Carreras in Vienna 2011-10-14

What a day? Headache, pain in abdomen but mostly pain in my lower back. Luckily I can sit down and my pain is almost gone.

2011-10-14 Gala-Abend mit Startenor Jose Carreras, Konzerthaus Wien

Josep Carreras, tenor
Sylvia Schwartz, soprano

David Gimenez, conductor
Orchester der Volksoper Wien

It was Spanish zarzuela and Italian songs. Carreras started softly with Cancion Hungara from Alma de Dios in the first part and ended the second part with full power in Coren'grato. Sylvia Schwartz is a young soprano with a nice voice. She was most impressive when she sang duets with Carreras, especially in El Duo de la Africana. She got to sing some of the best soprano arias from zarzuela and operette, still I was often left cold. The Guiditta aria in the extras was her best. Carreras sang with his soul and mine responded. David Gimenez was a wonderful conductor. Neither singer nor conductor had their notes in front of them, only the orchestra had notes. That was impressive. The orchestra responded well to David Gimenez.

Naturally Carreras two children was there. His son Alberto has grey hair and looks exactly like his father, daughter Julia still with beautiful black hair and her stunning Carreras looks. They were sitting on front row together with more Carreras family member, I think.

Tomorrow, back home...


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2011-10-13 Madama Butterfly in 1-2-3

On the 13th day of the month October the number 3 will appear and Madama Butterfly will be in 3 acts.

I was confused the placard said Butterfly was a japonese tragedy in 2 acts and I remembered that Puccini and his librettist had changed Belascos drama into 3 acts. But strangely enough I was right, and Wiener Staatsoper was wrong. Only one intermission after act 1. In a dramatic sense it makes sense to have act 2+3 together. But it was not really that great for me since I was having my third (3) leak of my pouch system.

It felt like a Friday 13th, but it was Thursday. First on my flight from Zurich to Vienna I had to change my whole system in that tiny toalett of a plane. It went well, but no well enough. By the time of the intermission at the opera I needed to change it all again. For the second time it went well but not well enough. In acts 2+3 I hoped, struggled and then I felt it fail during wonderful Puccini music and the drama of Butterflys suicide. It just couldn't handle it. I felt it was wrong to just to go after such a great opera performance, but I needed to handle my crisis. Luckily my hotel was close to Staatsoper. Well, 3 is the number for luck, not to mention to have a big room and time to really get it right without stress, is good.

Madama Butterfly, Wiener Staatsoper 1930-2215

Patrick Lange | Dirigent
Josef Gielen | Regie
Tsugouharu Foujita | Bühnenbild
Tsugouharu Foujita | Kostüme

Daniela Dessi | Cio-cio-san, genannt Butterfly
Marian Talaba | B.F.Pinkerton
Eijiro Kai | Sharpless
Juliette Mars | Suzuki
Herwig Pecoraro | Goro
Peter Jelosits | Yamadori
Jeanine De Bique | Kate Pinkerton
Alexandru Moisiuc | Onkle Bonze
Marcus Pelz | Der kaiserliche Kommissär
Martin Müller | Der Standesbeamte
Arina Holecek | Mutter Cio-Cio-Sans
Denisa Danielová | Base

I really liked Eijiro Kai as Sharpless. Marian Talaba was even from front row a weak Pinkerton. He struggled with the singing. He was clearly not at ease. He was a great Stewa in JENUFA so why not in Madama Butterfly. Daniela Dessi was really good in act 2+3, I guess maybe it took me almost the act 1 to get it. The love duet was almost all Dessi, Talaba was too weak.

I loved my seat and that I could see what happened in the orchestra. They seemed to enjoy themselves, those men and women in the orchestra. I loved to watch the female first violinist. It gave depth to my understanding of the music of Giacomo Puccini.

Wiener Staatsoper also released an app for IPad and IPhone on this day, October 13, 2011.

