Lines sung from an opera that act like bullets to your heart-what are they?

[Lilas Pastia]

Right, I would like to choke Pinkerton when he says "i am vile". But as a character, he is superficial anyway. Knowing what is going to happen to Buttefly already, when she says she is responding to the call of love, I feel sorry for that idealistic, deceived maiden.

ZB

Agreed ! Pinkerton is a cad. I was more thinking of poor Cio-Cio San's terrible fate than Pinky's convenient expression of last-minute remorse.

[Haffner]

Wotan "Was verlang'st du?"

[Anne]

1st words of Florestan sung by Jon Vickers in Beethoven's Fidelio.

[knight66]

Yes, Anne, that is indeed a good choice, add to it the same singer in Peter Grimes with his bitterly regretful, 'Who, who.....who can roll skies back?'

Mike

[Haffner]

"Durch Mitleid wissend, der reiner Tor."

[Anne]

Yes, Anne, that is indeed a good choice, add to it the same singer in Peter Grimes with his bitterly regretful, 'Who, who.....who can roll skies back?'

Mike

I like Vickers in Peter Grimes too.  I'd be curious to know what you think Grimes actually did in that opera regarding the young boys?  Did he kill them?  Molest them?  Was he just the victim of accidental circumstances? (If anyone's interested in discussing this opera, maybe a new thread should be started?)

[zamyrabyrd]

My superstitions still hold me back from revealing all the details before it happens but we are supposed to do it 3x in the week of the 14th. Ein deutsches Requiem had a long gestation period, from 1861 to its final version in 1868. Surely the events of Schumann's attempted suicide and death, plus that of Brahms' own mother had a deep effect on this composition. This is such a monumental piece, yet tender and comforting.

I'm trying to get into the mindset of being one little molecule of this work ever since its inception and the tens of thousands of times it has been repeated from more than a century ago. This was I can hopefully control the emotion when I listen to and/or sing it.

ZB

I was just searching up the thread where I wrote about the prospect of my singing in the Deutsches Requiem, taking seriously the warning of Jan Peerce that it may be bad luck to talk about a concert before it happens.  My protectiveness was perhaps overextended after the fact but quite simply I was on a cloud for quite a time afterwards. 

Singing with the Choir of London was a rare opportunity, one to be savoured before and after. A group of excellent musicians, including orchestral members, get together for special projects, about once a year to prepare themselves and then join up with local musicians, this time being in Jerusalem and other cities of the West Bank.

Their repertoire was formidable indeed. Over about 3 weeks, they performed a delightful Boheme (joined by a local children's choir), a concert of choral music and the German Requiem by Brahms, the last concert being at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, June 20.  Also on two of the programs was Mendelssohn's PC No. 1 played excellently by Salim Aboud, a pianist originally from Nazareth.

High on the list of kudos is James Burton, a very fine conductor. Full of insights, expressive gestures, clear headed civility, he welded the motley group together that were full of youthful enthusiasm and a good work spirit.

It was such a revelation being inside the work, a wonderful experience, indeed. For many years, I knew the work superficially, (or thought I knew it, having struggled with the soprano solo as well).  This was an opportunity to further delve into the texts and appreciate its deep religious meaning. 

The architecture of the work, over an hour long, can be likened to a cathedral with Brahms as the master builder. As an insider I was able to witness more of the masonry--the importance of the brass and percussion, also the amazing fugues with the long pedal points that Burton called our attention to the patrimony of Handel. 

This was a real high point in my musical life that I will be forever grateful for.
ZB

[jochanaan]

Mmm, thanks for the review, Ms. Nightingale! Doing a big piece like that one is always a high point, whether you're a soloist, a chorister, or (as in my case) a second oboist.  I still have fond memories of doing it when I was going to trade school and playing in a local college orchestra.

[zamyrabyrd]

I like Vickers in Peter Grimes too.  I'd be curious to know what you think Grimes actually did in that opera regarding the young boys?  Did he kill them?  Molest them?  Was he just the victim of accidental circumstances? (If anyone's interested in discussing this opera, maybe a new thread should be started?)

I'm also curious. Maybe there is some source material. These speculations can be moved to a Britten thread perhaps.
ZB

[zamyrabyrd]

Mmm, thanks for the review, Ms. Nightingale! Doing a big piece like that one is always a high point, whether you're a soloist, a chorister, or (as in my case) a second oboist.  I still have fond memories of doing it when I was going to trade school and playing in a local college orchestra.

Nice to hear from you. I wasn't sure where to put this post, but to make it official, some phrases really hit home. The repeated "Selig sind" in the hands of Burton were hovering in space, almost without metre. He also talked about "Troesten", "comfort" being a main theme of this work. The soprano soloist, Robin, with a glorious tone, just soared over "I will comfort you as a mother"...wow...just to think of it!!

ZB

[Wendell_E]

I like Vickers in Peter Grimes too.  I'd be curious to know what you think Grimes actually did in that opera regarding the young boys?  Did he kill them?  Molest them?  Was he just the victim of accidental circumstances? (If anyone's interested in discussing this opera, maybe a new thread should be started?)

I'm also curious. Maybe there is some source material. These speculations can be moved to a Britten thread perhaps.
ZB

The source material (Crabbe's The Borough) is available for free on line.  I've read it (Letter XXII, the Grimes section, which is just a small part of the whole), but it's been a while.  It's just 375 lines:  http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/573.html

Of course, right in the second line, there's a difference:  it mentions a wife.  Even line one begins "Old Peter Grimes", and there never a reference to Grimes being old in the opera.  As far as the opera goes, I don't think he's a murderer or a child molester, but he's really not equipped to care for a child, even by the lower standards of child care at that time.  Ellen puts her finger on it when she sings "Your ways are rough and hard beyond his days."

Back to "lines that act like bullets to your heart", I was listening to Fidelio yesterday, and one that always gets me is when Leonore sings "Wer du auch seist, ich will dich retten,/Bei Gott! Du sollst kein Opfer sein!".  She's decided that whether or not the prisoner is her husband, she'll save him.  It just lifts the character to a whole higher level.