STUDENT STUDY GUIDE
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
Esther Nelson Stanford Calderwood General & Artistic Director David Angus Music Director John Conklin Artistic Advisor
May 9, 2018
Dear Educator, Boston Lyric Opera is pleased to invite high school and college students to attend Final Dress Rehearsals throughout our Season. We look forward to seeing you and your students at the DCR Steriti Memorial Rink Theatre for BLO's 1950's cabaret style production of Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti and Arias & Barcarolles. The experience of seeing and hearing live, professional opera is second to none. And we encourage you to explore the world of the opera in your classroom as well. We are proud to offer this Study Guide to support your discussions and preparations for Tahiti and Arias. We’ve included special insights into this particular production as well as the opera’s history with connections to Social Studies and English Language Arts. Boston Lyric Opera’s mission is to build curiosity, enthusiasm, and support for opera. This Study Guide is one way in which we support the incredible work of educators like you, who are inspired by this beautiful art form and introduce it to your students. As we continue to develop additional Study Guides this Season, we want your feedback. Please tell us about how you use this guide and how it can best serve your needs by emailing education@blo.org. If you’re interested in additional opera education opportunities with Boston Lyric Opera, please visit blo.org/education to discover more about our programs. We look forward to seeing you at the ice rink!
Sincerely,
Rebecca Ann S. Kirk Manager of Education Programs
TABLE OF CONTENTS TROUBLE IN TAHITI SYNOPSIS..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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ARIAS & BARCAROLLES SYNOPSIS .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5 LEONARD BERNSTEIN.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 THE AMERICAN DREAM............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 10 TWO WORKS SIDE BY SIDE ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 11 UTOPIA OR DYSTOPIA....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12 LISTEN UP!..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 RESOURCES............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 15 HISTORY OF OPERA: AN OVERVIEW............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 16 THE SCIENCE AND ART OF OPERA................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19 NOTES TO PREPARE FOR THE OPERA............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 23
SYNOPSES TROUBLE IN TAHITI 1950s American Suburbia.
Prelude A cheerful jazz trio sings about how perfect life is in this suburban town. They paint a romantic image of morning sun kissing the little white houses as it rises, and mothers seeing fathers and children off to work and school. No one has any worries and everyone is happy and fulfilled. Scene I Sam and Dinah sit in their spotless kitchen bickering again as they eat breakfast. Sam is distant and Dinah is desperately unhappy, wistfully longing for deeper meaning in her life without knowing what exactly that would be. Dinah accuses Sam of having an affair with this secretary, but he denies it and changes the subject. They each privately long for the romance and the happiness they once shared, but neither one knows how to rekindle it. Dinah reminds Sam of their son’s school play that afternoon, but
Sam remembers he has a handball game he cannot miss. This refuels the couple’s argument as Sam tries to placate Dinah, promising they will discuss everything later. He rushes out, late for his train, leaving Dinah alone and frustrated. Scene II At his desk Sam confidently denies a loan to a client on the phone, then grants one to his friend. The trio, as if a Greek chorus, praises him for his generosity and business acumen. Scene III Dinah recounts a dream she had to her therapist. She finds herself trapped in a neglected garden, overgrown, dead and dry. In the distance she hears a man’s voice beckoning her to a different garden full of love and peace. She attempts to find the voice in hopes that he might free her from her dreary prison. She finally sees the man’s face and runs to him only to watch him disappear. Meanwhile, Sam confronts his secretary to inquire whether he has ever acted anything but professional toward her. When she reminds him of a particular incident, he dismisses it telling her to forget it ever happened. Scene IV Sam and Dinah accidentally run into each other on their way to lunch. They each lie about having previous commitments to others. After parting ways, each reflects on their
The ideal housewife
relationship wondering when life became so miserable, and if they can ever find their way back to the wedded bliss they each remember. Interlude The trio returns to further illustrate the details of perfection in American suburban life in the style of a commercial jingle. Scene V Sam has just won his handball tournament and admires his trophy. He proudly boasts about how he is a real man and a born winner, the hero who can never fail.
The made-up film, for which the opera gets its title, "Trouble in Tahiti" maybe referencing any of several Hollywood films of the early 1940s, for which Tahiti and other South Seas exotic locations were very popular settings. Bernstein also was likely quite familiar with the hit Broadway musical, South Pacific (1949) which was still running on Broadway when he was writing his opera. The musical South Pacific by Rogers and Hammerstein opened on Broadway in 1949 4
CHARACTERS Dinah, mezzo-soprano A suburban wife in her early thirties Sam, bass-baritone Dinah’s husband in his early thirties The Trio, soprano, tenor, and baritone A Greek chorus in the style of a jazz trio Design for BLO’s production of Trouble in Tahiti by set designer Paul Tate dePoo III inspired by the New York City jazz clubs on the 1950s.
Scene VI Dinah is shopping for hats and recounts the film she just saw called “Trouble in Tahiti.” At first highly critical, she gets completely caught up in a daydream describing the plot and the magic of it all. Suddenly, snapping to her senses, she resumes her original critique, dismissing the film, and rushes home. As Sam returns home, trophy in tow, he wearily attempts to justify his life to himself, even as he reluctantly opens his front door.
Scene VII The trio now paints a picturesque evening in suburbia as the sun sets. Sam and Dinah sit in their living room while quiet tension builds. They awkwardly attempt to have a candid conversation about their relationship, but don’t know how to begin. Sam suggests they go to the cinema instead to see a new film called “Trouble in Tahiti,” and resigned, Dinah agrees without mentioning she’s already seen it that day. As they put on their coats, each longs for a place in time where they can be free from pretending to be happy and find real happiness together.
ARIAS & BARCAROLLES
Leonard Bernstein family, November, 1965. Library of Congress Music Department.
