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Post by mikef6 on Mar 25, 2017 21:00:37 GMT
At two concerts in the past few years that I have attended, the piano soloist has encored with a “classical” arrangement of a Gershwin song. Well, Gershwin is not so unusual at concerts anymore, but it got me thinking about even wilder departures from the standard repertoire.
I’m thinking more of a performance of “The Barber of Seville” I read about a long time ago that happened, I think, in the first half of the 20th century, when the Rosina chose “Home, Home on the Range” as her number in The Music Lesson scene in Act II. Also, Swedish tenor Jussi Björling (1911-1960) liked to sing Stephen Foster’s 1854 song, “Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair” at his recitals.
Ah, those wacky “long hairs”! Can you think of any more?
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Post by Carl LaFong on Mar 26, 2017 20:42:29 GMT
I love Jeannie with the LBH.
Here's the great Richard Crooks:
Interesting how Crooks sings "vapour" and Bjorling "zephyr".
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Post by nutsberryfarm 🏜 on Oct 8, 2018 4:14:31 GMT
I love Jeannie with the LBH. Here's the great Richard Crooks: Interesting how Crooks sings "vapour" and Bjorling "zephyr". nice! |
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thornberry
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Post by thornberry on Oct 8, 2018 19:19:10 GMT
At two concerts in the past few years that I have attended, the piano soloist has encored with a “classical” arrangement of a Gershwin song. Well, Gershwin is not so unusual at concerts anymore, but it got me thinking about even wilder departures from the standard repertoire. I’m thinking more of a performance of “The Barber of Seville” I read about a long time ago that happened, I think, in the first half of the 20th century, when the Rosina chose “Home, Home on the Range” as her number in The Music Lesson scene in Act II. Rossini wrote lesson music for this scene, so did they remove it or just add "Home on the Range"? Probably just a few bars? That would be jarring to me. After "Rhapsody in Blue" a piano arrangement of a Gershwin song would be fine, otherwise not so much, not when there are so many other encores a pianist could perform. |
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Post by mikef6 on Oct 8, 2018 20:04:29 GMT
At two concerts in the past few years that I have attended, the piano soloist has encored with a “classical” arrangement of a Gershwin song. Well, Gershwin is not so unusual at concerts anymore, but it got me thinking about even wilder departures from the standard repertoire. I’m thinking more of a performance of “The Barber of Seville” I read about a long time ago that happened, I think, in the first half of the 20th century, when the Rosina chose “Home, Home on the Range” as her number in The Music Lesson scene in Act II. Rossini wrote lesson music for this scene, so did they remove it or just add "Home on the Range"? Probably just a few bars? That would be jarring to me. After "Rhapsody in Blue" a piano arrangement of a Gershwin song would be fine, otherwise not so much, not when there are so many other encores a pianist could perform. The part where Rosina demonstrates her lesson to Bartolo was left open for the mezzo to improvise. In one performance I attended, she announced a new piece from that young composer Herr Mozart. It was the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star tune that the singer performed several charming variations on and brought down the house. Perhaps the Rosina who choose "Home On The Range" did a similar operation on that tune. |
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thornberry
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Post by thornberry on Oct 11, 2018 16:17:41 GMT
Rossini wrote lesson music for this scene, so did they remove it or just add "Home on the Range"? Probably just a few bars? That would be jarring to me. After "Rhapsody in Blue" a piano arrangement of a Gershwin song would be fine, otherwise not so much, not when there are so many other encores a pianist could perform. The part where Rosina demonstrates her lesson to Bartolo was left open for the mezzo to improvise. In one performance I attended, she announced a new piece from that young composer Herr Mozart. It was the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star tune that the singer performed several charming variations on and brought down the house. Perhaps the Rosina who choose "Home On The Range" did a similar operation on that tune. I never realized there was space for improvisation there, that's how sharp I am musically. You can have a lot of fun with Twinkle Twinkle...was it a small company that did this? Some opera companies show imagination, the Met just loads the stage with expensive pomp and circumstance to try to lure new fans. I enjoyed the Bjoerling performance. |
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Post by mikef6 on Oct 11, 2018 18:34:11 GMT
The part where Rosina demonstrates her lesson to Bartolo was left open for the mezzo to improvise. In one performance I attended, she announced a new piece from that young composer Herr Mozart. It was the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star tune that the singer performed several charming variations on and brought down the house. Perhaps the Rosina who choose "Home On The Range" did a similar operation on that tune. I never realized there was space for improvisation there, that's how sharp I am musically. You can have a lot of fun with Twinkle Twinkle...was it a small company that did this? Some opera companies show imagination, the Met just loads the stage with expensive pomp and circumstance to try to lure new fans. I enjoyed the Bjoerling performance. We were living in Ohio at the time so the company would have been either Dayton or Cincinnati, neither small. Some years later we landed in Dallas where we subscribed to the Opera for several seasons. In the "Barber" that we saw there, in a late scene with a lot of coming and going, a prop came to pieces (the back of a chair broke off). A player on stage carried it off and the next person on carried it back. This happened three or four times and was hilarious. I never learned if this bit of business was a spur-of-the-moment improvisation by some singer/actors just having a good time on stage or if it was a set-up and done that way at every performance. So even in the opera companies of the largest cities, there seems to be room - at least in some - to just go crazy at times. The Met, I know, is very tightly controlled. There is never going to be falling scenery or a wardrobe malfunction on that stage. |
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