Opera

Carmen 2025 at 2 Roots and on vinyl

Tosca Dec 2025, performance 11/23/24, conductor Nézet-Séguin, Met website

The Magic Flute at Luther

The Merry Widow at Luther

Der Rosenkavalier at the Met, probably weekend of 4/8-9 2023

The Marriage of Figaro 2025 at 2 Roots

Don Carlo Dec 21-24 2025, conductor Nézet-Séguin, Met website, performance 12/11/10

Rigoletto Dec 2025, 1981 with Pavarotti, Met website

I'm thinking more seriously about opera for the first time. 

Pavarotti missing that note in Rigoletto at the Met is like Ned Stark dying -- everything ever after feels high-stakes, you know no one is safe.

If I had to rank the three operas I've watched on the Met's website, it'd be 1) Tosca, 2) Don Carlo, 3) Rigoletto. Rigoletto was a tragedy, yet felt like a comedy that was told it had to be a tragedy. The most familiar melody, "La donna e mobile", is one of the cheeriest ever; the title character is a jester; the romance feels like Much Ado. I remember being surprised when death first came into the picture, surprised in a discordant way. Maybe that's the purpose -- I do think there was some intentional irony to some of the Duke's cheer -- but it felt more like Verdi just didn't know operas could have happy endings. I'm probably wrong there, but I just can't stop picturing Pavarotti's broad face under a thick tuft of hair grinning among his mistresses. It's too light, yet turns dark in an unsatisfying way, via the uninspiring character of Rigoletto. Don Carlo had the religious and historical backdrop, which I like, and the visuals were stunning; yet little of the music struck me. ChatGPT told me Don Carlo was the obvious next Italian opera for me to watch, and I can see why in terms of the grand setting, but the music was not fulfilling. The arias weren't very melodic, it was just three and a half hours of severity. I may like the grandeur of the setting, ChatGPT, but I need melodious grandeur in the music too. Tosca, despite ChatGPT's comment on Puccini's simple intimacy of scene, delivered a gravitas that behemoth Don Carlo couldn't, via pulling the modern heartstrings. Puccini seems to be modern enough that his melodies can strike gold, yet classical enough that he respects form. "Vissi d'arte" and "Nessun Dorma", for example, play in chords like I ii IV, like modern popular music. Thus modernism in classical music has a different meaning than the avant garde, it also suggests melody that can move me.

I don't expect Mozart will be my operatic hero: he seems to be too sanitized. Two deep in Verdi, I can't place him up there either. I liked Carmen, but I know it's not the peak for me. If I am to adore opera, I'm putting some chips on Puccini and Wagner. "Nessun Dorma" is one of my favorite songs ever, I guess, and Wagner seems to embody the epic/philosophical/serious art of opera as much as anyone, though I haven't heard much of his. Hopefully it's fairly melodic. It probably isn't.

If I wasn't about to go to Italy, I might abandon Italian opera for now and turn to Wagner or something. But I think Puccini possesses some treasures yet for me.