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82Opera plots - Puccini's Tosca
There are not too many laughs in Tosca, which is based on a drama by the French playwright Victorien Sardou, set in Rome in 1800. The play was first performed in 1887, and it first attracted the attention of...
5 comments
81Opera plots - Rossini's The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville is probably Rossini's best-known and most often performed opera. It is also an early example of a "prequel" in that it tells of the events that preceded those of Mozart's "The Marriage...
2 comments
78Opera plots - Wagner's Das Rheingold
Das Rheingold is the first of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen, usually referred to as the Ring Cycle. Wagner based the story on a number of Scandinavian and Norse myths, and disentangling his sources has provided many a scholar...
1 comment
81Opera plots - Wagner's Siegfried
The third part of the Ring Cycle takes place twenty years after the events of Die Walkure, or half an hour if you're enjoying (or enduring) the whole cycle in one fell swoop. If you remember, we left Brunhilde...
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78Opera plots - Puccini's Turandot
The plots of great operas are often difficult to fathom, partly because opera composers are generally more interested in writing great music than telling a believable story. The plot is merely a peg on which...
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77Opera plots - Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutte"
The plots of great operas are often difficult to fathom, partly because opera composers are generally more interested in writing great music than telling a believable story. The plot is merely a peg on which to hang arias, duets and choruses. Opera...
3 comments
74Opera plots - Wagner's Die Walkure
This is the second of the four operas that make up the Ring Cycle. Wagner does not tell the whole story on stage, and for a full understanding of what is going on, it is necessary to know a little background detail. Wotan is concerned that the gods...
5 comments
73Opera plots - Wagner's Gotterdammerung
This is the fourth and final part of the Ring Cycle, in which the twists and turns of the other three operas come to a stupendous, if slightly contrived, conclusion. The usual English translation of the title...
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72Opera Plots - Verdi's Aida
The plots of great operas are often difficult to fathom, partly because opera composers are generally more interested in writing great music than telling a believable story. The plot is merely a peg on which...
1 comment
67Opera plots - Puccini's La Boheme
The willing suspension of disbelief is required for any dramatic performance, but this seems to be especially so in the case of opera. For one thing, people just don't go around singing at each other, at...
2 comments
