Experiencing these 2 operas, I was able to comprehend the incredible talents of the Auburn University’s Department of Music Opera Workshop performers. Each performance allowed the performers to showcase their vocal talents greatly; as well as showing their strict practicing by knowing the vocal queues with the music as well as with each other to never sound off or un-synced with each other.…
2007 -- a modernized play, Re: Woyzeck by Jeremy Gable premiered in Fullerton, California. In this play Georg Büchner becomes a character himself. The play was received favorably and was considered for Pulitzer…
While opera had been thriving in Europe since its beginnings in the 16th century, 19th century America was still a relatively young, focusing its growth elsewhere. Musically, opera did not appeal to the common American, who was much more interested in simpler tastes. Interest in opera was mostly shared among the upper class elite, and due to the lack of a middle class, wasn’t largely established in the general public until the turn of the 20th century. Socioeconomic limitations reinforced the exclusivity of opera, with the wealthy, cultured, and political classes primarily in attendance. It wasn’t until 1825 that the first fully staged opera was performed in New York City. Ironically, though America being the self proclaimed most egalitarian…
Last Monday, I got to experience a sensational performance by the University Symphony, composed by Dr. Jonathan Pasternack, that enhanced my knowledge and emotional state through the uniqueness of both the symphony and opera act. Having only experienced a symphony once during the course of my life, I was ecstatic to attend such a soothing and joyful concert. The concert was fairly short, it last two hours, and consisted of 2 symphony songs and 1 opera act. The first two were symphony, which were played in a very unpredictable manner. The melody (violins) started off very slow and quickly increased their tempo. The orchestra performed many instances of crescendo and decrescendos; this kept the audience on the edge of their seats in anticipation. The second part consisted of an opera in one act entitled “L’Enfant Ee Les Sortileges by Murice Ravel, which was sung like an act, and played by the orchestra. Both parts of the performance were very unique in there own ways, however, what intrigued me the most, was the ability of the performers to create an emotional connection with the audience.…
The environment in the Bing theater was very classical. There was people constantly coming in which surprised me because I thought that people stopped liking classical music. My first impression of the Bing Theater was that it was very organized because there were people to greet you and hand you a program at the door. The people attending was people of all ages, but I did notice that there was a fairly large group sitting together near the front of the stage. The people that attended were dressed casually. The young musicians on stage were dressed formally compared to the audience. The acoustics were natural sound there wasn’t any amplifier. My sight line wasn’t so great which it usually is because I’m fairly short, but it good enough to see the musicians play their pieces. You could notice…
Music has developed a lot over the years. Classical music has evolved in a more gradual manner with a number of smaller revolutionary steps along the way. In the 9th to 14th centuries the development of music was documented in a physical form. This was where music could now be communicated efficiently, and succeeding generations would know something about the music of their ancestors. There where demands of the church that required a musical notation, and so the earliest written music was largely in Church music called Hymns. The plainsong of this time was still singlehanded, but that’s when the new developments were starting to appear.…
Some were holding champagne glass or a whiskey glass. The bell rung and every person knew that it was time to go to their seats. The performance I attended was called La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, and it was played for the last time of this opera season, so the place was sold out. The cast was made up of some of the most known opera singers, Carmen Giannattasio, James Courtney, Atalla Ayan, and many others.…
The common people on the other hand wanted something with more bright colors, pizzazz, loud music, comedic, and simple, and easy to follow along. For them shows and operas were more of a form of entertainment. A distractions from their mundane daily life. This was clearly shown in the film when Mozart’s friend had asked him to right something for the his theatre, and Mozart’s wife objected saying that Mozart was of a higher standing than that. There was a big difference in the people of different classes in the way they defined entertainment and…
Baroque Era saw the eruption of the opera, concerto and oratorio genre. Opera begun to spread throughout Europe becoming the ultimate multimedia experience of the day. Concerto became the most important orchestral genre during the period. While oratorio remained glued to its beginning of sacred religious vocal music. Each genre adding great composers to the already hefty list. Composer George Handel is most famous for the oratorio Messiah as well his opera Julius Caesar, while Vivaldi championed the Concerto in E, Spring. Baroque Era had many important and influential people that have influenced the great minds of today, music being one of the common themes that tied the Era together.…
2. Discuss the relationship between words and music in the operas of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.…
Actors are opening themselves up to be completely and utterly vulnerable for a crowd of people to watch. They are letting strangers by the hundreds view them at their weakest moments, and then forcing themselves to wipe away the tears and take a bow. They are connecting to a story with emotions that are so overwhelming, they have to sing about it, and when those emotions intensify even further, they have to dance about it, too. Everything about the theatre is just so stunningly relatable for those onstage and off, I have a hard time imagining how different my life would have been if I had never been a part of…
to pick and choose what he wanted to set to music. Verdi wished for himself to find a more…
“Carmen”, as one of the most famous operas in the world, has been performed many times in many different troupes. This 4-act opera represents the highest achievement of the 19th century French opera-comique. After Bizet died, “Carmen” finally became the classical performance canonized by the professionals and music fans.…
All but one of Guiseppe Verdi's masterworks are operas. This poses a problem for those of us who aren't opera buffs. Fortunately, though, that one exception is his stunning Requiem, into which he poured the same vibrant emotion that thrills opera fans, but without the trite plots, simplistic characters and dull narrative stretches that tend to alienate others. Indeed, more than a few critics have hailed the Requiem as Verdi's finest opera.…
The music from the Middle ages was very worship based. Most of the music seemed to be created to help people of that time grow closer to the churches. I could hear in the pieces I listened to the connection the music had to prayer and worship. The music form was strophic in nature and repeated itself. Even though I could not understand the words in most of the songs, the melody created an expression of calmness and meditation. Very relaxing and calming to make a connecting to what they were worshipping.…