Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Halloween opera style
Faust is the quintessential example
Image created with Adobe Firefly AI
There are some spooky operas out there and nothing is better for a refined and dignified Halloween. Of course, a sugar-laden celebration is also appropriate but on this night of ghosts and devils, opera can flex its scary muscles.
Our first scary opera is The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner. The Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship that haunts the seas, doomed to never make port. The Dutchman is a Dutch sailor who must captain the spectral ship until he finds a woman who will love him unconditionally. Every seven years the captain of the Dutchman is thrown upon the shore to try his hand at love.
This time he finds a woman named Senta in a small Norwegian village. Things are going well for the Dutchman until he overhears Senta’s former lover, Erik, reproaching her for deserting him. The Dutchman despairs, tells everyone about the curse, and sets sail. Senta, who truly loves him, casts herself into the sea proving that she is devoted to him unto death. The curse is lifted and the opera ends with Senta and the Dutchman ascending toward heaven.
This is a common theme in Wagner’s operas. There is a tragically flawed man seeking redemption. There is a pure and noble woman who tries to redeem him but is destroyed in the process. Only in death are they united and redeemed. Senta is a true corpse bride.
In Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the title character kills the old Commandatore in the opening scene of the opera. At the end of the opera, the old man’s ghost, now the Stone Guest, comes to dinner and offers Giovanni a chance to repent. Giovanni has been ruining lives across the continent for years and refuses. The Stone Guest insists but Giovanni is defiant. The music is some of Mozart’s finest and the power of the scene never fails to hit. Finally, the Stone Guest condemns Giovanni to hell. The hellacious conclusion of Don Giovanni is a nice pivot between the ghost stories and devils.
Video:
Amadeus: Don Giovanni scene
Faust by Charles Gounod is the quintessential Halloween opera. This classic deal with the devil has been, at times, the most popular opera in the world.
The aged Faust is trying to kill himself at the beginning of the opera. He has wasted his life on scholarly pursuits that led to nothing and gender studies hadn’t even been invented yet. He missed out on life and love. He curses faith and asks for help from the devil. Following the “speak of the devil and he will appear rule”, Méphistophélès appears and gives Faust an elixir of youth and a vision of the young Marguerite.
Over the course of the story, Faust impregnates Marguerite, kills her brother, and abandons her. Marguerite goes mad and kills her baby. Faust visits her in prison but Marguerite sees that his hands are covered in blood, literally. She rejects his offer of assistance and leaves her fate in God’s hands. An angelic chorus sings out, "Sauvée” and Marguerite ascends into heaven without Faust.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Halloween opera style
Faust is the quintessential example
Halloween opera style
Faust is the quintessential example
Image created with Adobe Firefly AI
There are some spooky operas out there and nothing is better for a refined and dignified Halloween. Of course, a sugar-laden celebration is also appropriate but on this night of ghosts and devils, opera can flex its scary muscles.
Our first scary opera is The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner. The Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship that haunts the seas, doomed to never make port. The Dutchman is a Dutch sailor who must captain the spectral ship until he finds a woman who will love him unconditionally. Every seven years the captain of the Dutchman is thrown upon the shore to try his hand at love.
This time he finds a woman named Senta in a small Norwegian village. Things are going well for the Dutchman until he overhears Senta’s former lover, Erik, reproaching her for deserting him. The Dutchman despairs, tells everyone about the curse, and sets sail. Senta, who truly loves him, casts herself into the sea proving that she is devoted to him unto death. The curse is lifted and the opera ends with Senta and the Dutchman ascending toward heaven.
This is a common theme in Wagner’s operas. There is a tragically flawed man seeking redemption. There is a pure and noble woman who tries to redeem him but is destroyed in the process. Only in death are they united and redeemed. Senta is a true corpse bride.
In Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the title character kills the old Commandatore in the opening scene of the opera. At the end of the opera, the old man’s ghost, now the Stone Guest, comes to dinner and offers Giovanni a chance to repent. Giovanni has been ruining lives across the continent for years and refuses. The Stone Guest insists but Giovanni is defiant. The music is some of Mozart’s finest and the power of the scene never fails to hit. Finally, the Stone Guest condemns Giovanni to hell. The hellacious conclusion of Don Giovanni is a nice pivot between the ghost stories and devils.
Video:
Amadeus: Don Giovanni scene
Faust by Charles Gounod is the quintessential Halloween opera. This classic deal with the devil has been, at times, the most popular opera in the world.
The aged Faust is trying to kill himself at the beginning of the opera. He has wasted his life on scholarly pursuits that led to nothing and gender studies hadn’t even been invented yet. He missed out on life and love. He curses faith and asks for help from the devil. Following the “speak of the devil and he will appear rule”, Méphistophélès appears and gives Faust an elixir of youth and a vision of the young Marguerite.
Over the course of the story, Faust impregnates Marguerite, kills her brother, and abandons her. Marguerite goes mad and kills her baby. Faust visits her in prison but Marguerite sees that his hands are covered in blood, literally. She rejects his offer of assistance and leaves her fate in God’s hands. An angelic chorus sings out, "Sauvée” and Marguerite ascends into heaven without Faust.
Classical Rebellion: Operas for Halloween
Comments