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Neue Hosen in Zurich, La Fanciulla del West 2011-10-12

Well, ain't that swell. After a long bus ride in the night to arrive at Oslo Gardermoen airport to go to the wc thinking all is well and then loose all the indominable content of my pouch onto my cloths. And I had thought I did not need another pair of trousers on this trip. But I had my stylish pyjamas that looked more like the real thing than many tights etc that looks like pyjamas. So I was content with my look. But I had to find a bag to have my dirty laundry in so it would not pollute the contents of my luggage.

But in Zurich airport I got some "neue Hosen", Lacoste denim dark blue that I could use in the opera instead of my Italian black denim. Love my new trousers. So in the evening still one can use the expression "neue Hosen" for Claudio Sgura who sang instead of Ruggero Raimondi the role of Sheriff Jack Rance. New for the Zurich production, he is not new for the role, he did it before in London etc.

I would not be surprised to hear that it was the production itself which induced Ruggero Raimondi to withdraw. In the Zurich production no stage is plain and straight. It makes it hard to walk especially as one is supposed to be natural. And it is the biggest drawback to this production and does not seem to serve any meening. Too bad otherwise it could have been perfect. I like the way it uses movie to enhance the drama.

Emily Magee as Minnie was in a fantastic voice and her acting ditto. And I had not been bored by this opera before Minnie (Emily Magee) came into it nor later even as I had a severe head-ache going on all the time. It was Claudio Sgura who really came to be the Jack Rance when Minnie came. I loved him in this role. He reminded me so much of the young Silvano Carroli in the 1983 DVD from Royal Opera House. Jose Cura was Dick Johnson with heart and soul, he voice was beautiful, clear and his acting was superb.

I sat in 1. Rang and third row so I could see the whole stage except when the heads of people in row 1 and 2 hindered me. I also had a head-ache. After the opera a few friends meet at the stage entrance but we gave up on seeing Jose Cura, Emily Magee and Claudio Sgura. It was an amazing opera evening but then it was time to rest. I needed to sleep for I was going to Vienna. And wouldn't you believe it I had to change my system on the plane's wc. That went well, naturally, but one gets nervous after things like that.

Next stop: Madama Butterfly in Wiener Staatsoper. I'll think I will eat first.


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October 10, 150 years since Fridtjof Nansen was born

Thank you, Google for reminding me of Fridtjof Nansens 150 celebration.

On October 10th, 1861 Fridtjof Nansen was born. The Norwegian scientist was best known as an explorer. The Fram explorations etc.

But the most important was he work as a statesman for the independence of Norway and as a humanitarian for the many displaced persons after the First World War and the Russian Revolution. His work as High Commissioner for Refugees and the development of the Nansen Passport was important parts of his legacy.

Fridtjof Nansen may not have been the perfect husband etc, but by the time he died in 1930 he had changed the world to the better.

Viva Verdi! (Buon compleanno, maestro Verdi) Giuseppe Verdi, born October 10, 1813. Composer and humanitarian.

For reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com

LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST - Photos and video

Opernhaus Zurich 2004-05-07
Minnie = Sylvie Valayre
Dick Johnson = José Cura
Jack Rance = Juan Pons

Opernhaus Zurich 2004-05-09
Minnie = Sylvie Valayre
Dick Johnson = José Cura
Jack Rance = Juan Pons



Royal Opera House 2005-09-15
Minnie = Andrea Gruber
Dick Johnson = José Cura
Jack Rance = Mark Delavan

Royal Opera House 2005-09-18
Minnie = Andrea Gruber
Dick Johnson = José Cura
Jack Rance = Mark Delavan

Deutsche Oper Berlin 2006-09-24
Minnie = Sylvie Valayre
Dick Johnson = José Cura
Jack Rance = Marco Chingari



Royal Opera House 2008-09-26
Minnie = Eva-Maria Westbroek
Dick Johnson = José Cura
Jack Rance = Claudio Sgura

