Sunday Brunch – Jonas Kaufmann & Michael Volle are Fierrabras und Roland
Schubert'sFierrabras is a strange little opera. Well, not so little, really. There is alot of music and most of it is lyrical and lovely, but the plot of the opera is convoluted and fairly static. And with character names like Roland and Boland, Eginhard and Brutamonte, it's hard to keep track of everyone. (One of our heroines is named Emma, but I'm sure that was an oversight. Her real name probably was supposed to be Emmamentandina or something.)
Making this opera more confusing, director Claus Guth added the composer as a character in the drama,and dressed his four male leads exactly the same as Schubert. However, none of this is terribly important at the moment.
Right now, the point is to enjoy the beautiful blending of the voices of Jonas Kaufmann and Michael Volle in this duet from Act 1. I've included a bit of dialog to help set up the duet.
Fierrabras and Roland pledge brotherhood, while Schubert looks on proudly, yet wistfully.
I think a lot of Schubert's operas had that same problem. In Alfonso und Estrella, the hero is Alfonso and the villain is Adolfo and I can never keep the two of them straight.
LOL, of course Schubert's operas have other problems two. The saving grace for them, in my opinion is the lovely lovely music.
The name thing seems to happen to me a lot. In one of my lives, I work with Carol, Carolyn, and Caroline, plus Jenny and Jenna. It's getting to be a bit too much for my aging brain!!
I think a lot of Schubert's operas had that same problem. In Alfonso und Estrella, the hero is Alfonso and the villain is Adolfo and I can never keep the two of them straight.
ReplyDeleteLOL, of course Schubert's operas have other problems two. The saving grace for them, in my opinion is the lovely lovely music.
ReplyDeleteThe name thing seems to happen to me a lot. In one of my lives, I work with Carol, Carolyn, and Caroline, plus Jenny and Jenna. It's getting to be a bit too much for my aging brain!!