A Chorus in Brooklyn

There’s nothing like singing in an opera chorus. Marc Eliot Stein and Ted Shulman talk about their participation in Regina Opera’s production of Verdi’s “Rigoletto” in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and the special ways a chorus can illuminate or enliven a classic opera. We chat about “Nabucco”, “Turandot”, “Parsifal”, “Les Contes d’Hoffmann”, “Orfeo ed Euridice”, “HMS Pinafore” and “Aida”, and the conversation also turns to amateur singing, drinking songs, offensive operas, gender of choruses, teamwork, the disastrous 2023 Israel/Gaza war, Lance Loud, reality TV, New York City’s 1970s CBGBs punk scene and a mostly (but not completely) forgotten punk band called The Mumps.

Talking to an Influential Fairy

In Gilbert and Sullivan’s fairy opera “Iolanthe” empowered magical women crash into toxic privileged masculinity in 19th century London. Marc Eliot Stein interviews New York City singer and actress Casey Keeler about her role as the powerful Fairy Queen in a recent Village Light Opera Group “Iolanthe”. We also talk about “Utopia, Limited”, community theater, and how New York City’s post-COVID opera subculture is staying together through hard times.

Hoffmann and His Muse

Jacques Offenbach’s masterpiece “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” is an existential psychological comic opera, a morality tale about an aesthete who destroys himself over a fanciful love of three women. In the last episode of Season 3, Marc Eliot Stein talks about Jewish composers in Paris, “Faust”, drinking songs, Mozart, Gilbert and Sullivan, Zarzuela, sex dolls, synaesthesia and the opera novels of late New York City writer Richard P. Brickner. This is the final episode of Season 3.

Giovanni and Kierkegaard

What should we do with Mozart’s problematic masterpiece “Don Giovanni” in the 21st century? Vicki Zunitch joins Marc Eliot Stein to talk about the moral situations portrayed in the famous story of a sociopathic charmer and rapist brought to justice by a stone statue, with a focus on all the characters caught in his web: Anna, Elvira, Zerlina, Masetto, Ottavio, the Commendatore and the eternal wingman, Leporello. We also talk about Soren Kierkegaard’s “Either/Or”, Frank Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson in “It Happened in Brooklyn”, Tirso de Molina’s “The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest”, Moliere’s “Dom Juan”, the idea of “Carmen” as a reverse gender “Don Giovanni” and a stunningly surreal new version of this opera directed by Romeo Castellucci and choreographed by Cindy Van Acker that premiered in 2021 in Salzburg, Austria.

Canio and Corleone

Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana kicked off the verismo craze in Italian opera in 1890. Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci followed two years later. We talk about the ripple effects of the verismo movement in this wide-ranging episode, covering everything from Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese to Anton Chekhov, Konstantin Stanislavski, Stella Adler and Marlon Brando, along with more Marx Brothers, the Ride of the Valkyries and a surprise appearance by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

Manrico and Azucena

Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” is one of the most popular operas of all time, and also one of the hardest to follow. What is going on with this crazy plot? There’s a lot under the surface, and it’s all spelled out in this explainer by Marc Eliot Stein, who shows how a thrilling but nakedly horrible storyline became an entertainment fit for 19th century operagoers. This fascinating episode ends with a look at the Marx Brothers “A Night at the Opera”, which joyously tears Verdi’s masterpiece to shreds.

Beelzebub and Galileo

Season 3 kicks off with a visit from poet and professor Daniel Nester, librettist for “The Summer King” by Daniel Sonenberg and author of “God Save My Queen”. We talk about slam poetry, karaoke and New York City’s Bowery Poetry Club, and then attempt a deep dive into the operatic context of the classic rock song “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, and why it may have been inspired by the verismo opera “Cavalleria Rusticana” by Pietro Mascagni. Music from “The Summer King” and “Cavalleria Rusticana”.

Nabucco and Ishmaele

A discussion of Giuseppe Verdi’s breakthrough opera “Nabucco” and its Biblical origin story of Nebuchadnezzar and the neo-Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem. We also talk about Boney M, the Melodians “By the Rivers of Babylon”, the Broadway musical “Godspell”, Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”, and why some of us hate Verdi’s “Aida” and “Rigoletto”. Season 2 closer of “Lost Music: Exploring Literary Opera”.

Mimi and Rodolfo

Vicki Zunitch joins Marc Eliot Stein for a fresh in-depth examination of Puccini’s great opera “La Boheme”. We talk about the existential choices the characters make, the original comic stories by Henri Murger, the lifestyle of starving artists in 19th Century Paris and today, morning music at the Gate of Hell, affordable healthcare, and what the movie “Moonstruck” starring Cher and Nicolas Cage has to do with it all.

Don Quichotte and Dulcinee

Jules Massenet is best known for “Manon” and “Werther”, and his “Don Quichotte” hasn’t played at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City for nearly a hundred years. Why not, and was it actually killed in 1926 by a single bad review? Marc Eliot Stein rediscovers this forgotten classic and finds a beautiful surprise. We also talk about “Man of La Mancha”, “Sturm und Drung”, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Wagner’s “Der Fliegende Hollander”, Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte” and the final two shows that played at the Met before it shut down due to the pandemic of 2020.

