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A story and two performances
Mar. 27th, 2021 05:33 pmQuite often, history makes you wonder "what if?" more or less frivolously. In this story, the author creates a scenario in which young Elizabeth Tudor, not her older sister Mary, marries Philip of Spain. The result is a delightful story without villains and with a future Renaissance power couple in the making. Also it's a slow burn with a good pay off. Hugely enjoyable:
Love is a stranger who'll beckon you on
Like many, I'm using using the year and more of pandemic lockdowns to watching theatre and opera performances available online. Two I watched recently were:
Attila by Guisseppe Verdi, performed by the Sofia Opera in Bulgaria.(In the original Italian, subtitled in English.) Attila is one of the less well known Verdi operas and I won't pretend it's a long lost master piece, but it's perfect if you want hilstorical melodrama with some great music. Also, when a more mature Verdi wanted to kill off royalty (or have that at least attempted) on stage he had to change kings into dukes (Rigoletto) or into governors of Masaschusetts (Un Ballo di Maschera), but good old Attila the Hun could be plotted against under his own name. The tenor hero is as obnoxious, but he's also not around that much. Whereas Attila has duets with his frenemy, Roman general Ezio (Aetius), and Odabella, the soprano, is that rarity, a woman committing murder in an opera who doesn't die, or comit suicide, or becomes insane.
Straus & Strauss & Co. is a gala performed at the Gärtner Opera here in Munich, in which the singers present a melange of Rossini, Verdi, the two Straus(s) from the title and lots of Lehar. Because it was performed under covid conditions, the choir is located in various boxes in the theatre, standing up and singing to support the solists when required, which is amazingly effective. Also the singers are great. I watched it last night and it was just what I needed.
Love is a stranger who'll beckon you on
Like many, I'm using using the year and more of pandemic lockdowns to watching theatre and opera performances available online. Two I watched recently were:
Attila by Guisseppe Verdi, performed by the Sofia Opera in Bulgaria.(In the original Italian, subtitled in English.) Attila is one of the less well known Verdi operas and I won't pretend it's a long lost master piece, but it's perfect if you want hilstorical melodrama with some great music. Also, when a more mature Verdi wanted to kill off royalty (or have that at least attempted) on stage he had to change kings into dukes (Rigoletto) or into governors of Masaschusetts (Un Ballo di Maschera), but good old Attila the Hun could be plotted against under his own name. The tenor hero is as obnoxious, but he's also not around that much. Whereas Attila has duets with his frenemy, Roman general Ezio (Aetius), and Odabella, the soprano, is that rarity, a woman committing murder in an opera who doesn't die, or comit suicide, or becomes insane.
Straus & Strauss & Co. is a gala performed at the Gärtner Opera here in Munich, in which the singers present a melange of Rossini, Verdi, the two Straus(s) from the title and lots of Lehar. Because it was performed under covid conditions, the choir is located in various boxes in the theatre, standing up and singing to support the solists when required, which is amazingly effective. Also the singers are great. I watched it last night and it was just what I needed.
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