Is opera a kind of literature?

[kasie]

When you say Pelleas et Melisande doesn't have any singing, JBI, do you mean it doesn't have any arias? Late Verdi (Falstaff and Otello) doesn't have arias as such either and certainly throws audiences who have come expecting to hear something like Aida or La Traviata.

re: not liking composers because of their private lives - I'm never sure about this. Doesn't the music stand on its own? Don't written works stand on their own, come to that? (Though I must admit it's more difficult to hide attitudes in words than it is in music.) I sang in Carmina Burana some years ago and got a tremendous kick out of singing with several hundred other singers in the Albert Hall - but when a friend remarked sadly that it was a fine bit of music but a pity about Orff's allegience to Hitler, I felt I was expected to feel guilty about the intensely uplifting experience that the performance had been for me. I don't think I'm a closet Nazi.....

I didn't know about Debussy but I'm not sure knowing more about his personal life changes my attitude to his music (wish I could play it better to do it more justice!). Apparently Saint Saens left something to be desired in his social skills but the last movement of his Carnival of the Animals never fails to raise a smile when I feel low and the Organ Symphony could inspire me to move mountains.

[JBI]

No, Falstaff still has singing, as does Otello. Pelleas et Melisande is dialogue. It is like the dialogue spoken in between arias in most operas, except there are no arias. It is a little more musical than play comic dialogue, but not much. Youtube some samples of it if you don't believe me.

This is one of the more musical scenes in the opera, though they all sound pretty similar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5fBDANBmZM as you can tell, it isn't exactly like spoken dialogue, but it isn't really singing the way we think of it. I congratulate it as being a unique art form (the libretto was not powerful enough for me for this art form to really work) but we have, I think run off topic, I just brought that up as a counter-example of more literary opera.

The notes here, if you notice, only are used to punctuate the words, which would imply we are supposed to judge it as a play (in his time, the playwrite who wrote this was well renowned, even winning the Nobel in 1911, though I think his popularity has ebbed with the end of symbolism and marionette theater, and modernist tastes dominating).

Then again, this is somewhat a popular opera, not enjoying the same popularity as a Puccini or Verdi major opera, but certainly not without a fair share of recordings. I guess it probably just isn't really my thing.

I am also not much a fan of Debussy (the things I like most of his tend to be his piano etudes, not his orchestral works) and if this plays again in Toronto, or anywhere that I am at, I probably will not see it. The play, to me at least, just seems very unmoving, with a rather shapeless/directionless plot.

[stlukesguild]

From what I can sense of the Debussy opera it is still singing... but not so much "song". It is dialog or recitative... in a manner not far removed from Wagner... who essentially eliminates the traditional recitative/aria/duet/recitative/aria, etc... structure of older operas. of course Debussy is far less theatrical... and more impressionistic (realistic?) than Wagner. If you want an even greater blurring of song and the spoken word I would suggest Schonberg's Pierrot Lunaire. You can check out one of the more song-like selections here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=157FG8sDMW8

Personally I prefer the great Germans: Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Wagner, etc... but I would probably place Debussy at the top of the heap of the French composers (although such may be a dubious honor) I do agree that the Etudes are among his finest works... especially performed by Mitsuko Uchida... but I would also greatly recommend Walter Gieseking's inimitable recordings of the Preludes, Images, Suite Bergamasque, etc... Again I would also recommend unreservedly Debussy's "chanson" or art songs, including the famous Clair de lune. Dawn Upshaw made a fabulous recording of his works with James Levine.

[stlukesguild]

Speaking of Opera as a form of literature I just came across this:

http://www.danagioia.net/essays/esotto.htm

And this:

http://www.danagioia.net/opera/index.htm

[Virgil]

Speaking of Opera as a form of literature I just came across this:

http://www.danagioia.net/essays/esotto.htm

And this:

http://www.danagioia.net/opera/index.htm

Oh I have heard of Dana Gioa. When i get a little more time I'll read your web links St Lukes.

