I have been listening to opera and attending opera performances since 1979, when I discovered this ‘exotic and irrational entertainment’ through an album of Mozart arias by Margaret Price and Joseph Losey’s film of “Don Giovanni.” Since then, I have seen hundreds of opera productions of everything from the old ‘war horses’ to what are referred to as operatic ‘rarities.’

Recently, it occurred to me that I should try to produce a list of favorite operas, and I have been struggling to come up with a list of ten operas that I could not live without, and that has proved more difficult a task than one might imagine. For one thing, ten is an extremely arbitrary number, albeit one that is the basis for contemporary life; the ‘modern’ would be impossible without decimalization. But ‘top ten’ lists proliferate in every area of human activity, and so, in keeping with that somewhat arbitrary but widely accepted standard, I have finally produced a list of my favorite 30 operas. The first 15 are those I simply couldn’t live without:

1) Die Zauberflöte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1791)

2) Così Fan Tutte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1790)

3) Don Giovanni (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1787)

4) Le Nozze di Figaro (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1786)

5) Turandot (Giacomo Puccini, 1926)

6) Madama Butterfly (Giacomo Puccini, 1904)

7) Falstaff (Giuseppe Verdi, 1893)

8) Giulio Cesare (George Frideric Handel, 1724)

9) Cavalleria rusticana (Pietro Mascagni, 1890)

10) Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss II, 1874)

11) Der Freischütz (Carl Maria von Weber, 1821)

12) Manon (Jules Massenet, 1884)

13) La Cenerentola (Gioachino Rossini, 1817)

14) Don Carlos (Giuseppe Verdi, 1867)

15) Der Rosenkavalier (Richard Strauss, 1911)

The next 15 are those I could live without but would prefer not to have to:

16) La Fanciulla del West (Giacomo Puccini, 1910)

17) Eugene Onegin (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 1879)

18) Hänsel und Gretel (Engelbert Humperdinck, 1893)

19) Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Gioachino Rossini, 1816)

20) Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Jacques Offenbach, 1881)

21) Ariadne auf Naxos (Richard Strauss, 1912)

22) Dido and Aeneas (Henry Purcell, 1683)

23) Götterdämmerung (Richard Wagner, 1876)*

24) Castor et Pollux (Jean-Philippe Rameau, 1737)

25) L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Claudio Monteverdi, 1642)

26)  L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (Maurice Ravel, 1925)

27) Boris Godunov (Modest Mussorgsky, 1874)

28) La Traviata (Giuseppe Verdi, 1853)

29) Carmen (Georges Bizet, 1875)

30) Zar und Zimmermann (Albert Lortzing, 1837)

A little commentary may be necessary. I’ve put an asterisk next to “Götterdämmerung” because I can’t bear the thought of sitting through a complete Wagner opera again. I saw the entire Ring cycle live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and due to circumstances beyond my control, I was only able to get a standing room ticket for the fourth and longest of the four Ring ‘music dramas.’ I think I can probably say that standing through the entirety of “Götterdämmerung” without supertitles (this was 1982, long before the advent of that life-saving device) puts me in a class with the hardiest of opera queens~! But music of Siegfried’s Funeral March and Rhine Journey is  one of the greatest moments in opera and almost unparalleled in its depth and power. Likewise the Good Friday music from “Parsifal,” but I’m unwilling to endure 5 hours of sheer boredom even for 20 minutes of the most sublime music in all opera. And while I’m fascinated with the Norns as figures in Norse mythology, there can be nothing so boring in all of opera as standing through the scene of the weaving of the Norns with no supertitles.

In contrast, I am never bored with Mozart’s ‘big four,’ which head the list. I return to Mozart again and again; he is the one opera composer with whom I could not live. Mozart was my introduction to opera: an album (back in the days of LPs) of Mozart arias sung by the Welsh soprano Margaret Price (wearing a diamond-studded black farthingale) that I borrowed from the Madison Public Library in college started it all, and I was absolutely captivated by my Joseph Losey’s “Don Giovanni” film, which I saw when it first came out in 1979.

I went through a Wagner period — which peaked when I saw the entire Ring cycle in London in 1982  — and I’ve also been swept away by operas by other composers, especially Verdi and Puccini; but no other opera composer has ever displace Mozart from my affections.

While I love “Le Nozze di Figaro,” my two absolute favorite operas are ” Così Fan Tutte” and “Die Zauberflöte,” and the only difficulty for me is choosing between the two of them. I suppose I could call it a tie, but the nature of lists is such that they are most comprehensible as a simply enumerated list, and so I’ve given the pride of place to “the Magic Flute,” the most magical of  all operas.

No commentary on opera would be complete without at least a passing reference to Verdi and Puccini. Verdi is by common consent considered one of the three greatest of all opera composers, along with Mozart and Wagner, and some of Verdi’s enthusiasts would rank him first. Verdi was certainly an example of a composer — like Brahms and unlike Mozart or Mendelssohn (that most truly prodigious of all musical prodigies) — who took time to develop; despite some great individual numbers (“Va, pensiero,” the chorus of the Hebrew slaves from “Nabucco,” for example, which became the theme song of the Risorgimento), it wasn’t until the great trio of “Rigoletto,” “Il Trovatore” and “La Traviata” that he produced truly great operas. “Un Ballo in Maschera” and “Aida” are also great operas, as is “Otello,” but since this is a list of my favorite operas and not of the greatest (or at least what I consider the greatest) operas, I’m including those that I most enjoy listening to; and among those, only three make the list at all, and only one makes the top tier. Some consider “Falstaff” the least Verdian of all of Verdi’s operas, but it is the one that totally captivated me when I saw it in London in 1982 and still holds me enthralled over 30 years later.

After Mozart, though, it is Puccini who is my favorite opera composer. And while I love “La Bohème,” I’ve just heard the music too often to enjoy it the way I enjoy some of Puccini’s other operas, including the much less appreciated but arguably more musically sophisticated “La Fanciulla del West.” But it’s “Butterfly” and above all “Turandot” that swept me away when I first heard them and that still captivate me — “Butterfly” despite the obvious orientalism and exoticism; I saw “M. Butterfly” when it was on Broadway years ago and have read numerous critiques of its sexual politics, with which I largely agree; but however politically incorrect the opera may be, it still sweeps me away; it is the ‘romantic’ opera par excellence. I was fortunate enough to see a stunning production of “Butterfly” at the Teatro la Fenice when I was in Venice in 1983 before the theater burned to the ground in what was believed to have been arson. Fortunately, they rebuilt La Fenice as an exact replica of the original, earning the theater its name as a Phoenix that rises from its ashes. “Turandot” is arguably even more ‘orientalist,’ but because it is based on a fairy tale by Gozzi and makes no pretense to realism, its orientalism is arguably far less offensive.

