Friday, December 09, 2005
An American Tragedy
The Metropolitan Opera, for all is vast financial resources, rarely commissions any new operas. It is a “singers house”, i.e. a house whose business is getting the world’s best singers in operas that showcase their talent, not a purveyor of new opera. (Some consider this a shame.) In fact, over the last 35 years the Met has only commissioned 4 new operas. So you can imagine the hype around its world premiere of the new opera “An American Tragedy” last week.
I went to see it last night. I was excited. It starred a dream team cast of the dashing Nathan Gunn, Susan Grahm, and Doloras Zajac, among others. The composer, Tobias Picker, has written only three other operas and worked with the conductor for the last 9 years to compose and stage this work. It was an opera in two acts (each an hour and a half long).
It was not good. Perhaps I’m more of a fan of the Romantic style of opera: this was an atonal piece. Wagner began to explore atonal music in his brilliant Tistan und Isolde, but I would argue that even he would object to that devise being used for an entire opera.
Atonality can work, but –at least to me – it gives you a sense of evil, of portent, and when used throughout an entire opera, it casts a ominous feel about every second. And with a story such as An American Tragedy, it didn’t work. You are not taken on a ride from beginning to end, rather, you are left with the conclusion from the second a note is stuck: this man is going to fall.
It was also apparent that Picker has not written many operas, or for that matter is used to writing for the operatic voice. It seemed like every time he wanted to show emotion, a screeching high C was written in. And after the fifth of sixth one, they loose their dramatic appeal. For example, at the end of act 1, when Rebecca is pregnant and begs her reluctant lover to marry her, there were a couple of high notes shoved into the dialogue to convey the anxiety. But can you really convey that with a couple of high notes? Absolutely not! Think of the emotion: fear, sorrow, anxiety, loss of innocence, and these are conveyed with a couple of high notes? Ridiculous. This was an opportunity to write some really sophisticated music, to bring us into her mind and explore these emotions and her reaction to this shady guy who seduced her. He should have stopped the action of the opera right there and written a brilliant aria and duet.
Despite the shit score, the talent was outstanding, as I implied. I can hardly think of a more vocally strong and believable cast. And the production was incredible and portrayed the complicated scene changes, moods, and overall tone of the story with an elegant simplicity.
But, alas, this is opera: Music is the form and foundation. And no performer or producer can compensate for what is, in my naïve opinion, a bad adaptation of a great story to the operatic stage.
I went to see it last night. I was excited. It starred a dream team cast of the dashing Nathan Gunn, Susan Grahm, and Doloras Zajac, among others. The composer, Tobias Picker, has written only three other operas and worked with the conductor for the last 9 years to compose and stage this work. It was an opera in two acts (each an hour and a half long).
It was not good. Perhaps I’m more of a fan of the Romantic style of opera: this was an atonal piece. Wagner began to explore atonal music in his brilliant Tistan und Isolde, but I would argue that even he would object to that devise being used for an entire opera.
Atonality can work, but –at least to me – it gives you a sense of evil, of portent, and when used throughout an entire opera, it casts a ominous feel about every second. And with a story such as An American Tragedy, it didn’t work. You are not taken on a ride from beginning to end, rather, you are left with the conclusion from the second a note is stuck: this man is going to fall.
It was also apparent that Picker has not written many operas, or for that matter is used to writing for the operatic voice. It seemed like every time he wanted to show emotion, a screeching high C was written in. And after the fifth of sixth one, they loose their dramatic appeal. For example, at the end of act 1, when Rebecca is pregnant and begs her reluctant lover to marry her, there were a couple of high notes shoved into the dialogue to convey the anxiety. But can you really convey that with a couple of high notes? Absolutely not! Think of the emotion: fear, sorrow, anxiety, loss of innocence, and these are conveyed with a couple of high notes? Ridiculous. This was an opportunity to write some really sophisticated music, to bring us into her mind and explore these emotions and her reaction to this shady guy who seduced her. He should have stopped the action of the opera right there and written a brilliant aria and duet.
Despite the shit score, the talent was outstanding, as I implied. I can hardly think of a more vocally strong and believable cast. And the production was incredible and portrayed the complicated scene changes, moods, and overall tone of the story with an elegant simplicity.
But, alas, this is opera: Music is the form and foundation. And no performer or producer can compensate for what is, in my naïve opinion, a bad adaptation of a great story to the operatic stage.
# posted by otas : 7:54 AM
