Opera

Korngold’s “Die tote Stadt” Finale: Torsten Kerl

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Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s 1920 opera, Die tote Stadt (“The Dead City”) is “a psychological drama about grief, obsession, and acceptance.” (English National Opera) The opera’s synopsis is nearly identical to the plot of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 film, Vertigo. Haunted by the memory of his late wife, Paul obsessively pursues a dancer who closely resembles her. Amid Paul’s psychological descent, reality blurs with hallucination. He believes that he has strangled the dancer, Marietta, with a lock …

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Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” Overture: Tragedy and Comedy

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As the story goes, Mozart wrote the Overture to Don Giovanni the night before the opera’s Prague premiere on October 29, 1787. “Don’t worry, it’s all up here,” the composer insisted, pointing to his head. Mozart’s wife, Constanze, provided punch and kept him company while he worked through the night. The manuscript was finished at 7:00 AM, and was rushed to copyists. With the ink barely dry, the musicians of the orchestra reportedly …

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Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from “Peter Grimes”: Atmospheric Portraits

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Set in a small English coastal village, Benjamin Britten’s 1945 opera, Peter Grimes, tells the dark story of an alienated individual who falls victim to mob rule. This human struggle, with its focus on morality and punishment, plays out against the backdrop of the sea, a vast eternal presence. Throughout the opera, the action is interrupted by four orchestral interludes. Howard Posner describes them as scene changes by a master of the …

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Lehár’s “The Merry Widow” Waltz: Diana Damrau and Jonas Kaufmann

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It’s one of the most beautiful and infectious melodies ever written, and it forms the emotional climax of Franz Lehár’s 1905 comic operetta, The Merry Widow.  Coming at the end of Act III, Lippen schweigen (“Lips are Silent”) is the duet in which Hanna (The Merry Widow) and Count Danilo express their love for one another. Throughout the operetta, the graceful Viennese melody is woven into the background as a dance piece, foreshadowing …

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Wagner’s “Lohengrin,” Prelude to Act I: Rudolf Kempe and the Vienna Philharmonic

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The Prelude to the first act of Wagner’s 1850 opera, Lohengrin, unfolds as a gradual cosmic crescendo before fading again into silence. It begins in the highest register of the orchestra with a shimmering, prolonged A major chord. Angelic harmonics in divided solo violin lines alternate and overlap with woodwind voices to create a dreamy shifting kaleidoscope of tonal color. At moments, the familiar instruments of the orchestra seem to dissolve into …

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Remembering Felicity Lott

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English soprano Felicity Lott passed away on May 15 following a battle with cancer. She was 79. Born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Lott began singing lessons at age 12. While studying at the Royal Academy of Music she met pianist Graham Johnson who would become her lifelong accompanist. Her operatic debut came with the English National Opera in 1975 when she sang the role of Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Appearances at …

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Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” Overture: Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra

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When Andris Nelsons was five years old, his parents took him to see a production of Wagner’s Tannhäuser. The Latvian conductor recalls that his parents prepared him for the occasion by playing an LP of the opera at home. He was also introduced to the story, based on German medieval legend, of a knight who is pulled between the pleasures of earthly love and lust and the redemptive love of sacred devotion. According …

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