Fall, 2009
A Passion for Opera
11th Year! Santa Rosa Junior College
6 Thursdays: October 1 - November 12
No class meeting October 29th
7-9 p.m.
Newman Auditorium, SRJC
Puccini & Turandot
The Demise and Renaissance of Italian Opera
When Giacomo Puccini died in 1924, he left his final opera,
Turandot, unfinished, with only a sketch of its final
scene. More importantly, with Turandot, the curtain
fell on the glorious Italian musical tradition that invented
opera and dominated the opera world for three centuries.
Puccini was under tremendous pressure in the early 20th century
to abandon his "old fashioned" musical heritage
and yield to "Modernism". In this class, we'll consider
what Puccini's competitors (Strauss, Debussy, Zandonai, Franchetti,
Mascagni, Giordano, et al.) offered and how they influenced
the Maestro in two of his later operas, Il Trittico
and La fanciulla del West. With Turandot, however,
Puccini renounced the "new music" and returned to
his Italian voice, recapitulating the best innovations from
Rossini to Verdi as well as his own.
As an operatic innovator, Puccini was masterful at creating
theater. Turandot is an operatic thriller that melds
the sadistic cruelty of Salome with the romantic awakening
of Violetta in La Traviata. Until its final thunderous
chord, Turandot holds audiences as spellbound as a
Hitchcock movie. In this course, we'll not only plunge into
the depths of Turandot, as both music and theater and
learn how the opera has evolved over its 83 year history,
but also consider what it takes to mount a great production.
And finally, we'll consider Opera's current renaissance as
it moves from its gilded Opera Houses into the multiplex,
satellite radio, television, and the internet world wide.
Whether you are a newcomer to opera or an aficionado, this course is a great introduction to Puccini and Italian Opera, and a fascinating study of Opera in its waning years as the movies subsequently sidelined it. This year our class trip to San Francisco Opera (optional), will be to Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece, Otello. And to complement the subject matter of the class we'll all have the very rare opportunity to see four great Puccini Operas both live and at the Cinema. Bravo!!
Verdi: Otello. Optional class trip to San Francisco Opera.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009.
Tickets are $45, orchestra seats and tickets are limited. Register early for the class to reserve your seat. You must be registered in the class to purchase tickets. If there is enough interest, a deluxe bus will be hired for the trip to San Francisco.
Puccini: Tosca, Met in HD (Rialto Cinemas)
October 10 live broadcast, repeats 10/14.
With Karita Mattila as Tosca and Marcelo Alvarez as Cavaradossi.
Buy your own ticket from the Rialto.
Puccini: Il Trittico, San Francisco Opera: Puccini's three one act operas: Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi.
Patricia Racette assumes all three soprano roles and Ewa Podles is the Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica. September 15 to October 3, 2009. Purchase your own ticket from San Francisco Opera.
Puccini: Turandot Met in HD (Rialto Cinemas) Live broadcast 11/7 Repeat Broadcasts 11/11 matinee and evening.
Franco Zeffirelli Production with Maria Guleghina as Turandot and Marcelo Giordano as Calaf; Marina Poplavskaya as Liu & Samuel Ramey as Timur. Buy your tickets early from the Rialto. If there is enough demand an extra performace will be added to accommodate students from the class.
Highly recommended for all class participants!!!
Puccini: La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West)
San Francisco Opera. June 9-July 12, 2010.
Salvatore Licitra as Jack Rance, and Deborah Voigt as Minnie.
Buy your ticket direct from San Francisco Opera.