A Masked Ball
Squirrel is using his Parterre Pulpit to make a pitch. If the Met wants to produce a work that has never been seen in New York, they could do worse than a new production of Carl Nielsen‘s excellent comic opera Maskarade. It’s easy listening for sure, melodically akin to La boheme or Lehar, but marked by Nielsen’s mature style – folk-song simplicity, and a love of cacophony and unlikely orchestration.
The Met has been beat to the US premiere by Sarasota Opera, who offered a Danish-language production in 1995 (which Squirrel saw when he was still just a small squirrel). But this opera is ready for the Big Time, having been produced in recent years at the Bregenzer Festspiele, Salzburger Festspiele, and Covent Garden. So who will get there first, The Met or City Opera?
To hear more, there is a wonderful 1970s recording, recently re-released on Da Capo
UPDATE: A member of the kære publikum has pointed out that Maskarade was indeed given a New York performance by the Bronx Opera in 1983, and reprised in 1999. Thanks for pointing this out. Sarasota still has the American Danish language premiere, and the work still awaits a major US stage with a top professional cast.
wow, love it, thanks la Cieca
Maskarade is an enchanting opera, and the updating seen on this production is very clever with a superb cast. The annoying thing on this recording is the constant switching to the orchestra during the singing, which is rather distracting. Especially so in this scene, because Johan Reuter looks so good naked!
I think Maskarade has NYCO written all over it.
I would love to see Maskarade; there’s something very delightfully Classical about the music.
it has a lot going for it, on every level. some argue the plot is thin and that the humor doesn’t quite translate – I say stage it well, and it works.
the music is outstanding and completely original
Kaere Squirrel,
Thank you for proposing that this wonderful opera should performed in New York.
It does have a lot going for it, but how in the world would either the Met or NYCO find enough singers that could sing it in Danish? Are you proposing it be sung in English?
This opera suffers badly when removed from its “natural setting ( time/place)”. The clip shown, while delightful, is more a parody than Nielsen’s opera.
The only performances that I’ve experienced that did service to the plot and the humor were in the Royal Theater in Copenhagen before the new Opera house was built and opera became “business” in Denmark.
If you all want to check out another blog dedicated to operas we think should be performed, check out Operas For Tomorrow http://devonestes.blogspot.com/
hey squirrel. what about boheme?
lol. im done with that joke.
so i want a bully pulpit too. what do i have to do?
If Maskarade has never been done in New York, how come I’ve seen it staged, and in New York?
(and found it not terribly good)
I’m just saying …
(but I can name many many better operas that have really never been given in New York – let’s start with Gezeichneten and Die Vogel and Enesco’s Oedipe and St. Francois d’Asisse and Donizetti’s Maria di Rohan, Maria Padilla, and Maria di Rudenz, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Tsar’s Bride (concert perfs only have been presented here) and Marschner’s Der Templar und die Judin and Spohr’s Jessonda and Franchetti’s Cristoforo Colombo and Mercadante’s Virginia and Pacini’s L’Ultimo Giorno di Pompeii and Maria, Regina d’Inghilterra and Ponchielli’s Marion de Lorme? I could be wrong about Jessonda never having been given here.)
Mozart’s Mitridate and Ascanio have never been staged in New York, for that matter.
Where did you see Maskarade staged in New York? And PS Gezeichneten was done in NY LAST YEAR
Where? By whom?
Would if be ok if I had it confused with Die Soldaten?
I think it’s funny that you think St. Francois d’Asisse is “better” than Maskarade. It actually just sorta sounds like you mean you don’t like Maskarade.
Mr. Lick –
Maria di Rohan deserves notice, at least based on the hearing of Zeani’s recording and there is that terrific aria “Havvi un Dio” — and the Tsar’s Bride, for sure — especially with La Netrebko, who sings a la russe besy of all. If only my beloved Borodina would get her voice back, but I guess she has already done it.
How about ZAIRA? Hey maybe we could get Zimmerwoman to do Zaira!
Maria di Rohan will be given at Caramoor next summer; it is indeed a lovely score. Tsar’s Bride and Snegouroutchka are my picks for Russian operas most likely to become favorites with the public if it ever gets a chance to know them – Snegouroutchkha has been staged by the Met (90 years ago, I remember it well) but I’ve only seen concerts of these two. You’re quite right about Netrebko as the Bride; Petrova would do it well too. And Borodina could still be terrific as – is it Olga? Hvorostovsky or Nikitin for the principal….
If you mean Bellini’s Zaira, it stinks. Mercadante’s is interesting, but Il Reggente or Il Bravo (despite its ridiculous plot) or Orazi e Curiazi are better.
