Suppé: Pique Dame

 Opera no 175

Suppé: Pique Dame

Soloists

WDR Radio Orchestra

Michail Jurowski

Suppé’s requiem was one of the unexpected discoveries in last year’s project. it showed him to be a composer who could tackle serious music in the mainstream German tradition with real distinction. But it is of course his comic operas, or more particularly their overtures, which have kept his name alive. 

This opera has one of those very familiar overtures, so I was intrigued to explore what the rest of the piece is like. I enjoyed it hugely. There are some elements of that Austro-Hungarian tradition which a reminiscent of the Strauss in opera no 174, but this is piece is from a generation earlier and clearly has ties with Offenbach. The whole opera had a great sense of style and of dynamism with some first-rate ensemble. The big tunes familiar from the overture are heard in the opera itself and make a really strong impression in context. All in all this was one of the most purely enjoyable works I have come across in this year’s project.

Strauss (J): Eine Nacht in Venedig

Opera no 174 

Strauss (Johann II): Eine Nacht in Venedig

Soloists

Philharmonia Orchestra

Otto Ackermann

I enjoy teasing my orchestral colleagues when the are talking about their favourite works of Strauss by saying the Emperor Waltz!  I usually get looks of complete incomprehension. It is true that orchestral players generally dislike playing Strauss Waltzes and I sympathise. Unless you are playing the tune they are not that interesting to play and dealing with all of the repeats and da capos can be tricky, But that says nothing of Johann Struass II’s genius as a composer. His melodic gift is second to none and he is able to shape phrases beautifully. He is also a master of introductions and codas. I spend some time in last year’s project listening to music by several members of the Strauss family.

The only one of his operas that I know is Die Fledermaus so I was pleased to get to know this piece. I didn’t even begin to follow the plot - it seems completely impossible to understand - but who cares. The music is what matters. This had a bit of everyting. Great melodies, sentimentality, vigorous ensembles and a real sense of style.  This is a famous old recording and the notes say that it is an an edition by Korngold. I don’t know what he actually did as an editor and how much of what we hear on the recording has untouched Strauss but whatever the details this was a performance to sit back and enjoy. Many great composers admired Johann Strauss II: it is not difficult to see why.

Bretón: La Dolores

Opera no 173

Bretón: La Dolores

Soloists

Barcelona Symphony Orchestra

Antoni Ros Marbà

From Portugal we move across the border (and forward a century) to a Spanish opera. The only thing I knew about opera in Spain was the tradition of Zarzuela, which is form of light opera with song and spoken dialogue. I thought that this night an example of that form, but in fact this is a fully-composed opera of some dramatic weight.

The obvious attraction is the many overtly Spanish elements - in particular the jota in the first act finale, which is straight out of the world of Chabrier’s España - I did wonder whether Chabrier had taken the idea for his work from this opera but the dates don’t work - España predated it by several years. Perhaps the influence went the other way - after it is often said that the best Spanish music was written by French composers.

But there is more to the opera than this Spanish colouring. It belongs to same world as Carmen but also of Cav and Pag and the early verismo operas. It packs quite a punch, particularly in the big duet near the end for the Soprano and Tenor - that really leapt off the page. I can imagine that opera would work very well on the stage - it has a freshness and attractiveness which would go down well with contemporary audiences, though I suspect that few opera companies would want to take on the risk of a work by a completely unknown composer.

Portugal: Le donne combiate

 Opera no 172

Portugal: Le Somme cambiate

Soloists

City of London Sinfonia

Alvaro Cassuto

I’m really getting into unknown territory now. Portugal was one of the first Portuguese composers to write an opera - though the text is is Italian. I expected this to be a fairly simple work, really little more than a collection of songs, but I was quite wrong. This is a fully worked out opera which shows a composer able to work at a highly sophisticated level. The idiom obviously owes a lot to Mozart and I don’t think that you would notice is one or two pieces from this opera were quietly inserted into one of Mozart’s lesser known operas. But what is interesting is how forward looking the work is. The ensembles in particular do have a distinctly Rossinian quality about them even through Rossini was only 5 when this opera was first performed. Rossini was undoubtedly the undisputed master of the buffo style (and much more beyond that) but he didn’t spring from nowhere and operas like this show that his music was the natural development of what was happening in opera round the turn of the 19th century. So a very enjoyable discovery. It makes the point, which I have made many times already, that the operatic repertory is narrow and there are many people on the fringes (in the case of Portugal hardly even on the fringes) whose work is very worth exploring. But then that has been the whole purpos of this project.

