BEL CANTO Newsletter of the Manatee Opera Guild Early Spring 2021 HAPPENINGS PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Preludes/Prologues The Opera is pleased to present the following introductions to the Winter Season Operas. Please stay tuned for instructions to join these meetings online. Tuesday, 3/30/21 4:00 PM – Il signor Bruschino, Scott Guinn. Reserve here. How sweet it was to get together last month for our first event of the year. We will meet again at the Tuesday, 4/6/21 4:00 PM – Dido & Aeneas, Opera House on April 13th. Look on the last page in Rosanne Martorella, PhD Reserve here. this issue for more information. As more and more of us are vaccinated, I look forward to a reopening of monthly meetings next year. Everyone at our February event was very happy to be back with their Sarasota Opera family. Maestro DeRenzi, Richard Russell, Scott Guinn and Nancy Guyer gave us a very warm welcome and we are so grateful that they opened the Courtyard to us for some socializing, and a beautiful concert by the covers (understudies) of this year’s operas. We were all thrilled by the peformances, and the artists were so grateful to have such an appreciative audience. Our long time member, Virginia Page died in February. Virginia was a dedicated party goer and always attended our Gala and later our Soirée. As a columnist for the Bradenton Herald, Virginia covered the art scene in Bradenton and Sarasota Also, she devoted so much energy to presenting at our Preludes and later as a Greeter, she directed us to the Preludes at the Towers building at Westminster. We received a dear letter from a Youth Opera singer thanking us all for our support of the Youth Opera both as an organization and as individuals. Read it further on in this newsletter. Our unwavering support of the Youth Opera should make us all so Photo by Ky Thompson proud! Opera by the Numbers Ranking of Most Played Composers, 2017 - 2018 by Elizabeth Aversa Composer Number of Have you ever wondered about which operas are most Performances frequently performed, which are the longest and Verdi* 3499 shortest in the repertoire, or where you’ll have to pay Mozart 2357 more than top dollar for a ticket? Have you ever 2313 considered why many aspects of opera come in threes? Puccini The purpose of this column is to explore opera by the DonizeG MenHoned, count numbers and provide links to related music to enjoy not given after delving into a few fun facts and statistics of Rossini MenHoned, count not given interest to opera lovers. Wagner MenHoned, count Operabase, an online source noted as “the reference not given** for opera performances” provides summaries of opera * Listen to Aida - Gloria all' Egitto, Triumphal March seasons around the world, maps of the locations of opera houses across the globe, and an array of Source of ranking: www.operabase.com as reported by interesting statistics. For example, the most performed Opera Lirica di Roma operas are ranked by number of performances. Here **Source of ranking: www.operabase.com are the top five, with a link to an excerpt from an opera The most interesting fact in this data is that all but one on the list. of the most played composers worked in opera’s Ranking of Most Played Titles, 2017-2018 romantic period (1800-1914) while Mozart alone represents the classical period (1750-1820). It is also to Opera Title Composer Number of be noted that Bizet, despite Carmen’s popularity, does Performances not appear on this list. La Traviata Verdi 871 Another fascinating ranking is that of run times of 700 Carmen Bizet operas. People unfamiliar with opera sometimes object Magic Flute Mozart 667 to it on the belief that “operas are just too long.” The La Boheme* Puccini 604 longest opera category is almost – but not quite – owned by composer Richard Wagner. Only Philip Glass 553 Tosca Puccini breaks into the top five longest opera list with Einstein on the Beach, at 4 hours and fifteen minutes. Here are *Listen to La Boheme - Che gelida manina (Rodolfo) & the five longest operas and a link to some music. Si Mi chiamano (Mimi) Ranking of Longest Operas (Longest 5) [Source of ranking: www.operabase.com as reported by Opera Lirica di Roma https://www.operaliricaroma.it/ Opera Title Composer Run Time en/news/ – last accessed 3.6.2021] GöPerdammerüng Wagner 4 hours, 35 minutes One might wonder if the composers of the most Die Meistersinger Wagner 4 hours, 35 minutes frequently performed works are the composers most von Nürnberg often played overall or if there is a variation in the Einstein on the Glass 4 hours, 15 minutes Beach* rankings. A difference might be caused by the volume Siegfried Wagner 4 hours, 10 minutes of a composer’s output, length