Today: First Favorite Opera
Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro
You must understand, I was raised on Figaro. It's my dad's favorite opera (he's seen it something like twenty eight times), and so I was hearing the music when I was still a baby. Later, when we drove places, I was allowed to make requests, and it was always, "That one with the dun dun dun-dun DUN DUUUUUN!" I didn't know the names of the arias. I just sang them at him, and he put them into the cd player.
Later, when I was old enough to think for myself and really becoming interested in opera as more than just the music we listened to on the way to the orthodontist (a loooong drive from my home town), I stole my dad's preferred Figaro album (the 1993 Theatre de Chatelait recording, starring Bryn Terfel* and Alison Hagley) and gave the whole opera a listen. Then I bought the dvd of the same performance. The music was bright and energetic and fun. With the libretto, I could finally understand the story as it unfolded; the arias and ensembles became part of a cohesive tapestry, and not just fun music I listened to on occasion. These were interesting, very real people experiencing interesting, very real problems: problems that were both dangerous and hilarious. I still can't get over the Act Two finale: every time I hear it and its mix of voices, from two to three to four to six, I am thrilled that such music was created.
I kept stealing dad's album long enough that he bought me my own. It lived in my car radio for three years.
Figaro is no longer my favorite opera, but it remains close to my heart. It got me through a very rough time in my life, providing the emotional relief where I wasn't getting it from anywhere else. And I still love going to see it at the opera. I've seen it three times myself now (one time while interning in the local opera company's costume shop), and every time, it is still funny and endearing and beautiful. So while my tastes are growing and evolving, I will always love Figaro.
This is a clip of the performance that I grew up listening to, and that is still on my iPod:
3 comments:
Glad you grew up with the Bryn Terfel production - saw his first Figaro at English National Opera when he was barely out of music and opera school. He was so funny and boisterous and confident - and loud, and unusual - blew everyone away.
Another tangent - are you sure you shouldn't be singing yourself? Have you got a voice? With your background of early and constant immersion, and your love of opera - did you think of going to music school rather than writing?
(You don't have to answer this...........)
@shapta-dakini You know, I DID to opera lessons as a teenager, but I was too shy to sing in front of people. Now I could do it, but not then, when it counted. I didn't go into music school because despite violin and vocal lessons and six years of choir, I can't read music or really understand theory. It's sad, because my whole family is made up of musicians, but there it is. I can sing, though, very nicely. Just not on a professional level. :/
there are so many performance workshops and courses to get into - may be fun to do one sometime....
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