A note on Baroque opera, which is an acquired taste even for opera lovers. I’m generally not one to sit through Handel operas because I find a long string of da capo arias to be worse than boring. The one great exception is “Giulio Cesare,” which is my favorite Handel opera and the only Baroque opera to make the top ten. Three other Baroque operas make the list, albeit further down: “Dido and Aeneas” (Henry Purcell, 1683), “Castor et Pollux” (Jean-Philippe Rameau, 1737) and “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” (Claudio Monteverdi, 1642). I’ve seen the last two staged: “Castor et Pollux” in a special production at Covent Garden (though not a production of the Royal Opera House itself) and “Poppea” at Glyndebourne in the summer of 1983. “Poppea” has its longueurs, but the ravishing duet (“Pur ti mio”) which ends the opera is surely the most exquisite music to accompany the triumph of evil in any opera in the repertoire. I’ve never seen “Dido” in the theater, even though it is in its succinct precision the most perfect Baroque opera as well as arguably the most perfect opera in my native English language (I have, however, been fortunate enough to see superb productions of both “King Arthur” and “The Fairy Queen”).

I could comment at length about every single one of the 30 operas on this list as well as a few that didn’t make it, but I’ll just share my thoughts on a few. First, a note on terminology. Clearly, the fact of spoken dialogue couldn’t disqualify either “Die Zauberflöte” or “Carmen” from being considered operas, as both are universally considered despite their spoken dialogue (the latter in the original pre-Guiraud recitative version). And similarly for “Die Fledermaus,” which is thoroughly operatic and in its own way, is a better music drama than “Götterdämmerung,” even if Johann Strauss II never aspired to the level of profundity that Richard Wagner did. “Fledermaus,” like “Falstaff” has a musical language that advances the action more expeditiously and considerably more succinctly than any of Wagner’s later operas. The same could be said of both “Madama Butterfly” and “Turandot,” my favorite Puccini operas.

Conversely, “Der Rosenkavalier,” like most Wagner operas, has considerable longueurs, but its greatest moments — including the presentation of the rose scene and the final trio and duet — are among the greatest moments in opera, and for that reason, I’ve put “Rosenkavalier” in the top tier and “Ariadne auf Naxos” in the second tier, even though I find the latter to be the most thoroughly enjoyable as well as the most consistently inspired of all of the operas of Richard Strauss.

And that is, of course, one of the difficulties in putting such a list as this together: whether to judge by the peak moments or by the opera as a whole; I’ve tended towards the latter, because there are great moments in many operas; there are individual arias and scenes of great beauty in otherwise completely mediocre operas, such as “Amor ti vieta” in Umberto Giordano’s “Fedora,” an otherwise execrable exercise in opera. In contrast, there are only passing moments of faltering inspiration in Mozart’s ‘big four,’ usually explained by the last-minute insertion of an apparently quickly written aria to please a singer (e.g., Guglielmo’s aria in “Così” and Barbara’s little ‘key’ aria in “Figaro”).

One last and very important note: this is a list of my 30 favorite operas, not of what I consider to be the 30 greatest operas ever written, though I could make a case that these represent among the 30 greatest operas; but that would require much more argumentation and analysis, and will have to await another occasion.

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Conchita Supervía (December 8-9, 1895-March 30, 1936) was one of the great opera singers of all time and one of my favorites. Supervía’s life was tragically cut short in childbirth. It’s only too bad that so few of today’s opera lovers know of her, because Supervía’s vibrato — unlike that of so many sopranos and tenors today — is not the result of excessive tension and stress but rather of an unusually relaxed larynx — a problem few of today’s singers have, with their pushed out chesty voices and strained high notes. Some compared the sound of her voice to that of shaken dice. Supervía was wonderful in everything she did and was superb in Rossini; to hear her sing “L’Italiana in Algeri” or “Cenerentola” is to get a sense of her delightful humor, wit and style and to understand what some of the best singers of the golden age were capable of. Viva la Supervía~!

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“Maria Stuarda”: the Metropolitan Opera’s New Year’s Eve Gala 2012
a very informal non-review
by Pauline Park

Donizetti’s “Maria Stuarda” was chosen for the New Year’s Eve gala at the Metropolitan Opera for the first time on 31 December 2012; it was a rather disappointing experience, I regret to say.

The basic problem is that “Maria Stuarda” is a mediocre score, without a single great aria or ensemble to speak of; it certainly can’t compare to Donizetti’s most famous operas. Donizetti wrote 77 operas, but the sad truth is that he only wrote a few worth seeing — “Lucia di Lammermoor,” “L’Elisir d’Amore” & “Don Pasquale” being at the top of that very short list. Joyce DiDonato was superb & is the only reason I can think of to see this rather misbegotten production by David McVicar. The Elisabetta was of the screechy soprano variety; Elza van den Heever sounded like her push-up bra was too tight. Matthew Polenzani has a light lyric tenor that was suited to the part of Leicester, but the composer didn’t give him a lot to work with. But even Joyce DiDonato’s wonderfully subtle, true bel canto style couldn’t cover up the fact that the opera itself is a dud and the production is rather dreary. John Macfarlane does a good job with period costumes — loved the glittery farthingale for Elisabetta in the 2nd act — but the sets ranged from boring to drab to downright ugly; I think they were supposed to be ‘painterly,’ but I just found them dreary and uninspired; they certainly did nothing to capture the potential excitement of the imagined confrontation between two great queens (Elizabeth Tudor and Mary Stuart).

My friend, Kevin, who invited me to join him for the gala, was convinced that the only reason they staged this opera was as a vehicle for Joyce DiDonato, which is the only reason I can think of, and her command of bel canto style makes this a good showpiece for her vocal technique. The traditional choice for the Met’s New Year’s Eve gala — just like in Vienna — has been “Die Fledermaus,” that sparkling champagne of operas. Kevin thought the choice of this opera was ludicrous, ending as it does with Mary’s execution. Maybe the Met should have advertised this gala with the slogan, “Start your new year off right — with an execution~!”

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In “The Queen’s Throat,” David Koestenbaum writes that opera queens are distinguished by their propensity to keep lists of operas that they’ve seen. So here’s my list of operas that I’ve seen and/or heard live or recorded:

