I must say that I have a new, greater excitement for our upcoming concert. This is mostly due to a little research I did on our closing number: The Gondoliers Finale (Dance a Cachucha). Out of all Callista Chorale’s songs, this one intrigued me the most from the start, as it requires two people on the same piano (making the sheet music look quite scary to be honest) and also because it has been the most difficult for me to pick up and learn.

The Gondoliers is very much so an opera on the satire of class distinctions. Written in 1889 by Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert, it follows the wife of the Prince of Barataria (a fictional kingdom), the Prince himself, a drunken gondolier, and his son. The Prince has been in hiding since he was a child, for protection, and a Venetian Gondolier took him in as his own to care for him. The gondolier had a child of his own around the same age as the Prince, and with time forgot who was who, as in he cannot remember which is the Prince and which is his biological son (Don't give him a hard time, he’s drunk a lot). With the King of Barataria dead, there is a newfound need to identify the Prince so he may rule his inherited kingdom. In order to identify him, his wife, whom was married to him while the two were both babies, figures she will be able to tell the difference. She travels to Venice to be reunited with her “husband,” only she realizes she is in love with another. But its ok, because so is the Prince. And so is the gondolier’s son, who is kind of the Prince’s brother in a way.

The entire opera is confusing, illogical, and yet magnificently brilliant in every way. Its farcical, funny, and well written based on the snippets I was able to watch on youtube. Knowing its background and story makes me all the more excited to be singing the finale from this opera.

I know that with practice, this number will come together immensely well, and I cannot wait to join the tenors of community choir and sing away at our part.

(Here’s a link to my favorite version of this song I could find on youtube, by Hasting’s College choir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF98nnBlTh8

music theory

This years choir class has been the first time that I have had the opportunity to not only sing in a choir but to learn how to read music and understand certain musical concepts. Therefore I decided to do some research on music theory, and do a blog post about some of the cool stuff I learned. First of all, music theory is a way broader concept than I expected. It involves not only learning to read music like in our theory books, but basically all of the possibilities of music, which is super cool if you think about it. Some of the more obvious things that it includes are the basic pitch, tempo, harmony, etc., but it also involves a certain amount of  "hypothetical speculation", which has to do with individual beliefs and ideas about music. The ideas of what constitute music are always changing. For example, Things such as the importance of silence in music, or rhythmic relationships, don't have set rules like 'finding the doe', and it is up to the composer/singer/musician, etc, to determine what the best way to utilize it is. The amazing thing about music is that you can approach it from essentially any angle; mathematically, analytically, comparatively, descriptively, the ideas of music theory are actually endless. Even in a very simple tune, for example 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', one can analyze how the music actually works, what methods are used, etc. I am only in theory book 1 right now, and there is a ton of stuff that I am still really confused on, but the ideas of music theory are so vast and massive that I am actually really excited to learn more

My ideas about "Svegliateve nel core" -Perry Otto

Out of all of the songs we’ve (women’s choir) been singing in class, I’ve really enjoyed the time we’ve spent on “Svegliatevi nel core.” It is very dramatic, and is unlike all the other songs we are learning for the Oprah concert. When I first heard it, it reminded me of “Hist Whist,” a song that we sang last year at the Poetry in Music concert, because they are both spooky, and unusual. I think that “Svegliatevi nel core,” is even scarier, because it is in another language. When a song is in English, we can pretty easily interpret what it has to say, but since this song is not in English, the meaning and words of the song are somewhat unknown. I found a translation of the song that gives the “dramatic situation.” It says that the singer had just seen their father beheaded, and wants to get revenge. According to this translation (the link is below), the song says, “Rouse yourselves in my heart, furies of spirit offended, to wreak on a traitor, bitter vengeance…” I find it interesting that the way that the notes come together, and how the song sounds, can give us clues to the type of song it is, (scary, pretty, etc.) without even knowing the words. I also looked at a video (linked down below) on YouTube, and even without being able to know the words meaning, the sounds and expressions of the singer can tell you that they are distraught and angry.

