Girls of the Golden West
August 22, 2016 7:20 AM Subscribe
The San Francisco Opera, in a coproduction with the Dallas Opera, the Dutch National Opera, and Venice's Teatro La Fenice, will premiere Girls of the Golden West in November 2017. The new opera by composer John Adams and librettist Peter Sellars tells the story of "mining camps in the Sierra Mountains during the California Gold Rush of the early 1850’s. The libretto texts are drawn from first hand accounts by Mark Twain, newspaper articles, letters, journals, original Gold Rush song lyrics and political speeches and slogans."
> I do like the idea behind this production. Kinda like a American version of Puccini's Girl from the Golden West (La Fanciulla del West).
The idea's fine, but the name sucks. Why make things even more confusing than they already are? What's next, John Adams's The Magic Flute, followed by his La Traviata?
posted by languagehat at 8:08 AM on August 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
The idea's fine, but the name sucks. Why make things even more confusing than they already are? What's next, John Adams's The Magic Flute, followed by his La Traviata?
posted by languagehat at 8:08 AM on August 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm excited by this. I love John Adams' music, and I love his opera collaborations with Sellars. This might even be worth a trip to San Francisco next year!
The other thing is not just to commission the opera but sign up to put it in rotation at least once more in another 4 years or something.
I think opera companies are really stuck due to the high costs of production, plus reluctance on the part of audiences to come to "new" works. Sadly a substantial portion of opera audiences just want "Carmen" and "La Boheme" over and over.
posted by dnash at 8:16 AM on August 22, 2016 [4 favorites]
The other thing is not just to commission the opera but sign up to put it in rotation at least once more in another 4 years or something.
I think opera companies are really stuck due to the high costs of production, plus reluctance on the part of audiences to come to "new" works. Sadly a substantial portion of opera audiences just want "Carmen" and "La Boheme" over and over.
posted by dnash at 8:16 AM on August 22, 2016 [4 favorites]
composers used to tinker with the opera, both libretti and scores, depending on the reception
Eh, I'm not so sure this was a thing for very long. Yes, it's true that Puccini did this (most famously with Madama Butterfly) but by and large if an opera didn't find favor with the public the composer was likely to simply move on to the next one. This was helped along by the fact that composers typically didn't have any intellectual property rights over their compositions. As a result, there was little incentive for a composer such as Rossini to revise one of his operas, unless he was being paid to do so by some opera house that wanted to mount a revival. But a company would generally speaking only be interested in mounting a revival of an opera that had found popular success, and the composer would only get involved in making revisions if, for example, there was a famous singer who needed an extra or different aria, or if the orchestra had no flute and the important flute solo had to be re-set for a different instrument. In this case, the composer would be hired to make those revisions. Otherwise, there was no financial incentive for the composer to make any changes, and he would instead pursue commissions for new works.
The thing, in my opinion, that has been unfortunate about opera composition starting in the late 19th century is that composers just don't write very many of them. This has resulted in a lot of works that have not been very singable and have not been particularly successful as pieces of staged musicodramatic art. Mozart averaged around one opera per year; Rossini turned out around two operas a year; Donizetti was around an opera per year; Verdi is around one opera every two years, although if you subtract the decade he took off it's more like one opera every year and a half; Wagner was around one opera every three and a half years; Puccini did one opera every four years. Adamo is on pace for around one every six years. This doesn't create very many opportunities to learn from his mistakes. It's also worth of note that, as the length of time between operatic compositions lengthens, so does the number of effectively unsingable roles.
posted by slkinsey at 8:27 AM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
Eh, I'm not so sure this was a thing for very long. Yes, it's true that Puccini did this (most famously with Madama Butterfly) but by and large if an opera didn't find favor with the public the composer was likely to simply move on to the next one. This was helped along by the fact that composers typically didn't have any intellectual property rights over their compositions. As a result, there was little incentive for a composer such as Rossini to revise one of his operas, unless he was being paid to do so by some opera house that wanted to mount a revival. But a company would generally speaking only be interested in mounting a revival of an opera that had found popular success, and the composer would only get involved in making revisions if, for example, there was a famous singer who needed an extra or different aria, or if the orchestra had no flute and the important flute solo had to be re-set for a different instrument. In this case, the composer would be hired to make those revisions. Otherwise, there was no financial incentive for the composer to make any changes, and he would instead pursue commissions for new works.
The thing, in my opinion, that has been unfortunate about opera composition starting in the late 19th century is that composers just don't write very many of them. This has resulted in a lot of works that have not been very singable and have not been particularly successful as pieces of staged musicodramatic art. Mozart averaged around one opera per year; Rossini turned out around two operas a year; Donizetti was around an opera per year; Verdi is around one opera every two years, although if you subtract the decade he took off it's more like one opera every year and a half; Wagner was around one opera every three and a half years; Puccini did one opera every four years. Adamo is on pace for around one every six years. This doesn't create very many opportunities to learn from his mistakes. It's also worth of note that, as the length of time between operatic compositions lengthens, so does the number of effectively unsingable roles.
posted by slkinsey at 8:27 AM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
I was just wondering what happened to Sellars, I saw an outdoors production of a Mozart opera he directed with a contemporary scenario years ago just north of Boston.
posted by sammyo at 8:31 AM on August 22, 2016
posted by sammyo at 8:31 AM on August 22, 2016
You are right about the title. There are so many choices that could help make this a masterpiece. There are so many fragments just in the descriptions, such as, The Feather River, for instance. But then reading the tragic script, The Feather River Nightmare, or Golden Nightmare on the Feather River isn't it either. The naming as is, rings of a barroom, piano, sort of Deadwoodish.
posted by Oyéah at 8:34 AM on August 22, 2016
posted by Oyéah at 8:34 AM on August 22, 2016
New Adams music is always reason to rejoice. I'm excited about this, though his operas are probably my least favorite pieces of his (still love them though).
