26 replies to this topic

[artist]

zerbinetta, on Mar 29 2007, 06:51 AM, said:

Artist: have you listened to any of Handel's operas? Some of those arias can break your heart. Some would make you laugh. Most are meltingly beautiful.

Maybe you might give Handel another chance.

Paul Parish, on Mar 29 2007, 10:44 AM, said:

Artist, let me recommend that you check out Handel's vocal music -- especially his arias. you'll find melancholy there of a kind you wouldn't expect -- SO beautiful, so romantic, really moving. His operas are so rich with emotion. Try "Giulio cesare" -- you may be able to Google "V'adoro pupille," Cleopatra's aria. Heart-breakingly beautiful.

I have actually been trying very hard to enjoy operas more. But I did listen to "V'adoro pupille", as you kindly recommended Paul Parish, and I do think that the singing and words are lovely. I wouldn't have said 'heart-breakingly beautiful', but then again, I probably don't enjoy opera as much as others do [unfortunately]. When I listened to only the instrumental parts, I found the same feeling I do when listening to Handel's other pieces. ? (I'm sorry-I'm sorry!!)  But as for his operas, I will always be willing to listen!

[richard53dog]

artist, on Mar 30 2007, 11:43 PM, said:

zerbinetta, on Mar 29 2007, 06:51 AM, said:

Artist: have you listened to any of Handel's operas? Some of those arias can break your heart. Some would make you laugh. Most are meltingly beautiful.

Maybe you might give Handel another chance.

Paul Parish, on Mar 29 2007, 10:44 AM, said:

Artist, let me recommend that you check out Handel's vocal music -- especially his arias. you'll find melancholy there of a kind you wouldn't expect -- SO beautiful, so romantic, really moving. His operas are so rich with emotion. Try "Giulio cesare" -- you may be able to Google "V'adoro pupille," Cleopatra's aria. Heart-breakingly beautiful.

I have actually been trying very hard to enjoy operas more. But I did listen to "V'adoro pupille", as you kindly recommended Paul Parish, and I do think that the singing and words are lovely. I wouldn't have said 'heart-breakingly beautiful', but then again, I probably don't enjoy opera as much as others do [unfortunately]. When I listened to only the instrumental parts, I found the same feeling I do when listening to Handel's other pieces. ? (I'm sorry-I'm sorry!!)  But as for his operas, I will always be willing to listen!

Another of Cleopatra's arias that you might "connect" with is Piangero, la Sorte Mia. Cleopatra is all alone and is mouring where life has taken her. It's a very slow aria but as a contrast the soprano line goes up and down. Very mournfull

(Giulio Cesare is another of my favorite operas)

[drb]

A very timely e-note from Paul Taylor just popped into my In-box.  It begins

Quote

One of Paul Taylor's favorite composers of all time is baroque master George Frideric Handel, whose music the choreographer first used in 1962 with the groundbreaking Aureole, and returned to in 1978 with Airs...

and continues with a recommendation to see Handel's opera Flavio at NYC Opera.  It concludes with an offer to save 35% on your tickets (up to four):

Quote

Order online and submit promo code FLCG
Call CenterCharge at 212-721-6500 and mention code FLCG
...
FLAVIO PERFORMANCES:
Wed    Apr 4   7:30
Fri        Apr 6   8:00
Sun      Apr 8   1:30
Tue      Apr 10  7:30
Thu      Apr 12  7:30
Sat      Apr 14  1:30
Sat      Apr 21   8:00

[Helene]

My two favorite pieces of Handel vocal music are tied to specific performances:  Lawrence Tibbett singing "Where'eer You Walk" from Semele -- alas not available on any available commercial recording I know of; George Jellinek played in on "The Vocal Scene" many years ago -- and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson singing "Ombra mai fu" from Xerxes (also called Serse), which is available on her "Handel Arias" CD.  The latter, especially, is so personal.  In the March 2007 issue of Opera News, in a review of a posthumous release of "Neruda Songs" by her widower, Peter Lieberson, F. Paul Driscoll wrote,

Quote

Hunt Lieberson fills Neruda Songs with sung surpassing tranquility and simplicity, as if she had all the time in the world still left to her.  That was her gift:  she could make time stop.

Earlier, she brought the same quality to "Ombra mai fu."

