Losing their Shirts (Update)
I don’t know if it is a consequence of the crisis-like downward spiral in the financial markets, but in today’s New York Times Anthony Tommasini reports on an emerging trend in that staid old relic: opera. It seems that opera buffa is fast becoming opera in the buff.
Mr. Tommasini seeks to cast a certain light (or shadow) on the matter, and, displaying the newspaper of record’s sterling record of religious literacy, comments:
with Ms. Mattila in “Salome,” we have one of the major sopranos of our time singing an indisputably and persistently shocking early-20th-century opera. Going back to the story’s Old Testament source, you could argue the text implies that to get her way with Herod, Salome indeed removed all her of veils. This was clearly Mr. Flimm’s idea, and his glamorous star was game. As I commented at the time, Ms. Mattila’s nudity may have taken less courage to bring off than the psychological nakedness she revealed in her mesmerizing portrayal.
“Orrore!” He, like some of my freshmen, may be confusing Herod with David. Despite it all, I remain an opera buff.
Update:
Clearly, someone at the Old Gray Lady has been delegated to keep a wary eye on the doings at dotCom. Today’s edition carries the following “retractatio:”
A music column on Thursday about nudity in opera, including Karita Mattila’s nude appearance in Richard Strauss’s “Salome,” misidentified the source of the story on which the opera is based. It is the New Testament, not the Hebrew Bible.
The breathless tenor at last arrives to dispatch the villainous baritone with an ear-shattering high C; but, “ahimè!,” the soprano has already expired.
It seems that opera buffa is fast becoming opera in the buff.
That’s a great line (although I’m not sure what any of this has to do with electing Obama).
???
Can the writer, director and actors convey the same dramatic meaning without total nudity? I’ve seen nudity on stage a handful of times, and despite Tomassini’s attempts at making the case, I’ve never seen it as a dramatic imperative. It’s always a gimmick.
“I’ve seen nudity on stage a handful of times ….”
Same show or different shows, Jim? ;)
Bishop Sheen once ended a telecast with the words that God will save the Irish because of their smile. On your best days, Bob, your eloquence and humour are unequalled. How could God not take note of that? Alla tua salute!
Bill Mazzella,
Are you referring to Nunz or Imbelli?
In either case: facciamo un brindisi: salute!
Perhaps Mr. Tommasini is one of those Catholics who claims to have been warned against reading the Bible lest he get confused. Or like the Catholic politician who claimed that as a Catholic he did not have to read the Bible because the Pope and the bishops would tell hm all he needed to know.
Mr. Tomassini writes about the tenor in The Fly:
“But most reviewers praised cast members for giving their all to the production, especially Mr. Okulitch, a sensitive singer and dynamic actor with a warm and appealing if modest-size voice. That he also has a handsome physique takes nothing away from the courage it took to strip bare for the telepod scene.”
“A modest-sized . . . voice.” Right. Voice.
This is one of those cases (th OT refer) where the correction will be better than the error. (And I hate it when people confuse me with Herod. But understandable.)
Question. I’m no expert, but “Salome” sounds more seria than buffa. Vero?
“Same show or different shows, Jim? ;) ”
Hmm, no, they weren’t THOSE kind of shows :-).
Grazie. Senza dubbio, Roberto Imbelli.
David, David, which Herod do you not want to be confused with? They were, if not legion, at least numerous.
Davide,
Molto seria — but, hey, blogger’s license.
Mr. Gannon,
I suspect the last bishop the reviewer paid attention to was in Act One of Tosca.
Tosca–the perfect opera. Three acts. Three Roman neighborhoods. Now you’re talking.
For what i’s worth, I saw “Aida ” at La Scala with Pavarotti et al, in, I think, 1986–pearls before swine–and the director, I think Ronconi, had the Nubian slave girls bare breasted. A gimmick here is no big deal elsewhere.
David, I would amend: A gimmick here has been a gimmick elsewhere longer. And even my provincial city had had several topless opera scenes and several more bodyskins, which seems neither here nor there.
Re: gimmick: to the extent that word implies cold, commercial motivation, it probably doesn’t fully capture what I suspect the directors have in mind; surely there is also a dollop of thumbing one’s, er, nose, at social norms. In response to which, we are right in asking, ‘To what end?” …er, so to speak.
I just don’t want opera to go the way of retail marketing, so that sopranos feel they need to have their stomach stapled so they can play a convincing romantic lead, in the buff, the buffa, the seria, or costumed. Was it Deborah Vogt who had that done?
A friend of mine, a gifted young singer (bass) who sadly died of AIDS some years ago, once had a role in which he and others in the cast wore only towels around their waists. (I really don’t remember what the work was, if I ever knew.) He said that once he got over feeling he had to look good, it was actually quite liberating, because it was more comfortable to sing without a collar around his neck or a cumbersome costume.
I recall hearing Beverly Sills talk about singing the very taxing final scene in Roberto Devereux in which, portraying Queen Elizabeth, she wore a costume that weighted 55 pounds. Now, I am not suggesting that we would ever want to see Queen Elizabeth portrayed in the altogether, but it is amazing to me sometimes the physical demands that opera singers are faced with.