EUGEN ONEGIN (Wiener Staatsoper)*****

 

By Sophie

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/ee614b25-8435-479b-baab-21b887943915/play 

Available until: 10^th May at about 6pm

It is often said that the modern world is cruel and there is certainly a great deal of truth in that. But the world has always been cruel to people who are perceived as being unlike everyone else.

The difference now is that our lives are so public, it is harder even for the so-called normal people to hide the moments when they are less than perfect. Anyone can become the butt of the very next joke and many people seek out the relative safety of laughing along with the crowd.

DON PASQUALE (Wiener Staatsoper)****

  

By Cal

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/01176d5f-1be6-4b8c-af48-3291bd6a9c69

Available until: Available on demand until 25^th April at about 6pm. There is another showing on 26^th April followed by another two days on demand.

Don Pasquale is one of those operas where you have to get the balance right. If it’s too slapstick, it’s very difficult to care. If there’s too much emotion in it, it starts to look cruel.

FALSTAFF (Wiener Staatsoper)****

  

By Cal 

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/52bb9a84-0a6d-4cf2-81f3-dda03a009ac1/play 

Available until: 23^rd February, about 6pm

Giuseppe Verdi isn’t really best-known for his comedies. His second opera, Un giorno di regno, was a comedy, but that one bombed. Verdi really wanted another go at writing a comedy, but everyone wanted him to write tragedies. Gioachino Rossini even said he didn’t think Verdi was capable of writing a comedy.

RIGOLETTO (Wiener Staatsoper)****

 

By Imogen 

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/1c3e3dee-79a9-4114-a6f9-e497c66758d9 

Available until: 17^th March at about 6pm

Rigoletto is about an ugly old hunchback, his adopted daughter and her really bad taste in men. He’s cute and everything but I really wouldn’t bother. I mean I’ve heard of students pretending to be dukes but dukes pretending to be students? Not in this lifetime.

LA TRAVIATA (Wiener Staatsoper)*****

  

By Louise 

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/9cf2fd88-22e0-429f-bd18-1fbb01629585/play

Available until: 9^th March at about 6pm

Most of the productions Wiener Staatsoper have been making available on their website are old productions which have been filmed, but every so often, they’ve been putting on new productions which are streamed live. Their Le nozze di Figaro a couple of weeks ago was really brilliant and so is La traviata.

OTELLO (Wiener Staatsoper)*****

  

By Megan 

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/734c2237-ebe1-4cdd-91e5-498327ce194a/play

Available until: 4^th February at about 6pm

I don’t always know why I like this story so much when such terrible things happen but I do love it a lot and I think Verdi’s opera tells the story of Shakespeare’s play really well.

DAS SCHLAUE FUCHSLEIN (Wiener Staatsoper)*****

 

By Cal

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/b5a9bb57-f759-414a-b215-5cf5842f169f/play

Available until: 26^th February at about 6pm

I thought I didn’t know this opera at first, but then I looked more closely. The Cunning Little Vixen. Of course.

There are a few operas around with animals in, but not many, and those that do exist tend to be more for children. But you wouldn’t let your child watch this opera unless they were very tough. It’s a brilliant opera and the animals are always great to watch, but it’s very sad.

KATJA KABANOVA (Wiener Staatsoper)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/7114f14f-8d91-44d3-acea-9a3387171ca0/play 

Available until: 25^th February at about 6pm

I really enjoyed Mozart Week and also enjoyed Bel Canto Week and it looks like this week is Janáček Week. That sounds like quite a flippant comment, but it’s actually very exciting. While it can be nice to watch a different opera every week (or every day, as it has seemed like recently!) you can learn a lot about a composer (or a playwright or anyone else) from enjoying a few of their works in quick succession. Too many at once and it could become a bit of a chore, but a few at a time can be really interesting.

LA SONNAMBULA (Wiener Staatsoper)****

 

By Dave

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/e04d8a15-ba3a-4bea-b935-ca599390f245/play

Available until: 22^nd February around 6pm. There might also be future broadcasts.

Louise made a very interesting point about Hamburg Staatsoper’s production of Manon yesterday, mentioning all the ways Manon’s problems are similar to the problems a lot of young people face now.

