Saturday Evening Post - Opera Notes

Synopsis of Der Rosenkavalier from Wilipedia

The opera has four main characters: the aristocratic Marschallin, her very young lover Octavian Rofrano, her coarse, skirt-chasing country cousin Baron Ochs, and his young prospective fiancée Sophie, the lovely daughter of a rich Viennese bourgeois. Baron Ochs, having arranged with Sophie's father Faninal to combine his noble rank with Faninal's money by marrying Sophie, asks the Marschallin to suggest an appropriate young man to be his Knight of the Rose, who will present a silver rose to Sophie on his behalf as a traditional symbol of courtship. She recommends Octavian. When Octavian delivers the rose, he and Sophie fall in love on sight, and must figure out how to prevent Baron Ochs from marrying Sophie. They accomplish this in a comedy of errors that is smoothed over with the help of the Marschallin

This was "Live from the Met" Saturday and the offering was Richard Strauss Comic Opera Der Rosenkavalier and it was magnificent. (except for the people attending with me but that is for later) Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Christine Schäfer, Eric Cutler, Thomas Allen and Kristinn Sigmundsson as the Baron Ochs carried the Opers brilliantly. The sets and costuming only added a wonderful luster to the event and it is exceptional to be able to SEE the things I could only imagine while listening to the Opera on WOI FM while I was much younger. The Conductor was Edo de Waart and from the first note to the last I enjoyed the entire thing. (Side note- I just noticed that he was born the same year I was.. but he is older being born June 1 to my November 13...I don't know why that should make a difference but it does.)

This opera does not have the soaring aria of a Madam Butterfly but the music is lovely and the trio at the end was worth the price of admission.

Another neat thing about going today was that my Blogfriend Dr. Ur-Spo was attending in Arizona. It will be interesting to see his "take" on it.

Next week the Opera presentation is Carmen. I remember seeing it live at CY Stephens and one of the arias went right into me and grabbed my heartstrings. It (and the lady performing) was so beautiful.


Kevin sent me these and the seem timely.

And Anne says this is some guy snorkeling through her back yard.

Now to my rant. I love the Opera but the theater had so many people with white hair in it and I sit in the back and every one of them moves their heads around. In the darkened theater it looks like dancing popcorn. And some of them talk through the preludes and even find it necessary to lean over and make comments during the presentation. I wonder if they would do that if they were really at the Met. At least no one was applauding... I have never understood why people would applaud in a Movie theater. I actually think that hitting one's hands together is a stupid way to show appreciation and I really think it is dumb when someone comes out on stage and applauds themselves. It is like a comedian laughing at his own joke...

And then there are those who can't get there on time and walk in and take a seat and block your view as they come in and go in front of you... or step on your feet because they aren't paying attention.

Speaking of folks coming into the theater and passing you in an aisle. The delightful German lady on New Year's eve mentioned to me that Americans do it wrong. She said that they come past you with their backs to you and present their "butts" to you. So I have switched. From now on the stage gets my "butt" - Just a thought.

Jon is due back from his trip to Utah and Snow Canyon and Zion National Park where he went hiking with an ISU group. I, for one, - not to mention Miles- will be glad to have him back.

Bailey has had an upset tummy and runny poo the last couple of days. It was not fun to wake up at 3:30 the other morning and find a mess on my bed. At least I have clean sheets now.

Miles is telling me he wants to go out. The Pot Roast is heating up.. The big problem with cooking for one is that there is so much left over. And I get tired of eating it three days in a row. Thanks for stopping by. ARTYAL. Hugs