Translation: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/15169/Bubeck_Daniel_2012.pdf?sequence=1

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okTC1i8yKLw

     Besides performing arts in seventh grade, Callista Chorale is the only choir I've ever been in. So, being new to all of this I wanted to see what it is that inspires operas to be written. I decided to do it on "Va Pensiero", which is one of the operas we have been singing in class and will be performing at the choir concert. Giuseppe Verdi wrote the opera "Nabucco" in 1842 which included a third act called Va Pensiero, or in english, "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves." The story behind this is based on the Jewish people who were exiled into Babylon after their homeland was conquered. One of the verses that shows a glimpse of its meaning is "O, my homeland, so beautiful and lost! O memories, so dear and yet so deadly!" 
     Because Va Pensiero is a very strong piece, Verdi became known as a major composer in 19th century Italy. Verdi's wife and kids died during this time, so he wrote this opera during a really depressing period of his life. I think that the tragedy he faced probably helped him to write such a powerful piece. 
     More recently, people have been remixing Va Pensiero. All of the remixes I've heard sound really awful! Its weird to see what the classic form started out as originally and what they turned out to be. Classic operas and modern music styles don't seem to go together very well, at least in the one below. Heres a link to one of the remixes if you want to hear it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3eKJ5mNpfs

Adele's Laughing Song

For this choir concert, I'm going to be doing a solo called "Adele's Laughing Song". This song is pretty traditional opera, with a few high D's here and there (uh-oh), but it's also very humorous and funny, if you actually pay some sort of attention to the lyrics. Before I do this solo, I wanted to research the musical a little to understand what i'm going to be singing about. This song comes from an operetta called 'Die Fledermaus', composed by Johann Strauss II. Originally, this opera comes from a german farce called 'Das Gefangis' which means "the prison", by Julius Roderich Benedix (1811-1873). One of the characters in this show is Adele, the character that sings the song I will be performing. She plays a maid. This show has been made into many movies, and there are many impressive covers of this song on Youtube. The link below is one of my favorites, and also the one I have been using to practice with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcgznDMls54
I am really grateful and excited to learn this song, and it has made me significantly more interested in studying opera.

The Mikado was the second opera I was ever in, and I can say that it was one of the funnest ones I was in. The song we're doing, Three Little Maids From School, is well known even in people that don't know anything about operas. I found two, well technically three, different version of the same song that I think are really interesting. They all show in how many directions you can take the show, and work all of the characters. The first video looks to be from a film version of the Mikado. It's very traditional, meaning that it is performed how Gilbert and Sullivan probably intended it to be performed. It's still a cute song, but there isn't much to it. The second version I found was from a production put on by a Melbourne, Australia Opera Company. It's much goofier, fun, and just all around weird. To be completely honest, I liked the second version a little bit more. The third version, well the third version I found is just a little surprise that I remembered to give everyone a small throwback to a show I think most of us probably watched.

Film version:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mj3OPLA2E0

Australia version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyEJZ9yODB8

SURPRISE VERSION (sorry it's a little bit grainy): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6xHGP3sL3c

When I was little, me and my family went on many road trips. My parents discovered very quickly that five hours of sitting in a car with two children (sometimes loud and boisterous, sometimes bickering) was not very pleasant. One that my brother and I never got tired of listening too was the opera “The Magic Flute” by Mozart. It was translated for children into a story with musical interludes (and certainly not in its original language of German) but all the same we got the picture. We listened to it so much that my parents grew sick of it and wouldn’t let us listen to it anymore. We mimicked the operatic style of the singer’s voices as we bellowed loudly in the car. The whole thing was ironic because no one in my family is particularly fond of opera, yet we all took a liking to this one because of one single little section. Our favorite song was the “Powers of Night” because it really emphasized operatic style and was fun to emulate/mock… I remember that me and my brother would take turns singing the staccato high section and compete to see who could do it the with the most volume and vibrato (we made our parents judge, who of course said we both sounded great). Looking back, I find the picture of me and my brother having opera sing-offs pretty funny, especially since we both probably sounded terrible.

Here is a link to the song we liked, the part we knew is a 1:28 seconds into it (I honestly can’t believe I found the same version we listened too)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F9ibYvICiA&list=PLSHQJXX3m-E1CFvtPdUfqJcgqDEFg8zsd&index=9

Okay, my grandma actually recommended this book to me. It's called bel canto, which translates to "a lyrical style of operatic singing using a full rich broad tone and smooth phrasing". It was a wonderful book. I think that it loses its appeal to someone who is not involved in music. It's sort of difficult to explain. One of the main characters, named Roxanne Coss, is a world-famous opera singer. She attends a party to celebrate the birthday of a Japanese business man in a country in Latin America (never specified) and all the guests are held hostage by a radical "terrorist" group of impoverished young adults (some of them are children).

I don't think many people would notice how integral music is to the development of the characters and the plot. I don't mean most people won't read into it enough. To truly understand the bond that music creates between the hostages,the way it brings them together, I think you need more than an appreciation for music. I think you need to have created music of your own to truly understand why it is so important to Roxanne, and her accompanist, and everybody else. I believe the author chose opera, and not piano, or musical theatre, or just plain singing because a) opera is sophisticated b) it is (correct me if I'm wrong) one of the most difficult and laborious art forms to learn and c) it is universal. Obviously, instrumental music is universal. But singing is more personal than playing an instrument, and the major hindrance in any communication between the hostages is language. Opera does not need a translator. It is not as dependent on words as theater is (but the lyrics/meaning are important). It relies on technique and emotion to tell the story. That's why it creates bonds and relationships.

