In this series of podcasts, Seattle Opera Dramaturg Jonathan Dean gives listeners a taste of nine different types of traditional opera. Music Drama was the personal solution to the problems of presenting opera in nineteenth-century Europe developed by composer/librettist Richard Wagner, opera’s ultimate mad genius. These long, loud, big works challenge artists, audiences, and the art form itself. Their complex music and unique spins on old stories continue to attract, repel, and provoke all who encounter them. Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (1865) serves as an example of the genre, as does the Richard Strauss opera Elektra (1909).
Musical examples on the podcast include:
- •Lohengrin conquers Telramund from Act 1 of Lohengrin, Seattle Opera performance conducted by Hermann Michael, 1994
- •Parsifal enters the Grail Temple from Act 1 of Parsifal, Seattle Opera performance conducted by Asher Fisch, 2003
- •Prelude to Act 2 of Siegfried, Seattle Opera performance conducted by Asher Fisch, 2013
- •English horn solo from Prelude to Act 3 of Tristan und Isolde,1966 Bayreuth Festival recording conducted by Karl Böhm
- •Conclusion of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Karajan (Deutsche Gramophon 1977)
- •Prelude to Act 1 of Tristan und Isolde, orchestra of Seattle Opera conducted by Asher Fisch, 2010
- •Interlude from Act 3 of Siegfried, Seattle Opera performance conducted by Asher Fisch, 2013
- •War Cry from Act 2 of Die Walküre, with Jane Eaglen and the orchestra of Seattle Opera conducted by Robert Spano, 2005
- •Sword motif, Act 1 of Die Walküre, orchestra of Seattle Opera conducted by Robert Spano, 2009
- •Opening of Tristan und Isolde,1966 Bayreuth Festival recording conducted by Karl Böhm
- •Swan-flight from Act 1 of Parsifal, Stephen Milling and the orchestra of Seattle Opera conducted by Asher Fisch, 2003
- •Frenzy from Act 3 of Tristan und Isolde, Ben Heppner and the orchestra of Seattle Opera conducted by Armin Jordan, 1998
- •Bliss from Act 2 of Tristan und Isolde, Ben Heppner, Jane Eaglen, and the orchestra of Seattle Opera conducted by Armin Jordan, 1998
- •From “Allein! Weh, ganz allein” from Elektra, Astrid Varnay and the orchestra of West German Radio conducted by Richard Kraus (Melodram 1953)
- •Conclusion from Elektra, Astrid Varnay, Leonie Rysanek, and the orchestra of West German Radio conducted by Richard Kraus (Melodram 1953)
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