More Kaufmann: Why Wagner? Why Now? (Why Not?)

OK, OK, I know it looks like this blog is turning into a Jonas Kaufmann Fansite. But really, it’s just timing. I hadn't planned to post at all today, but right there on Facebook was this Decca promo video for his new Wagner album. And it would simply be irresponsible to not share it!

Coming Soon: More Wagner from Herr Kaufmann

This just in: Thanks to the Opera Chic, we now know that Jonas Kaufmann has a new Wagner album due out in February. (Pause for applause, cheering, sighing, and/or swooning.) 

JK sings the Wesendonck Lieder,  and arias from Die Walküre, Siegfried, Rienzi, Die Meistersinger, Tannhäuser, and Lohengrin. Thanks, OC, for keeping us up to date.  

If you don't read it already, please check out OC's blog. Her posts are timely, clever, witty, smart, and fun.

This is Opera. No Thinking Allowed.

Yes, I mean no thinking allowed. Although thinking aloud is not a good thing to do at the opera, either—at least not in live performances. But this is about whether or not we are supposed to think when we view/listen to opera. Should we just turn off our brains and let the music wash over us? I don’t think so. And  here is why I bring it up today.

An argument was made the other day in comments on another blog that opera, as an art form, is intended to make people feel, not think. This writer also contends that all composers prior to "our modern age" would agree with him. This writer opined that any attempt to make opera more accessible (particularly singing it in translation) is patronizing (to whom, I am not sure...I guess patronizing to the patrons.) This writer also is either a plagiarizer, directly quoting another blogger verbatim without proper attribution, or actually is that blogger hiding under the ubiquitous moniker: Anonymous. (I am not sure which annoys me more!)

Monteverdi Monday – 1610 Vespers: Duo Seraphim/Tres sunt

This is not opera, but it sure is operatic. This is another selection from the 1610 Vespers, one of the "concertos" that are sung in between the choral psalms. I believe the Vespers are to Monteverdi;s operas are what Verdi’s Requeim is to his operas. This is also another selection from Christina Pluhar's energetic recording of the Vespers with L'arpeggiata and a host of early music singers. No big names in this excerpt, but they do a great job. 

Sunday Brunch – Arabella: Aber der Richtige (della Casa & Rothenberger)

No one could mistake Anneliese Rothenberger for a boy, especially not in this getup. But that doesn't make this clip any less enjoyable. For much of her career she sang operetta, but she also sang major Mozart and Richard Strauss roles, including Sophie, and performed the role of Arabella, at least in concert. Ironically, with all that operetta, Strauss and Mozart in her repertoire  my first exposure to Ms. Rothenberger was as Alban Berg's Lulu (photo in the NYT obit).