Prague Opera

There’s a lot of opera in Prague and seats are cheap; a tiny fraction of the Vienna cost in fact. Sometimes you find different opera houses competing with different productions of the same operas.

Czech people tell me that the National Theatre is the top place for opera and the State Opera house is second to this. The historic opera house where Mozart conducted and had first performances is called the Estates Theatre and tends to concentrate their attention on Mozart productions.

The best performance I saw was a premiere of The Tales of Hoffman. This was excellent so perhaps later performances use second string singers in the main roles. The premiere was a very posh event and many women wore dresses which took up a lot of floor room so I cannot imagine how they managed to enter their box let alone sit down in it.

I had a fairly awful seat for this premiere. Seeing an attendant I just mentioned this in passing. She seemed concerned and produced a ticket and told me, “Use this seat for the rest of the opera”. The seat for which she had given me a ticket was probably the best in the house. It was the sixth row of the stalls right in the middle of the row. The rake of the stalls is quite considerable in the National Theatre so the view and the sound was perfect for this great opera.

However the performance was excellent all round!! The production was almost identical to those trad versions I have seen before complete with revolve but very unfussy and natural – if anything in ‘Hoffman’ could be called ‘natural’.

The tragic weirdness was not overdone even in the Antonia death scene with all that dry ice. All the singers were strong. In the relatively small National Theatre, this makes for a huge sound level!! The chorus and orchestra were – as usual – first rate. It was the best Olympia I can remember – but, of course, I haven’t seen ‘Hoffman’ for yonks.

As it was a premiere, I was glad to see all the stage staff, including the ASMs and various other bodies taking a bow AND all receiving bouquets at the end. Even the repetiteurs come out for a clap!! This was my last opera before taking the train and bus to Venice so it was good to be present at what seemed to be a great evening.

I’m not really an opera fan so my stay in Prague has probably topped me up for the next few years. When I got my job at the Arts Council, it was opera that I had to manage including overseeing the Welsh and Scottish Opera companies but not Covent Garden or the English National Opera. I soon learned that people in Opera and Ballet were all stark staring mad and were happy to be so. They were all completely obsessed with Opera and Ballet but were not particularly good at financial management. I had to sit on audition boards for opera singers and was always amazed at how many simply could not produce the goods.

It takes so long to train as a singer let alone a singer in opera. Eva Turner, a very experienced singer and probably an excessively tough vocal coach, would watch each singer walk to the centre of the stage and, before they uttered a sound, would pronounce her judgement. And she was usually correct. It takes a lot of confidence just to tackle a part. Hence my reluctance to criticize singers who have been learning their craft for up to twenty years and still aren’t there.

Aida is the one opera I saw both at the National and the State Opera House. It’s a pity that people make so much fuss about the “big scene” because it has great arias and choruses throughout the whole opera. It was interesting to see that neither production made a meal of the “big scene” and the sets didn’t allow the ballet much room either.

But Aida does bring back some memories of university when I was working on a difficult problem in theoretical physics. One of the university security staff used to bring his sax in so we could jam together now and then. Although his ‘day job’ was in the university, he played in a big band in the nearest large resort town. After a while, I suggested he apply to a Guards Band of the Royal Household Brigade as a musician. In those days the musicians’ ONLY duties were musical unlike today when they might be required to undertake other duties.

He auditioned and was accepted not as a sax player but as ‘third gobbo’. The pay was excellent and he managed to swop his council house for one in London. Incidentally, this enabled me to take his place in the 16 piece MECCA big band!. The income from the big band work and other gigs enabled me to give up theoretical physics and take a music composition BMus degree.

On the day my friend arrived in London, he was given a temporary room in Chelsea Barracks. Not long after his arrival, an NCO came in and said. “Come with us. We’re extras for Covent Garden Opera and you’re a musician. We’re doing Aida tonight!!”. Dutifully he obeyed and followed the group to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden where he was designated as the most ‘browned’ slave of them all, being ‘last in’!

One comment he made to me was amusing. He noticed that all the soldiers were singing!! He said, “Why are you singing? You’re not in the chorus!” The answer he received was, “It’s OK! We know the tune!!”

Now comes the nasty part!! The group somehow managed to get him out of the opera house without letting him take his makeup off. So he had to travel back in the tube all the way to Chelsea covered in brown greasepaint!! So, at the end of his first day, he had definitely been initiated as one of the Aida extras from Chelsea!! Guardsmen are nice people!!! And they accept musicians as mates!!