Arias & Barcarolles is a song cycle—a bit like a concept album—with eight songs performed by a mezzo-soprano and a baritone and accompanied by two people playing the piano at once, referred to as piano four hands. Each song stands alone, yet they are connected by themes of love—familial love and romantic love. Characters in each song explore what it means to love and be loved, and how our romantic image of loving, portrayed in the stories we tell, is often not the same as our day-to-day experience of it. “The Prelude” begins by exploring the simple declaration of love, followed by the “Love Duet” that reflects on the journey of a romantic partnership using music itself as a metaphor. “Little Smary” describes a small child who has lost a beloved stuffed animal and the intensity of love and loss felt even by the youngest. A man wonders if he may have missed out in “The Love of My Life.” A mother reflects on the awed certainty of love at the birth a child in “Greeting.” A Yiddish song, “Oif Mayn Khas’neh,” (The Wedding Song) describes a musician whose irresistible music compels everyone to dance even amid the uncertainty of faith. Parents in “Mr. and Mrs. Webb Say Goodnight” juggle the nuances of parenthood as they put their children to bed and try to find a moment to connect. “Nachspiel” (Night Song) a kind of lullaby, concludes in a reflective postlude. 5
What’s in a Name? Bernstein was inspired to name this song cycle Arias and Barcarolles from a quip by President Dwight D. Eisenhower back in 1960. Bernstein had just conducted a concert attended by the President including works by Mozart and Gershwin. The President’s response was: “You know, I liked that last piece you played [referring to “Rhapsody in Blue”]. It’s got a theme, you know what I mean? I like music with a theme, not all them arias and barcarolles.” Bernstein, amused at the comment, noted down this phrase to use as a title someday—what turned out to be nearly thirty years later! 5
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
Leonard Bernstein was a Boston native born to Ukrainian Jewish parents in Lawrence, MA, where his family owned a hairdressing supply store. They later moved into the city, finding community in Roxbury near Franklin Park—a growing Jewish neighborhood—and spent summers in Sharon, MA. Bernstein had an affinity for music from an early age, likely participating in music at his synagogue. He went to Boston Latin School and his father would take him to the Boston Symphony Orchestra as a teen. At Harvard College he studied music, yet was strongly influenced by an aesthetics Bernstein was given the first name Louis at birth upon insistence from his grandmother, yet both his parents preferred Leonard. He legally changed his name to Leonard at age fifteen, and was always known by friends and family as Lenny. Leonard Bernstein in the 1950s
Bernstein with parents, Samuel and Jennie, and sister, Shirley, ca. 1935. Photographer unidentified. (Music Division). Library of Congress.
professor bringing his attention to the interdisciplinary nature of the arts and culture—a theme that would influence his work for the rest of his life. It was at Harvard where he met composer and librettist Marc Blitzstein as well as composer Aaron Copland, both becoming collaborators, mentors, and colleagues for Bernstein throughout his career. He continued his music study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, afterward making his home in New York City where he picked up work at a music publishing house. In the summer of 1940, Aaron Copland recommended him to be one of the first conducting students at a new summer institute offered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the Berkshire mountains of Western Massachusetts studying with Serge Koussevitzky. This summer home of the BSO, Tanglewood, became a touchstone for him and he would return more or less every summer for the rest of his life. Already a talented young conductor and musician, Bernstein got his “big break” when, at the age of 25, he was serving as assistant conductor for the New York Philharmonic. At the last minute, the conductor fell ill and Bernstein was asked to step in and conduct the orchestra at Carnegie Hall. The performance was broadcast live on national radio, and a review made the front page of the following day’s New York Times. His reputation quickly spread and he was soon asked to guest conduct many symphony orchestras worldwide. He earned a position as Music Director with the New York City Symphony, and also began to compose his own works including symphonies, ballets, and his first musical. As kids, Bernstein’s life-long friend, Sid Ramin, used to pay him in Milky Way candy bars for piano lessons. Ramin also became a composer and later helped Bernstein orchestrate West Side Story.
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In 1951, he took a position on faculty at Brandeis University in Waltham teaching modern symphony and modern opera. He commuted from New York City for that first year, taught for five years total, and founded the Festival of Creative Arts in 1952, where he premiered his first opera, Trouble in Tahiti. He wrote both the libretto and the score for the opera—some of it while on his honeymoon in Mexico. Bernstein had been persuaded to finish and premiere his opera at the festival, which included an all-day symposium full of performances and attended by roughly 3,000 in a newly-constructed outdoor amphitheater. In the end, the programming ran late and the opera didn’t begin until 11 p.m. on an unfinished stage and with a faulty sound system. Fortunately Bernstein was able to revise the work before it debuted at Tanglewood a few weeks later.
Leonard Bernstein, 1971.
Bernstein maintained a very busy career conducting, composing, and teaching, often in high demand. When he was in his 60s he revisited Trouble in Tahiti using it within a new opera he composed called A Quiet Place, in which the same characters are older and remember a simpler time. When he was nearly 70 years old, he premiered Arias and Barcarolles, a song cycle with very personal themes about love and family. He died just two short years later at his home in New York. Still highly popular, Leonard Bernstein, a boy from Boston, helped to define American music and what it means to be a musician and an educator. On August 25, 2018, we remember his legacy at the centennial of his birth.
Leonard Bernstein seated at piano, making annotations to musical score, 1955. Library of Congress. New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection.
After returning to New York City full time in 1956, Bernstein accepted a position as Music Director at the New York Philharmonic. During this time he premiered some of his most well-known compositions including his next operetta, Candide, and the musical West Side Story. A huge advocate of music education, Bernstein also produced over fifty Young People’s Concerts that were televised nationally by CBS, introducing a generation to symphonic music. Bernstein also maintained an active sociopolitical life, speaking out for causes and injustices that he felt strongly about. In fact, he was monitored by the U.S. House of Un-American Activities Committee in the 1940s and 50s.
Copland, Koussevitzky, and Bernstein at Tanglewood, 1941. Photo by Victor Kraft. Library of Congress, Music Department.
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Tanglewood Conducting student in 1940 at the BSO’s inaugural Tanglewood Music Center summer institute; returned several subsequent summers, joined the faculty in 1952, and remained a significant professional and personal location for the rest of his life
Marc Blitzstein and Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood, July, 1946. Library of Congress, Music Department
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BERNSTEIN’S BOSTON Leonard Bernstein was born in 1918
LAWRENCE Harvard Square, Cambridge circa 1950s.
