Powder Her Face.

[kaergaard]

A friendly fellow opera lover was so kind and loaned me Thomas Adès's much acclaimed and highly praised opera. I had taken a run at it a year or so ago and simply didn't understand it, this time I got it! Mixed feelings about this public display of a woman's desires, life style and frustrations. Yes, evidently the Duchess of Argyle was a real life person and Philip Hensher wrote a libretto for Adès to set to music, yet somehow the display in opera format of climaxes and blow talents does not appeal to me. Of course there are operas about women with lifes dominated by their commercial sex life, La Traviata for instance, but their activities usualy take place behind closed doors, Hensher put's the Duchess's out open on stage. OK, am I a prude? Maybe, being a woman I am embarrassed about this female, and rejected the opera.

BUT, there is all this wonderful, great, fascinating, inventive music Adès wrote, I can not possibly reject hearing. So I shall use my usually very open mind, accept the slut with the music and be grateful to my friend for his help getting me to enjoying another Thomas Adès master piece.

[springrite]

It's one hell of a good opera! Loved it the first time I heard it.

Ovbiously someone else loved it too for that SOB borrowed from me and never returned it! 

[Guido]

It's not my favourite Ades score, but I can't object to the music. The story though is horrible, as are the characters.