I do think it's a bummer that there's really a ton of cool new opera these days, but most seem to only be aware of Adams and Glass.
The thing, in my opinion, that has been unfortunate about opera composition starting in the late 19th century is that composers just don't write very many of them. This has resulted in a lot of works that have not been very singable and have not been particularly successful as pieces of staged musicodramatic art.
Not sure what the connection is between time between operas and "singable" bits, unless you're just making the argument that these newfangled modern composers just don't write melodies like they used to darnit.
Mozart wrote 22 variations on the same sort of opera. Of course you can churn out stuff when you're working within a much more confined structure of harmony, melody, content. No one writes 50 or 100 symphonies anymore either. But the symphonies that do get written are entirely different sorts of things than they were 300 years ago.
posted by Lutoslawski at 8:43 AM on August 22, 2016 [5 favorites]
I do think it's a bummer that there's really a ton of cool new opera these days, but most seem to only be aware of Adams and Glass.
The thing, in my opinion, that has been unfortunate about opera composition starting in the late 19th century is that composers just don't write very many of them. This has resulted in a lot of works that have not been very singable and have not been particularly successful as pieces of staged musicodramatic art.
Not sure what the connection is between time between operas and "singable" bits, unless you're just making the argument that these newfangled modern composers just don't write melodies like they used to darnit.
Mozart wrote 22 variations on the same sort of opera. Of course you can churn out stuff when you're working within a much more confined structure of harmony, melody, content. No one writes 50 or 100 symphonies anymore either. But the symphonies that do get written are entirely different sorts of things than they were 300 years ago.
posted by Lutoslawski at 8:43 AM on August 22, 2016 [5 favorites]
Co-commissioning of new operas means that the work is seen more places, produced by different houses. And even if they are using the same physical production and director, there will be variations in the cast, conductor, and almost certainly the chorus, orchestra, and crew will be completely different.
The act of revising and tinkering with the score between this different runs is also still alive. As an example Nico Muhly's Two Boys premiered at ENO in 2011, he revised the scored, and then it was performed in 2013 by the co-commissioner, The Metropolitan Opera. The CD recording of the work was made by the second house.
Bel Canto was not rushed to production; the commission was announced in 2012. It had workshops that led to revisions starting in July 2014 (the premiere was eventually December 2015). If it had been a co-production and had already been scheduled to play at other houses, there'd be that more immediate motivation to work on it further, if the creators felt it necessary.
posted by mountmccabe at 8:46 AM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
The act of revising and tinkering with the score between this different runs is also still alive. As an example Nico Muhly's Two Boys premiered at ENO in 2011, he revised the scored, and then it was performed in 2013 by the co-commissioner, The Metropolitan Opera. The CD recording of the work was made by the second house.
Bel Canto was not rushed to production; the commission was announced in 2012. It had workshops that led to revisions starting in July 2014 (the premiere was eventually December 2015). If it had been a co-production and had already been scheduled to play at other houses, there'd be that more immediate motivation to work on it further, if the creators felt it necessary.
posted by mountmccabe at 8:46 AM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
And I'm really looking forward to this. Seeing a copy of Nixon in China in a CD shop blew my mind many years ago, and completely opened up my idea of what opera was. I was getting deeply into classical music in general but had mostly dismissed opera as old-fashioned and dead, not realizing that it wasn't all lost in giant wigs and fancy dresses. Here was a recently composed opera about something that happened just before I was born!
With this, the Ring, Elektra, A Quiet Place, and more* I am really looking forward to the 2017-18 season, especially after a less-inspiring 16-17 (that I will still see most of).
This will be the 7th world premiere for San Francisco opera in 6 years, the others being Heart of a Soldier (2011), The Secret Garden (2013), The Gospel of Mary Magdalene (2013), Dolores Claiborne (2013), La Ciociara (2015), and opening in a few weeks, Dream of the Red Chamber.
* to be clear, these may be taken as rumors; the season has not been announced
posted by mountmccabe at 9:00 AM on August 22, 2016
With this, the Ring, Elektra, A Quiet Place, and more* I am really looking forward to the 2017-18 season, especially after a less-inspiring 16-17 (that I will still see most of).
This will be the 7th world premiere for San Francisco opera in 6 years, the others being Heart of a Soldier (2011), The Secret Garden (2013), The Gospel of Mary Magdalene (2013), Dolores Claiborne (2013), La Ciociara (2015), and opening in a few weeks, Dream of the Red Chamber.
* to be clear, these may be taken as rumors; the season has not been announced
posted by mountmccabe at 9:00 AM on August 22, 2016
unless you're just making the argument that these newfangled modern composers just don't write melodies like they used to darnit.
I think for a not-insignificant portion of the opera audience, that is indeed a big issue. When Verdi and Puccini were writing, their works were the "pop music hits" of their day. As 20th century composers veered further and further into atonality, not all of the music/opera audience went with them.
If Adams and Glass are getting a disproportionate share of the new opera attention, I think maybe it's because their music manages to bridge a gap between the "difficult" music world and the more accessible melodic world. I can't speak for many other opera composers, since I admit I haven't heard many of them, but I know for me personally, the first time I heard Adams' "Harmonium" and the orchestral interlude for the landing of Air Force 1 from "Nixon in China," they were revelatory to me because I felt like "I didn't know people wrote music like this now." I really thought most/all "contemporary" composers were Schoenberg-esque atonal dissonance.
posted by dnash at 9:06 AM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
I think for a not-insignificant portion of the opera audience, that is indeed a big issue. When Verdi and Puccini were writing, their works were the "pop music hits" of their day. As 20th century composers veered further and further into atonality, not all of the music/opera audience went with them.
