I Love Opera

O du mein holdern Abendstern - which used to be translated as O star of eve. Wonderful aria from Act 3 of Tannhauser by Wagner, in which Wolfram expresses his (unrequited) love for Elisabeth. For the last half hour I have been watching Venus, the evening star, in the western sky in Italy. Always the first star to appear, and unutterably evocative.

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

Saturday evenings on R3 are now back to operas, the Proms having ended; and before the [i]Opera From The Met.[/i] season starts. I'm not a great opera fan, but I like some.

So this Saturday just gone, I treated myself by listening to [i]Gotterdammerung[/i], a broadcast performance in Edinburgh as part of that city's Festival. It does help to know the gist of the story so far though, of all three preceding operas. (I don't know why some call the set a "cycle". It's not. It's as linear as real life.) Yes, it's a preposterous swords-and-sorcery tale but so what? It's written for entertainment and most opera stories are frankly paper-thin as well as incredible - it's the music and singing that count!

And the [i]Ring [/i] in total has those in great swathes, with [i]Gotterdammerung's[/i] immolation aria and final orchestral passage some of the most moving music I know.

SW-User

Nice thing to do...star watching I mean..⭐

MartinII · 70-79, M

@LadyHeartnMind: Yes, thanks.

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