1607 L’Orfeo (Claudio Monteverdi)
1640 Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria (Claudio Monteverdi)
1642 L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Claudio Monteverdi)
1683 Dido and Aeneas (Henry Purcell)
1691 King Arthur (Henry Purcell)
1692 The Fairy Queen (Henry Purcell)
1711 Rinaldo (George Frideric Handel)
1724 Giulio Cesare (George Frideric Handel)
1724 Tamerlano (George Frideric Handel)
1725 Rodelinda (George Frideric Handel)
1728 The Beggar’s Opera (Johann Christoph Pepusch)
1730 Partenope (George Frideric Handel)
1731 Acis and Galatea (George Frideric Handel)
1733 La Serva Padrona (Giovanni Battista Pergolesi)
1735 Ariodante (George Frideric Handel)
1735 Alcina (George Frideric Handel)
1737 Castor et Pollux (Jean-Philippe Rameau)
1738 Serse (George Frideric Handel)
1744 Semele (George Frideric Handel)
1745 Pigmalion (Jean-Philippe Rameau)
1762 Orfeo ed Euridice (Christoph Willibald Gluck)
1781 Idomeneo (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
1782 Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
1786 Der Schauspieldirektor (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
1786 Le Nozze di Figaro (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
1787 Don Giovanni (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
1790 Così Fan Tutte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
1791 La Clemenza di Tito (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
1791 Die Zauberflöte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
1792 Il Matrimonio Segreto (Domenico Cimarosa)
1805 Fidelio (Ludwig van Beethoven)
1813 L’Italiana in Algeri (Gioachino Rossini)
1816 Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Gioachino Rossini)
1816 Otello (Gioachino Rossini)
1817 La Cenerentola (Gioachino Rossini)
1821 Der Freischütz (Carl Maria von Weber)
1828 Le Comte Ory (Gioachino Rossini)
1829 Guillaume Tell (William Tell) (Gioachino Rossini)
1830 I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Vincenzo Bellini)
1831 La Sonnambula (Vincenzo Bellini)
1831 Norma (Vincenzo Bellini)
1831 Francesca di Foix (Gaetano Donizetti)
1831 La Romanziera e l’Uomo Nero (Gaetano Donizetti)
1832 L’Elisir d’Amore (Gaetano Donizetti)
1834 Maria Stuarda (Gaetano Donizetti)
1835 I Puritani (Vincenzo Bellini)
1835 Lucia di Lammermoor (Gaetano Donizetti)
1837 Zar und Zimmermann (Albert Lortzing)
1840 La Fille du Régiment (Gaetano Donizetti)
1842 Nabucco (Giuseppe Verdi)
1843 The Flying Dutchman (Richard Wagner)
1843 Don Pasquale (Gaetano Donizetti)
1845 Tannhäuser (Richard Wagner)
1846 La Damnation de Faust (The Damnation of Faust) (Hector Berlioz)
1847 Macbeth (Giuseppe Verdi)
1850 Lohengrin (Richard Wagner)
1851 Rigoletto (Giuseppe Verdi)
1853 Il Trovatore (Giuseppe Verdi)
1853 La Traviata (Giuseppe Verdi)
1858 Orphée aux Enfers (Jacques Offenbach)
1858 Les Troyens (Hector Berlioz)
1859 Faust (Charles Gounod)
1859 Un Ballo in Maschera (Giuseppe Verdi)
1862 Béatrice et Bénédict (Hector Berlioz)
1862 La Forza del Destino (Giuseppe Verdi)
1863 Les Pêcheurs de Perles (Georges Bizet)
1864 La Belle Hélène (Jacques Offenbach)
1865 Tristan und Isolde (Richard Wagner)
1866 Mignon (Ambroise Thomas)
1866 The Bartered Bride (Bedřich Smetana)
1866 Cox and Box(Arthur Sullivan)
1867 Don Carlos (Giuseppe Verdi)
1867 La Jolie Fille de Perth (Georges Bizet)
1867 Roméo et Juliette (Charles Gounod)
1868 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Richard Wagner)
1868 Hamlet (Ambroise Thomas)
1868 Mefistofele (Arrigo Boito)
1869 Les Brigands (Offenbach)
1869 Das Rheingold (Richard Wagner)
1870 Die Walküre (Richard Wagner)
1871 Aida (Giuseppe Verdi)
1874 Boris Godunov (Modest Mussorgsky)
1874 Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss II)
1875 Carmen (Georges Bizet)
1876 Siegfried (Richard Wagner)
1876 Götterdämmerung (Richard Wagner)
1876 La Gioconda (Amilcare Ponchielli)
1877 Samson and Delilah (Camille Saint-Saëns)
1879 Eugene Onegin (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
1879 The Pirates of Penzance (Gilbert & Sullivan)
1881 Hérodiade (Jules Massenet)
1881 Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Jacques Offenbach)
1881 Simon Boccanegra (Giuseppe Verdi)
1882 Parsifal (Richard Wagner)
1882 The Snow Maiden (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
1882 Iolanthe (Gilbert & Sullivan)
1884 Le Villi (Giacomo Puccini)
1884 Manon (Jules Massenet)
1885 The Gypsy Baron (Johann Strauss II)
1885 The Mikado (Gilbert & Sullivan)
1886 Khovanshchina (Modest Mussorgsky)
1887 Otello (Giuseppe Verdi)
1890 Cavalleria rusticana (Pietro Mascagni)
1890 The Queen of Spades (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
1890 Prince Igor (Alexander Borodin)
1892 Pagliacci (Ruggero Leoncavallo)
1892 Werther (Jules Massenet)
1893 Falstaff (Giuseppe Verdi)
1893 Hänsel und Gretel (Engelbert Humperdinck)
1893 Manon Lescaut (Giacomo Puccini)
1894 Thaïs (Jules Massenet)
1896 Andrea Chénier (Umberto Giordano)
1896 La Bohème (Giacomo Puccini)
1898 Fedora (Umberto Giordano)
1899 Cendrillon (Jules Massenet)
1900 Louise (Gustave Charpentier)
1900 Tosca (Giacomo Puccini)
1901 Rusalka (Antonín Dvořák)
1902 Adriana Lecouvreur (Francesco Cilea)
1902 Pelléas et Mélisande (Claude Debussy)
1904 Jenůfa (Leoš Janáček)
1904 Madama Butterfly (Giacomo Puccini)
1905 The Merry Widow (Franz Lehár)
1905 Salome (Richard Strauss)
1907 The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya
(Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
1909 Elektra (Richard Strauss)
1910 La Fanciulla del West (Giacomo Puccini)
1910 Treemonisha (Scott Joplin)
1911 Der Rosenkavalier (Richard Strauss)
1911 L’Heure Espagnole (Maurice Ravel)
1912 Ariadne auf Naxos (Richard Strauss)
1914 Le Rossignol (The Nightingale) (Igor Stravinsky)
1917 La Rondine (Giacomo Puccini)
1918 Gianni Schicchi (Giacomo Puccini)
1918 Il Tabarro (Giacomo Puccini)
1918 Suor Angelica (Giacomo Puccini)
1919 Die Frau Ohne Schatten (Richard Strauss)
1924 Intermezzo (Richard Strauss)
1924 Příhody Lišky Bystroušky (The Cunning Little Vixen) (Leoš Janáček)
1925 L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (Maurice Ravel)
1925 Wozzeck (Alban Berg)
1926 Věc Makropulos (The Makropulos Affair) (Leoš Janáček)
1926 Turandot (Giacomo Puccini)
1930 Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Kurt Weill)
1930 Z Mrtvého Domu (From the House of the Dead) (Leoš Janáček)
1933 Arabella (Richard Strauss)
1935 Die Schweigsame Frau (Richard Strauss)
1935 Porgy and Bess (George Gershwin)
1937 Lulu (Alban Berg)
1937 Riders to the Sea (Ralph Vaughan Williams)
1942 Capriccio (Richard Strauss)
1945 Peter Grimes (Benjamin Britten)
1947 Albert Herring (Benjamin Britten)
1947 Les Mamelles de Tirésias (Francis Poulenc)
1947 The Mother of Us All (Virgil Thomson)
1951 Amahl and the Night Visitors (Gian Carlo Menotti)
1951 Billy Budd (Benjamin Britten)
1951 The Rake’s Progress (Igor Stravinsky)
1956 Candide (Leonard Bernstein)
1957 Dialogues of the Carmelites (Francis Poulenc)
1959 La Voix Humaine (Francis Poulenc)
1977 Le Grand Macabre (György Ligeti)
2006 The First Emperor (Tan Dun)