If Adams and Glass are getting a disproportionate share of the new opera attention, I think maybe it's because their music manages to bridge a gap between the "difficult" music world and the more accessible melodic world. I can't speak for many other opera composers, since I admit I haven't heard many of them, but I know for me personally, the first time I heard Adams' "Harmonium" and the orchestral interlude for the landing of Air Force 1 from "Nixon in China," they were revelatory to me because I felt like "I didn't know people wrote music like this now." I really thought most/all "contemporary" composers were Schoenberg-esque atonal dissonance.
posted by dnash at 9:06 AM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
Not sure what the connection is between time between operas and "singable" bits
I mean roles that are capable of being fully executed by singers. Just to make one famous example, the role of Tristan is notoriously impossible for a singer to do optimally for an entire uncut performance. Many modern composers, simply because they don't really understand how the voice works, have written roles that are not felicitous for the voice instrument. This may be for a variety of reasons. . . sometimes the orchestration is too loud and the voice wears down over the course of the performance; sometimes the vocal writing may call for the singer to spend lots of time and energy in a pitch range that is particularly straining for the type of voice the role requires; sometimes the notes leading up to a big moment may radically increase the difficulty of hitting the important high note; sometimes the important high note may be on the "ee" vowel; sometimes the composer may think that, because a voice type is supposed to be able to hit a high C, it's okay to write a page and a half of high Cs for that role; and so on. (I'm not saying any of this is the case with Adamo, I should hasten to add.) The point I was making is that there was a certain point at which composers increasingly started writing for "the voice they hear in their heads" rather than for certain singers or within certain well understood, albeit constantly evolving, principles about how to write for the voice. This has resulted in bad vocal writing. As for the melodies, there is likely no reason whatsoever that these same composers couldn't have written more singable roles that were still within their distinctive musical vocabularies.
posted by slkinsey at 9:08 AM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
I mean roles that are capable of being fully executed by singers. Just to make one famous example, the role of Tristan is notoriously impossible for a singer to do optimally for an entire uncut performance. Many modern composers, simply because they don't really understand how the voice works, have written roles that are not felicitous for the voice instrument. This may be for a variety of reasons. . . sometimes the orchestration is too loud and the voice wears down over the course of the performance; sometimes the vocal writing may call for the singer to spend lots of time and energy in a pitch range that is particularly straining for the type of voice the role requires; sometimes the notes leading up to a big moment may radically increase the difficulty of hitting the important high note; sometimes the important high note may be on the "ee" vowel; sometimes the composer may think that, because a voice type is supposed to be able to hit a high C, it's okay to write a page and a half of high Cs for that role; and so on. (I'm not saying any of this is the case with Adamo, I should hasten to add.) The point I was making is that there was a certain point at which composers increasingly started writing for "the voice they hear in their heads" rather than for certain singers or within certain well understood, albeit constantly evolving, principles about how to write for the voice. This has resulted in bad vocal writing. As for the melodies, there is likely no reason whatsoever that these same composers couldn't have written more singable roles that were still within their distinctive musical vocabularies.
posted by slkinsey at 9:08 AM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Verdi and Puccini were writing, their works were the "pop music hits" of their day
Eh... not so much as you might think.
posted by slkinsey at 9:09 AM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Eh... not so much as you might think.
posted by slkinsey at 9:09 AM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Cast: “Dame Shirley” pen name of Louise Smith Clappe (soprano). Arrives in California from Massachusetts with her young physician husband. After a short stay in San Francisco the couple has traveled to the Sierra Mountains to live in Rich Bar, a mining camp on the Feather River.
If you haven't read the Dame Shirley letters, you're missing an absolute treat. She gives some really entertaining first-hand accounts of being one of the only (white, incredibly privileged) women in the gold camps.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:18 AM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
If you haven't read the Dame Shirley letters, you're missing an absolute treat. She gives some really entertaining first-hand accounts of being one of the only (white, incredibly privileged) women in the gold camps.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:18 AM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
Not sure I buy that slkinsey. There are plenty of modern vocal works being commissioned by performers and performing companies, and they're perfectly singable, but opera is just on another scale in terms of how much is effort and money is needed to put one on so it isn't something within the abilities of most groups to do. Large symphonies and operas just aren't the main avenue of modern art music since the audience in any given locale generally isn't consistent enough to risk big budget productions. Grant money isn't remotely enough to make up the difference in most cases, so the amount of commissions for full operas are few and will often go to composers like Adams with a following and proven track record.
posted by gusottertrout at 9:22 AM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by gusottertrout at 9:22 AM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
The point I was making is that there was a certain point at which composers increasingly started writing for "the voice they hear in their heads" rather than for certain singers or within certain well understood, albeit constantly evolving, principles about how to write for the voice.
Eh, I take your point, but 'constantly evolving' is the key here. You can find a singer these days capable of almost any crazy vocal feat you want to write, and I think that's awesome. When Stravinsky wrote the opening lines of Rite of Spring, everybody thought the bassoon part was far too high to be reasonably possible for most players; now it's standard orchestra audition rep for any bassoon player auditioning for anything. Music works this way. You push, you find players to meet you.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:22 AM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Eh, I take your point, but 'constantly evolving' is the key here. You can find a singer these days capable of almost any crazy vocal feat you want to write, and I think that's awesome. When Stravinsky wrote the opening lines of Rite of Spring, everybody thought the bassoon part was far too high to be reasonably possible for most players; now it's standard orchestra audition rep for any bassoon player auditioning for anything. Music works this way. You push, you find players to meet you.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:22 AM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
I love opera from the 20th century forward, or at least I love to see it performed. Is there a calendar or website that follows new music like this? If I was traveling somewhere, I'd plan dates around performances if I knew of their existence. I don't always know the options for new music in different cities.
posted by readery at 9:32 AM on August 22, 2016
posted by readery at 9:32 AM on August 22, 2016
unless you're just making the argument that these newfangled modern composers just don't write melodies like they used to darnit.
