Opera Favourites #1

Having dedicated my last post to the summit of musical theatre of all times (the Ring des Nibelungen), it may be now interesting and insightful to alight on a few operas I love dearly, by looking at them from a Wagnerian perspective.

Fundamental masterpieces for the stage like the greatest Classical opera (Fidelio) or the greatest Romantic one (Der Freischütz) must always be kept in mind when approaching Wagner, as they provided critical inspiration, both in musical and theatrical terms, to the great Master's aesthetics moulding; down to the singing technique, whereby - for instance - the great Don Ferrando or Kaspar scenes are clearly anticipating of some of Wagner's most powerful villains' characterization.

Next to these German milestones, four intense operatic diamonds by Wagner's French contemporaries, who managed to use Wagnerian technique whilst often maintaining structures evolved from the Grand Opéra genre, combined with a supremely French flair and elegance, suave melodic élan and rich harmonic textures.

A handful of true favourites of mine follows: Purcell's sublime Baroque masterpiece, Gluck's (not so)early Classical dramatic genius, Humperdinck's compelling fairy tale, whose masterful score, orchestration quality and melodic invention are an always welcome reminder of how this composer has been a lot more than a Wagner disciple and imitator. Finally, a powerful contrast between Janáček's dark-toned early masterpiece and Lehár's quintessentially Viennese decadence...

Georges Bizet
Carmen

Jennifer Larmore, Thomas Moser, Angela Gheorghiu, Samuel Ramey, Nathalie Boissy, Natascha Petrinsky, Maurizio Muraro, Jean-Luc Chaignaud, Jan Zinkler, Ulrich Reß.

Ramón Vargas, Vesselina Kasarova, Christopher Schaldenbrand, Dawn Kotoski, Umberto Chiummo, Christoph Genz, Roman Trekel, Arndis Halla, Frank Bauer.