Ah! back to the Prague performces. The National had a fine Amneris which really made the performance for me. Both choruses were excellent and they both seemed to have slightly weird choreographers who loved rather angular movements in their ballets. Some of the lower voiced men principal singers were excellent. I have the impression that they breed good bass singers here and all stations north. But both houses did good shows and everybody enjoyed this fine Italian opera.

Another big Italian opera I went to at the State Opera House was Turandot. I chose Turandot at the State probably because the National Theatre second violins had very poor intonation at the very beginning of Aida the week before – a very exposed section! As usual, Liu had the most applause. Calaf even funked a high sustain but Turandot went for it screaming the house down. Production, sets, chorus and orchestra were excellent so, once again a good time was had by all; even by me after two glasses of champagne bought for me by nice Frankfurters. Ping Pang & Pong were good and arrived by individual rickshaws with rear wheel drive. Nice sounds but the usual strange unsatisfactory ending!!! Dark obsession overcoming evil. Do they REALLY “live happily ever after”?

The most peculiar eveing at the State Opera was a Mixed Bag of operetta. Apparently operetta is hardly ever performed in Prague although I cannot imagine that ‘Die Fledermaus’ has not been in the repertoire at one time or another. I love “Die Fledermaus’ but I cannot say the same for the plots of many operas by Lehar and Kalman. Some of the music is nice and this ‘Mixed Bag’ evening enabled us to hear some of these melodies. But isn’t the second act of ‘Fledemaus’ great!!! It was worth the evening just for that!!!

I really enjoyed my evening at the National theatre watching Die Dreigroschenoper or the Threepenny Opera as we know it. After paying my seven euros, I ended up with a box to myself!! The sound of this piece is so individual and it has a great place in history, being written and first performed in 1928. Brecht had adapted the old ‘Beggars’ Opera’ written by John Gay and produced by John Rich (Yes, it is the opera “that made Gay rich and Rich Gay”) and Kurt Weil of course provided the music.

It still sounds good today. Some of the music sounds incredibly ‘academic’ as Weil uses a lot of classical devices but the instrumentation makes the music sound as different as you can get from classical. The London policemen looked a little strange but one of them had a helmet which almost covered his face! They had whistles and used them!!! The ending is pure fantasy in the original version so, in the National Theatre , the messenger descends from the sky in a chariot drawn by two huge horses, to announce that MacHeath has been baronated; pure verfremdungseffekt!!!

But I reserve until last a Czech opera by Dvorak.After all, I’m in Prague so I must see ‘Rusalka’ at least once. so tonight I was in the State Opera listening to this Dvorak jewel. Hardly an opera, it has heaps of atmosphere which was captured perfectly by the State Company. Light touches rather than grand guestures lead us gently through this supernatural plot to the mutual sacrificial ending. Courtly dance for the ballet and projections to enhance the minimal sets in Acts 1 and 3 worked well. Nice broad sound from the tuba and brass section but finally they are singing in Czech!! They all seemed happier and more relaxed because of this. And I enjoyed it!!

Here a couple of links to performances – to begin with – at about the standard of the Prague National Theatre.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sADWyHZE-uQ&feature=related
What a great scene this is!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW6_YskZeMA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMcQDFhyUCo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfOMStpAB8E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkQmAVdHD6I&NR=1
OK THAT Grand march!
In Caracalla I’ve seen the scene end with two white stallions galloping in from each side of the stage and rearing up in the centre. Magnificent!!! Meanwhile this will have to do!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3w4I-KElxQ
This is EXTREME OPERA!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq_if8R5xZE&feature=PlayList&p=8446B1D99AF0176A&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=54

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMnl1URCH3w&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTfUwEAkDfI&feature=PlayList&p=215319E5414437EB&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=48

Turandot
Not much on Youtube except the big arias.

This is why we all hate Calaf? ….. (almost the end of the opera)
Katia Ricciarelli – Turandot – Liu’s Death Scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-1MjfmixrI

Mixed Bag of operetta
J Strauss, Kalman and Lehar
Die Fledermaus, Zweiter Akt
Die Fledermaus-“Mein Herr Marquis” (Adele)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npLZNoRoH2M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0jWvmYTbGk
Monique Brynnel singing Laughing Song Die Fledermaus (Melbourne)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ocGud3d-Rc
Die Fledermaus (MET 86) – Klange der Heimat (Czsardas)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWBplKwTR4k
Tatiana Troyanos – Chacun a Son Gout – Die Fledermaus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsUmLcri7fU
Die Fledermaus-“Chacun a son gout” (Prince Orlofsky)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6uEmtn56M0
Die Fledermaus (MET 86) – Explosionpolka (Prague Ballet did a really rude Follies can-can (Aren’t they supposed to wear something under those skirts?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzfC_fvSptE
Die Fledermaus (09) – Introduction Act II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfZDyXM4Nd0
Whole Act
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lArNTKck0ss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Larcw5CCJ2k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaSIyddMpOA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bln17P66zes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8hWJXeW0tk