Could the language have something to do with it? My impression is that English is one of the least opera-compliant.
posted by rhizome at 9:36 AM on August 22, 2016
Could the language have something to do with it? My impression is that English is one of the least opera-compliant.
posted by rhizome at 9:36 AM on August 22, 2016
gusottertrout: I know there are reasons why composers don't write operatic works as often as they used to. I'm simply pointing out that this affords them fewer chances to learn what does/doesn't work. Donizetti premiered twenty-five operas over a period of around a decade before he produced his first "great opera," Anna Bolena, and he learned a lot by doing that. This is of course not possible today, but it's too bad.
Lutoslawski: I would dispute that you can find singers capable of singing "almost any crazy vocal feat" the composer writes today. You can find singers willing to try, though. I would also point out that "capable of hitting the notes" and "capable of executing in a pleasing manner" are not the same thing. And this is part of the deal: Sure, you might find a tenor willing to try or capable of singing page after page of notes lying between high A and high D over a thick orchestration. But can you find one with a voice that people want to listen to and, more to the point, does that page result in something that audiences want to hear? Frequently the answers to these questions is "no" and the piece goes by the wayside after the commissioned performances are finished.
posted by slkinsey at 9:37 AM on August 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
Lutoslawski: I would dispute that you can find singers capable of singing "almost any crazy vocal feat" the composer writes today. You can find singers willing to try, though. I would also point out that "capable of hitting the notes" and "capable of executing in a pleasing manner" are not the same thing. And this is part of the deal: Sure, you might find a tenor willing to try or capable of singing page after page of notes lying between high A and high D over a thick orchestration. But can you find one with a voice that people want to listen to and, more to the point, does that page result in something that audiences want to hear? Frequently the answers to these questions is "no" and the piece goes by the wayside after the commissioned performances are finished.
posted by slkinsey at 9:37 AM on August 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
I love opera from the 20th century forward, or at least I love to see it performed. Is there a calendar or website that follows new music like this? If I was traveling somewhere, I'd plan dates around performances if I knew of their existence. I don't always know the options for new music in different cities.
Operabase has a New & Rare that lists premieres and infrequently performed pieces, though they don't have season information for every company (and everything for 2016-17 isn't in yet). The bottom has a chronological list of world premieres for the season.
There are only 17 world premiers on that list for 16/17, but it is not yet complete. They have 87 for 15/16, and 110 for 14/15.
posted by mountmccabe at 9:39 AM on August 22, 2016 [5 favorites]
Operabase has a New & Rare that lists premieres and infrequently performed pieces, though they don't have season information for every company (and everything for 2016-17 isn't in yet). The bottom has a chronological list of world premieres for the season.
There are only 17 world premiers on that list for 16/17, but it is not yet complete. They have 87 for 15/16, and 110 for 14/15.
posted by mountmccabe at 9:39 AM on August 22, 2016 [5 favorites]
English is one of the least opera-compliant.
Get to know the wonderful operas of Benjamin Britten! Returning to my earlier point, however, Britten had the notable advantage of extensive experience in writing for the voice and, not for nothing, the great advantage of the fact that he wrote most of his leading tenor roles for his lover, Peter Pears.
posted by slkinsey at 9:39 AM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
Get to know the wonderful operas of Benjamin Britten! Returning to my earlier point, however, Britten had the notable advantage of extensive experience in writing for the voice and, not for nothing, the great advantage of the fact that he wrote most of his leading tenor roles for his lover, Peter Pears.
posted by slkinsey at 9:39 AM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
Operabase has a New & Rare that lists premieres and infrequently performed pieces
Thank you! Someday someone will do Doctor Atomic again, and that day will be a great day.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 9:56 AM on August 22, 2016
Thank you! Someday someone will do Doctor Atomic again, and that day will be a great day.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 9:56 AM on August 22, 2016
What's next, John Adams's The Magic Flute, followed by his La Traviata?
No, The Magic Flute with libretto by Vaginal Davis and music by Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu.
posted by larrybob at 10:05 AM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
No, The Magic Flute with libretto by Vaginal Davis and music by Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu.
posted by larrybob at 10:05 AM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Get to know the wonderful operas of Benjamin Britten!
I'm no buff, but I do know it's possible! :) However, 40 years of output in a 400 year old discipline means it's still a rarefied skill. Not being a buff I didn't mention this lightly, it comes from something I read (probably in Michael Chanan's "Musica Practica") that discussed the phonemes of English not comporting to operatic singing very well, what I interpreted as a "words ending in 'T'" problem.
posted by rhizome at 10:07 AM on August 22, 2016
I'm no buff, but I do know it's possible! :) However, 40 years of output in a 400 year old discipline means it's still a rarefied skill. Not being a buff I didn't mention this lightly, it comes from something I read (probably in Michael Chanan's "Musica Practica") that discussed the phonemes of English not comporting to operatic singing very well, what I interpreted as a "words ending in 'T'" problem.
posted by rhizome at 10:07 AM on August 22, 2016
Okay, I can roughly agree with the idea modern composers don't have much experience with long form vocal works like opera, so there certainly would be something of a learning curve involved in regards to the demands associated with the length, I just couldn't agree that they'd have a problem writing for vocals in and of themselves since there are so many shorter pieces that show it isn't a problem in terms of difficulty in structure or demand.
