Tako Oda wrote:
> Don't get me wrong, I don't think A) Brightman is an extraordinary singer
> or B) phantom is the greatest opera written in recent times. I am curious,
> however, to know why you think the "electronic amplification"
> automatically makes Phantom inferior to a "live" opera.
Not inferior, but different. (And I REALLY dislike Andrew Lloyd-Webber's music,
so that's
not a great example for me to really good operas like Sweeney Todd.) Though my
personal
preference is for singing without electronic amplification. I don't mind it in
popular
music, where the singing style is based on it, e.g., the jazz singer cozying up
to the
microphone in the dark nightspot, the rock'n'roll band where the entire sound IS
electronics. But I usually hate it in Broadway-style shows, because it's too
loud and
hurts my ears and amplifies whatever bad singing is present. (I didn't mind it
in the
show Chicago, but hated it here in Annie Get Your Gun and Secret Garden. The
latter was
amazing, because it showed me how little amplification does nothing for
intelligibility
when the singers' diction is poor.) Because of electronics, I rarely find it
worthwhile to
spend the huge dollars to see the Broadway shows, which were once my favorite
theatrical
experience. For not much more money, I can get no electronics AND a full
orchestra AND
incredible sets and costumes AND world-class music at the opera.
Composers have
> always used whatever technology was available to them to make the best
> impact possible. They're not interested in arbitrary rules, they are
> interested in how effective their work will be.
Yes, but I don't have to like it.
With amplification, a composer may use a 100,000
> watt rock band instead of a string orchestra, or samples, or electronic
> music... a singer with perfect technique may choose to use a breathy tone
> and have it heard. Or get spooky off-stage voice effects. Drama is first,
> technique and technology exists only to serve it.
If that's what it's for, I have no argument, as noted above.
> If 19th century opera production values are yoru be-all-end-all, then of
> course nothing else will compare. Why not see what amplified operas have
> to offer that 19th century can't instead of only seeing what is missing?
> You don't have to lose the "raw voice" aspect assuming the singer has the
> chops, it can still happen... Depending on dramatic context. You're simply
> not boxed in to that method all the time. Besides, why is "raw voice" more
> important than other dramatic considerations? You win some you lose
> some... amplification allows other kinds of intimacy that the raw voice
> aesthetic cannot achieve.
It's a matter of preference. I've experienced my share of electronics, over 30
years of
performance-going. And what I find I like the most now are first-rate singers,
in a
first-rate opera, with a first-rate orchestra, in an exciting production. I
didn't start
out this way, but the more I went to the opera, the more I found other things
unsatisfying. The only theater that equals opera for me, at present, are
productions like
those at The Shakespeare Theatre or Arena Stage here. A different medium, but
a similar
level of substance and skill put into the productions. And in all the cases,
the driving
force is not financial profit, as these are all non-profit enterprises.
> I see the romanticization of 19th cent operatic style as limiting. The
> development of opera as a form did not end a hundred years ago! If we're
> serious about not wanting it to die out, we need to allow it to evolve
> naturally.
I love contemporary music and like many of the recently-composed operas I've
had the
opportunity to see, and my very favorite operas were composed in the 17th
century, the
18th century and the 20th century, so please don't think I'm one of those who's
stuck in
the 19th century late romantic tradition. And unamplified new-opera-composing
is alive
and well - more healthy than Broadway right now, I think (though Broadway's
looking up,
with young composers like John LaChiusa and Adam Guettel on the scene). I'm so
heartened
to read of the exiciting opera premieres that are happening each season - I'm
looking
forward particularly to reports about the new Jake Heggie opera in San
Francisco, Dead Man
Walking. I only wish I were wealthy enough to fly around the world to see all
this stuff
for myself!
Peggy
--
Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
"Music for a While Shall All Your Cares Beguile"
mailto:peggyh@i...
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