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…an 18th century-style double-keyboard French harpsichord of the sort for which most Baroque keyboard music was written…

“Music for a while shall all your cares beguile” (from “Oedipus”) is one of my favorite songs of Henry Purcell, widely considered the greatest of English composers. Music has always been an important part of my life, and these are a few of my favorite songs and piano pieces.

piano & keyboard music

Gervaise, Pavane Passamaize (6ème Livre de Danceries) (1555)

Charpentier, Prelude, Te Deum (H. 146) (c. 1692)

Corelli, Adagio from the Christmas Concerto (Op. 6, No. 8) (1712)
Corelli, Vivace from the Christmas Concerto (Op. 6, No. 8) (1712)

Bach, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (1717) (chorale from Cantata 147, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben)
Bach, Invention No. 1 in C Major (BWV 772)
Bach, Invention No. 14 in B-Flat Major (BWV 785) (1720-23)
Bach, Praeludium No. 1 in C (BWV 846) (1722)
Bach, Praeludium No. 8 in E-Flat Minor (BWV 853) (1722)
Bach, Praeludium No. 21 in B-Flat Major (BWV 866) (1722)
Bach, Fantasia in A Minor (BWV 904) (1725)
Bach, Praeludium, Partita in B-flat (BWV 825) (1726)
Bach, Sarabande, Partita in B-flat (BWV 825) (1726)
Bach, Chromatische Fantasie (BWV 903) (1730)
Bach, Concerto No. 1 in D Major (BWV 972) (after Vivaldi, Op. 3, No. 9, RV 230)
Bach, Aria mit verschiedenen Veränderungen (Goldberg Variations) (BWV 988) (1741)

— Aria (sarabande)
— Variation #7
— Variation #13
— Variation #16
— Variation #25
— Variation #29
— Variation #30

Handel, Air in E Major from Suite No. 5 (‘the Harmonious Blacksmith’) (1720)

Scarlatti, Sonata in E Major (K. 380, L. 23) (1753?)

Couperin, Les Baricades Mysterieuses (6ème ordre) (1713)
Couperin, La Ménetou (7ème ordre) (1713)
Couperin, Passacaille (8ème ordre) (1713)
Couperin, La Superbe ou la Fouqueray (17ème ordre) (1722)
Couperin, Les Satyrs: Les Chevres-Pieds (23ème ordre) (1730)
Couperin, L’Amphibie (24ème ordre) (1730)
Couperin, La Visionaire (25ème ordre) (1730)

Rameau, Gavotte (2ème) (Castor et Pollux) (1737)
Rameau, Naissez dons de Flore (Gavotte en Rondeau) (Castor et Pollux) (1737)
Rameau, Renais, plus brillante (Castor et Pollux, 1737)

Haydn, Sonata in E-flat Major (No. 52), Hob. XVI: 52 (1794): adagio

Mozart, March of the Priests (Die Zauberflöte, 1791)

Beethoven, Pathetique Sonata in C Minor (Op. 13) (1798): adagio cantabile
Beethoven, Piano Trio in B-flat major, No. 7, Op. 7 (‘Archduke’), andante cantabile ma però con moto (1811)

Schubert, Impromptu in A-flat Major (Op. 142, No. 2) (D.935/2) (1827)
Schubert, Impromptu in G-flat Major (Op. 90, No. 3) (D.899/3) (1827)

Schumann, Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (1838)
— Von Fremden Ländern und Menschen
— Bittendes Kind
— Glückes Genug
— Wichtige Begenbenheit
— Träumerei
— Der Ritter vom Steckenpferd
— Der Dichter spricht
Schumann, Arabeske, Op. 18 (1839)

Brahms, Waltz in A-Flat Major, Op. 39, No. 15 (1865)
Brahms, Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118, No. 2 (1893)

Dvorak, Humoreske, Op. 101, No. 7 (1894)

Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (S.244/2) (1847)

Chopin, Mazurka in B-flat major, Op. 7, No. 1 (1832)
Chopin, Etude in E Major, Op. 10, No. 3 (1833)
Chopin, Etude in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 12 (‘Revolutionary’) (1833)
Chopin, Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2 (1833)
Chopin, Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op. 66 (1835)
Chopin, Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27, No. 2 (1836)
Chopin, Prelude in C Minor, Op. 28, No. 20 (1839)

Mascagni, Intermezzo (Cavalleria Rusticana) (1890)

Massenet, Meditation (Thais) (1894)

Elgar, Nimrod (Enigma Variations, Op. 36) (1899)

Albeniz, Tango in D major, No. 2 (1905)

Kreisler, Liebesleid (1905)

Joplin, Solace: A Mexican Serenade (1909)

Debussy, Les collines d’Anacapri (1909-10)
Debussy, Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir (1909-10)

Poulenc, Sicilienne (Suite Française –

Suite d’apres Claude Gervaise) (1935)

Burgon, Brideshead Revisited theme (1981)

Lieder

Dowland, A shepherd in a shade
Dowland, Can she excuse my wrongs?
Dowland, Come again, sweet love doth now invite (1597)
Dowland, Come away, come sweet love
Dowland,  Dear, if you change
Dowland, Fine knacks for ladies (1603)
Dowland, Flow, my tears (Lachrymae Pavane)
Dowland, If my complaints could passions move
Dowland, Now, cease my wand’ring eyes
Dowland, Now, o now, I needs must part

Gibbons, The Silver Swan (1612)

Johnson, Have you seen the bright lily grow? (1614)

Calestani, Damigella tutta bella (1617)

Purcell, Come, Ye Sons of Art (Ode for the Birthday of Queen Mary) (Z 323) (1694)

Bach, Schafe können sicher weiden (Sheep may safely graze)
(aria from Cantata 208, Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd!) (The lively hunt is all my hearts desire) (‘Hunt’ or ‘Birthday’ Cantata) (1713)
Bach, Bist du bei mir (BWV 508) (1725) (attr., “Stölzel, Diomedes,” 1718)

Giordani, Caro Mio Ben (1782)

Mozart, Laudate Dominum (Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, K. 339) (1780)

Haydn, Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit (das Deutschlandlied) (1797)