Regarding the title of Adams opera, it seems fairly evident that he's making an intentional contrast with the Puccini opera, removing much of the romance of the earlier piece, so the title would be just adding some emphasis on the connection. I'm assuming, or maybe hoping, that he'll also be following up on some of the ideas from Scheherazade 2, of which he said:
"So I was suddenly struck by the idea of a “dramatic symphony” in which the principal character role is taken by the solo violin—and she would be Scheherazade. While not having an actual story line or plot, the symphony follows a set of provocative images: a beautiful young woman with grit and personal power; a pursuit by “true believers;” a love scene which is both violent and tender; a scene in which she is tried by a court of religious zealots (“Scheherazade and the Men with Beards”), during which the men argue doctrine among themselves and rage and shout at her only to have her calmly respond to their accusations); and a final “escape, flight and sanctuary” which must be the archetypal dream of any woman importuned by a man or men."
The music for that piece is in a more expressive vein than that of Doctor Atomic or others of his more minimalist influenced works and is worth a listen. There's an excerpt of the piece on Adam's website which is also where the above quote came from.
Given the synopsis of Girls of the Golden West, it sounds like another look at masculinity run rampant, so perhaps the the musical ideas for the work found some seed in Scheherazade 2 too.
posted by gusottertrout at 10:11 AM on August 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
Regarding the title of Adams opera, it seems fairly evident that he's making an intentional contrast with the Puccini opera, removing much of the romance of the earlier piece, so the title would be just adding some emphasis on the connection. I'm assuming, or maybe hoping, that he'll also be following up on some of the ideas from Scheherazade 2, of which he said:
"So I was suddenly struck by the idea of a “dramatic symphony” in which the principal character role is taken by the solo violin—and she would be Scheherazade. While not having an actual story line or plot, the symphony follows a set of provocative images: a beautiful young woman with grit and personal power; a pursuit by “true believers;” a love scene which is both violent and tender; a scene in which she is tried by a court of religious zealots (“Scheherazade and the Men with Beards”), during which the men argue doctrine among themselves and rage and shout at her only to have her calmly respond to their accusations); and a final “escape, flight and sanctuary” which must be the archetypal dream of any woman importuned by a man or men."
The music for that piece is in a more expressive vein than that of Doctor Atomic or others of his more minimalist influenced works and is worth a listen. There's an excerpt of the piece on Adam's website which is also where the above quote came from.
Given the synopsis of Girls of the Golden West, it sounds like another look at masculinity run rampant, so perhaps the the musical ideas for the work found some seed in Scheherazade 2 too.
posted by gusottertrout at 10:11 AM on August 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
One of my very favorite operas is Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell. It premiered around 1689, with an English-language libretto by Nahum Tate. Opera written in English has a long history, even if there aren't nearly as many operas as in Italian and some other languages.
And Britten died 40 years ago. Peter Grimes, one of his most popular operas, is over 70 years old now.
posted by mountmccabe at 10:30 AM on August 22, 2016
And Britten died 40 years ago. Peter Grimes, one of his most popular operas, is over 70 years old now.
posted by mountmccabe at 10:30 AM on August 22, 2016
And he was active for ~40yrs. My curiosity was about technical issues in English opera that affect its melodicism and whatnot, but I suppose we're on the brink of derail by this point.
posted by rhizome at 10:39 AM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by rhizome at 10:39 AM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm just psyched that the Calgary Opera is doing another production of Filumena (by Estacio, libretto by Murrell) this season, after commissioning and premiereing it in 2002. Apparently by popular demand, which is even better.
It's based on the true story of the only woman ever hanged in Alberta, a bootlegger in the Crowsnest Pass during Prohibition convicted of shooting a police officer. She was part of the Italian immigrant community, so it's 1/3 Italian and 2/3 English. And it has bagpipes.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 11:12 AM on August 22, 2016
It's based on the true story of the only woman ever hanged in Alberta, a bootlegger in the Crowsnest Pass during Prohibition convicted of shooting a police officer. She was part of the Italian immigrant community, so it's 1/3 Italian and 2/3 English. And it has bagpipes.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 11:12 AM on August 22, 2016
rhizome: Not being a buff I didn't mention this lightly, it comes from something I read (probably in Michael Chanan's "Musica Practica") that discussed the phonemes of English not comporting to operatic singing very well, what I interpreted as a "words ending in 'T'" problem.
Yea, I'm not so sure I buy this hypothesis. Certainly German, for example, has plenty of words that end in difficult consonants, and don't even get me started on trying to sing in Czech. The issue is probably just that English lends itself to a different musical vocabulary for opera, and this is not a vocabulary that has been extensively explored and ramified in the way that it was for opera in other languages -- certainly not before the 20th century. Italian opera, for example, has a certain feel to it that is different from French opera, which is different from German opera which is different from Russian opera and so on. Some of this is attributable to different national styles and traditions, of course, and it's worth pointing out that French and German composers made a concerted effort to develop their own national operatic styles. But some of it is probably attributable to differences in language which, in turn, informed and guided some of the development of those national styles. A big part of the reason there isn't much English-language opera of the highest quality, in my opinion, is because opera and operatic composing just wasn't a big part of the compositional scene in English-speaking countries for some time. These countries may have consumed plenty of opera, but they tended to do it in the styles and languages of other countries. Also, because opera was invented in Italy, for quite some time it was viewed as something that should always be done in Italian. A perfect example might be G. F. Handel, a German composer who wrote Italian-language operas for the King's Theatre in London. Anyway, the huge popularity of foreign-language opera in England meant that there just wasn't much demand for English-language opera until quite late in the game. Nevertheless, there are still gems among the works of Michael Balfe, Arthur Sullivan, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Igor Stravinski, Carlisle Floyd, Douglas Moore, et al. More puzzling is the complete dearth of significant opera in Spanish, which is certainly as singable as French and Italian, and Spain is right next door to those important operatic countries.
gusottertrout: I can roughly agree with the idea modern composers don't have much experience with long form vocal works like opera, so there certainly would be something of a learning curve involved in regards to the demands associated with the length, I just couldn't agree that they'd have a problem writing for vocals in and of themselves since there are so many shorter pieces that show it isn't a problem in terms of difficulty in structure or demand.
