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Pair Up Shorter Contrasting Operas?

February 15, 2015 By Ian Sidden

I really don’t know why not. There are lots of works that last around 45 minutes to 75 minutes that could be done in all sorts of intriguing combinations. There are verismo classics and works by 19th century composers that would maybe help bring in the more conservative crowd…Maybe one could program a “crowd pleaser” with something more esoteric? Il Tabarro and The Lighthouse? Dido and Aeneas and Airline Icarus? Would this help expose some people to newer music who would never sign up for a full length opera by Birtwistle or Reimann? I find the idea intriguing.

via Shorter operas | operaramblings.

Me too. Doing Der Rosenkavalier right now, it is remarkable just how long it is, and I think of it as being one of the more “accessible” full-length operas. No matter how easy on the ears, 4 hours or thereabouts is a real commitment.

I’d love to do two shorter pieces in one evening with very stark musical contrast, and I would be curious how audiences found those new combinations.

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Comments

  1. Martin Snell says

    February 15, 2015 at 6:15 pm

    Last evening’s live broadcast from the Met of Tchaikovsky’s Jolanta and Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle is an interesting pairing but not as Tchaikovsky originally intended.

    Sergei Rachmaninov composed ‘Aleko’ as his final composition work as a student of Tchaikovsky at the St Petersburg Music Conservatory. Tchaikovsky was so impressed that he desired that what was to be his last opera, Jolanta, should be premiered together with Aleko. Regrettably, Tchaikovsky’s death and the tragic circumstances of same shortly thereafter precluded the premiere of the two operas together. It was some years before the two operas were first paired in a production.

    In the season 1995/1996, the first year of my first engagement at the Theater St Gallen, there was a double-bill production of Jolanta and Aleko, which was a huge success and an aesthetic triumph, directed by Lesley Koenig and designed by Michael Yeargan, both regulars at the Metropolitan Opera. The principal roles of each opera featured the same four singers. Aleko is rarely performed – there is a new production paired with Rachmaninov’s Francesca di Rimini currently being performed at the Opéra de Nancy et Lorraine France – but contains much incredibly beautiful music. Extraordinary to consider that it is the work of a then 18 year-old! Jolanta is possibly better known in recent memory due to European concert performances given by Anna Netrebko and Valery Gergiev, both involved in the current Met production.

    .

    • Ian Sidden says

      February 15, 2015 at 11:37 pm

      I’ll take a survey of one (myself) and admit that I have some awareness of Jolanta but not of Aleko. Nevertheless, that sounds like a really compelling evening. There are all sorts of ways to sell it.

      I would also like to watch the Iolanta/Bluebeard pairing, but I think that Rachmaninov commands enough name recognition that the original pairing should be explored more often.

      Thank you for the story and historical context, Martin.

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