jeffw@tekecs.UUCP (Jeff Winslow) (05/17/84)
I agree with Greg Paley. Just from the music, one might conclude Tristan was the most perfect opera ever written. (One might!) But take a look at the libretto - yecch. I feel better just knowing generally what people are saying without having to know every word. I'm not saying the drama is poor, and there are flashes of compelling dialog, but there's a lot of over- flowery BS as well. Give it to me in German every time. Having things in English (for all you English speakers out there) doesn't necessarily help the understandibility of the words either. I remember a performance of Peter Grimes at the SF Opera where most of the singers seemed to have forgotten it wasn't Italian that night. Of course, one could always blame Britten... On a related subject, what do people think about subtitles, whether on TV or in the opera house? I've never seen them done live, but I will say this: The first time I saw Verdi's Otello was on TV - and I was absolutely blown away by it. I'm sure a lot of that was because of being able to follow the text in the subtitles. To anyone who thinks Verdi is a lot of fluff and drivel - I agreed with you, once. Studying Falstaff in college changed my mind a bit. But it was Otello that convinced me the old man had something on the ball after all. Go hear it. Go see it! It sounds sort of like the Verdi you know and hate (is it possible to know something and hate it too?) but it's, well, different. Jeff Winslow