The thing about singing is that it's not just an art, it's also a sport. When we speak of short-form pieces for voice, we are speaking of art song or other chamber pieces for the most part. The vocal demands of this kind of writing are simply not comparable to the vocal demands of a large-scale, fully orchestrated piece for the stage. Moreover, many of the things that make for effective expressions on the stage -- viz. loud singing, fast singing, sustained high notes, etc. -- come across as somewhat vulgar in the salon. Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann and Hugo Wolf were all masters of short-form pieces for the voice, but not one of them was able to write opera worth a damn. Meanwhile, while some composers mostly known for writing opera have turned out reasonably good art songs, none of them was really a master in that genre.
posted by slkinsey at 12:01 PM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
Yea, I'm not so sure I buy this hypothesis. Certainly German, for example, has plenty of words that end in difficult consonants, and don't even get me started on trying to sing in Czech. The issue is probably just that English lends itself to a different musical vocabulary for opera, and this is not a vocabulary that has been extensively explored and ramified in the way that it was for opera in other languages -- certainly not before the 20th century. Italian opera, for example, has a certain feel to it that is different from French opera, which is different from German opera which is different from Russian opera and so on. Some of this is attributable to different national styles and traditions, of course, and it's worth pointing out that French and German composers made a concerted effort to develop their own national operatic styles. But some of it is probably attributable to differences in language which, in turn, informed and guided some of the development of those national styles. A big part of the reason there isn't much English-language opera of the highest quality, in my opinion, is because opera and operatic composing just wasn't a big part of the compositional scene in English-speaking countries for some time. These countries may have consumed plenty of opera, but they tended to do it in the styles and languages of other countries. Also, because opera was invented in Italy, for quite some time it was viewed as something that should always be done in Italian. A perfect example might be G. F. Handel, a German composer who wrote Italian-language operas for the King's Theatre in London. Anyway, the huge popularity of foreign-language opera in England meant that there just wasn't much demand for English-language opera until quite late in the game. Nevertheless, there are still gems among the works of Michael Balfe, Arthur Sullivan, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Igor Stravinski, Carlisle Floyd, Douglas Moore, et al. More puzzling is the complete dearth of significant opera in Spanish, which is certainly as singable as French and Italian, and Spain is right next door to those important operatic countries.
gusottertrout: I can roughly agree with the idea modern composers don't have much experience with long form vocal works like opera, so there certainly would be something of a learning curve involved in regards to the demands associated with the length, I just couldn't agree that they'd have a problem writing for vocals in and of themselves since there are so many shorter pieces that show it isn't a problem in terms of difficulty in structure or demand.
The thing about singing is that it's not just an art, it's also a sport. When we speak of short-form pieces for voice, we are speaking of art song or other chamber pieces for the most part. The vocal demands of this kind of writing are simply not comparable to the vocal demands of a large-scale, fully orchestrated piece for the stage. Moreover, many of the things that make for effective expressions on the stage -- viz. loud singing, fast singing, sustained high notes, etc. -- come across as somewhat vulgar in the salon. Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann and Hugo Wolf were all masters of short-form pieces for the voice, but not one of them was able to write opera worth a damn. Meanwhile, while some composers mostly known for writing opera have turned out reasonably good art songs, none of them was really a master in that genre.
posted by slkinsey at 12:01 PM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
something I read (probably in Michael Chanan's "Musica Practica") that discussed the phonemes of English not comporting to operatic singing very well,
(cue that scene in Amadeus where the Kappellmeister tries to insist Mozart should write an opera in Italian because "German is - scusate - too bruta for singing, too rough.")
posted by dnash at 12:45 PM on August 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
(cue that scene in Amadeus where the Kappellmeister tries to insist Mozart should write an opera in Italian because "German is - scusate - too bruta for singing, too rough.")
posted by dnash at 12:45 PM on August 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
Slkinsey, sure, but the composers of my acquaintance, mostly Canadian I admit, are well aware of these things too. The better known of them have written music for many different arrangements of players and singers, from full symphony orchestras to small chamber groups and more unusual experimental collaborations in western and non-western music. While I'm sure there would be some added learning involved in study and talking with the performers and so on, it isn't something beyond their abilities to comprehend or to write, of that I am certain. Now if the measure is their being the equal of Britten or even Adams on their first attempt or something, no, of course that's unlikely and far too much to ask as I'm sure you'll agree.