There is one person, Gen, who is a translator. He is the only one who completely understands what people are saying (the guests are from all over - Russia, US, France, Japan, Latin America, Italy, etc.) In the end, Roxanne and Gen (SPOILER ALERT) get married. They did not fall in love. But they were the only two people who could communicate and effect people. Gen could understand the languages people spoke, he could negotiate, do whatever they needed him to do. The only other person who was as important to him was Roxanne. She was the reason the party happened, and she was this human manifestation of opera, of what it represents and what it can build.

This was very rambly I apologize.

Humming Chorus – Madame Butterfly – Giacomo Puccini

   I have chosen to research the Humming Chorus from the Opera "Madama Butterfly" by Giacomo Puccini. It is an opera performed in three acts. It is based partially on a short story by John Luther Long titled Madame Butterfly. Long based part of his short story off of the stories told to him by his older sister and part off of the semi autobiographical 1887 French novel, Madame Chrysantheme by Pierre Loti.
   This sad opera takes place in Japan and is about a devoted wife willing to do whatever it takes in the name of love. A young U.S. navy lieutenant, Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton has arranged to acquire a fifteen year old Japanese girl bride, Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly). Pinkerton buys a lease overlooking the Nagasaki harbor in Japan that can be canceled as well as the wedding within a month's notice. An American consult and one of Pinkerton's friends come to see the wedding and warn Pinkerton not to take the marriage lightly because Butterfly is truly in love with him. Although Pinkerton explains that he loves her as well, before she arrives, Pinkerton says a toast to the American women he will one day marry. Butterfly and pinkerton become married and then Pinkerton leaves for war and doesn't contact Butterfly for three years. Butterfly finally hears word about PInkerton from the American consult that Pinkerton has wed the American women. Butterfly calls for her son, sure that PInkerton will come for her is he realizes he has a son. Pinkerton comes to Japan with his wife Kate and explains to Butterfly that Kate and him would like to take his son back to live in America with them. Pinkerton flees, to afraid to face Butterfly. Butterfly agrees that they can take her son if Pinkerton agrees to meet with her that day. Butterfly says farewell to her son then commits suicide. Pinkerton walks in the door, to find her dead.
   The Humming Chorus is happening when Pinkerton is coming to shore with his new American wife. It is the sound of calmness in Butterfly's tragic love story.
   This song contrasts with the surroundings of the play and the feelings of the characters. Puccini creates a sense of slumber by making sure the vocal lines never move at the same times as the accompanying instrumentalists.

Works Cited: Hopkins, Kate. "Madama Butterfly." Royal Opera House. Arts Council England, 17 Mar. 2015. Web. 20 Sept. 2015.

  "Madama Butterfly." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2015.

A Night at the Opera - program list

Community Choir:

Anvil Chorus – Il Trovatore by Guiseppe Verdi

Habanera – Carmen by Georges Bizet

Polovtsian Dances – Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin

Bella Voce:

Call of the Flowers – Lakme – Leo Delibes

Chantons – Armide by Jean Baptiste Lully

Ricevete – Marriage of Figaro – WA Mozart

Svegliatevi nel core- Julius Caesar – GF Handel

Three Little Maids – Mikado – Glbert and Sullivan

Callista Chorale:

Va Pensiero – Nabucco – Guiseppe Verdi

Jubilate Joy We Bring – La fida ninfa – Antonio Vivaldi

Giovanni Lieti – Marriage of Figaro – WA Mozart

Humming Chorus – Madame Butterfly – Giacomo Puccini

What a Joy to be here – Die Fledermaus – Johann Strauss II

Adele’s Laughing Song – Die Fledermaus – Johann Strauss II

7^th Grade Performing Arts:

Papagena-Papageno Duet – The Magic Flute – WA Mozart

The Evening Prayer – Hansel and Gretel – Engelbert Humperdinck

Weep No More – Bonduca – Henry Purcell

Finale:

Finale from The Gondoliers – Gilbert and Sullivan

Hello all,

Here is the new "up-to-date" choir blog.
Welcome.

Each semester you will write at least two new posts and add two new comments. These should be 250-500 minimum, they can be longer :-) Most of the time they can be on the musical topic of your choice. Occasionally, I will request that they be on a specific topic.

So have fun and start writing.