What the Met should do that would sell out is productions of Mefistofele and La Juive – both sold out there with borrowed productions, but we should have them in rep. I’d like to see Robert le Diable but, y’know, that’s me. And we need Les Troyens and the big Wagners more often than we get them, and the aborted revival of Frau ohne Schatten, and the MET PREMIERE of Maria Stuarda (popular all over Europe and America) would be a knockout as long as someone rational directed it. The Met is a grand opera house. Chamber operas are not a good idea there. Ergo: Tsar’s Bride, NOT The Nose….
I agree that there is a whole list of operas that the Met should present for the first time (or more often) but I think you’re rather unfair about Les Troyens and the big Wagners. Troyens is perhaps the single-most expensive opera to produce and it is to the Met’s credit that it has presented that work four different times. And no North American house produces the big Wagners as frequently as the Met.
Bronx Opera performed Maskerade (in English) about 10 years ago. I didn’t see it so I can’t tell you if it was successful or not.
As for doing it in Danish, if singers can learn operas in Czech, then they can learn them in Danish. They would just need a good coach brought in to work with them. Or they could do it in English (which is what happens in most countries with operas that are not in French, German or Italian…they do them in their own language).
According to the New York Times, Maskarade was performed once in Manhattan and twice in the Bronx in 1983 by the Bronx Opera Company.
http://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/16/theater/opera-maskarade-by-carl-nielson.html
Cannot give the exact year–maybe around 2000? But I remember speaking to a cast member who had recently sung Maskerade, again I believe with the Bronx company. Apologize for being inexact, but it’s been done in last ten years.
Ok, yes, Bronx Opera in English, 1983.
Squirrel amends his original statement to read: “Never been seen at either the MET or NYC OPERA”
Yean and also done the same year as Glimmerglass production of Mother of Us All — as it was @ a party shortly thereafter that I spoke to the gentleman who had sung in Maskarade. Once again, sorry to not have exact info.
And Tiefland! There was a concert performance, but I believe it’s never been staged here. And Auber’s Le Domino Noir and Gustave III – have they been done here? (I could check.)
PLEASE No Tiefland Mr. Lick!
Leace that to Leni Riefenstahl, bitte!
Now Domino Noir or Bal Masque (which contains a falcon role) — that would be rinfrescante!
Also, did you not hear the great bleeding chunks of Francois d’Assise some years back, @ BAM? Maybe with Spano, don’t recall but it was excruciatingly interminable.
Marion Delorme would be wonderful, but a decent Gioconda was not possible ao I dare not hope for this.
Where, indeed, was Die Gezeichneten done? Possibly confused with the uber-ugly Die Soldaten done last ear??
Is Templar und die Judin any good! I have a most interesting aria from same.
Gezeichneten has never been produced in North America, but I have a wonderful DVD of it with Angela Denoke and Robert Holl. Sick, but fascinating. Schreker, alas, suffered from his era’s obsession with abnormal psychology (so did Zemlinsky, but his operas aren’t as good). For SANE late romanticism, I’d recommend Braunfels’ Die Vogel, a lovely score, which was presented in L.A. last April and (lucky you!) will be on WQXR this (Saturday) afternoon!
Tiefland is still a great success in Germany and Austria, and I’d like to give it a shot. Nilsson used to say she wanted to do it, but I guess she’s no longer available. Well, who’s around who’s just like Nilsson…. D’Albert wrote 20 other operas, too. Some were very successful in their day.
I’d also like to hear Busoni’s Turandot and Arlecchino. And Janacek’s Osud and Mr. Broucek have never been performed in New York, and certainly should be. And Gnecchi’s Cassandra… am I being greedy?
YES, Mr. Lick, I almost went to Die Vogel, but decided nay. Interesting, though. Mo. Conlon is quite the champion of that school –. Speaking of Zemlinsky ‘der Zwerg’, were you @ his Lyric Symphony this past week? How did it ear-klang to you?
Even more interesting to me,is Nilsson’s wanting to have sung Marta in Tiefland, as the general tessitura of the role lies quite low, as it were. I wonder why she would want this oper?
I would be willing to give a go with’Die Tten Augen’ but die oper I would LOVE (besides the Huguenots) to see on the MET stage is Goldmarck’s ‘Die Koenegin von Saba’ which I just unashamedly adore. Some pretty terrific stuff, including Sulamith’s. Wailing scene — just fabulou! Poor old Voigt could have done it justice but now, most unfortunately, the pipes is busted and gurl cain’t sing no mo’!!!
I, For one, would like to see Elisabette, Regina d’Inglaterra of Rossini –starring Leyla Gencer!
And Showboat, starring Renata Flambe!!!
YAHOO!