[stlukesguild]

Joshua Bell and Cecilia Bartoli were two I saw at Salzburg.

I'd certainly love to have heard Cecilia. Joshua Bell...? I've only heard very little by him... and after all... Itzhak Perelman is still alive and probably the undeniable reigning master of the violin. But then I also must admit I tend to follow pianists and singers more than the violin... at least among contemporaries.

[JBI]

You got Bayreuth tickets!! I've always wanted them. How did you get them? just luck, or did you pay big bucks? Also, what did you see?

Brendel is good, but he goes too far out of his repertoire, I find. My favorite pianist has to be Murray Perahia.

Either way, back on topic, Libretto is a genre of literature. The problem with it however, is the good libretto doesn't always lead to a good opera, and a bad libretto can turn into an excellent opera. Therefore, from a literary point of view, you either have to judge the libretto as a text, or not at all. Judging the opera as a form involves judging the music as well, which sets it beyond the boundaries of literature, and into the field of music.

[stlukesguild]

Oh, yes... Brendel A magnificent pianist. of course Angela Hewitt just performed here (OK... a few miles from here in Oberlin) and she is no slouch... especially when it comes to Bach's Well Tempered Clavier which was the chosen work for her performance.

[JBI]

Hewitt isn't bad when she plays Bach, though when she wanders... It is interesting to see her, as it is with any gifted female pianist. the interpretation is always 'fresher'.

[JBI]

Geez, that's almost the perfect selection of Wagner (my personal preference is The Flying Dutchman over Tannhäuser) That was probably a very memorable time. You got lucky too, most people wait years for tickets. So I guess you can attest now to the beauty of Wagnerian libretti as literature.

[stlukesguild]

Hewitt isn't bad when she plays Bach, though when she wanders...

I find her interpretations of Bach's keyboard works to be among the best... and I'm saying this as a Bach fanatic who owns 4 or 5 versions of most of the major pieces in this repertoire. Sviatoslav Richter's Well Tempered Clavier, for example, is marvelous... but never a first choice... far too Romantic. Of course Glenn Gould is ever a must have... but quite undeniably idiosyncratic. Still I would not be without both of his recordings of the Goldberg Variations. Ralph Kirkpatrick, the great Scarlatti scholar and performer, also provides a fabulous recording of the Well-Tempered Clavier... on clavichord. Andras Schiff and Murray Perahia also have made brilliant recording recently. Of course you might also want to check out Rosalyn Tureck.

[Brasil]

L'amour est un oiseau rebelle
Que nul ne peut apprivoiser
Et c'est bien en vain qu'on l'appelle
C'est lui qu'on vient de nous refuser

(Love is a rebel bird
That no one can tame
And it's in vain that we call him
It's him that just refused us)

Rien n'y fait, menaces ou prieres
L'un parle bien, l'autre se tait
Et c'est l'autre que je prefere
Il n'a rien dit mais il me plait

(Nothing's doing it, threats or prayers
One speaks well, the other shuts up
Et it's the other I prefer
He didn't say a thing but he pleases me)

L'amour, l'amour, l'amour, l'amour
L'amour est enfant de boheme
Il n'a jamais jamais connu de lois
Si tu ne m'aimes pas je t'aime
Si je t'aime prend garde a toi
Si tu ne m'aimes pas
Si tu ne m'aimes pas je t'aime
Mais si je t'aime, si je t'aime
Prends garde a toi

(Love, love, love, love
Love is a bohemian's child
It never knew laws
If you don't love me I love you
If I love you watch out
If you don't love me
If you don't love me I love you
But if I love you, if I love you
Watch out)

[Brasil]

ITALIAN
Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!
Tu pure, o, Principessa,
nella tua fredda stanza,
guardi le stelle
che fremono d'amore
e di speranza.

Ma il mio mistero e chiuso in me,
il nome mio nessun sapra!
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo diro
quando la luce splendera!