So the question is what a reasonable measure of success would be and if they could achieve that. I firmly believe that many of the better composers today could write operas of at least solid local acclaim, assuming they had the time to focus on it and that their collaborators were their equals in ability. But as we know there is little chance to find out as the market isn't there and the composers work on things they can paid for. I just don't think it's true that modern composers aren't up to the task, as you say they just don't have the opportunities.
posted by gusottertrout at 1:50 PM on August 22, 2016
So the question is what a reasonable measure of success would be and if they could achieve that. I firmly believe that many of the better composers today could write operas of at least solid local acclaim, assuming they had the time to focus on it and that their collaborators were their equals in ability. But as we know there is little chance to find out as the market isn't there and the composers work on things they can paid for. I just don't think it's true that modern composers aren't up to the task, as you say they just don't have the opportunities.
posted by gusottertrout at 1:50 PM on August 22, 2016
I just don't think it's true that modern composers aren't up to the task, as you say they just don't have the opportunities.
Right. I don't mean to say that there aren't any composers out there who have a good sense of how to write for the voice, or that none of them are conscientious about consulting with singers and modifying their writing if it is not suitable (no less than Verdi was known to send drafts of his work to the contemplated singer to make sure it suited). I'm sure there are a number of composers out there who could potentially be great operatic composers if the opportunities were there and they had a chance to grow and learn in that genre. The point I'm making is that, if more composers had more opportunities to write large-scale operatic works and thereby learn how to write for the voice, learn what kinds of things contribute to popular and artistic success, and develop their compositional and dramatic voices in this medium, we would start to see more first quality new operatic compositions being produced. I should probably add that it's not just "writing for the voice" that matters. One thing that frequently frustrates me about modern operatic compositions is when the chosen subject matter isn't suitable for operatic treatment. I don't think too many composers would argue that, if they had the chance to write ten operas in ten years and see them produced, the tenth one wouldn't be a lot better than the first one. Anyway, the lack of these developmental opportunities has been a hurdle for composers, and in my opinion this has contributed to the fact that practically no truly great operas have been produced since, arguably, the 1960s. Writing good opera is hard.
posted by slkinsey at 2:48 PM on August 22, 2016
Right. I don't mean to say that there aren't any composers out there who have a good sense of how to write for the voice, or that none of them are conscientious about consulting with singers and modifying their writing if it is not suitable (no less than Verdi was known to send drafts of his work to the contemplated singer to make sure it suited). I'm sure there are a number of composers out there who could potentially be great operatic composers if the opportunities were there and they had a chance to grow and learn in that genre. The point I'm making is that, if more composers had more opportunities to write large-scale operatic works and thereby learn how to write for the voice, learn what kinds of things contribute to popular and artistic success, and develop their compositional and dramatic voices in this medium, we would start to see more first quality new operatic compositions being produced. I should probably add that it's not just "writing for the voice" that matters. One thing that frequently frustrates me about modern operatic compositions is when the chosen subject matter isn't suitable for operatic treatment. I don't think too many composers would argue that, if they had the chance to write ten operas in ten years and see them produced, the tenth one wouldn't be a lot better than the first one. Anyway, the lack of these developmental opportunities has been a hurdle for composers, and in my opinion this has contributed to the fact that practically no truly great operas have been produced since, arguably, the 1960s. Writing good opera is hard.
posted by slkinsey at 2:48 PM on August 22, 2016
On that I agree. I somewhat suspect it might be more challenging to find a good librettist than a good composer nowadays. Subject matter is difficult and tricky, with splashy staging seeming to demand ever greater emphasis, but that doesn't even matter if you can't find someone who can write well to begin with. There's just so much bad writing out there in the performing arts world.
posted by gusottertrout at 3:20 PM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by gusottertrout at 3:20 PM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Title's all wrong. They should have just gone with The Golden Girls!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:54 PM on August 22, 2016
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:54 PM on August 22, 2016
practically no truly great operas have been produced since, arguably, the 1960s
I've misunderstood a few of the points being made here, by in large because I'm just working from a very different assessment of the state of opera. I really like a lot of contemporary work. I think there's a lot of great, expressive writing for English, too.
I am sure that if there were more operas created, there'd be more good and great ones, but there'd also be more discarded ones. It's easy to look back on some point in the past and pick out what we currently see as masterpieces (though nothing is universal), in part because we don't care about the hundreds of operas written at the same time that are forgotten or have niche interest now.
Donizetti didn't turn out hit after hit after Anna Bolena, only about 25% of his output after Bolena has much attention today. (33 operas had at least 1 performance in 2014/15, only 10 had more than 10 performances worldwide. Only 3 had more than 100).
Wagner, Puccini, and Strauss are all composers that had just a few less well regarded works before going on a run of works that are still well known and frequently performed. They did not need to create dozens of operas before figuring it out. They worked differently from Donizetti, Rossini, and others of the time.
posted by mountmccabe at 5:01 PM on August 22, 2016
I've misunderstood a few of the points being made here, by in large because I'm just working from a very different assessment of the state of opera. I really like a lot of contemporary work. I think there's a lot of great, expressive writing for English, too.
I am sure that if there were more operas created, there'd be more good and great ones, but there'd also be more discarded ones. It's easy to look back on some point in the past and pick out what we currently see as masterpieces (though nothing is universal), in part because we don't care about the hundreds of operas written at the same time that are forgotten or have niche interest now.
Donizetti didn't turn out hit after hit after Anna Bolena, only about 25% of his output after Bolena has much attention today. (33 operas had at least 1 performance in 2014/15, only 10 had more than 10 performances worldwide. Only 3 had more than 100).