Figaro and Cherubino

We continue our look at the two great Figaro operas with a deep dive into Mozart’s dark sexual comedy “Le Nozze di Figaro”. We talk about Soren Kierkegaard, “Either/Or”, trouser roles, gender ambiguity, castratos, Peter Pan, Harpo Marx, Prince’s “Purple Rain”, Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, Rossini, Strauss, “Der Rosenkavalier”, “Le Mere Coupable”, “Porkys”, and Marc Eliot Stein’s theory that a Stephen Foster folk song and Leadbelly blues song are inspired by Mozart’s operatic masterpiece.

A Mermaid and a Baguette

We zoom into today’s literary scene with composer and librettist Rachel J. Peters, who turns short stories from authors like Sheila Heti and Arthur Phillips into contemporary operas. Her work spans from absurdist postmodernism back to the American tradition of Carl Sandburg, and her influences include Nina Simone, Stephen Sondheim and Meredith Monk. A fascinating look at opera as a living form! Featuring “Wild Beast of the Bungalow” music by Rachel J. Peters, libretto by Royce Vavrek inspired by “Mermaid in a Jar” by Sheila Heti, sung by Erica Thelen and Colin Anderson at Oberlin Conservatory and “Companionship” by Rachel J. Peters inspired by the Arthur Phillips short story, sung by Maren Weinberger and Kate Tombaugh at Fort Worth Frontiers Festival.

Figaro and Rosina

Game recognizes game when two of the cleverest characters in opera work together to solve a problem. Figaro and Rosina are beloved characters in two masterpieces by two different composers: “Le Nozze di Figaro” by Mozart and “Il Barbieri di Siviglia” by Rossini. This episode is about Rossini’s comic opera, and we also talk about commedia dell’arte, Pierre-Augustin Caron Pierre de Beaumarchais, Freddie Mercury, Groucho Marx, Bugs Bunny, Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza, Harley Quinn, the Joker, beautiful melodies and crescendoes and whether or not comic opera is funny (it’s not).

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth: Shakespeare in Italy

What happens when two lifelong Shakespeareans attend Verdi’s “Macbeth” at the Met? Marc Eliot Stein examines Giuseppe Verdi’s earliest Shakespeare opera with Meg Wise-Lawrence, who teaches English at Hunter College and City College in New York City. We talk about witches, prophecies, banquets, mad scenes, Ian McKellen, Italian nationalism, the Scottish people, Verdi’s “Nabucco”, Verdi’s “Otello” and Tchaikovsky’s “Queen of Spades”.

Music: various early recordings of Verdi’s “Macbeth” found on Archive.org, a great resource for free music.

Fidelio and Napoleon: Opera as #Resistance

Beethoven’s politically charged “Fidelio” is an opera for today, with messages of resistance, defiance, #MeToo and prisoner awareness. It premiered during the Napoleonic Wars that brought revolutionary tumult all over Europe, and Ludwig van Beethoven was deeply involved in progressive revolutionary politics. We talk about the French Revolution, Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”, David Lang’s “Prisoner of the State”, Schroeder’s toy piano and much more. The final episode of Season 1 of “Lost Music: Exploring Literary Opera”!

Music: various early recordings of Beethoven’s “Fidelio” found on Archive.org, a great resource for free music.

Wotan and Brunnhilde: Two Software Guys from New York Went to the Entire Ring Cycle at the Met and Lived To Tell

Marc Eliot Stein and Bud Parr, two software developers and literary bloggers from New York City, sat through all 18.5 hours of Richard Wagner’s “Ring des Nibuleng” cycle at the Metropolitan Opera this year, and lived to tell the tale. Actually, we were both very impressed. In our latest exploration of opera’s often misunderstood literary side, we focus on the dramatic and mythical aspects of Wagner’s masterpiece, and also talk about feral children, Fellini movies, #MeToo (Wagner has problems here), Johnny Cash, anti-semitism, the wonderful soprano Christine Goerke who kills it as Brunnhilde, red Mustangs and much more. Please enjoy this lively recap of four intense German operas with me and Bud. Litblog Coop represent!

Music: various early recordings of Wagner’s Ring cycle found on Archive.org, a great resource for free music.

Orpheus and Eurydice: From the Theater of Dionysus to the Renaissance to Gluck and Offenbach

Lisa Geraghty and Marc Eliot Stein talk about the invention of opera by Florentine scholars trying to recreate ancient Greek drama, and then go deep into Gluck’s “Orfeo et Euridice”, touching also upon the Charlie Daniels Band, Arcade Fire, Jacques Offenbach’s “Orphee aux Enfers” and Rilke’s poetry.

Music: Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice by Munich Festival Orchestra conducted by Friedrich Haider featuring Vessalina Casarova. Offenbach’s Orphee aux Enfers by Koninklijk Filharmonisch Orkest van Vlaanderen.

Fiordiligi and Nicola: How I Got Over My Lifelong Inability To Love And Understand Opera

How I holed up in an apartment and listened to nothing but opera for months until I started to love it. A peak opera experience at the Met with Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte”. Featuring an interview with soprano Nicola Mills about her own unique journey to opera.

Music: Cosi Fan Tutte, La Traviata, Barbieri di Siviglia, Die Zauberflote featuring Guiseppe de Luca, Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Rita Streich, Nicola Mills.

Otello: Is Verdi’s Shakespeare Better Than Shakespeare’s?

Introducing the new podcast! We begin with a look at how Verdi transformed and illuminated Shakespeare’s Othello, talk about the interplay between opera and literature from past centuries today, and enjoy Virginia Woolf’s description of a visit to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.

Music: Otello by Giuseppe Verdi and Arrigo Boito, featuring Placido Domingo, Maria Callas, Kiri Te Kanawa, Piero Cappuccilli and Mirella Freni.