Here, I post my reviews and document my love of opera. I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to comment on any of my posts or contact me if you wish to.
Have a nice stay!
David Buchler
All tagged London Philharmonic Orchestra
One of Dvorak’s most well-known operas composed at the beginning of the twentieth century is a lyric fairy tale in three acts and sung in Czech. This production by Melly Still is more an imitation of the Hans Christian Andersen version of The Little Mermaid with tragedy at its core, but little to delight the fairy tale purists until a powerfully struck ending, both visually and musically, enables redemption at last.
Giacomo Puccini’s first staged work was the one act opera ‘Les Willis’ based on a short story by Jean Baptiste-Karr. The story tells the tale of the love between Anna and Roberto. Roberto is enchanted away from Anna by another and Anna dies of a broken heart. Her father calls upon the ‘Villi’ to take vengeance and the Fairies make Roberto dance until he dies of exhaustion. This one act opera was written for a competition, but politics played and it did not get even an honourable mention. However, Puccini’s work was heard by Ricordi, who immediately recognised its outstanding qualities and he published the work.
The overall success of Glyndebourne as the leading country opera house was cemented in 2018 with two very high quality operas.