Bretan: Golem

 Opera no 171

Bretan: Golem

Soloists

Moldava Philharmonic Orchestra

Christian Mandeal

I purchased this blind knowing nothing about the composer, not even his nationality or when he lived. He was a Romanian composer who lived from 1887-1968. He was a singer and administrator as well as a composer and was caught up in the history of 20th century Europe. His Jewish wife’s family were murdered at Auschwitz and he was declared a non-person by the communist government in Romania.

He wrote six operas: this one is a short piece lasting about 40 mins. If you heard it cold you would never think that it dated from the 1920s: it feels like a nationalist opera from the 1870s - indeed parts of it sounded like Meyerbeer and French Grand opera. I suppose that it is a good illustration that the not all composers were at the forefront of musical development and that there was plenty of music being written which harked back rather than forward.

I quite enjoyed this. It is a bit creaky in places but it had vigour, some good tunes and some effective ensemble writing. It will never be a repertory piece but as a one off is was well worth listening to. I don’t regret buying the recording.

Poulenc: Les Mamelles de Tiresias

 Opera no 170

Poulenc: Les Mamelles de Tiresias

Soloists

Saito Kinen Orchestra

Seiji Ozawa

Last year’s project included Poulenc’s superb Figure Humaine https://andrew365newpieces.blogspot.com/2025/03/poulenc-figure-humaine.html which was a reminder that he was not just a composer of fripperies but was capable of the most profound and serious expression. But I have to say that I do adore the lighter side of his music and this little (40 mins) opera is a lovely example of Poulenc at his most witty and charming. It was an absolute delight. The opening narration by the ringmaster was more serious than I expected but after the curtain went up it was all great fun. Poulenc had a great melodic gift and an ability to inflect simply melodies with quite delicious twists and turns and unexpectedly piquant harmony. The whole thing was real fun and at times left me laughing out loud with the sheer exuberance of the invention. A lovely start to this final segment of the project.

MacMillan: The Sacrifce

Opera no 169

MacMillan: The Sacrifice 

Soloists

Welsh National Opera

James MacMillan’s Confessions of Isobel Gowdie https://andrew365newpieces.blogspot.com/2025/12/macmillan-confessions-of-isobel-gowdie.html was one of the standout pieces from last year’s project so I was keen to hear an opera of his as part of this year’s project. It didn’t have quite the same impact on me as the Confessions. Partly that might be because my listening was a bit interrupted and spread over several sessions. The ghost of Britten haunts the piece. There were many passages which could have been by Britten and the use of interludes to separate out the scenes is very reminiscent of Peter Grimes. Indeed just as Britten made a concert piece out of the four sea interludes MacMillan has turned some of the interludes here into a concert piece.

I felt that MacMillan’s main interest was with the orchestra - there are some fabulous orchestral sounds in the score - rather than in the voices. Parts of the vocal writing were, I thought, uncomfortable and in the loud sections tended to be a bit ‘shouty’. Perhaps the best part of the opera was the final ensemble after the death of the main protagonist where everybody comes together with a plea for peace - that really did make quite a strong impression. As I say I perhaps didn’t give this opera the full chance that it deserves - perhaps I will go back to it sometime and give it another try.

That ends this exploration of some contemporary (and near contemporary) operas. It is not really my area of expertise and I found some of it hard going. But I am glad that I persisted because if would have been quite wrong for this project not to to beyond the 1970s, which is more of less where the cut off point had been. And it did introduce me to Benjamin’s Written on Skin, which I think will make it into the list of most memorable operas when I come to sum up this year’s project.

I set out to listen to 100 operas this year but as the year has gone on I have found myself more and more drawn into the project and now, with a week to go before the end of October I am up to opera 169, which means that I should double my target. For the year of the year I am not going to follow any particular theme but just try and fill in as many gaps as I can. There is still plenty to go at!