Harvard College Majored in Music class of 1939 Brandeis University Faculty in the Music Department beginning in 1951, and founded the Festival of the Creative Arts in 1952 where he premiered Trouble in Tahiti.
295 Huntington near Symphony Hall Studio Apartment of Bernstein
BOSTON
NEWTON A Family Home
Bernstein’s earliest musical experiences and family synagogue
New England Conservatory Began piano lessons at age 13
Bernstien’s High School. Boston Latin School 1920s-1930s Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston. Photographer: Frank B. Conlin. City of Boston Archives and Records Management Division.
Boston Latin School Graduated high school in 1935
SHARON
The Bernstein Family spent summers
School. William Lloyd Garrison School 1920s-1930s Hutchings St., Dorchester, Massachusetts Photographer: Frank B. Conlin. City of Boston Archives and Records Management Division
United House of Prayer
The United House of Prayer for All People, the building that formally housed Congregation Miskan Tefila, in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Sept. 2014 (photo credit: Elan Kawesch/The Times of Israel)
William Lloyd Garrison School Bernstein attended Elementary School (the building still stands and is on the National Register of Historic Places, but has since been converted into apartments) 9
The American Dream
During World War II and the peacetime that followed, there was renewed nationalism and civic efforts, along with the advancement of new technologies. During the war, civilians were encouraged to do their part to unify American identity. Following the war, soldiers returned home, many who had postponed marriage and family life until then. The government offered assistance to these veterans in the form of the G.I. Bill giving benefits for men to get education, job training, and buy property. Soon the image of the American Dream in the early 1950s became one of a house on a tree-lined street in suburbia with a white picket fence, a dog, and a happy family with several kids who enjoyed all the modern conveniences and were supported by a good job and good education. This, of course, is the setting for Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti. Manufacturing, technology and the invention of plastic helped to tie consumerism and materialism to the American Dream during these years and beyond, so that the display of one’s success through the purchase of the newest item also became a defining element. Bernstein was both a benefactor of the American Dream, as well as an outsider who never completely fit in. With working-class, Jewish roots he likely witnessed or experienced prejudice and anti-Semitism growing up. And as a man who didn’t identify as heterosexual in a time when this was the only accepted identity, he chose to “pass,” keeping his sexual identity very private. And yet he had great empathy for others who found fitting in to the “traditional family”—a white, young, pretty, middleclass, financially successful, heterosexual couple with a few healthy well-educated children—utterly impossible. 10
By the 1980s, public opinion polls indicated that the concept of the American Dream had shifted again, becoming associated less with material wealth and more with spiritual happiness, but at the same time still insisting that hard work is an essential component. Bernstein wrote Arias and Barcarolles in the late 1980s. He had seen how much American life had changed throughout his lifetime. While many of his works grappled with this fundamentally American concept—what is the American Dream and how do we attain it—he never fully arrived at an answer, rather explored the diverse and changing human emotional landscape within it. Throughout the 1980s into present day there has been increasing pessimism about the ability for citizens to attain the American Dream, even in spite of a lifetime of hard work or even owning the latest iPhone. DISCUSS: How do you define the American Dream today? Do you think it is attainable?
Tupperware advertisement, circa 1958. Photo by Joe Steinmetz.
The American Dream—known universally as the spirit of the United States of America, with ideals and values that helped define the founding of the country—has evolved over centuries. Although its concepts of freedom, prosperity and happiness were prevalent beginning in the 1770s when the New World was being conquered and claimed, it wasn’t until the early 1930s when New England writer James Truslow Adams popularized the term. He described America as a place where everyone who worked hard, regardless of social class, could achieve comfort in a richer, fuller life, thus paving the way for their children to succeed.
Two Works Side by Side Leonard Bernstein wrote his first opera, Trouble in Tahiti, in 1952. Even at the age of 33, he was both keenly aware of this new shiny version of the American Dream, as well as very wary of it. Passionate about connecting to people of all ages and walks of life through music, perhaps he sought to use the art form to hold a mirror up to society. In any case, Trouble in Tahiti is a satire, and like any good comedy, goes over-thetop to provide both laughter and social commentary. Bernstein believed music to be a living, breathing thing and was inspired by many genres of music and musical traditions drawing on a wide variety in Tahiti that included barbershopquartet style singing, commercial jingles that advertise products on the radio, popular musical theater productions, and even popular bands and singers he heard growing up. A superior musical student as well, he was also profoundly influenced by his study of classical composers of the distant and recent past, as well as living mentors including Aaron Copland. Bernstein’s life spanned seven decades of enormous change for America and the world, politically, socially, culturally, and economically. In reflecting on the changes as they took place, he kept
pace, producing music and performing music that responded to these changes: capturing, commenting, celebrating, or commemorating them. By the 1980s, Bernstein’s song cycle Arias and Barcarolles is a deeply personal collection of songs; in all but two of them he wrote the lyrics as well. The two exceptions are a Yiddish poem and his recollection of a story his mother made up and told to him as a child. Each of the songs also carries a dedication to someone important in his life. They explore the nuances of human relationships—their challenges and joys, the comedic, poignant, and awkward moments, and all the emotions that illustrate them. Bernstein draws on his lifetime of experience of his family life both as a child, and later having a wife and children of his own. Both Tahiti and Arias explore themes of love, relationships, family, hopes and dreams, and mundane reality. They echo each other in structure: one with seven scenes, the other with seven songs (plus a Prelude)—each able to stand alone as a vignette of a moment in time. In Tahiti there are only two characters on stage, yet they each interact with other unseen people throughout the opera. This is similar to the portrayal of the songs in Arias as each singer conveys a character and often implies other, unseen characters. Their scenarios also
Portrait of The Pastels, the vocalists for the jazz band Stan Keaton Orchestra Dave Lambert, Jerry Duane, Wayne Howard, Jerry Packer, and Margaret Dale, New York, N.Y., ca. Jan. 1947. Photographer: William P. Gottlieb. Library of Congress
echo each other: a couple who has lost the real connection in their marriage, the duty still felt to honor the commitment, the uncertainty of the future and regret of the past, and the sweet, simple, fleeting moments in-between, the latter of which Bernstein seems to comment is the real “stuff” of life. If Tahiti is an example of Bernstein’s work as a young composer, then Arias echoes it nicely, balancing wit and wisdom, and showcasing a refined simplicity in his composition. Yet both carry the signature of his distinct style. Each work has operatic drama, symphonic themes countered by quiet simplicity, and strong influences of jazz and popular music while still remaining decidedly classical and American in identity. DISCUSS: Why do you think Boston Lyric Opera decided to pair these two short works of Bernstein together? Do you think they go together? Why or why not?
