Posted on 09/10/2005 8:07:56 AM PDT by sitetest
A new translation of a little-known Mozart opera is to have its world premiere at a pub in North Yorkshire.
Bastien und Bastienna will be performed at the Narrow Boat in Skipton by the Skipton Building Society Camerata.
The 15 players and singers will be conducted by Ben Crick, 26, who has translated Mozart's original libretto.
Money raised by the performance on Sunday 18 September will go to the appeal to restore the Grand Theatre in Leeds, the home of Opera North.
Bigger works
The opera was written by Mozart when he was 12 and, according to Mr Crick, is probably the composer's most overlooked opera.
"People tend always to perform the bigger works such as The Magic Flute or Don Giovanni instead," he said.
"The story is a pastoral romance which I have translated to make it more relevant and accessible to a modern audience."
The performance has come about after Mr Crick, a Narrow Boat regular, mentioned his translation of the 50-minute work to pub manager Ian Reid who is also an opera-lover.
"Mozart would have approved of the idea," Mr Crick continued, "as the Magic Flute was originally performed in a theatre of ill-repute which pretty well amounted to a brothel serving beer."
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Comments like this always make me a bit nervous.
Hopefully it won't come out sounding like Janacek...
Dear Bahbah,
Well, we'll see!
sitetest
LOL to your comment. I'd still like to check this out.
So would I. I wish I could be there.
Undsowetter,, the libretto is in German, the language spoken by Hitler and the Kaiser. And don't forget, in the Magic Flute, which premiered in a place which exploited female sex workers, the plot concerns a bird-trapper, so there are cruelty implications here, too.
Sorry, but we cannot support this.
When I think of bar music I'm imagining oompah-bands and polkas not opera.
LOL. And the venue serves beer.
> I wish I could be there.
Should be charming. B & B is K. 50, 1768, same time as the 8th Symphony, K. 48, and the songs with piano, K. 52 & 53.
"LOL. And the venue serves beer."
I guess this really irks the whine and cheese crowd.
;-)
Is there some Federal Program from which I can receive compensation? Or, how about letting me loot some houses in the Garden district of NOLA for a couple of hours?
The Government owes me. This has been most upsetting and manifestly unfair.
Works for me!!
We all wonder that. As for the rest of your comments,...LOL.
I'm thinking Hank Williams Jr. and Waylon Jennings.
Funny story-my wife and I were on perhaps our third date, on a drive in the country listening to a Met performance of Katya Kabanova. Although she now enjoys live opera, we were both really turned off by this piece. When I told her (tongue-in-cheek) that I hoped it wouldn't change her opinion of opera, she assured me there was NO chance that would happen!
In 'The Magic Flute' Mozart used all sorts of popular music traditions of the day. It was a huge hit amongst all classes of people.
Mozart actually wasn't the best child composer. Mendelsohn wrote stuff as a teen much better then anything Mozart wrote at that age. However Mendelsohn didn't progress nearly as well.
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