Ed il mio bacio sciogliera il silenzio (derreterá)
che ti fa mia!

(Il nome suo nessun sapra!...
e noi dovrem, ahime, morir!)

Dilegua, o notte!
Tramontate, stelle!
Tramontate, stelle!
All'alba vincero!
vincero, vincero!


ENGLISH
None must sleep! None must sleep!
And you, too, Princess,
in your cold room,
gaze at the stars
which tremble with love
and hope!

But my mystery is locked within me,
no-one shall know my name!
No, no, I shall say it as my mouth
meets yours when the dawn is breaking!

And my kiss will break the silence
which makes you mine!

(No-one shall know his name,
and we, alas, shall die!)

Vanish, o night!
Fade, stars!
At dawn I shall win

[slobone]

Hi, just catching up with this thread, so I'll just put my 2 cents worth in.

Of course it's monstrously unfair to expect an opera libretto to be readable in isolation. A good librettist almost always has to abridge his source material (and most operas are based on pre-existing works) because it takes more time to sing a line than to speak it.

An interesting exception is Strauss's Salomé, which is almost word-for-word the same as Oscar Wilde's play. But as it happens, Wilde's play is almost never performed, while the opera will live forever.

Similarly with Otello. Yes, it's a great libretto, but if you had a choice between attending a staged version of the libretto without the music, or Shakespeare's original play, which would you prefer?

(I once went to a stage performance of Belasco's Girl of the Golden West, which I guess was OK, but all I kept thinking was, gee this would make a great opera.)

And in any event the impact of an opera performance doesn't depend on the libretto, but on some mystical union between word and text. In spite of what a lot of people think, it's never true that the text is of no importance. If the singers were singing "la la la", it would be a really long evening.

You can tell this if you attend a performance of, say, La Traviata in English. No matter how good the translation, the experience just won't be on the same level (I know a lot of people disagree with me on this.)

And if we're evaluating the literary merit of a libretto, we have to look at more than just whether it's beautiful poetry, as with a lied. Plot, pacing, character development are all important components, just as they are in a play.

That's why I think Puccini's librettos are among the greatest ever written (he usually employed whole teams of writers to do them, and he was very demanding.) You can't beat his operas for tightness of pacing, for capturing a character or an emotion in just a few words. Think of the poker game in Fanciulla, or the second act of Tosca, or the love duet in Boheme. If they're performed even halfway decently you'll be on the edge of your seat, and not just because of the gorgeous music.

So no, operas aren't literature, anymore than a painting or a movie or a building is literature. But they can certainly be great art, and the magic won't happen unless the words and music come together in the right way.

[Brasil]

Original (italian):
Recitar!... mentre preso dal delirio
non so più quel che dico
e quel che faccio!
Eppur... è d'uopo... sforzati!
Bah! Sei tu forse un uom?
Tu se' Pagliaccio!
Vesti la giubba,
e la faccia infarina.
La gente paga e rider vuole qua.
E se Arlecchin
t'invola Colombina,
ridi, Pagliaccio, e ognun applaudirà!
Tramuta in lazzi
lo spasmo ed il pianto,
in una smorfia il singhiozzo
e'l dolor - Ah!
Ridi, Pagliaccio,
sul tuo amore infranto.
Ridi del duol che t'avvelena il cor.

English
To perform! In the throes of delirium
I don't know anymore
what I'm saying, what I'm doing!
Still... you must... force yourself!
Bah! Are you a man or not?
You're just a clown!
Put on your costume,
and make up your face.
People are paying, they want to laugh.
And when Arlecchino
takes away your Colombina,
laugh, you clown, and everyone will cheer!
Turn your agony and your tears
into buffoonery,
your sobbing and pain
into a funny grimace - Ah!
Laugh, you clown,
at your broken love.
Laugh at the pain which poisons your heart

For me, personaly, that is the most beautiful lyric in opera. Try to find it sung on youtube.