Martini, Plaisir d’Amour

Schubert, An die Musik (Schober) (D. 547) (1817)
Schubert, An Sylvia (Shakespeare) (D. 891) (1826)
Schubert, Ellens dritter Gesang, a.k.a., Ave Maria (Scott/Storck) D.839) (Op. 52. No. 6) (1825)
Schubert, Der Einsame (Lappe) (D.800) (1825)
Schubert, Fischerweise (Schlechta) (D.881) (1826)
Schubert, Die Forelle (Schobart) (D.551) (1817)
Schubert, Litanei auf das Fest aller Seelen (Jacobi) (D.343) (1816)
Schubert, Nacht und Träume (Collin) (D.827) (1822)
Schubert, Der Tod und das Mädchen (Claudius) (D.531) (1817)
Schubert, Wiegenlied (Schlafe, schlafe, süßer Knabe) (anon.) (D.498) (1816)
Schubert, Der Zwerg (D. 771) (1822)
Schubert, Ständchen (Rellstab) (Schwanengesang) (D.957) (1828)
Schubert, Der Lindenbaum (Winterreise) (Op. 89, No. 5) (D.911) (1827)
Schumann, Morgen steh’ ich auf und frage) (Heine) (Liederkreis) (Op. 24, No. 1) (1840)
Schumann, Ich wandelte unter den baumen (Heine) (Liederkreis) (Op. 24, No. 3) (1840)
Schumann, Widmung (Rckert) (Myrthen) (Op. 25, No. 1)
Schumann, Der Nussbaum (Mosen) (Myrthen) (Op. 25, No. 3)
Schumann, Die Lotusblume (Heine) (Myrthen) (Op. 25, No. 7)
Schumann, Mondnacht (Eichendorff) (Liederkreis) (Op. 39, No. 5) (1840)
Schumann, Auf einer Burg (Eichendorff) (Liederkreis) (Op. 39, No. 7) (1840)
Schumann, Seit ich ihn gesehen (Chamisso)(Frauenliebe und Leben) (Op. 42, No. 1) (1840)
Schumann, Er, der Herrlichste von Allen (Chamisso) (Frauenliebe und Leben) (Op. 42, No. 2) (1840)
Schumann, Du Ring an meinem Finger (Chamisso) (Frauenliebe und Leben) (Op. 42, No. 4) (1840)
Schumann, An meinem Herzen (Chamisso) (Frauenliebe und Leben) (Op. 42, No. 7) (1840)
Schumann, Im wunderschönen Monat Mai (Heine) (Dichterliebe) (Op. 48, No. 1) (1840)
Schumann, Die Rose, die Lilie (Heine) (Dichterliebe) (Op. 48, No. 3) (1840)
Schumann, Ich grolle nicht (Heine) (Dichterliebe) (Op. 48, No. 7) (1840)
Schumann, Die Alten, bösen Lieder (Heine) (Dichterliebe) (Op. 48, No. 15) (1840)
Schumann, Aus älten Märchen winkt es (Heine) (Dichterliebe) (Op. 48, No. 16) (1840)

Hume, Flow Gently, Sweet Atton (1792)

Berlioz, Vilanelle (Les Nuits d’Eté) (Gautier) (1840-41)

Grieg, Våren (Spring)  (1859)
Grieg, Jeg elsker Dig (Ich liebe dich) (1864)
Grieg, Der Lauf der Welt (Sechs Lieder, Op. 48, No. 3) (1889)
Grieg, Ein Traum (Sechs Lieder, Op. 48, No. 6) (1889)

Brahms, Wiegenlied (1868)

Hahn, L’Heure Exquise (Chanson Grises, 1870)
Hahn, Quand je fus pris au pavillon (Douze Rondels, 1875)
Hahn, A Chloris (1916)

Strauss, R., Morgen (Op. 27, No. 4, 1893)
Strauss, R., September (Op. posthumous, No. 4, 1948)
Strauss, R., Beim Schlafengehen (Op. posthumous, No. 4, 1948)

Obradors, Del Cabello Más Sutil (Canciones clásicas españolas, no. 4) (

opera arias

Caccini, Amarilli, mia bella (1601)

Carissimi, Vittoria, mio core (1656)

Scarlatti, Le Violette (Pirro e demetrio) (1694)
Scarlatti, Già il sole dal Gange (L’Honestà negli Amori) (1680)

Purcell, Ah! Belinda, I Am Press’d With Torment (Dido and Aeneas) (1689)
Purcell, When I Am Laid in Earth (Dido’s Lament) (Dido and Aeneas) (1689)
Purcell, Fairest Isle (King Arthur) (1691)
Purcell, Music for a While (Oedipus) (Z.583/2) (1692)
Purcell, Halcyon Days (The Tempest) (1695)
Purcell, I Attempt From Love’s Sickness To Fly in Vain (The Indian Queen) (Z.630) (1695)

Caldara, Alma del core (La costana in amor vince l’inganno) (1711)

Bononcini, Per la Gloria d’adorarvi (Griselda) (1722)

Handel, Cara sposa (Rinaldo) (HWV 7) (1711)
Handel, Lascia ch’io pianga (Rinaldo) (HWV 7) (1711)
Handel, Pena tiranna (Amadigi di Gaula) (HWV 11) (1715)
Handel, Piangero la sorte mia (Giulio Cesare) (HWV 17) (1724)
Handel, V’adoro pupille (Giulio Cesare) (HWV 17) (1724)
Handel, Non è si vago è bello (Giulio Cesare) (HWV 17) (1724)
Handel, Da tempeste il legno infranto (Giulio Cesare) (HWV 17) (1724)
Handel, Par che mi nasca in seno (Tamerlano) (HMV 18)
Handel, Dove sei, amato bene? (Rodelinda)
Handel, Lascia ch’io pianga (Rinaldo)
Handel, Vivi, tiranno (Rinaldo)
Handel, Ombra mai fu (Serse)
Handel, Verdi prati (Alcina)
Handel, But who shall abide the day of his coming? (Messiah) (HWV 56) (1742)
Handel, I know that my Redeemer liveth (Messiah) (HWV 56) (1742)
Handel, The trumpet shall sound (Messiah) (HWV 56) (1742)
Handel, Where’er You Walk (Semele) (1743)
Handel, Tochter Zion, freue dich (Joshua) (HWV 64) (1747)
Handel, Dank, sei dir (attribution said to be spurious)

Gay, Let us take the road (The Beggar’s Opera, 1728) (march from Handel’s Rinaldo)
Gay, Were I laid on Greenland’s coast… Over the hills and far away (The Beggar’s Opera, 1728

Rameau, Resnais, plus brillante (Castor et Pollux, 1737)
Rameau, Naissez don des flores (Castor et Pollux, 1737)

Arne, Rule, Britannia! (Alfred, 1740)

Mozart, Se vuol ballare, signor contino (Le Nozze di Figaro, 1786)
Mozart, Voi, che sapete (Le Nozze di Figaro, 1786)
Mozart, Madamina, il catologo è questo (Don Giovanni, 1787)
Mozart, Secondate, aurette amiche (Così Fan Tutte, 1790)
Mozart, Di scrimermi ogni giorno (Così Fan Tutte, 1790)
Mozart, Soave sia il vento (Così Fan Tutte, 1790)
Mozart, In uomini, in soldati (Così Fan Tutte, 1790)
Mozart, Un’ aura amorosa (Così Fan Tutte, 1790)
Mozart, Una donna a quinidici anni (Così Fan Tutte, 1790)
Mozart, Il core vi dono, bell’idolo mio (Così Fan Tutte, 1790)
Mozart, Ein Vogelvänger bin ich ja (Die Zauberflöte, 1791)
Mozart, Drei  Knäbchen, jung, schön, hold und weise… (Die Zauberflöte, 1791)
Mozart, Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühle (Die Zauberflöte, 1791)
Mozart, O Isis und Osiris (Die Zauberflöte, 1791)
Mozart, In diesem heilgen Hallen (Die Zauberflöte, 1791)
Mozart, Bewahret euch vor Weibertücken (Die Zauberflöte, 1791)
Mozart, Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen (Die Zauberflöte, 1791)
Mozart, Ach, ich fühl’s, es ist verschwunden (Die Zauberflöte, 1791)
Mozart, Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen (Die Zauberflöte, 1791)