Royal Opera House 2008-09-29
Minnie = Eva-Maria Westbroek
Dick Johnson = José Cura
Jack Rance = Silvano Carroli



Den Norske Opera & Ballett (Oslo) 2009-12-12
Minnie = Paoletta Marrocu
Dick Johnson = José Cura
Jack Rance = Jason Stearns

Den Norske Opera & Ballett (Oslo) 2009-12-14
Minnie = Paoletta Marrocu
Dick Johnson = José Cura
Jack Rance = Jason Stearns

Opernhaus Zurich 2010-11-20
Minnie = Emily Magee
Dick Johnson = José Cura
Jack Rance = Ruggero Raimondi

For reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com

The Girl of the Golden West, by David Belasco

I have now finished reading the novel by David Belasco called The Girl of the Golden West. I read it on my Ipad Kindle. And it would have been a much more enjoyable read if it was not littered with slurs like injun, greaser etc.

The Indians Wowkle and Billy Jackrabbit are stereotyped and are never allowed to have an agency of their own. The Girl (Minnie), who are 90 % of the time called only Girl ("Hello, Girl!" / "Hello, boys!") has Wowkle as her servant, calls her "my squaw" and does not think much of her other someone to talk to, mostly give orders. Minnie does not see Wowkle as a full human being. Of course, it is "mighty Christian" of her to insist that Wowkle and Billy should marry as they have a small child together. Wowkle has naturally "full hips" etc. and Billy Jackrabbit is in the habit of stealing whiskey and sigars etc. Who has to sing the homeland hymn about the Pilgrims in the Academia? Wowkle and Billy Jackrabbit "in their high-pitched voices" and as they sing about how the Pilgrims took their native lands, the miners comes with their comments, no sympathy for Indians here.

The greaser, I could not understand who or what the word meant. But Kindle on Ipad means a push and you can find out that it is US offensive for Mexican. Wow, I am not Mexican but I hated it whenever it came in the text (and that was often). Luckily the word injun did not come up that often, but I detested it. And then why is Sheriff Jack Rance called a china man.

Even without the slurs, it is still a bucket full of stereotypes. To be American that is Good, anything else is less. Minnie is a natural beauty with blue eyes and golden hair. But every time she talks we are reminded that she is not well educated and she is called just Girl all the time in the text. It is not before Johnson asks her name in her cabin that we learns her name is Minnie. Other times it is Girl, Girl, Girl. And I am thinking she is a bar owner so she is most probably no longer a girl but a grown woman. Her name is MINNIE, not Girl.

Dick Johnson, the road agent, has a Spanish father and American mother. How pleased she was when she heard that he had an American mother. Then he was not only good-looking but also half good (half American). That was in the beginning of the novel when they met and that set the tone. Not my favorite tone. Naturally the Mexicans are so exotic when they are not just robbers etc.

Still, I enjoyed the read despite all that was wrong. The racism, the slurs and that no character was really well developed. I guess I should say except Minnie and Dick Johnson. But still. Set against the novel the opera LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST by Puccini is actually better and one feels more for the characters than in the novel. If only Puccini and the librettists had just cut out Wowkle and Billy Jackrabbit, then some of the worst stereotypes and racism would be cut out, too.

For reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com

October 2011 Belasco, Puccini and Carreras

2 Belasco/Puccini operas: La Fanciulla del West in Zurich and Madama Butterfly in Vienna. AND Carreras in Konzerthaus Wien. That is on the menue for me in less than 14 days.

So I have decided to read the original Girl from the Golden West by David Belasco on my Kindle. Not only that but that I should be finished reading it by October 12 when I see the opera in Zurich.

Ruggero Raimondi, Opernhaus Zürich 2010-11-20.

Since Ruggero Raimondi suddenly decided to quit, Claudio Sgura will sing Jack Rance. I saw him in London and I liked him then. Dick Johnson aka Ramirez will be José Cura, as usual. Emily Magee will be the Girl.

For reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com