of his career, and other factors such as size of cast required, difficulty in singing Parsifal Wagner 4 hours, 5 minutes a work, and the cost of a work’s production. This table will answer the question, and a link to music to enjoy *Listen to Einstein on the Beach while studying the statistics is listed below the table. Source of Ranking: www.theopera101.com On the other hand, shorter operas might appeal to some Staatsoper Hamburg listeners. Especially in this time of COVID, when no one wants to spend too long in an opera house or to mix Where will we find the largest number of performances closely with others at intermission, shorter operas are to choose from? The US ranks first with 562 being performed – as they have been here in Sarasota performances and 118 productions in the most recent recently. But just how short can an opera be? The year for which data is available. Germany (497 and 130) following table ranks some of the very shortest operas: and the United Kingdom (370 and 90) are in the top three in number of performances and productions. Opera Title Composer Run Time Austria and Australia complete the top five. [Source of Hin un Zuruck Hindesmith 14 minutes ranking: www.operabase.com – last accessed 3.2.2021] Clemency McMillan 50 minutes Another consideration, as we return to travel for opera, Riders to the Sea R. Vaugn Williams 55 minutes is the cost of tickets. According to Statista Dido & Aeneas Purcell 1 hour (www.statista.com), a fee based business data resource, the most expensive opera tickets in Europe were €430 at Bluebeard’s Bartok 1 hour, 5 minute Salzburg Festival, €320 at Bayreuth Festival, €293 for Castle Bavarian State Opera, and €273 at the Vienna State * Listen to Dido & Aeneas - When I am laid in earth Opera in 2016. Tickets in Italy are available for considerably less. In the US, Met Opera tickets are [Source of Ranking: www.theopera101.com – last available for 2021-2022 from $25 to over $500, accessed 3.2.2021 ] depending on the performance, date, and special When we resume traveling, some of us may wish to visit opportunities such as student or group purchases. important opera houses here and abroad. Where, one What about the significance of specific numbers in may ask, do we find the most opera houses? Which are opera? The number three was considered by the Greek the “best, acoustically speaking? Germany has more philosophers to be a divine number for a variety of opera houses than any other country with 59. Italy and reasons: it signifies all that come in threes – harmony, the US follow closely with 53 and 52 respectively. China wisdom and understanding; past, present, and future; ranks fourth with 30 and France completes the top five the beginning, the middle, and the ending. Visual artists with 27 working opera houses. use threes in their works, and the focus on threes in As to the acoustics of “good” opera houses, in a paper renaissance art has been attributed to the Christian published in the 2016 Proceedings of the International concept of the Trinity. Operas and plays most often have Congress on Acoustics, Calebe Giaculi Júnior and others three acts; trios of characters (e.g., the “love triangle) are reported that both conductors’ rankings and a proposed frequently central to the “story of the opera.” And three index of acoustic measures yielded similar rankings of a has been cited as important to the Freemasons, to which group of renowned opera houses, with the following Mozart and others belonged, and thus the number venues being identified as “good” by both measures: occurs in the works. An interesting discussion can be found in a 2019 Welsh National Opera article at https:// Opera House Locaon wno.org.uk/news/three-is-the-magic-number. Teatro Colón Buenos Aires In sum, numbers mean something in opera, whether we Semperoper Dresden are counting the number of presentations of Verdi’s Teatro alla Scalla Milan operas in a given year, the length of Wagner’s “music dramas,” or the number of women seduced by Don New NaHonal Theater Tokyo Giovanni (1003 in Spain alone!). Listen to the array of Opéra Garnier Paris geographically catalogued conquests in Don Giovanni: Staatsoper Prague “Madamina, il catalogo è questo” Staatsoper Vienna Finally, the number 4 is most important to all of us who love the Sarasota Opera – that is the number of operas Metropolitan Opera New York in the 2021 Winter & Spring Festival! See you at the Festspielhaus Salzburg opera! INTRODUCING LANA MULLEN by Syble DiGirolamo FROM THE YOUTH OPERA Lana Mullen once told me that she is “Thank You Letter a “super organized” person, referring to home, office, travel, and to-do lists Hey! My name is Amy and I have been for every single day.