Satire: noun The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people particularly in the context of contemporary social or political issues. The juxtaposition of Sam and Dinah’s misery and the cheerful Trio hit close to home for audiences of the 1950s in a “it’s-funny-because-it’s-true” way, a kind of satire. Here’s a contemporary example for the CW’s popular comedy, My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend where the main character, Rebecca, idealizes her future life in a suburb of Los Angeles: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, West Covina, The CW
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UTOPIA OR DYSTOPIA
America in the 1950s is often depicted in popular culture using bright colors and finished with a shiny veneer. World War II had ended, soldiers had returned to marry and build families, and the concept of the “traditional family” was born as a marketing technique to encourage the growth of the domestic economy. The G.I. Bill provided many opportunities for veterans to build a robust civilian life for themselves. It was peacetime again, and therefore happiness easily attained through professional success, a perfect domestic life, and displayed through material wealth. The Traditional Family This image was depicted as a white, middleclass, healthy, happy husband and wife who owned their own house, were financially stable with good income, and had two or three children who were well educated, well behaved, and well fed. Marketed as the gold standard, this ideal was impossible for many in society due to their race, class, gender, ethnicity, political beliefs, citizenship, religion, or abilities. Yet it was pushed as the dominant culture so strongly, many tried hard to fit the image as best as they possibly could to avoid being socially outcast.
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Even for those who were able to effortlessly attain the ingredients to this Dream, both men and women found it challenging to fit into this perfect picture in every day life. The “traditional family” model encouraged independence, individualism, and self-sufficiency in men. If they left their parents, siblings and extended families as boys to go off to war, when they returned they were encouraged, through many
An American family eating dinner, 1946.
Citizens absorbed in the digital world, 2018
incentives, to start their own families, often far from those they grew up with, further disconnecting them from their communities of origin. Meanwhile young women, who had been filling men’s shoes for years on the Homefront working in shops, factories, and other industries, were forced to abandon their jobs and careers to devote themselves to the care of their home, children, and husbands. This, combined with the relatively new phenomenon of suburbs created independence, and also isolation.
world they helped to create, thus are pioneers in navigating it. A world of social media where the pressure to present a perfect, happy life, and the pursuit of meaning for an authentically happy life are sometimes at odds. While breaking down barriers and stereotypes (you can be who you are and/or whoever you want to be online), Millennials also navigate a world where social connections are –more often than not made virtually and thus they must navigate the building of authentic relationships while also being challenged by the limitations of life lived online.
Bernstein explores and critiques this social phenomenon—one he experienced firsthand—in many of his works, most notably in Trouble in Tahiti. Characters Sam and Dinah try hard to seek happiness in their lives through domestic and material life, hard work, and earnest attempts to be a “man” and a “woman” to the best of their abilities. Ultimately, escapism proves to be the only way they can vicariously experience what they long to create together by going to the movies. In present day, Millennials are roughly in the same age demographic as those who build lives chasing the American Dream in the post-war 1950s. The world has changed a lot since that time, and yet while Millennials work to change the world, they also live within a virtual
Couples In Real Life Vs. On Social Media BuzzFeedVideo / Via youtube.com
Facebook is not quite akin to everyone living in their own perfectly identical house lined by a while picket fence in a neighborhood that spans miles, but perhaps as the Baby Boomers remember the 1950s and '60s of their childhoods, the Millennials can relate to navigating issues of individualism, pressure to present perfect self-sufficiency, and the underlying insecurities and isolation that often accompany curating a life online. Just like Sam and Dinah, sometimes the most tempting and easiest temporary solution to authentic connection is to seek it vicariously through others’ stories. While some stories are fun to escape everyday life through, others, like the ones Bernstein created in his lifetime, take great care to keep the audience at a distance as a critic—provoking reflection, spurring conversation, and perhaps even education. After all, Bernstein believed deeply in the power of the arts to educate. DISCUSS: If you could update the plot of Trouble in Tahiti to 2018, in what ways would you adapt it to make a contemporary retelling?
LISTEN UP! Jazz Trio: Bernstein played off of something everyone was familiar with—the radio jingle—sung in a jazzy close harmony style that was very popular in the 1940s, and combined it with a very old theater convention: the Greek chorus. In doing so, he created these disconnected voices (of sorts) who cheerfully comment on Sam and Dinah’s life. For 1950s audiences, this element would have been comical in a “it’s-funny-because-it’s-true” kind of way. Trio from Trouble in Tahiti:
1940s Radio Commercial:
Listen Up!
Music as Character: You may notice that aside from The Trio, Trouble in Tahiti only introduces the audience to two characters: Sam and Dinah, and yet each interact with other unseen people in each scene. Bernstein gives voice to these imaginary characters in the score. Listen how in Scene II, Sam is having a phone conversation and the orchestration is providing the other side of the conversation:
Listen Up!
Listen Up!
Composer of Opera and Musical Theater: How did Bernstein distinguish in his own compositions between opera and musicals, of which he wrote both? In fact, he used many of the same compositional techniques. Listen to “Somewhere” from West Side Story (1957) and compare it with “There is a Garden” from Trouble in Tahiti (1952)—each a famous aria sung by the female lead. In both, the character dreams about a better place where she can be happy. Can you also hear similarities in the two melodies? “Somewhere” from West Side Story:
Listen Up!
“There is a Garden” from Trouble in Tahiti:
Listen Up!
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American Music: Leonard Bernstein is known as one of the composers that helped to define American music. He also had a deep passion for music education. One of his many initiatives when he was music director of the New York Philharmonic was to produce live national broadcasts of Young People’s Concerts. In this episode from 1958, he explores what defines music as American. Listen as he introduces music by American composers. Then compare with Bernstein’s own most famous compositions including from the musical West Side Story (1957) and his opera Candide (1956). How was Bernstein influenced by the American composers who came before him? Overture from West Side Story:
What is American Music?