Rossini, Di tanti palpiti (Tancredi, 1812-13)

Donizetti, Una furtiva lagrima (L’Elisir d’Amore, 1831)

Donizetti, Chi mi frena in tal momento? (Lucia di Lammermoor, 1835)

Verdi, Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate (Nabucco,1842)
Verdi, Ave Maria (Otello, 1887)

Strauss, Jr., Brüderlein und Schwesterlein (Die Fledermaus, 1874)

Saint-Saëns, Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix (Samson et Dalila) (1877)

Sullivan, The Moon and I (The Mikado) (1885)

Humperdinck, Abendsegen (Evening Prayer) (Hänsel und Gretel, 1893)

Giordano, Amor ti vieta (Fedora, 1898)

Léhar, Lippen schweigen (Die lustige Witwe, 1905)

Puccini, Quando m’en vo (La Bohème, 1896)
Puccini, Vissi d’arte (Tosca, 1900)
Puccini, Ch’il bel sogno di Doretta (il Sogno di Doretta) (La Rondine, 1917)
Puccini, Mi vuoi dir chi sei tu? (La Rondine, 1917)
Puccini, O Mio Babbino Caro (Gianni Schichi, 1918)

Strauss, R., Di rigori armato il seno (Der Rosenkavalier, 1911)

Orff, In Trutina (Carmina Burana) (1936)

popular songs

Berlin, Cheek to Cheek (Top Hat) (1935)
Berlin, White Christmas (White Christmas, 1942)

Gershwin, Embraceable You (Girl Crazy) (1930)
Gershwin, I Got Rhythm (Girl Crazy) (1930)
Gershwin, He Loves & She Loves (Funny Face) (1927)
Gershwin, S’Wonderful (Funny Face) (1927)
Gershwin, Foggy Day (A Damsel in Distress) (1937)
Gershwin, Of Thee I Sing (Of Thee I Sing) (1932)
Gershwin, Strike Up the Band (Strike Up the Band) (1926)
Gershwin, Someone to Watch Over Me (Oh, Kay!) (1926)
Gershwin, Summertime (Porgy & Bess)

Kern, Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man (Show Boat) (1927)
Kern, Make Believe (Show Boat) (1927)
Kern, Ol’ Man River (Show Boat) (1927)
Kern, The Way You Look Tonight (Swing Time) (1936)

Porter, I Get a Kick Out of You (Anything Goes) (1934)
Porter, Begin the Beguine (Jubilee) (1935)

Rodgers, Blue Moon (1934)
Rodgers, Falling in Love (The Boys From Syracuse) (1938)
Rodgers, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (Pal Joey) (1940)
Rodgers, People Will Say We’re in Love (Oklahoma) (1943)
Rodgers, Out of My Dreams (Oklahoma) (1943)
Rodgers, The Surrey with the Fringe on Top (Oklahoma) (1943)
Rodgers, Out of My Dreams (Oklahoma) (1943)
Rodgers, If I Loved You (Carousel) (1945)
Rodgers, When the Children Are Asleep (Carousel) (1945)
Rodgers, You’ll Never Walk Alone (Carousel) (1945)
Rodgers, All I Owe Ioway (State Farm) (1945)
Rodgers, It Might As Well Be Spring (State Farm) (1945)
Rodgers, It’s a Grand Night for Singing (State Farm) (1945)
Rodgers, Some Enchanted Evening (South Pacific) (1949)
Rodgers, Younger Than Springtime (South Pacific) (1949)
Rodgers, Hello, Young Lovers (The King & I) (1951)
Rodgers, Shall We Dance? (The King & I) (1951)
Rodgers, Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful? (Cinderella) (1957)
Rodgers, Impossible; It’s Possible (Cinderella) (1957)
Rodgers, Stepsister’s Lament (Cinderella) (1957)
Rodgers, Ten Minutes Ago (Cinderella) (1957)
Rodgers, Edelweiss (The Sound of Music) (1959)
Rodgers, Something Good (The Sound of Music) (1959)
Rodgers, The Sound of Music (The Sound of Music) (1959)

Willson, ‘Till There Was You (Music Man) (1957)

Carmichael, Stardust (1928)
Carmichael, Heart & Soul (1938)

Arlen, If I Only Had a Brain (The Wizard of Oz) (1939)
Arlen, Over the Rainbow (The Wizard of Oz) (1939)

Martin, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Meet Me in St. Louis, 1944)

Dylan, Blowin’ in the Wind

Yarrow & Lipton, Puff the Magic Dragon

Holt, Lemon Tree (c. 1960)

Trénet, La Mer (1946)

Lenoir, Parlez-moi d’amour

Jeannine Deckers (‘Soeur Sourire’), Dominique (1963)

Don McLean, American Pie (1971)
Don McLean, Vincent (1972)

folk songs

Latin

Gaudeamus Igitur

English

Blow the Wind Southerly
The Cutty Wren
Drink Old England Dry
Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes
God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen
Greensleeves
Scarborough Fair
Tam Broon
Wayfaring Stranger

Cecil Sharp

The Cuckoo (I: XIX, p. 48)
Fanny Blair (I: XXX p. 70)
Henry Martin (I: I, p. 1)
High Germany (I: XL, p. 93)
The Keeper (II: XXIX, p. 68)
Lord Rendal (II: I, p. 2)
O No, John (II: XLV, p. 116)=
Scarborough Fair (II: XXII, p. 52)
The Sprig of Thyme (I: XVIII, p. 45)
William Taylor (I: L, p. 114)

Irish

Buachaill an Chuil Dualaigh (Youth of the Ringlets)
Danny Boy
Down by the Sally Gardens (text by William Butler Yeats)=
Eamon An Chnuic
Eibhlin a Riun (Eileen Aroon)
Erin Go Bragh
Fainne Gael an Lae (The Dawning of the Day)
The Foggy Dew
The Foggy Dew (Easter Rebellion Song)
In the Bleak Midwinter
The Lakes of Shallin
The Last Rose of Summer (text by Thomas Moore)
The Minstrel Boy (The Moreen)
My Love’s an Arbutus (Coola Shore)
Pearla an Brhrollaigh Bhain (The Snowy Breasted Pearl)
The Water Is Wide (Waly, Waly)
The Wearing of the Green

Manx

Arrane Ny Vlieaun (Manx milking song)
Snieu, Queeyl Snieu (Spin, Wheel, Spin) (Manx spinning song)

Scottish

Annie Laurie
Auld Lang Syne
Loch Lomond
Mary Hamilton (The Four Marys)
My Love is Like a Red. Red Rose (text by Robert Burns)
Will You Go, Lassie, Go? (Wild Thyme)

Welsh

Ar Hyd y Nos (All Through the Night)
Suo-Gan (Welsh cradle song)

Cornish

Trelawny

American folk & traditional

Amazing Grace
Aura Lee
Chester
The Colorado Trail
Shenandoah
Simple Gifts (arr. Copland)
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

18^th & 19^th century American

Key, Star-Spangled Banner (1812)
Adams, Nearer My God to Thee (1843)
Becket, Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean (1843)
Foster, Oh, Susannah~! (1847)
Foster, My Old Kentucky Home (1853)
Foster, Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair (1854)
Howe, Battle Hymn of the Republic (1861)
Root, Battle Cry of Freedom (Rally Round the Flag) (1862)
Gibbons & Foster, We Are Coming, Father Abraham (1862)
Lowry, At the River (1864)
Foster, Beautiful Dreamer (1864)

Scandinavian

Hvem kan seile foruten vind? (Ven kan segla förutan vind?)

