The Metropolitan Opera in Your Homes—Week 7
This is a truly historical week—literally—as we begin with the Tudor Queens trilogy, a trio of operas by Gaetano Donizetti based on the lives of Tudor-dynasty queens Anne Boleyn, Mary Stuart, and Elizabeth I. In the 1970s, soprano Beverly Sills performed the rare feat of singing all three queens at New York City Opera. Sondra Radvanovsky repeated this operatic tour de force at the Metropolitan Opera in the 2015-2016 season. From Queen Elizabeth’s reign, we leap forward four centuries with the subject of a Hitchcock film only to take a greater leap back and return to ancient Egypt as in Week 4, but this time with a historic performance starring the legendary Leontyne Price in her farewell to opera. We end the week with a twelfth-century Slavic ruler, Prince Igor. The operas start at 7:30 p.m. on the Met’s homepage and are available to stream for 20 hours. Please click on the title of each opera below for more information and the link to the full synopsis. To discover even more about the operas featured this week, check out the weekly guide along with articles, interviews, videos, podcasts, and educational resources.
Monday, April 27
Donizetti’s Anna Bolena – Starring Anna Netrebko, Ekaterina Gubanova, Stephen Costello, and Ildar Abdrazakov, conducted by Marco Armiliato. From October 15, 2011.
The first of the Tudor Queens—also referred to as “The Donizetti Queens”—operatic trilogy and an instant success for composer Gaetano Donizetti. This opera fell into obscurity and returned to the public’s attention in the mid-twentieth century with interpretations of the title role by divas like Maria Callas. The unhappy fate of Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, is showcased in beautiful, elaborate, vocally demanding music, including a “mad scene”—an operatic enactment of insanity. Famous for his soprano protagonists’ mad scenes, Donizetti was, ironically, confined to a mental asylum for a time. The character of Anne Boleyn continues to stimulate the imagination of writers, television auteurs, and filmmakers, and the number of creative interpretations of her story is enormous. Goodreads alone offers a list of 64 books about or related to Anne Boleyn. One of my favorite films is The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), available on Amazon. For a glamorous, torrid historical fiction television series, watch The Tudors, available on Netflix– Anne’s story begins in Season 1 and takes center stage in Season 2.
Tuesday, April 28
Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda – Starring Elza van den Heever, Joyce DiDonato, and Matthew Polenzani, conducted by Maurizio Benini. From January 19, 2013.
This second installment in the trilogy centers on the rivalry between Mary, Queen of Scots, and her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. The vocal duel in the (fictional) confrontation between the two protagonists at the end of Act I is especially spectacular, brimming with vocal fireworks that showcase the female voice in all its splendor. But it is so intense in the hurling of musical insults that at the premiere’s rehearsal, the interpreter of Elizabeth’s role took them personally, and physically attacked the singer playing Maria Stuarda, unleashing a violent fight between them. The opera’s libretto is based on Friedrich Schiller’s historical play Mary Stuart, available for free on Project Gutenberg. As Anne Boleyn, Mary Stuart has been a captivating subject for literature and cinema. A list of 47 books inspired by Mary Stuart is available on Goodreads. The great Katharine Hepburn portrayed her in Mary of Scotland (1936), while the TV series Reign (2013-2017), available on Netflix, brought contemporary touches to her character and life. The most recent film about her life, Mary, Queen of Scots, was released in 2018 and features Saoirse Ronan as Mary—available on Amazon.
Wednesday, April 29
Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux – Starring Sondra Radvanovsky, El?na Garan?a, Matthew Polenzani, and Mariusz Kwiecien, conducted by Maurizio Benini. From April 16, 2016.
The third in the Tudor Queens series and the culmination of dramatic intensity in the trilogy. Based on the play Elisabeth d’Angleterre (Elizabeth of England) by François Ancelot and on Historie secrète des amours d’Elisabeth et du comte d’Essex (The Secret Love Story of Elizabeth and the Count of Essex) by Jacques Lescéne des Maisons, the opera is a fictionalized version of the aging queen’s impossible love for Robert Devereux, the second Earl of Essex, who served at her court.
Thursday, April 30
Nico Muhly’s Marnie – Starring Isabel Leonard, Iestyn Davies, and Christopher Maltman, conducted by Roberto Spano. From November 10, 2018.
A twentieth-century operatic thriller! Based on the 1961 psychological crime novel by Winston Graham that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s film Marnie—available to rent on Amazon—this opera was commissioned by the Met, and premiered to great success.
Friday, May 1
Verdi’s Aida – Starring Leontyne Price, Fiorenza Cossotto, James McCracken, and Simon Estes, conducted by James Levine. Transmitted live on January 3, 1985.
With this love-versus-patriotism story set in ancient Egypt, soprano Leontyne Price gives her farewell performance at the Metropolitan Opera in her signature role of Aida, as she retires from the stage. One of the most renowned singers of all time, she opened the new Metropolitan Opera in its current location at Lincoln Center in 1966 as Cleopatra in Barber’s Anthony and Cleopatra. Read more about this legendary soprano.
Saturday, May 2
Verdi’s Luisa Miller – Starring Sonya Yoncheva, Piotr Becza?a, and Plácido Domingo, conducted by Bertrand de Billy. From April 14, 2018.
This is Verdi’s 15th opera, considered the beginning of his “middle period” during which his musical genius would blossom into new compositional directions. Based on Friedrich Schiller’s play Kabale und Liebe (Intrigue and Love)—available on Project Gutenberg—it features one of Verdi’s signature father-daughter relationship portrayals, always tender and moving, as well as a young love destroyed by intrigue and manipulation.
Sunday, May 3
Borodin’s Prince Igor – Starring Oksana Dyka, Anita Rachvelishvili, and Ildar Abdrazakov, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. From March 1, 2014.
Inspired by the anonymous Old Russian language epic poem, The Lay of Igor’s Host, also known as The Song of Igor’s Campaign, this is the story of Prince Igor’s failed campaign against the Polovtsian tribes in 1185. The opera is best-known for the “Polovtsian (or Polovetsian) Dances”—whose “Dance of the Maidens” theme was adapted into the song “Stranger in Paradise” from the musical Kismet. Norwegian singer Sissel and rapper Warren G did their own take on the melody.
Top photo: Bigstock
