Posted on 08/23/2013 9:09:06 AM PDT by Borges
Led Zeppelin fans found a new reason to dislike opera this year — if they cared enough about opera to dislike it in the first place. The iconic band’s bass player, John Paul Jones, scotched the most recent round of rumors about a possible reunion concert or tour next year. “2014 is full of opera for me at the moment,” Jones said. He isn’t planning on going to operas, or listening to them. He is writing one. It’s based on the short play “The Ghost Sonata” by the 19th-century Swedish playwright and author August Strindberg, and, in a brief TV interview captured as he left a performance of Philip Glass’s new Walt Disney opera, “The Perfect American,” in June, Jones said he was halfway through the first act.
Jones isn’t alone. A number of rock musicians have been trying their hands at opera. Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters spent years writing and reworking the French Revolution epic “Ça Ira,” released as a recording in 2005 (with Bryn Terfel among the singers) and performed a couple of times since. Stewart Copeland of the Police recently attended the American premiere of his fourth opera (a one-act setting of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” that opened at Covent Garden in 2011), and is working on his fifth. The indie singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright has seen several productions of his opera “Prima Donna,” which was started as part of the Metropolitan Opera’s commissioning program, though never performed there.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Classical Ping
Pete Townshend wrote rock operas a long time ago; Tommy and Quadrophenia. Just no fat ladies singing.
Nothing new to me.
Those weren’t real operas.
They’ll do for me.
Me neither. Saw Tommy in the theatre when it was first released. My first thought as well.
I thought she was passing a kidney stone or something.
They were musical theater at best. ‘The Sound of Music’ isn’t opera either.
If I remember correctly, all of the dialog is sung, so “Tommy” should qualify as an opera.
And “Tommy” follows the Wagnerian conceit of having a leitmotif for each character.
There are operas that have spoke dialogue. Carmen, Tales of Hoffman among many others. Just like there are musicals that are sung through (Les Miz, Miss Saigon, Phantom of the Opera). That’s not the determining factor.
So, the author thinks that opera is ossifying?
Geez, what a dolt.
That’s rhetorical. She’s a Classical music writer.
It must be rhetorical as opera is exciting. Raw emotion throughout.
Freddie Mercury + Montserrat Caballe “Barcelona” (1988), fusion of rock and opera styles.
I was not that impressed with Pink Floyd etc. but I admit, after hearing “Money” 100 times, it got old, and if they did write/perform better music, I missed it. I will give them credit for part of the song being in 7/4 time, but other than that, I did not think it was interesting. I don’t even think my drug-influenced friends at that time were aware of the time signature. They just found the clink/ka-ching sounds entertaining.
Who knows, maybe they have learned something after all these years.
From a singing perspective (technique) rock and opera have much in common. A well trained rock singer uses lots of classical technique to enhance and protect their voice while sounding AWESOME!!
God I LOVE Freddie!!
If you haven’t already done so, check out the 25th anniversary version of Barcelona with full orchestra released last year (original album was recorded mostly with synths). Marvelous!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.