Overture from Candide:
Listen Up!
Listen Up!
Listen Up!
Trouble in Tahiti with Arias & Barcarolles: These two of Bernstein’s canon were composed thirty-six years apart. They have complementary thematic elements as well as musical similarities. Listen to a selection of each and think about how Bernstein’s compositional style evolved over his career and what elements seem to be his “signature” style. Trouble in Tahiti “How could you say that thing that you did:”
Arias & Barcarolles “Love Duet:”
Listen Up!
Listen Up!
GENERAL QUESTIONS TO GUIDE YOUR LISTENING • What instruments are playing? • How fast is the music? Are there sudden changes in speed? Is the rhythm steady or unsteady? • Key/Mode: Is it major or minor? (Does it sound bright, happy, sad, urgent, dangerous?) • Dynamics/Volume: Is the music loud or soft? Are there sudden changes in volume (either in the voice or orchestra)? • What is the shape of the melodic line? Does the voice move smoothly or does it make frequent or erratic jumps? Do the vocal lines move noticeably downward or upward? • Does the type of voice singing (baritone, soprano, tenor, mezzo, etc.) have an effect on you as a listener? • Do the melodies end as you would expect or do they surprise you? • How does the music make you feel? What effect does the above factors have on you as a listener? • What is the orchestra doing in contrast to the voice? How do they interact? • What kinds of images, settings, or emotions come to mind? Does it remind you of anything you have experienced in your own life? • Do particularly emphatic notes (low, high, held, etc.) correspond to dramatic moments? 14
• What type of character fits this music? Romantic? Comic? Serious? Etc.
RESOURCES Websites Bernstein, L. (n.d.). The Leonard Bernstein Collection ca. 1920-1989. Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/collections/leonard-bernstein/ From Library of Congress, Music Division Crutchfield, W. (1989, September). Presidential Tastes and a Bernstein Song Cycle. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/07/arts/presidential-tastes-and-a-bernstein-song-cycle.html Gutmann, P. (2003). Leonard Bernstein: A Total Embrace of Music. Retrieved from www.classicalnotes.net Keller, J. M. (2017, September). Bernstein: Arias and Barcarolles. Retrieved from www.sfsymphony.org Ross, A. (2010, November 15). Disquiet. Retrieved from www.newyorker.com Ross, A. (2008, December 15). The Legend of Lenny. Retrieved from www.newyorker.com Seckerson, E. (n.d.). Bernstein Arias and Barcarolles etc. Retrieved 2018, from https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/bernstein-arias-and-barcarolles-etc The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc. (2018). Leonard Bernstein. Retrieved 2018from https://leonardbernstein.com/ The President and Fellows of Harvard College. (2018). Leonard Bernstein’s Boston Years: Team Research in A Harvard Classroom. Retrieved from https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/bernsteinsboston/home Books Bernstein, L. (1969). The Joy of Music. Panther. Bernstein, L. (2002). The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press Burton, H. (1995). Leonard Bernstein. London: Faber and Faber. Magazines Boston Lyric Opera Coda Magazine. (2018). https://issuu.com/bostonlyricopera/docs/blo_codaspr18_webready_final3 Boston Lyric Opera Trouble in Tahiti and Arias & Barcarolles Program. (2018). https://issuu.com/bostonlyricopera/docs/ blo_3pott_prog_web Recordings Leonard Bernstein. (2013, August 29). Retrieved 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGmGJfwD5NaYvJt57mc1fVw Official YouTube Channel for Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein Compilation: London Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, et al. (2005). The Voice of Bernstein [CD]. Deutsche Grammophon. Conducted by Leonard Bernstein, Michael Tilson Thomas, Lehman Engel, and Kent Nagano Leonard Bernstein: Young People’s Concerts. (2011). Retrieved 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AFovpvDRCI&list=PL0E30230A601C2315 Republished from leonardbernstein.com with Standard YouTube License Original Cast. (1953). BERNSTEIN: Trouble in Tahiti. Leonard Bernstein. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/ BERNSTEINTroubleInTahiti 15
THE HISTORY OF OPERA Toccata from L’Orfeo. Claudio Monteverdi Favola in musica. Reprint of the First Edition of the Score, Venice 1609, via Wikimedia Commons
People have been telling stories through music for millennia throughout the world. Opera is an art form with roots in Western Europe dating back hundreds of years. Here is a brief timeline of its lineage.
RENAISSANCE 1573 The Florentine Camerata was founded in Italy, devoted to reviving ancient Greek musical traditions, including sung drama. 1598 Jacopo Peri, a member of the Camerata, composed the world’s first opera – Dafne, reviving the classic myth. 1607 Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) wrote the first opera to become popular, Orfeo, making him the premier opera composer of his day and bridging the gap between Renaissance and Baroque music. His works are still performed today. BAROQUE
1600-1750
1637 The first public opera house, Teatro San Cassiano, was built in Venice, Italy. 1673 Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) Italian-born composer, brought opera to the French court, creating a unique style, tragédie en musique, that better suited the French language. Blurring the lines between recitative and aria, he created fast-paced dramas to suit the tastes of French aristocrats. 1689 Henry Purcell’s (1659-1695) simple and elegant chamber opera, Dido and Aeneas, premiered at Josias Priest’s boarding school for girls in London. 1712 George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), a German-born composer, moved to London, where he found immense success writing intricate and highly ornamented Italian opera seria (serious opera). Ornamentation refers to stylized, fast-moving notes, usually improvised by the singer to make a musical line more interesting and to showcase their vocal talent.
Dido and Aeneas, 1747, Pompeo Batoni, via Wikimedia Commons
1730-1820
CLASSICAL
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1750s A reform movement, led by composer Christoph Gluck (1714-1787), rejected the flashy ornamented style of the Baroque in favor of simplicity refined to enhance the drama. 1767 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote his first opera at age 11, beginning his 25-year opera career. Mozart mastered, then innovated in several operatic forms. He wrote operas serias, including La Clemenza di Tito, and operas buffas (comedic operas) like Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). He then combined the two genres in Don Giovanni, calling it dramma giocoso. Mozart also innovated on the form of Singspiel (German sung play), featuring spoken dialogue, as in Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute).