OPERETTA THE LAND OF SMILES
Liebe besiegt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clMFF0F-7dw
Das Land des Lächelns Luciano Pavarotti sings Dein ist mein ganzes Herz (Italian)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iikzND6Hz54

GRAFIN MARIZA-KOMM, ZIGANY (TASSILO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01ZnCba2FGA&feature=PlayList&p=E64B85674D89D327&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amCcpgu_Hu8
Dubravka Zubovic/ Kalman/Graefin Maritza/Csardasfurstin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylvLdP7d6VU
GRAFIN MARIZA-DUET ZSUPAN & MARIZA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zmT9sLsKCA

Die Dreigroschenoper
Mack The Knife (original)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QXJ3OXWaOY
Mack the Knife with Lotte Lenya(Brecht’s wife at the time)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPG9GcykPIY
Die Dreigroschenoper Band (1) – Kanonensong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q686m6cqv4E
Eifersuchtsduett – Winnie Böwe & Sona MacDonald
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLk5poKBehc
Seeräuberjenny Sona MacDonald
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myZSaZ7zoN8
Lotte Lenya Singing “Seeräuber Jenny”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

Les Contes d’Hoffman

Not much on youtube except hundreds of the same few songs. A pity because ‘Hoffman’ has good songs from beginning to end. So here are few nvideos ..

Jose van Dam – Les Contes d’Hoffmann – Scintille diamant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG9l-iySB8k
Barker Roll
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lo923kQhHU
Placido Domingo & Beverly Sills – Sextet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcY9jc3bg0E
Neil Shicoff – Tatiana Troyanos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwN2v9lgcCI
G. Madia’s stage direction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyUWz3MF8gY

Rusalka
Here’s the beginning …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmrcH9KDth0
But we all know the ‘Song to the Moon’. It’s a pop!!
Adriana Kohutkova – RUSALKA Song to the Moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwFlt1m9k5Y
Natalia Ushakova – Rusalka – Song to the moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3IPYNwPVk0
Lucia Popp “Song to the Moon” Rusalka
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoPTh_q7GYs
Renée Fleming – Song to the Moon with Lyrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tImMZLfHaE&feature=related
Moon-aria – The Norwegian Opera – Solveig Kringlebotn – Oslo 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkJpJ83KKCo
This man IS the moon! I thought it was all cheese!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ewdr8s4HGQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlWiT4Tap4s
Talia Refeld – Sarah Meier -Song to the Moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3MM0YfGb0s
Agnes Zwierko RUSALKA (Witch) act 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r_EsJme5PQ
“Hou, hou, hou… I pekne vítám z lesa k jezeru…” Prague National Theatre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhuhn1wbQBE
… and “Cury mury fuk…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzX7S2rsMnU
“I pekne vítám z lesa k jezeru!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg1Mg3wXyws
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDqEz-R7XPc
Act 1 Natalia Ushakova / Denisa Hamarova – Duet Jezibaba
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg-MZ4zuchM
Tomas Cerny in Aria of Prince at the State Opera House. Prague
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHOvvbIK3GE
Larin and Urbanová , Rusalka, Duet from Act 2, pt1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut4TkFQY_Tc&feature=related
Larin and Urbanová , Rusalka, Duet from Act 2, pt2 finale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUEMjN0cIBU
“Ne, není to láska, hnevivý je to cit…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gxtwIs36kg
Rusalka – Las tres ninfas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvUZWt5PJeA&feature=related
Rusalka (1975) – Celý svet nedá ti, nedá + Kvetiny bílé
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxYptmFWliw
Rusalka (Antonín Dvorák) 2nd act finale “Vám v ocích divný žár sezrací…”
http ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpxHNmXUx8M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU3_qMRhELw
Mám, zlaté vlásky Mám, Dvorák’s opera Rusalka. Act III, The three wood sprites.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnjewCMoLzQ
Svetla Vassileva in Rusalka (Act III)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eKMGI1dvaA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSadU_oM_Y4&feature=PlayList&p=060AF2C1B45224EC&index=18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNgBgUI1on0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BaUZ_ATh-c
Rusalka Finale – Jenisova and Hrisko – Part I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSaPBGQN7VE
Rusalka Finale – Jenisova and Hrisko – Part II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbDCVj2K0yA

Keith of Ninewells

Prague Opera

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Keith of Ninewells

Prague Opera

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