Wiener Staatsoper’s La sonnambula (an opera I actually haven’t seen before though I have heard it) gave me similar feelings. There seems to be a big focus on jealousy and suspicion in the modern world. Trust seems to have gone right out the window – though as cheating also seems a big part of the modern world, maybe that’s fair enough. Also, the main character, Amina, is treated very badly because of a medical condition that’s misunderstood by society. There’s a lot of that about too but the advantage about the modern world is that more is known about conditions like sleep-walking.

L’ELISIR D’AMORE (Wiener Staatsoper)****

 

By Imogen

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/8837b898-1fdc-4f7d-9b6e-0f6349110e20/play

Available until: Probably 20^th February at about 6pm UK time. There’s another showing on the 22^nd at 6pm too.

When you think about Donizetti (if you actually know who he is, you wouldn’t believe the number of idiots who don’t), you often end up thinking about the tragic opera of Lucia di Lammermoor but Donizetti actually did loads of comedies too. This is probably his most famous one though it actually isn’t performed very often. If you go to an opera-themed concert and there’s a tenor there, there is a fair chance he’ll end up singing Una furtiva langrima (some tenors seriously need to extend their repertoire but to be fair it is a beautiful aria with technical and emotional challenges) but the other arias and ensembles aren’t nearly as well known.

DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL (Wiener Staatsoper)****

 

By Sophie

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/16483d02-b762-475b-9871-27552e6373f5/play

Available until: Probably until the evening of 15^th February. There might also be future broadcasts.

Die Entführung aus dem Serail wasn’t strictly my first opera. That was Lulu and I think if you can sit through something through that strange and still want to come back for more, you probably are going to end up being an opera fan. But finding the music shop next to English National Opera’s Coliseum and buying the wonderful recording of Die Entführung by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants probably did help a lot in the matter of ensuring I went back the following week.

DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE (Wiener Staatsoper)****

  

By Megan

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/5c5ac0e1-0487-4feb-8225-b783769885e5/play

Available until: Probably until around 6pm (GMT) on 14^th February but that might not be how it works. There is another broadcast on 17^th February which is available from 6pm.

Content warning: If this was a play I would be expected to warn about certain things so I probably should here too. It sounds like they’ve taken out the racism but a white character has their appearance altered so they look like a person of colour and there are two suicide attempts and lots of loud noises like bangs and thunder. There is also a bit with hunting which is sad.

Die Zauberflöte or The Magic Flute as it’s called in English is a really magical opera. It’s not just the flute that is magic. There are some magic bells too and lots of effects like flying which aren’t magic in the opera but they are magic for the people who are watching. Even when you can see they aren’t really flying, it is still exciting watching them go up to the ceiling.

LA CLEMENZA DI TITO (Wiener Staatsoper)*****

 

By Dave

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/1ce883b8-d4ae-4d83-8e77-d68fd056a291/play

Available until: I’m not sure but Don Giovanni is still available more than 24 hours after broadcast and Figaro is no longer available 3 days after broadcast. So I’d guess at all of them being around for 48 hours but that is a guess. There is another broadcast on 16th February from 6pm.

La clemenza di Tito is generally included in the list of Mozart’s best-known operas but although it’s performed more often than works like La finta giardiniera, Mitridate, re di Ponto and Il re pastore, it’s definitely not up there with the Da Ponte operas and Die Zauberflote and it’s probably performed a bit less often than Idomeneo and Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (though this is open to debate, I haven’t sat down and done a survey).

DON GIOVANNI (Wiener Staatsoper)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/503f1870-b9b8-42dd-b305-53da32279365/play

Available until: Wiener Staatsoper productions seem to be available for about 24 hours. There is another broadcast on 14th February.

Wiener Staatsoper continues its series of livestreams (mostly but not exclusively Mozart) with the opera many people (including me) consider to be his greatest: Don Giovanni. (Though you’ve got to admit, it has some very close competition.)

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO (Wiener Staatsoper)*****

 

By Louise

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/calendar

Available until: There is another broadcast on 11^th February at 6pm (probably 5pm in the UK) but I didn’t watch it live so it’s available for at least a while after broadcast.

Note: The subtitles are automatically set to German, but they are also available in English and Italian.

Le nozze di Figaro is probably my favourite opera. The music is really beautiful, the story is really good and the characters are great so it is quite difficult not to enjoy Figaro, but every so often you see a production that is really really special. This is one of them.