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
1805 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) although a prolific composer, wrote only one opera, Fidelio. The extremes of musical expression in Beethoven’s music pushed the boundaries in the late Classical period and inspired generations of Romantic composers.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
1790-1910
Giuseppe Verdi
Giacomo Puccini
Richard Wagner
ROMANTIC — THE GOLDEN AGE OF OPERA 1816 Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) composed Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), becoming the most prodigious opera composer in Italy by age 24. He wrote 39 operas in 20 years. This new style created by Rossini and his contemporaries, including Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini, would, a century later, be referred to as bel canto (beautiful singing). Bel canto compositions were inspired by the nuanced vocal capabilities of the human voice and its expressive potential. Composers employed a strategic use of register, the push and pull of tempo (rubato), extremely smooth and connected phrases (legato), and vocal glides (portamento). 1842 Inspired by the risqué popular entertainment of French vaudeville, Hervé created the first operetta, a short comedic musical drama with spoken dialogue. Responding to popular trends, this new form stood in contrast to the increasingly serious and dramatic works at the grand Parisian opera house. Opéra comique as a genre was often not comic, rather realistic or humanistic. Grand Opera, on the contrary, was exaggerated and melodramatic. 1853 Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) completed La Traviata, a story of love, loss, and the struggle of average people, in the increasingly popular realistic style of verismo. Verdi enjoyed immense acclaim during his lifetime, while expanding opera to include larger orchestras, extravagant sets and costumes, and more highly trained voices.
A scene from a 19th-century version of the play The Barber of Seville by Pierre Beaumarchais. Its origins in the commedia dell’arte are shown in this picture which portrays Figaro dressed in the costume and mask of Harlequin. 1884, via Wikimedia Commons
1865 Richard Wagner’s (1813-1883) Tristan und Isolde was the beginning of musical modernism, pushing the use of traditional harmony to its extreme. His massively ambitious, lengthy operas, often based in German folklore, sought to synthesize music, theater, poetry, and visuals in what he called a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). The most famous of these was an epic four-opera drama, Der Ring des Nibelungen, which took him 26 years to write and was completed in 1874. 1871 Influenced by French operetta, English librettist W.S. Gilbert (1836-1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) began their 25-year partnership, which produced 14 comic operettas including The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Their works helped inspire the genre of American musical theater. 1874 Johann Strauss II, influenced largely by his father, with whom he shared a name and talent, composed Die Fledermaus, popularizing Viennese musical traditions, namely the waltz, and shaping operetta. 1896 Giacomo Puccini’s (1858-1924) La Bohème captivated audiences with its intensely beautiful music, realism, and raw emotion. Puccini enjoyed huge acclaim during his lifetime for his works.
Mikado theatre poster, Edinburgh, 1885, via Wikimedia Commons
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Hammerstein and Kern
Leonard Bernstein
Scott Joplin
20TH CENTURY 1911 Scott Joplin, “The King of Ragtime,” wrote his only opera, Treemonisha, which was not performed until 1972. The work combined the European late-Romantic operatic style with African American folk songs, spirituals, and dances. The libretto, also by Joplin, was written at a time when literacy among African Americans in the southern United States was rare.
20TH CENTURY
1922 Alban Berg (1885-1935) composed the first completely atonal opera, Wozzeck, dealing with uncomfortable themes of militarism and social exploitation. Wozzeck is in the style of 12-tone music or Serialism. This new compositional style, developed in Vienna by composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), placed equal importance on each of the 12 pitches in a scale, removing the sense of the music being in a particular key. 1927 American musical theater, commonly referred to as Broadway, was taken more seriously after Jerome Kern’s (1885-1945) Show Boat, words by Oscar Hammerstein, tackled issues of racial segregation and the ban on interracial marriage in Mississippi. 1935 American composer George Gershwin (1898-1937), who was influenced by African American music and culture, debuted his opera, Porgy and Bess, in Boston, MA, with an all-African American cast of classically trained singers. 1945 British composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) gained international recognition with his opera Peter Grimes. Britten, along with Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), was one of the first British opera composers to gain fame in nearly 300 years. 1957 Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), known for synthesizing musical genres, brought together the best of American musical theater, opera, and ballet in West Side Story—a reimagining of Romeo and Juliet in a contemporary setting.
Porgy and Bess by the New York Harlem Theatre, 2009
1987 John Adams (b. 1947) composed one of the great minimalist operas, Nixon in China, the story of Nixon’s 1972 meeting with Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Musical Minimalism strips music down to its essential elements, usually featuring a great deal of repetition with slight variations. TODAY Still a vibrant and evolving art form, opera attracts contemporary composers such as Dominick Argento (b. 1927), Philip Glass (b. 1937), Mark-Anthony Turnage (b. 1960), Thomas Adès (b. 1971), and many others. These composers continue to be influenced by present and historical musical forms in creating new operas that explore current issues or reimagine ancient tales.
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So Young Park as Queen of the Night Photo: Eric Antoniou.
THE SCIENCE AND ART OF OPERA WHY DO OPERA SINGERS SOUND LIKE THAT? Opera is unique among forms of singing in that singers are trained to be able to sing without amplification, in large theaters, over an entire orchestra, and still be heard and understood! This is what sets the art form of opera apart from similar forms such as musical theater. To become a professional opera singer, it takes years of intense physical training and constant practice—not unlike that of a ballet dancer—to stay in shape. Additionally, while ballet dancers can dance through pain and illness, poor health, especially respiratory issues and even allergies, can be severely debilitating for a professional opera singer. Let’s peek into some of the science of this art form.
