of such a libretto ac- tually survives, but Carl Friedrich Zelter saw one from 1729 in Berlin a hun- dred years later, when his pupil Mendelssohn famously revived the work, and a libretto of this sort exists for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.3 Moreover, we can get an idea of what the St. Matthew Passion libretto must have looked like from its 1729 Leipzig reprint in a five-volume collection of poetry by the Passion’s librettist, the Leipzig writer Christian Friedrich Henrici, who published under the pen name Picander.4 In this reprint from two years after the première service—where Pican- der would have noticed that Bach opened his Passion with a concerted choral movement—the opening poem is labeled “Aria” and given a “Da Capo” di- rection at the end (Figure 11).
    [Show full text]
  • ROSSINI Tancredi Written by Thomson Smillie Narrated by David Timson
    OPERA EXPLAINED An Introduction t o… ROSSINI Tancredi written by Thomson Smillie narrated by David Timson 8.558121D An Introduction to… ROSSINI Tancredi written by Thomson Smillie • narrated by David Timson Background 1 Introduction: Rossini’s background 3:09 2 Rossini’s operatic overtures 5:42 3 Semiramide and William Tell 4:17 4 Rossini’s career and Tancredi 4:06 Tancredi 5 The plot and the beginning 7:01 6 Virtuosic tenors and Argirio’s aria 5:43 7 Tancredi’s arrival 6:55 8 Recitativo strumentato : Amenaide must obey her father 3:42 9 Duet: Tancredi and Amenaide 5:21 10 Act I: Finale 5:55 11 Act II, Scene 1: Isaura’s aria di sorbetto 4:52 2 12 Amenaide in prison 4:39 13 Tancredi’s victory 3:59 14 Tancredi’s ‘grand scena’ 7:17 15 The happy ending wins 4:56 TT 77:44 Music from Tancredi : Naxos 8.660037–38 Isaura Anna Maria di Micco, mezzo-soprano Argirio Stanford Olsen, tenor Orbazzano Pietro Spagnoli, bass Amenaide Sumi Jo, soprano Tancredi Ewa Podles, mezzo-soprano Capella Brugensis Collegium Instrumentale Brugense Alberto Zedda 3 Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) Tancredi The word ‘opera’ is Latin and means ‘the works’; it represents a synthesis of all the other arts: drama, vocal and orchestral music, dance, light and design. Consequently, it delivers an emotional impact which none of the others can match. The only one of the arts whose origins can be precisely dated, it was ‘invented’ in Italy in 1597 as part of the Renaissance – the rebirth of interest in classical values.
    [Show full text]
  • The Roles of “Mothers” N Opera As Exemplified by Fides (Meyerbeer’S, Le Prophete); Kostelnika (Janaek’S, Jenufa); Mrs
    THE ROLES OF “MOTHERS” N OPERA AS EXEMPLIFIED BY FIDES (MEYERBEER’S, LE PROPHETE); KOSTELNIKA (JANAEK’S, JENUFA); MRS. PATRICK DE ROCHER (HEGGIE’S, DEAD MAN WALKING) by CAROLINE HILDA HARDER B. Mus., Western Washington University, 1989 M. Mus., Western Washington University, 1991 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Voice Performance) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2009 © Caroline Hilda Harder, 2009 ABSTRACT Mothers in operatic piots are mostly absent; when present, they are generally sung by a mezzo-soprano and are considered “supporting” roles. This dissertation attempts to eluci date what led to the scarcity of mothers as important characters in opera, and to the apparent stereotyping of the role with the mezzo-soprano voice type. Chapter 1 introduces the topic, while chapter 2 explores the aesthetics of the singing voice throughout various periods during which the “preferred vocal ideal” changed, as vocal ranges were equated with the personifi cation and stereotyping of certain character types. Influences which affected the evolution of plot paradigms are also investigated. A summary of opera libretti from the seventeenth to the twentieth century supports historical evidence drawn from the above context and identifies the mother characters in these operas (see Appendix A). Chapters 3, 4, and 5 offer three case studies of the treatment of operatic “mothers” who are central to the plot of the operas in which they, respectively, appear: Fids from Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Le Prophète, Kostelniëka from Janáek’s Jenufa, and Mrs.
    [Show full text]