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Post by Someone in a tree on Jan 14, 2019 16:21:03 GMT
Singing in English is very dated concept. If ETO can perform an itialan sung verdi in Wolverhampton...
Why can't ENO have a trial period?
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1,319 posts
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Post by tmesis on Jan 14, 2019 21:49:10 GMT
The audibly of the words at ENO has been poor for around 20 years. For that reason they might as well sing everything in the original language. Prior to that it could be variable but was generally good and could often be outstanding when you had singers of the calibre of Janet Baker, Felicity Lott, Ann Murray, Valerie Masterson, John Tomlinson, Richard Van Allan et al.
I have even been to an (unintentional) multi-lingual production of Parsifal there.
It would be around 1980. At the start of the performance a dinner-jacketed guy announces that the tenor singing Parsifal is indisposed - cue slight groan from audience - but his part would tonight be sung by Siegfried Jerusalem (huge cheer from audience!) - he continued: 'Unfortunately Mr. Jerusalem only knows the part in German...' so that's what we got, and magnificent it was too since he was the best heldentenor of his day, and hardly ever came to London. I think I might have once seen him at ROH after that but I was ecstatic to see him that night and what a great stoke of luck that was.
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Post by tonyloco on Jan 14, 2019 23:15:26 GMT
The audibly of the words at ENO has been poor for around 20 years. For that reason they might as well sing everything in the original language. Prior to that it could be variable but was generally good and could often be outstanding when you had singers of the calibre of Janet Baker, Felicity Lott, Ann Murray, Valerie Masterson, John Tomlinson, Richard Van Allan et al. Yes, tmesis, you are right. I was going to mention the fact that earlier generations of singers had better English pronunciation than the current lot, and it was even better in the smaller auditorium of Sadler's Wells in Rosebery Avenue. In fact, when I started going in the 1960s we had singers (some of them Australians) like June Bronhill, Elizabeth Fretwell, Ronald Dowd, Eric Shilling, Kevin Miller, Donald Smith, David Ward, Joyce Blackham, Alberto Remedios, Patricia Kern, Derek Hammond-Stroud and others whose every word was totally audible and understandable in every part of the house. And for those who remember seeing the first 'Force of Destiny' production at the Coliseum, you will know just how clear and penetrating the English words could be when sung by Derek Hammond-Stroud (Melitone), Donald Smith (Alvaro) and Joyce Blackham (Preziosilla). Sorry to go off on one of my reminiscenses but there's no point in performing opera in English at the Coliseum if the audience can't make out more than the occasional word of what's being sung, which used not to be the case with the Sadler's Wells company at Rosebery Avenue.
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Post by Fleance on Jan 15, 2019 4:37:31 GMT
I've enjoyed many operas at the ENO/Coliseum, most recently a version of La Forza del Destino (in English); Marnie (which was interesting); and Porgy and Bess. These were all co-productions with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. You'd think I could have seen the operas at the Met (Porgy is scheduled for next season), which is less than a ten-minute walk from my flat, but I do love the ENO and the beautiful Coliseum. And you can get much better seats for a very reasonable price.
Forza (called The Force of Destiny) never made it to the Met. Although it was clearly billed as a co-production, a friend of mine bet me that the Met would never do a Verdi opera in English. He was right. I lost $10. The head of the Met announced that the production was being cancelled and replaced with the Verdi Requiem. Which was a shame, It was a controversial production by Calixto Bieito but definitely worth seeing.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jan 28, 2019 9:46:27 GMT
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Oct 8, 2019 12:34:10 GMT
New Artistic Director announced. Seems like a good choice
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4,638 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Oct 8, 2019 15:44:28 GMT
New Artistic Director announced. Seems like a good choice Unlike our government ENO have persued the Norway option
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3,944 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 8, 2019 18:00:38 GMT
Promising that they have at least appointed someone with a decent opera background this time!
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Post by Mr Snow on Oct 15, 2019 15:39:26 GMT
Avoid Orpheus in the Underworld. Not just a Regie job, it has been substantially rewritten in a way that runs counter to the satire orginally intended
Shame as there's much to admire with some great singing and acting and a hopeless bit of stunt casting. But it goes further and further off the rails and when the Gallop Infernal (Can Can) is performed not as a hedonistic romp that proves the Devil has the best tunes, but as an angry rant about the exploitation of women, then you know the plot is lost.
Shame, its Offenbach's 200th anniversary and about 40 years since they last did this piece. Its full of great tunes and even if the ending is 'problematic', traducing it is not the answer. Place was half empty.
Sigh, just when you think things are improving. Good luck Annilese.
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4,638 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Oct 15, 2019 16:27:23 GMT
Visually the pics look stunning but I detest Emma Rice and so I'm glad my credit card remained in my wallet
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4,638 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Apr 13, 2021 11:43:39 GMT
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