HOW THE VOICE WORKS Singing requires different parts of the body to work together: the lungs, the vocal cords, the vocal tract, and the articulators (lips, teeth, and tongue). The lungs create a flow of air over the vocal cords, which vibrate. That vibration is amplified by the vocal tract and broken up into words by consonants produced by the articulators. Breath: Any good singer will tell you that good breath support is essential to produce quality sound. Breath is like the gas that goes into your car. Without it, nothing runs. In order to sing long phrases of music with clarity and volume, opera singers access their full lung capacity by keeping the torso elongated and releasing the lower abdomen and diaphragm muscles, which allows air to enter into the lower lobes of the lungs. This is why we associate a certain posture with opera singers. In the past, many operas were staged with singers standing in one place to deliver an entire aria or scene, with minimal activity. Modern productions, however, often demand a much greater range of movement and agility onstage, requiring performers to be physically fit, and disproving the stereotype of the “fat lady sings.”
Vibration: If you run your fingers along your throat you will feel a little lump just underneath your chin. That is your “Adam’s Apple,” and right behind it, housed in the larynx (voice-box), are your vocal cords. When air from the lungs crosses over the vocal cords it creates an area of low pressure (google The Bernoulli Effect), which brings the cords together and makes them vibrate. This vibration produces a buzz. The vocal chords can be lengthened or shortened by muscles in the larynx, or by increasing the speed of air flow. This change in the length and thickness of the vocal cords is what allows singers to create different pitches. Higher pitches require long, thin cords, while low pitches require short, thick ones. Professional singers take great pains to protect the delicate anatomy of their vocal cords with hydration and rest, as the tiniest scarring or inflammation can have noticeable effects on the quality of sound produced.
Resonance: Without the resonating chambers in the head, the buzzing of the vocal cords would sound very unpleasant. The vocal tract, a term encompassing the mouth cavity, and the back of the throat, down to the larynx, shapes the buzzing of the vocal cords like a sculptor shapes clay. Shape your mouth in an ee vowel (as in eat), then sharply inhale a few times. The cool sensation you feel at the top and back of your mouth is your soft palate. The soft palate can raise or lower to change the shape of the vocal tract. Opera singers always strive to sing with a raised soft palate, which allows for the greatest amplification of the sound produced by the vocal cords. Different vowel sounds are produced by raising or lowering the tongue. Say the vowels: ee, eh, ah, oh, oo and notice how each vowel requires a slightly lower tongue placement. This area of vocal training is particularly difficult because none of the anatomy is visible from the outside!
Articulation: The lips, teeth, and tongue are all used to create consonant sounds, which separate words into syllables and make language intelligible. Consonants must be clear and audible for the singer to be understood. Because opera singers do not sing with amplification, their articulation must be particularly good. The challenge lies in producing crisp, rapid consonants without interrupting the connection of the vowels (through the controlled exhale of breath) within the musical phrase.
Perfecting every element of this complex singing system requires years of training, and is essential for the demands of the art form. An opera singer must be capable of singing for hours at a time, over the top of an orchestra, in large opera houses, while acting and delivering an artistic interpretation of the music. It is complete and total engagement of mental, physical, and emotional control and expression. Therefore think of opera singers as the Olympic athletes of the stage, sit back, and marvel at what the human body is capable of! 19
Contralto
Somewhat equivalent to the lower female alto role in a chorus, mezzosopranos (mezzo translates as “middle”) are known for their full and expressive qualities. While they don’t sing frequencies quite as high as sopranos, their ranges do overlap, and it is a “darker” tone that sets them apart. One of the most famous mezzo-soprano lead roles is Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen.
Occasionally women have an even lower range that overlaps with the highest male voice. This voice type is rare, and they often play male characters, referred to in opera as trouser roles.
Tenor
The highest male voice; tenors often sing the role of the hero. One of the most famous tenor roles is Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliet. Occasionally men have cultivated very high voices singing in a range similar to a mezzo-soprano, but using their falsetto. Called the Countertenor, this voice type is often found in Baroque music. Countertenors replaced castrati in the heroic lead roles of Baroque opera after the practice of castration was deemed unethical.
A middle-range male voice, baritones can range from sweet and mild in tone, to darker dramatic and full tones. A famous baritone role is Rigoletto in Verdi’s Rigoletto. Baritones who are most comfortable in a slightly lower range are known as Bass-Baritones, a hybrid of the two lowest voice types.
Baritone Bass
Mezzo-Soprano
Opera singers are cast into roles based on their tessitura (the range of notes they can sing comfortably). There are many descriptors that accompany the basic voice types, but here are some of the most common ones:
The lowest male voice, basses often fall into two main categories: basso buffo, which is a comic character who often sings in lower laughing-like tones, and basso profundo, which is as low as the human voice can sing! Doctor Bartolo is an example of a bass role in The Barber of Seville by Rossini.
Bass
C
The highest female voice; some sopranos are designated as coloratura as they specialize in being able to sing very fast moving notes that are very high in frequency and light in tone, often referred to as “color notes.” One of the most famous coloratura roles is The Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
Soprano
DIFFERENT VOICE TYPES
D
Baritone
E
F
G
A
Tenor Contralto
B
110 HZ
C
D
E
Mezzo-Soprano
F
G
A
Soprano
B
C
220 HZ
D
E
F
G
A
B
C
440 HZ
D
E
F
G
A
B
C
D
880 HZ
Each of the voice types (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, bass) also tends to be sub-characterized by whether it is more Lyric or Dramatic in tone. Lyric singers tend toward smooth lines in their music, sensitively expressed interpretation, and flexible agility. Dramatic singers have qualities that are attributed to darker, fuller, richer note qualities expressed powerfully and robustly with strong emotion. While its easiest to understand operatic voice types through these designations and descriptions, one of the most exciting things about listening to a singer perform is that each individual’s voice is essentially unique, thus each singer will interpret a role in an opera in a different way. 20
E
F
THE PHYSICS OF OPERA SINGERS What is it about opera singers that allows them to be heard above the orchestra? It’s not that they simply sing louder. The qualities of sound have to do with the relationship between the frequency (pitch) of a sound, represented in a unit of measurement called hertz, and its amplitude, measured in decibels, which the ear perceives as loudness. Only artificially produced sounds, however, create a pure frequency and amplitude (these are the only kind that can break glass). The sound produced by a violin, a drum, a voice, or even smacking your hand on a table, produces a fundamental frequency as well as secondary, tertiary, etc. frequencies known as overtones, or as musicians call them, harmonics. For instance, the orchestra tunes to a concert “A” pitch before a performance. Concert “A” has a frequency of about 440 hertz, but that is not the only pitch you will hear. Progressively softer pitches above that fundamental pitch are produced in multiples of 440 at 880hz, 1320hz, 1760hz, etc. Each different instrument in the orchestra, because of its shape, construction, and mode in which it produces sound, produces different harmonics. This is what makes a violin, for example, have a different color (or timbre) from a trumpet. Generally, the harmonics of the instruments in the orchestra fade around 2500hz. Overtones produced by a human voice—whether speaking, yelling, or singing—are referred to as formants. As the demands of opera stars increased, vocal teachers discovered that by manipulating the empty space within the vocal tract, they could emphasize higher frequencies within the overtone series—frequencies above 2500 hz. This technique allowed singers to perform without hurting their vocal chords, as they are not actually singing at a higher fundamental decibel level than the orchestra. Swedish voice scientist, Johann Sundberg, observed this phenomenon when he recorded the world-famous tenor Jussi Bjoerling in 1970. His research showed multiple peaks in decibel level, with the strongest frequency (overtone) falling between 2500 and 3000 hertz. This frequency, known as the singer’s formant, is the “sweet spot” for singers so that we hear their voices soaring over the orchestra into the opera house night after night.
