Verdi Il Trovatore #31

The Opera

First performed in 1853 in Rome, the music is Verdi, which could be called late bel canto.
The plot is witch's revenge and an unhappy love triangle.

The Story

Act I

Hit Tune

Complete Film

Puccini Manon Lescaut #40

The Opera

First performed in 1893, the music is in the broad category called verismo.
The plot is an unhappy love affair.

The Story

Act I

Act II

Act III

 

Act IV

Complete Film

Verdi Otello #28

The Opera

The music is late Verdi, which could be called very late bel canto, and was first performed in 1887 at La Scala, Milan.
The plot is revenge and an unhappy love affair.

This opera is based on the play by Shakespeare which is in some ways more satisfying.  In Shakespeare it takes Iago much longer to persuade Otello that Desdemona is unfaithful.  This Otello seems almost eager to turn against his adoring wife.

The Story

Act I

Complete Film

Puccini Turandot (#20)

The Opera

The music is still in the broad category called verismo.
The plot is a happy ending love affair with tragedy along the way.

The plot of Turandot, Puccini's last opera, isn't really verismo.  The Ice Princess named Turandot isn't an ordinary person at all and her tenor hero is himself a prince.  So we are seeing a throwback opera, almost a fairy tale like Hansel and Gretel.  Puccini died before the opera was finished.  It was finished by Franco Alfano, and his ending was then shortened.  There is a lot of discussion about Alfano's ending, but I always think it sounds fine.  Quite a bit of it is copied from earlier parts of the opera.

The Story

Act I

Calaf sees his father Timur and his servant Liu arrive in the forbidden city of Bejing.  They hear the princess Turandot announce that any prince who can answer three riddles we marry her and inherit the kingdom.  However, should he miss any of the answers, he will sacrifice his head. Timur decides to try in spite of the fact that he sees for himself the results of failure.

Hit Tune

 

Act II

Hit Tune

 

Act III

Hit Tune

This is the greatest of all operatic hit tunes in the most famous of all performances of it:  Luciano Pavarotti at the original Three Tenors concert in Los Angeles.

 

No one is sleeping.  Turandot has ordered everyone to search the city to find the Prince's name.  In the famous aria "Nessun dorma" the Prince sings that he knows he will win.

And here is Liu's death scene, the last music Puccini ever wrote. 

Complete Film

Intro

In the modern world there is unprecedented access to the international world of opera.  Opera is exciting and fun, and newcomers can take advantage of this to learn about what is happening in opera today.  I will divide this into topics which can be read individually in chronological order, or you can allow yourself to be led through a maze of different styles and periods based on whatever grabs your attention.

In every chapter there will be musical examples.  Please don't whisk through the chapters without listening to at least some of the music.  I will introduce the idea of the Hit Tune, a melody from the opera that you might hear outside the opera house at a classical music concert.  I always enjoy when something familiar shows up.

Choose a beginning:

• Puccini

• Mozart

If you are an old hand and just want to learn something new, select:

• From the beginning.