French

Au clair de la lune
Malbrough s’en va-t-en guerre
Sur le pont d’Avignon

Spanish

Los Cuatro Generales
Venga, Jaleo
Viva la Quince Brigada

Korean

Arirang
Doraji

hymns

Abide With Me
Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (

national anthems

La Marseillaise (France) (Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, 1792)
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit (das Deutschlandlied) (Germany)
(Franz Josef Haydn, 1797)
The Star-Spangled Banner (US) (Francis Scott Key, 1814)
Nkosi sikelel’i Afrika (Enoch Sontonga, South Africa)

television themes

Upstairs, Downstairs (Alexander Faris, 1971)

Brideshead Revisited (Geoffrey Burgon, 1982)

Miss Marple (Ken Howard & Alan Blaikley, 1982)

The post Music for a while shall all your cares beguile appeared first on Pauline Park.

One of my favorite places on earth: Frying Pan Creek in Mt. Rainier National Park…

Awhile back, a friend of mine suggested I do ’25 Things’ on Facebook, but I was a little reluctant to do that application on Facebook (too much like a chain letter), so I’m doing it my own way, here on my own site. So here are 25 things you may not have known about me:

1)  My favorite food: chocolate. My least favorite foods: Brussel sprouts (despite having lived in Brussels), olives (even though I love olive oil). My favorite cuisines: Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indonesian, French, Italian.

2) My favorite color to wear: fire engine red. The color I will not wear: orange (unless I suddenly and unexpectedly become a school crossing guard).

3) Schools I’ve attended: South Clement Ave. School, Fritsche Jr. High School, Bay View High School, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the London School of Economics & Political Science, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the school of life.

4) My favorite composer to listen to: Mozart. My favorite operas: “Die Zauberflöte” and “Così Fan Tutte.” My favorite composers to play: Bach, Chopin, Debussy. My favorite composers to sing: Handel, Schubert, Schumann. My least favorite composers: Bruckner, Schoenberg, Shostakovich. My favorite sopranos: Bidu Sayao, Anneliese Rothenberger, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Victoria de los Angeles, Jessye Norman, Felicity Lott, Natalie Dessay, Yvonne Kenny, Karita Mattila. Favorite mezzo-sopranos: Conchita Supervia, Christa Ludwig, Marilyn Horne, Olga Borodina, Cecilia Bartoli, Elina Garanča, Joyce DiDonato. Favorite contraltos: Kathleen Ferrier, Marian Anderson. Favorite countertenors: David Daniels, Andreas Scholl. Favorite tenors: Enrico Caruso, Jussi Bjoerling, Tito Schipa, Juan Diego Flores. Favorite baritones: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Bryn Terfel. Favorite basses: Feodor Chaliapin, Matti Talvela.

5) My favorite jazz singer: Ella Fitzgerald (esp. the Cole Porter & Gershwin songbooks). My favorite jazz standard: “Stardust” (Hoagy Carmichael). The only non-Western music that I’ve studied: Javanese gamelan. My favorite non-Western musical tradition: Balinese gamelan. My favorite Balinese gamelan musical genre: gamelan gong kebyar. My favorite Balinese gamelan dance genre: legong.

6) My favorite folk music: Celtic. My favorite folk songs: “Péarla an Bhrollaigh Bháin” (The Snowy Breasted Pearl), “Eamon An Chnuic” (Edmond of the Hill), “Snieu, Queeyl, Snieu” (Spin, Wheel, Spin – Manx spinning song) “Arrane Ny Vlieaun” (Manx milking song).

7) The songs I want sung at my memorial service: “Bist du bei mir” (Bach), “Litanei” (Schubert), “Beim Schlafengehen” (from the Vier Letze Lieder of Richard Strauss).

8) The work of literature (other than the King James Bible and the plays of Shakespeare) that I’ve read and re-read more often than any other : “The Lord of the Rings” (Tolkien).

9) My favorite poets: William Blake and John Keats (English), Joseph von Eichendorff (German), Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine (French).

10) My biggest addiction: books (buying, reading, keeping, giving). My favorite bookstore: The Strand on Broadway & E. 12th St. in Manhattan.

11) The languages that I speak: only French, really (other than English, of course); but I used to speak German quite well and I’ve also studied Italian. I took a short course in (Mandarin) Chinese and can read Pinyin and Wade-Giles. I also took a semester of Swedish (Jag studerarde svenska). I’m also reading “Beowulf” in a dual Old English (Anglo-Saxon)/contemporary English language edition (translation by Seamus Heaney). The language I’d most like to be able to speak (and am most expected to speak) but can’t: Korean — but I am trying to learn hangul (the Korean alphabet). The language that would be most useful for me to learn: Spanish. The languages that I find the most intriguing: Old English, Norwegian, Icelandic, Malagasy. My favorite dictum about languages: “Il faut parler français à ses amis, italian à ses amants, allemand à son cheval et espagnol au Dieu” (Emperor Charles V).

12) My favorite queen: Elizabeth Tudor. My least favorite (control) queen: Mike Bloomberg. The members of the British royal family I’ve seen in person: Charles, Prince of Wales (just once, by chance), Elizabeth II (riding in the Irish state coach to the state opening of parliament), the Princess Alexandra.

13) My least favorite number: 13. The numbers I like to think are lucky: 7, 11, 77.

14) The countries I’d most like to visit but haven’t yet: Iceland, Norway. The most poorest and most unusual country I’ve visited: Romania. My favorite county in Romania: Maramures. The most intriguing country that I probably won’t get to: Madagascar. The most romantic city I’ve ever visited: Venice. The city I’d most like to visit but haven’t (yet): Vienna.

15) The countries I’ve lived in: Korea, US, UK, Belgium, France, Germany. The country I don’t remember living in: Korea (I left when I was eight months old). The most annoying question about a country I’ve lived (or never lived) in: “Are you from North or South Korea…?”

16) The cities I’ve lived in: Seoul, Milwaukee, Madison, London, Chicago, Champaign-Urbana, Berlin, Regensburg, Brussels, Paris, New York. The most exciting cities I’ve lived in: London, New York. The least exciting city I’ve lived in: Champaign-Urbana. The most romantic city I’ve lived in: Paris. The most medieval city I’ve lived in: Regensburg. The most livable city I’ve lived in: Madison.

