Opera

Strauss’ Four Symphonic Interludes from “Intermezzo”: A Portrait of Matrimony

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In a letter to his wife, Pauline, Richard Strauss listed the three areas which gave his life meaning: “nature, notes, and family.” (Bryan Gilliam) Musically, Strauss celebrated his stable family life with the autobiographical 1904 tone poem, Symphonia Domestica, Op. 53. When the work’s subject matter was criticized as trivial, Strauss responded, What could be more serious than married life? Marriage is the most profound event in life and the spiritual joy …

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Dvořák’s “Rusalka”: Four Key Excerpts

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First performed on March 31, 1901 in Prague, Antonín Dvořák’s enduring fairytale opera in three acts, Rusalka, Op. 114, blends Slavic mythology with the story of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid . Rusalka is a water nymph who falls in love with a human—a Prince who happens one day to swim in her lake. She tells her father, the water goblin, that she wishes to become human to be with the …

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Strauss’ “Capriccio”: Two Excerpts from “A Conversation Piece for Music”

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In a song or an opera, which is more important—the words or the music? Richard Strauss’ whimsical final opera, Capriccio, Op. 85, sets out to answer this age-old question. Subtitled “A Conversation Piece for Music,” it is a work of magical escapism, composed by the 78-year-old Strauss amid the horrors of Nazi Germany during the Second World War. (The premiere took place in Munich on October 28, 1942). The “opera within an …

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Handel’s “Ah Mio Cor” from “Alcina”: Julia Kirchner and Operatic Puppetry

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Handel’s 1735 opera, Alcina, tells a fantastic story of sorcery, harrowing adventure, and heartbreak. The beautiful and treacherous Alcina seduces all of the men who land on her enchanted island. Eventually growing tired of each of her lovers, she transforms them into animals, plants, or stones. When the dashing knight, Ruggiero, falls under Alcina’s spell, his fiancée, Bradamante, seeks to rescue him. Bradamante is disguised as her brother, Ricciardo. Her plan is …

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Berlioz’ “Les Troyens,” “Vallon Sonore” (Hylas’ Song): Ryland Davies

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The aria, Vallon sonore, which opens the fifth act of Hector Berlioz’ sprawling 1858 grand opera, Les Troyens, is a dreamy song of homesickness. It is sung by Hylas, a young Phrygian sailor who, having arrived in the harbor of Carthage, longs to return to his “native valley.” The aria’s serene, hypnotic underlying rhythm evokes the “gently rocking” waves on which Hylas could sail home. Only briefly is the tranquillity interrupted by …

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Mussorgsky’s “Mysterious Powers” from “Khovanshchina”: Dolora Zajick

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Modest Mussorgsky’s opera, Khovanshchina, is set in a dark and politically unstable period of Russian history. The five-act “national music drama,” composed in Saint Petersburg between 1872 and 1880, tells the story of the 1682 rebellion, led by Prince Ivan Khovansky and the Old Believers, against Peter the Great. Additionally, the plot involves the disloyalty of the corrupt Prince Vasily Golitsyn. At its center, the conflict is between the continuation of a …

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Remembering Stephen Gould

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Stephen Gould, the world-renowned tenor, passed away on September 19 in Chesapeake, Virginia. After withdrawing from  scheduled appearances at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany over the summer, Gould announced that he had been diagnosed with incurable bile duct cancer. He was 61. A leading interpreter of Wagner, Stephen Gould performed regularly at Bayreuth, where he was hailed as the “Wagner Marathon Man.” Following a musical theater stint which included a Broadway touring …

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