Opera Lectures by Zoom with Ross Alley

“Operatic Angels and Demons” – Summer Series 2021 - 1 -

(Opera lectur es y Zo om)

“Operatic Angels & Demons” (a five-part series)

(This is an ambigram – turn it upside-down and it reads the same) “Operatic Angels and Demons” – Summer Series 2021 - 2 -

What is drama without conflict? Usually, it is “love” that must wrestle with villainy, duplicity, rivalry, honour, or duty but religious or political persecution also engenders extensive emotional strife.

Opera’s nefarious no-gooders (usually basses) are nigh on numberless, beginning with the devil incarnate (Gounod’s Faust, Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust, Boito’s Mefistofele and Rubinstein’s The Demon). Infamous “Honest” Iago calls down the divinities of Hell to wreak vengeance on Otello, the politically corrupt prison governor Don Pizarro wrongfully imprisons his accuser, Florestan (Beethoven’s Fidelio) before attempting to murder him, and a sinister quartet of villains beset Hoffmann in his relationships, usually fatally (Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann). Then there are the lechers from the prurient Podestà (Rossini’s La gazza ladra) to that salacious sadist Scarpia (Puccini’s Tosca) and where do we start with any of the characters in the sordid tale of the mistress-cum-prostitute Lulu whose life is finally, and savagely, severed at the hands of Jack the Ripper (Berg’s Lulu).

Female villains abound too, none more so than the vengeful Queen of the Night (Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte), the aggressively ambitious Abigaille (Verdi’s Nabucco), the powermongering Lady Macbeth (Verdi), a wickedness of witches and sorceresses (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas), Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Ortrud (Wagner’s Lohengrin) and an astounding array of Armidas (Handel, Lully, Vivaldi, Gluck, Haydn, Salieri, Rossini, & Dvořák).

Thankfully, opera’s angels seek to protect the vulnerable, literally flying to the rescue of Hänsel and Gretel alone in the dark, scary forest, or in form of loving fathers (Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra and Luisa Miller) or protectors such as a knight in shining armour (Wagner’s Lohengrin) and the saintly Elisabeth (Wagner’s Tannhäuser).

Tatiana, in her passionate letter to Onegin, writes “Are you the angel of my salvation or hell’s own demon of temptation?” (Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin). To save her father’s life, Luisa is forced by the venal Wurm to renounce her love for the Count’s son Rodolfo in a dictated letter of deceit (Verdi’s Luisa Miller). By contrast, the Countess and Susanna are merely mischievous in their fake letter of assignation to the concupiscent Count Almaviva (Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro).

The plethora of poisons found in opera are a toxicologist’s treasure trove and although many fatal doses are self-administered – Suor Angelica (Puccini), Abigaille “Operatic Angels and Demons” – Summer Series 2021 - 3 -

(Verdi’s Nabucco), Leonora (Verdi’s Il trovatore) Lakmé (Delibes), Sélika (Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine) and Roméo (Gounod) – villainy lurks behind the poisoned violets sent to Adriana Lecouvreur (Cilea), the tainted glass of water (Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra), toxic mushrooms (Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) and infected wine imbibed obliviously by Gennaro & his friends (Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia).

Join me on Fridays for this five-part series of high drama. 7 May: “The Operatic Villain” 14 May: “The Operatic Villainess” 21 May: “The Operatic Protector” 28 May: “The Operatic Letter” 4 June: “Poison and Opera”

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Time and payment details

Time: 2.00-4.00pm, Fridays (a link & password will be sent on Thursday). The talk will be recorded and can also be viewed at your convenience via a second link which will be sent out following the talk.

Payment: £5.00 per talk (by Cheque, Bank Transfer or Paypal). (To reduce my administration considerably, it would be really helpful to send payment of £25.00 for the 5-part series) “Operatic Angels and Demons” – Summer Series 2021 - 4 -

Cheque: made payable to Ross Alley and sent to me at 14A Devonshire Rd, W4 2HD

Bank transfer: Bank: HSBC Name: R L ALLEY (Ross Layton Alley) Sort Code: 40-04-25 Account No: 01520369

PayPal Pay Ross Alley using PayPal.Me

N.B. Please email me after sending payment so that your email address can be added to the list of those who receive the link and password.

For more information please contact: [email protected]

Ross Alley was, for many years, a music lecturer for Birkbeck College (University of London). He has also given numerous guest lectures for the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Wigmore Hall, the Wagner Society, the Gustav Mahler Society, and NADFAS.

reserved.

Our mailing address is: 14a Devonshire Road, Chiswick, London W4 2HD