Listen Up!
Prof. Tecumseh Fitch, evolutionary biologist and cognitive scientist at the University of Vienna, explains the difference between a fundamental frequency and formant frequency in the human voice. For an opera singer, the lower two formants (peaks on a graph) determine the specific vowel sound. The third formant and above add overtones that are specific to each particular singer’s voice, like a fingerprint. When two people sing the same note simultaneously, the high overtones allow your ear to distinguish two voices. 21
A RESONANT PLACE
Boston Opera House
The final piece of the puzzle in creating the perfect operatic sound is the opera house or theater itself. Designing the perfect acoustic space can be an almost impossible task, one which requires tremendous knowledge of science, engineering, and architecture, as well as an artistic sensibility. The goal of the acoustician is to make sure that everyone in the audience can clearly understand the music being produced onstage, no matter where they are sitting. A perfectly designed opera house or concert hall (for non-amplified sound) functions almost like gigantic musical instrument. Reverberation is one key aspect in making a singer’s words intelligible or an orchestra’s melodies clear. Imagine the sound your voice would make in the shower or a cave. The echo you hear is reverberation caused by the large, hard, smooth surfaces. Too much reverberation (bouncing sound waves) can make words difficult to understand. Resonant vowel sounds overlap as they bounce off of hard surfaces and cover up quieter consonant sounds. In these environments, sound carries a long way but becomes unclear or, as it is sometimes called, wet–as if the sound were underwater. Acousticians can mitigate these effects by covering smooth surfaces with textured materials like fabric, perforated metal, or diffusers, which absorb and disperse sound. These tools, however, must be used carefully, as too much absorption can make a space dry–meaning the sound onstage will not carry at all and the performers may have trouble even hearing themselves. Imagine singing into a pillow or under a blanket. The shape of the room itself also contributes to the way the audience perceives the music. Most large performance spaces are shaped like a bell–small where the stage is, and growing larger and more spread out in every dimension as one moves farther away. This shape helps to create a clear path for the sound to reach every seat. In designing concert halls or opera houses, big decisions must be made about the construction of the building based on acoustical needs. Even with the best planning, the perfect acoustic is not guaranteed, but professionals are constantly learning and adapting new scientific knowledge to enhance the audience’s experience.
Boston Symphony Hall, opened in 1900, with acoustical design by Harvard physicist Wallace Clement Sabine, was the first concert hall to be designed with scientific acoustic principles in mind. Each seat was mathematically designed and placed for maximum acoustical perfection.
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NOTES TO PREPARE FOR THE OPERA You will see a full dress rehearsal–an insider’s look into the final moments of preparation before an opera premieres. The singers will be in full costume and makeup, the opera will be fully staged, and a full orchestra will accompany the singers, who may choose to “mark,” or not sing in full voice, in order to save their voices for the performances. A final dress rehearsal is often a complete run-through, but there is a chance the director or conductor will ask to repeat a scene or section of music. This is the last opportunity the performers have to rehearse with the orchestra before opening night, and they therefore need this valuable time to work. The following will help you better enjoy your experience of a night at the opera: • Arrive on time! Latecomers will be seated only at suitable breaks in the performance and often not until intermission. • Dress in what you are comfortable in so that you may enjoy the performance. For some, that means dressing up in a suit or gown, for others, jeans and a polo shirt fit the bill. Generally “dressy-casual” is what people wear. Live theater is usually a little more formal than a movie theater. Please do not take off your shoes or put your feet on the seat in front of you. • Respect your fellow opera lovers by not leaning forward in your seat so as to block the person’s view behind you, and by turning off (not on vibrate) cell phones and other electronic devices that could make noise during the performance. Lit screens are also very distracting to your neighbors, so please keep your phone out of sight until the house lights come up. • Taking photos or making audio or video recordings is strictly forbidden. • Do not chew gum, eat, drink, or talk while the rehearsal is in session. If you must visit the restroom during the performance, please exit quickly and quietly. • At the very beginning of the opera, the concertmaster of the orchestra will ask the oboist to play the note “A.” You will hear all the other musicians in the orchestra tune their instruments to match the oboe’s “A.” • After all the instruments are tuned, the conductor will arrive. Be sure to applaud! • Feel free to applaud or shout Bravo! at the end of an aria or chorus piece if you liked it. The end of a piece can be identified by a pause in the music. Singers love an appreciative audience! • It’s OK to laugh when something is funny! • When translating songs and poetry in particular, much can be lost due to a change in rhythm, inflection and rhyme of words. For this reason, opera is usually performed in its original language. In order to help audiences enjoy the music and follow every twist and turn of the plot, English supertitles are projected.
• Sit back, relax and let the action on stage pull you in. As an audience member, you are essential to the art form of opera—without you, there is no show!
HAVE FUN AND ENJOY THE OPERA!
Boston Opera House
• Listen for subtleties in the music. The tempo, volume, and complexity of the music and singing depict the feelings or actions of the characters. Also, notice repeated words or phrases; they are usually significant.