17) The smallest domicile I’ve lived in: a bedsit in Knightsbridge (London) that was the size of a large walk-in closet. The most unusual domicile I’ve lived in: Der Goldener Turm (the Golden Tower), a 12-century medieval tower in Regensburg (I lived in the renovated part of the building that dates from 1527).

18) The best health habits I’ve gotten into: reducing my consumption of refined sugar and saturated fat, using raw blue agave nectar as a sugar substitute, eating mache (a French salad green sometimes known as ‘corn salad’ or ‘lamb’s lettuce’), abjuring bottled water in favor of double-filtered water (tap filter + pitcher filter), walking instead of driving, climbing stairs instead of taking the elevator. Favorite source of animal protein: eggs (non-hormonal and certified humane, from cage-free hens).

19) My favorite artists: Jan Van Eyck, Albrecht Dürer, Antoine Watteau, Henri Matisse, André Derain, Utagawa Hiroshige, Katsushika Hokusai. My favorite architects: Louis Le Vau, Andrea Palladio, John Nash, Frank Lloyd Wright, I.M. Pei.

20) The head of government I least admire whom I’ve seen in person: Margaret Thatcher, who I saw going into Westminster Abbey to attend the memorial service for Rab Butler while I was living in London. The president I most admire: Abraham Lincoln. The worst presidents in history: George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan. Worst vice-presidents in history: Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle. The presidents I found the most disappointing: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton. The president I feel most sorry for: William Henry Harrison. The only president I’ve seen in person: Richard von Weiszäcker, president of the Federal Republic of Germany (whom I saw on the day of German reunification, 2 October 1990).

21) The most significant moment in world history that I’ve participated in: the formal reunification of Germany in October 1990; I was in the crowd of 3 million people in the Tiergarten as the president and the chancellor rang in the new ‘deutsche Einheit’ (German unity).

22) My most significant achievement: leading the campaign for enactment of the New York City transgender rights law (Int. No. 24, enacted as Local Law 3 of 2002 in April 2002). The personal achievements that took the longest to accomplish: getting a Ph.D. (five and-a-half years); coming out as an openly transgendered woman (36 years).

23) The organizations that I’ve co-founded: Gay Asians & Pacific Islanders of Chicago (GAPIC) (1994), Queens Pride House (1997), Iban/Queer Koreans of New York (Iban/QKNY) (1997), the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA), the Out People of Color Political Action Club (OutPOCPAC) (2001), the Guillermo Vasquez Independent Democratic Club of Queens (GVIDCQ) (2002). The organization I will not give money to: the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

24) My favorite philosopher: Zhuangzi (The Seven Inner Chapters). My least favorite philosopher: Heidegger (a boring Nazi windbag). The denomination I grew up in: the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The denomination I now belong to: Unitarian Universalism (my congregation is All Souls Unitarian Church in Manhattan). The religious habit I find most annoying: door-to-door proselytizing by Jehovah’s Witnesses. The religious prejudice I find most disturbing: Islamophobia. Religious figures I most admire: Mohandas K. Gandhi (the Mahatma), the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Rev. Forrest Church. Religious figures I least admire: Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Muqtada al-Sadr.

25) The one thing I won’t be doing anytime soon: 25 Things on Facebook.

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Renée Fleming in Rossini’s “Armida”

The Metropolitan Opera’s 2009-10 season is anything if not eclectic, representing a judicious mix of old warhorses and operatic rarities. The new season will feature eight new productions – four of which are being billed as “company premieres” – and 18 revivals.

Among the “tried and true” are new productions of two of the most popular operas in the repertoire: Bizet’s Carmen and Puccini’s Tosca. From the French repertoire, the Met will be offering new productions of Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) and Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet, the latter based (somewhat loosely) on the Shakespeare play of that name.

But perhaps most interesting to veteran operagoers will be the four new productions of operas never before heard at the Met: Rossini’s Armida, Verdi’s Attila, Janáček’s From the House of the Dead, and Shostakovich’s The Nose – all of which deserve the appellation “rarity.”

One has the impression that Armida is being staged to showcase the Met’s reigning diva of the day, Renée Fleming; certainly, even among ardent Rossinians, there will be few who have seen this opera anywhere since its premiere in Naples in 1817. As for the rationale for staging Attila– one of the most obscure and rarely staged of any of the early Verdi operas – there has been little demand as far as I am aware – whether here in New York or elsewhere – for operatic depictions of the ruthless leader of the nomadic Huns. One could certainly imagine that the entertainment value of hearing Attila the Hun singing in Italian in 4/4 time could wear thin over a long evening in the theater.

But having commissioned Tan Dun to produce the bloated and pretentious bomb of an opera about the first emperor of China (imaginatively entitled The First Emperor) for the 2006-2007 season, the Met may wish to follow up by commissioning an opera about the life of Genghis Khan, Timur, or some other well-known bloodthirsty conqueror of yore.

Perhaps even more adventurous in subject matter than Attila is Shostakovich’s opera about a man “who wakes up to discover that his nose has disappeared.” But the most intriguing of all the new productions is that From the House of the Dead, which Janáček set in a Siberian prison camp. First staged in the Czech city of Brno in 1930, From the House of the Dead was Janáček’s last opera and considered by some to be his most extraordinary. Directed by Patrice Chéreau – best-known for his controversial 1976 Bayreuth production of Wagner’s Ring cycle – and co-produced with three European companies, this new production of Janáček’s final work for the stage was voted Europe’s best opera staging for 2007.

The new Met season commences with an opening night gala on September 21 with Karita Mattila singing the title role in Puccini’sTosca for the first time at the Met. Tosca is not a role one immediately associates with the Finnish soprano, but she is an exceptionally versatile singer and one of the best dramatic sopranos in opera today. The other special event of the season is the New Year’s Eve gala performance of Bizet’s Carmen, with Angela Gheorghiu – a Romanian soprano with a distinctly mixed track record – in the title role.

The new season is being described by the Met as “the first to be entirely planned under Peter Gelb’s leadership,” reflecting the still new-ish general manager’s attempt to put his own innovative stamp on a company with something of a reputation for staging stodgy productions of old warhorses studded with temperamental big-name stars. Certainly, one can have no doubt that long-time music director James Levine still exerts great influence over the choice of singers as well as productions; but with this new season, the Met is becoming Peter Gelb’s Met as much as it was at one time Sir Rudolph Bing’s Met.

Gelb’s audacious efforts to increase the audience for opera through the screening of filmed stage productions in movie theaters around the country and around the world is a calculated gamble that whatever revenue may be lost to the house will be more than offset by bringing new subscribers and especially younger people into the fold of an aging and predominantly white and middle-class opera-going public. It may not be too much of an exaggeration to say that the future of opera as a living art form may hinge at least in part on the success or failure of such efforts to expand the base for opera in general as well as for the Metropolitan Opera in particular.

For more information about the 2009-2010 season, go to:
http://www.metoperafamily.org

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