[Mel Johnson]

bart, on Mar 29 2007, 01:32 PM, said:

I believe that Balanchine did something for the extroverted Water Music and Fireworks music.  Has anyone seen this?  How did it go?  Is it still in rep?

The Balanchine to which you refer was "The Figure in the Carpet" which was created as a response to the opening of the Iranian Trade Mission to the United States, an association which would hardly act as an audience draw today.  I only saw it once, when I was a student, and it was sort of confusing, with images from Britain, Persia, France and several places I knew not where.   I think that only a few short musical numbers from this work survive in either kinescope or early tape technology.

[Helene]

Mel Johnson, on Apr 6 2007, 06:55 AM, said:

bart, on Mar 29 2007, 01:32 PM, said:

I believe that Balanchine did something for the extroverted Water Music and Fireworks music.  Has anyone seen this?  How did it go?  Is it still in rep?

The Balanchine to which you refer was "The Figure in the Carpet"
...
  I think that only a few short musical numbers from this work survive in either kinescope or early tape technology.

There's a short clip to the Handel section danced by Diana Adams in the PBS Balanchine bio.

[drb]

drb, on Apr 6 2007, 12:56 AM, said:

More bargain-priced Handel.  Looks like 20% off, plus the new Met Museum Gallery (link to a guided tour on the Met Opera site):
Giulio Cesare...

Today's Times has a quite favorable review of Handel's Giulio Ceasar, including complex audio/video with Ruth Ann Swenson singing and discussing her battle with breast cancer and concerns with her future at the Met.  Rather emotional material.
http://www.nytimes.c...rts&oref=slogin

Quote

...And what a stunning opera. In Act II, when Ms. Swenson’s Cleopatra, disguised as the queen’s attendant, spins entrancing lyrical lines in an act of seduction, Mr. Daniels’s captivated Cesare sings, “Not even heaven has a melody to equal such a song.” He was right.

[Mel Johnson]

Sir Thomas Beecham arranged quite a lovely ballet out of Handel, entitled "Love in Bath" about the elopement of Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Elizabeth Linley.  It sounds like fun, but I've never heard of a choreographer tackling it.  It's only one act, but seems to have "second act problems" in the middle of the show.

[Mel Johnson]

Beecham also set, famously, "The Gods go a-Begging", which was picked up by Ninette de Valois.  There's also another of his Handel arrangements out there called "The Origin of Design", which was supposed to be a ballet, but I don't know if anybody ever set it.  There's also "Amaryllis", the purpose of which I'm not certain, but it was an orchestration of salon music by Handel written for the family of George II.  The "Love in Bath" score is supposedly a suite from an early ballet score, "The Great Elopement".  It must have been a very overlong work, as the suite is overlong, as I've suggested above.

[Mel Johnson]

Let's not forget that Taylor also used Handel for "Aureole".

[artist]

4mrdncr, on Apr 22 2007, 06:09 PM, said:

Yes, yes, yes!  You have no idea how many times I've written, spoken too producers, and tried to myself get arts organizations, n.p.o's, and media outlets to work together to cross-promote or co-produce projects/performances.  (My favorite instance was a WGBH "Masterpiece Theatre" with Helen Mirren about Caravaggio and a CONCURRENT Caravaggio exhibit in Hartford (v.rare) that was never cross-promoted.) Or even doing something as obvious as scheduling a "Dracula" performance in late October, (VERY easy to cross-promote: hey everyone tired of the 'trick-or-treating', spooky houses & hayrides--why not try something really different?! etc.etc.) or "R&J" mid-February.  Trite, obvious, a 'dumbing down' maybe, but also quick money (a la Nutcrackers in Dec.) that enables more adventurous fare later.
Apologies for off-topic.

I do like that idea. I think it would help the arts in a way of exposure to a variety of audiences. Yes, money is always the issue, but in the long run I think it'll help for the better of ballet in getting more (who don't ordinarily watch) to view it and then it goes on from there. Anything to help!! Sorry, too, for off topic.

[bart]

The sub-topic that has developed here -- concerning joint marketing schemes between different arts organizations -- has a lot of interesting and useful implications for ballet.

I've split the topic off and given it its own thread on the Issues in Ballet forum.  

Those wanting to report interesting experiments -- or brainstorm what could be done for the benefit of ballet organizations -- are urged to join the discussion HERE.