What's Opera Doc?

Today, (29 November 2008) The Metropolitan Opera begins its 78th season of radio broadcasts. It finishes off the season with the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) cycle by Richard Wagner. (With L'Elisir d'amore being broadcast between the 1st 2 parts.)

Anyhow it will go on for 4 weeks & an interminable number of hours. & it will be in German. So, for those of you who don't have the time, or the understanding of the German language to sit through it all, here is Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd in the Reader's Digest version (aka What's Opera Doc?):

Unfortunately they are not doing 1 of my favorites this year. But Bugs & Elmer will give us their version of Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione (The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution) by my paisan Gioachino Rossini, with a little of Mozart's sequel Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata (The Marriage of Figaro or the Day of Madness) tossed in for good measure. (& it is in English for those of you who when they hear Italiano say "Non capisco?")

Rabbit of Seville

OK, time to get serious. I do enjoy opera. It is in the genes, I'm Italiano. Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni is my favorite. But there are plenty of others, including a few by Mozart, that I do enjoy also. For way too many reasons opera has gotten a bad name as being only for the elite. It isn't, esp Italiano Operas. In fact, a lot of the arias became the equivalent of what we would call top 40 music today. In fact many people don't realize how much opera they really know because a lot of the music is used in non-opera settings.

I am writing this post to salute the Met. The 1st performance was Gounod's Faust on 22 October 1883. 125 years & countless fat ladies later, they are still going strong. Please check out their broadcasts. & if there is an opera company nearby, try to see 1 live to get the full experience.