Dvorak Operas in Prague

[Guest alanm]

I am heading off for Prague on Tuesday, June 1. Slim opera pickings.

 

There's a long wait list for "Rusalka" at the Prague State Opera. However, there are tickets available for another Dvorak opera called "Kate and the Devil" at the Prague National Theater.

 

To be fair, there are other operas playing at the Prague State Opera, favorites like "Carmen," or "Aida."

 

I would very much appreciate any music suggestions.

[+ Charlie]

Although I am not familiar with it, I have been told that "Kate and the Devil" is actually a better opera than "Rusalka", which I have seen and found pretty boring. I haven't been to the opera in Prague in a long time, but the National Theater used to be a more attractive venue than the State Theater, with better productions and singers.

[whipped guy]

For the record Dvorák wrote an Armida as well... but I would think the chances of seeing it would be rather slim... but I would guess if it were to be produced it would happen in Prague. Still, it might be an interesting experience to see how Aida or Carmen might be approached as far as staging , vocal style, etc.

[doitb4ugo]

At the risk of being way over my head

 

I was not aware that Dvorak wrote operas but during my much younger days, just out of college i was very much taken with his Requiem mass and Beverly Sills in particular on the recording. To say I was morbidly obsessed with the piece would be an understatement.

 

Thanks for an oportunity to post here even though I can;t contribute to what is going on in Prague.

[whipped guy]

I was not aware that wrote Dvorak operas...

Now for some strange reason I never knew that Dvorák wrote a requiem... Shoot! That one slipped by me all these years... so it only proves that one can always learn something from anyone at any time and any place.

 

So doit... that was a fine post you contributed... at least from my point of view!

[+ Charlie]

One of the nice things about this forum is that I keep being reminded of music that I haven't listened to in a long time. I am going to pull out my old copy of the Dvorak "Stabat Mater," which I put away after the cover got broken.

[+ Charlie]

For the record Dvorák wrote an Armida as well... but I would think the chances of seeing it would be rather slim... but I would guess if it were to be produced it would happen in Prague. Still, it might be an interesting experience to see how Aida or Carmen might be approached as far as staging , vocal style, etc.

 

The worst "Otello" I have ever seen was at the Smetana Theater in Prague: an inane production with mediocre singers, and only one intermission.

[whipped guy]

an inane production with mediocre singers...

There is something about vocalists from the "Eastern Block" that often does not seem to lend itself very well to Italian opera... As an example, Slovak soprano Edita Gruberova has been successful, but there is something quite disconcerting to me about her approach that is unauthentic... though the voice does have an appealing quality at times it just sounds totally wrong to me in the final analysis. Polish contralto Ewa Podles has been more successful in her approach even though she tends to sing with a lisp, but she at least articulates things in a more Italianate manner. Others who shall be nameless simply wobble and scream their way through the notes.

[+ Charlie]

I never saw Gruberova in anything but German operas (I thought her Met debut as the Queen of the Night was sensational). A favorite of mine was Gabriela Benackova, but I can't recall seeing her in anything Italian, either. Her Jenufa at the Deutsche Oper---in Czech, of course--left me in tears.

[whipped guy]

I never saw Gruberova in anything but German operas (I thought her Met debut as the Queen of the Night was sensational). A favorite of mine was Gabriela Benackova, but I can't recall seeing her in anything Italian, either. Her Jenufa at the Deutsche Oper---in Czech, of course--left me in tears.

I saw her live only once at a dress rehearsal of Lucia at the MET in the late 1980s or early 1990s when the old Attilio Colonello production devised for Sutherland was on its last leg... and the voice was very sweet, but she articulated her coloratura in a very aspirated manner... not quite the Swiss Yodel of a Deutekom... but something akin to that... and it sounded so wrong. I am sure in other rep she is better, but she has been showcasing herself for over the past decade as a coloratura (especially with releases on her own Nightingale record label) and it all sounds misguided to my ears. Still, as you say, for the Queen of the Night her approach certainly works... or rather did word as I don't think she would be comfortable with those extreme high notes at this stage in her career... as she ain't a spring chicken!

[+ Charlie]

No one else has ever sounded like Deutekom! The effect was weird, but I actually enjoyed it in some roles. She was hard to watch, though.

[Guest alanm]

Kate and the Devil

 

I did see "Kate and the Devil" last Saturday morning (June 12th) in Prague's National Theater at 11 AM. Maybe it was the morning start time or my jet lag from stopping in Italy and Germany on flights the late afternoon before, but it was hard to sit through the opera. Great, quite impressive sets and the music was played well, but the singing was below par.

 

The children in the audience seemed to like it. The upside is that it was my single bad experience in two wonderful weeks in Tuscany and the Czech Republic.

 

Thanks for all the superb suggestions earlier in this threrad!

[body2body]

I saw Benackova sing Desdemona in Otello opposite Domingo at Los Angeles Opera in the mid 80's in the Gotz Frederick production from the Deutche Oper. She was a last minute replacement. No one knew what to expect, but she got a huge ovation and Martin Bernheimer in the L.A. Times found her to be superb in the role, even if her voice did have some of that Slavic "darkness" in it. I remember enjoying her performance a great deal.

[uwsman2]

more Dvorak

 

For a short, snappy, triumphal dose of Dvorak with voices and chorus, try the Te Deum! I heard it for the first time several years ago when Colin Davis, the LSO, and some local choristers presented it at Lincoln Center. I was totally blown away and sought out various recordings, but this piece must be heard live! Very exciting!!

[whipped guy]

Never realized he wrote religious pieces...

 

Thanks... Shoot! Another bit of liturgical Dvorák that I did not know about...

[+ Italiano]

it was my single bad experience in two wonderful weeks in Tuscany and the Czech Republic.

 

 

How could you have a bad experience in Tuscany??