Wagner, Puccini, and Strauss are all composers that had just a few less well regarded works before going on a run of works that are still well known and frequently performed. They did not need to create dozens of operas before figuring it out. They worked differently from Donizetti, Rossini, and others of the time.
posted by mountmccabe at 5:01 PM on August 22, 2016
I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if someone had forced Wagner, Puccini, and Strauss to write an opera or more a year. They would have produced entirely different material, learning mostly how to write as quickly as possible, rather than creating the carefully wrought masterpieces they produced.
posted by mountmccabe at 5:17 PM on August 22, 2016
posted by mountmccabe at 5:17 PM on August 22, 2016
It's absolutely true that there would be more discarded operas if more operas were being composed. As for Wagner, Strauss and Puccini... they wrote an opera an average of once every 3.5 to 4 years. That's not at the same pace as Donizetti, but it's still a pretty fair amount of production. Meanwhile, who is to say what their later works might have been like if they had each composed and mounted eight or ten operas in the first decade of their careers? Perhaps, if nothing else, some of Wagner's and Strauss's roles would have been written in a way that was more felicitous to the voice. A major advantage that these composers have that today's composers do not, is working within culture in which large-scale staged compositions for the voice were being actively composed and produced.
posted by slkinsey at 5:52 PM on August 22, 2016
posted by slkinsey at 5:52 PM on August 22, 2016
Many other composers wrote music that is easier to sing, perform, and stage. Thankfully Wagner and Strauss did not concern themselves with such limits and allowed themselves to create the emotional, expressive works that they did.
I'm not sure of the point of these composing rates any more, but Girls of the Golden West will be the 8th opera premiered by John Adams over a span of 30 years, which is the same rate as Wagner, Strauss, and Puccini.
And since I don't know 3 of his 7 already completed operas, I will acquaint myself with them over the next fifteen months!
posted by mountmccabe at 7:19 PM on August 22, 2016
I'm not sure of the point of these composing rates any more, but Girls of the Golden West will be the 8th opera premiered by John Adams over a span of 30 years, which is the same rate as Wagner, Strauss, and Puccini.
And since I don't know 3 of his 7 already completed operas, I will acquaint myself with them over the next fifteen months!
posted by mountmccabe at 7:19 PM on August 22, 2016
Someday someone will do Doctor Atomic again, and that day will be a great day.
Someday...
...someday....
posted by LooseFilter at 7:36 PM on August 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
Someday...
...someday....
posted by LooseFilter at 7:36 PM on August 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
Mountmccabe, yes, for me, the idea of there not being any recent "great" operas is as much due to the fact people don't or can't see many modern operas as anything else. There is little chance to built consensus for works that were produced if few get the opportunity to see them due to their limited runs. Match that with the larger cultural disinterest in modern art music and there just isn't much chance for many operas to develop as they once would have. I have no idea what I've missed out on in terms of recent music since even keeping track of it all, much less hearing it, is so difficult without the kind of wide support that can allow new popular music to spread so rapidly.
posted by gusottertrout at 1:41 AM on August 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by gusottertrout at 1:41 AM on August 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
I try to listen to new opera when I can, and to attend whatever is being performed in NYC. As mountmccabe pointed out, back in the 19th century and into the early part of the 20th century there was a huge volume of opera being composed and produced, a small percentage of which turned out to be enduring masterpieces. Now there is a very small amount of opera being composed and produced, and I'm unsure that we have any reason to believe that the percentages should have changed all that much. This has resulted in a situation in which, in my subjective opinion, there haven't been any truly great operas in quite some time, which is exactly what the percentages would predict. Works such as Little Women and The Ghosts of Versailles and The Great Gatsby and Haroun and the Sea of Stories and Einstein on the Beach and so on, belong in the "hall of very good" but not necessary the "hall of all-time greats." I just don't hear a piece I'd enshrine alongside Otello and Tristan und Isolde and Lucia di Lammermoor and Don Giovanni among these compositions. Others may differ. For me, anyway, this doesn't have much to do with not liking challenging musical idioms. I love Moses und Aron and Wozzeck, for example (both these pieces are now almost 100 years old, but still quite challenging for most listeners).
posted by slkinsey at 5:36 AM on August 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by slkinsey at 5:36 AM on August 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
This is great news ... and
news has a kind of mystery...
posted by wittgenstein at 9:56 AM on August 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
news has a kind of mystery...
posted by wittgenstein at 9:56 AM on August 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
I initially read the lede as "[the opera] tells the story of miming camps in the Sierra Mountains ..." And that's all I have to say about that.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 1:58 PM on August 23, 2016
posted by DrAstroZoom at 1:58 PM on August 23, 2016
I'd really like to see this one. I enjoyed The Ballad of Baby Doe very much last month, and plan to see La Fanciulla del West this fall, so it would be fun to add another mining-related opera.
posted by asperity at 11:18 AM on August 24, 2016
posted by asperity at 11:18 AM on August 24, 2016
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If you read the history, composers used to tinker with the opera, both libretti and scores, depending on the reception. That rarely happens now.
The other thing is not just to commission the opera but sign up to put it in rotation at least once more in another 4 years or something. That way you guarantee the opera to be heard by new audiences, fix problems etc. It is not enough to commission operas, but also give them a chance to become part of the repertory. That will not happen with one-off productions.
I saw the a recent one (new production/commission)at the Lyric "Bel Canto". It was a very good production. But the second act was not as tight and the stage was too crowded at times when it did not need to be; among other problems with the composition too. Problems that can only be fixed after the production had its full season. Now, I don't think it will be brought back. I would have liked to see this again in 4 years after the composer/librettist had a chance to look at the criticism and try to rework this opera.
PS: I do like the idea behind this production. Kinda like a American version of Puccini's Girl from the Golden West (La Fanciulla del West). I saw the one at Lyric a few years ago with Deborah Voigt. I felt that Puccini did not 'get' the characters. So a Opera based on Twain and real life accounts would be fascinating. I don't think there are too many Opera's about a quintessential aspect of American History that is the lore of the West.
posted by indianbadger1 at 7:39 AM on August 22, 2016 [4 favorites]