tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post803047820365646479..comments2024-03-16T06:23:29.917-07:00Comments on The Reverberate Hills; or The Apotheosis of the Narwhal: always some flaw, some imperfection in the divine imagePatrick J. Vazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-63987852508448071292007-05-25T21:59:00.000-07:002007-05-25T21:59:00.000-07:00Jeptha I was lucky enough to see being conducted i...Jeptha I was lucky enough to see being conducted in the 1970s by Calvin Simmons, the black gay conducting phenom from the Bay Area who died young in a canoe in New England. It was performed at the fancy little Calvary Presbyterian Church on Fillmore in Pacific Heights. I don't remember the soloists, but Simmons used the Piedmont Young Persons' Chorus because he said "their sound fit the choral music better," and he was right.<BR/><BR/>"Cesare" I saw in a bad, truncated version at the Curran Theatre in the 1970s with a 20-year-old Carol Vaness blowing me out of the water. Ms. Vaness, when young, was one of the most amazing Mozart singers in the world, and getting the full dose in a small theater was wonderful. I also really like the libretto, as it's fairly amoral in a "Coronation of Poppea" kind of way.<BR/><BR/>Lorraine Hunt I'd read about for years but I didn't understand the big deal until I saw her in "El Nino" at Davies Hall where she even managed to upstage the bad Sellars video and the silly dancers writhing around.Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-47635804736246049972007-05-25T16:56:00.000-07:002007-05-25T16:56:00.000-07:00Jeptha is also my favorite oratorio! Though I do h...Jeptha is also my favorite oratorio! Though I do have a soft spot for Messiah -- I know people (singers) are sick of it, but it still pulls me in.<BR/>I also have a soft spot for Cesare since it was seeing the Peter Sellars production live in Boston that made me realize how special Lorraine Hunt Lieberson was.Patrick J. Vazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-91452880760134175812007-05-25T08:42:00.000-07:002007-05-25T08:42:00.000-07:00"Giulio Cesare" for the operas, "Jeptha" for the o..."Giulio Cesare" for the operas, "Jeptha" for the oratorios.Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-56257472334288053852007-05-24T14:26:00.000-07:002007-05-24T14:26:00.000-07:00Mike, I think Death in Venice is meant to be kind ...Mike, I think Death in Venice is meant to be kind of creepy and unsettling, and also comic. My feeling was that homoeroticism is absolutely essential for making sense of that story, whereas Billy Budd would make sense even without its homoerotic element (or with that element minimized), though you and others might reasonably disagree with my view on that. I should add that the Zambello production, I assume to counter the implications of Claggart/Vere destroying Billy, presents a fairly warm and tender relationship between the Novice and the Novice's Friend, who was played by one of the better-looking shirtless sailors. I haven't seen either the Visconti Death or the Stamp Billy Budd, though both are out on DVD now -- the Budd came out a few weeks ago, in fact. I've netflixed it, though I'd better do some queue adjustment if I want to see it sometime earlier than five years, since it's #475. They also have the Thomas Allen DVD, so I added that as well.<BR/>If you love the opera, Melville's story makes an interesting comparison; they made some significant changes, mostly with Claggart and with Vere's fate.<BR/>What is your Handel choice?Patrick J. Vazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-83210502747802465152007-05-23T23:15:00.000-07:002007-05-23T23:15:00.000-07:00"Death in Venice" has always left me cold, maybe b..."Death in Venice" has always left me cold, maybe because it feels more like a pedophile story than a male/male "love" story, or a tale about an Apollonian Northener literally rotting away in the Dionysian South of Venezia. In any case, it's always given me the creeps, in the novella, Visconti film and Britten opera versions, though I think the music may be some of the best Britten ever wrote.<BR/><BR/>I've neve read "Billy Budd," but I remember watching the Terence Stamp/Robert Ryan/Peter Ustinov movie as a kid any number of times on late night Los Angeles area television. It's a perfectly defensible and square "hetero" version of the tale, and it focuses on the Good vs. Evil/Darkness vs. Light aspects while pretty much ignoring the erotic, though Terence Stamp in his movie debut gave a great, subversively beautiful performance. He didn't do anything as good until "Priscilla" decades later.<BR/><BR/>But the Britten/Forster opera version is reeking with male/male love energy vis a vis Billy, both thwarted (Claggart and his minions) and emotionally consummated (Vere and the rest of the ship). Claggart's "Credo" is almost embarrassingly explicit about the fact that if "I can't have you, I will destroy you tonight!" And let's not even go near Captain Vere's "He is Good, and You Are Evil!" possibly my favorite English line in opera.<BR/><BR/>I just finished Tab Hunter's autobiography while spending a week in Palm Springs, and it was awful, and he's awful, an exemplar of a certain kind of discreet, closet case, Republican fag kind of moment that flourished in the 1950s, which was when "Billy Budd" was written. Forster, Britten & Pears may have been discreet, but they were also pacifists (during World War II, when that took courage) and admirers of other cultures and ways of thinking, and they were "gay" in a commie brotherhood kind of way with which I'm proud to associate. And their work in "Billy Budd" reflects all that. <BR/><BR/>So, even though there's plenty of competition in Britten's work ("Midsummer Night's Dream," "Curlew River" "Death in Venice") I'm still voting for "Billy Budd" as the Great Queer Opera of the 20th Century (Handel already has the 18th century wrapped up).Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-3404135721696333842007-05-23T10:31:00.000-07:002007-05-23T10:31:00.000-07:00Ah, another thing about German Expressionism -- th...Ah, another thing about German Expressionism -- the Zambello production also had a strong element of that, hence my reference to Fritz Lang crowds (I was thinking specifically of Metropolis). I thought it was less effective in this production than in SF, though.Patrick J. Vazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-36567937707750078472007-05-23T10:03:00.000-07:002007-05-23T10:03:00.000-07:00Hey Mike,As a long-time reader of your Civic Cente...Hey Mike,<BR/>As a long-time reader of your Civic Center blog, I remember that T-shirt. And I can't think of Super Seamen without thinking of Smithers telling Mr Burns "women and seamen don't mix, sir" in a Simpsons King Kong parody. But to go back to Britten: Billy Budd his queerest work? More than Death in Venice? I'm curious why you would think that -- Death in Venice hinges on Aschenbach realizing his feelings for Tadzio are sexual, whereas I think it is possible to present Billy Budd as primarily a tale of law versus right. As I said, more like Rheingold than Carmen, and I should note that Rheingold does start with an act of erotic rejection.<BR/>Even given the sexual preferences you list of the work's creators (and it's worth noting that Melville, whatever Whitmanesque feelings or adventures he may have had, was also married for decades and had several children), it wouldn't necessarily follow that they meant this work to be about those feelings -- in fact, given the repressive society in which Britten, Forster, and Co lived, their feelings could mean that they would avoid public emphasis on such risky topics (much as Britten insisted that the separation of Peter Grimes from his society was not due to sexual inclination, or any relations with his apprentices). Again, it's a matter of emphasis, and I'm not saying anything as absurd as that there is no homoerotic element, or it should be de-emphasized. But I do think playing it up makes the drama dependent on short-term sexual attitudes in a way that lets current audiences (many of whom are there because of the homoerotic element) off the hook. Also, if the responses to Billy are primarily sexual, it makes him look a little dense for not realizing that, and just as I resist the reduction of male emotions to the strictly sexual and the reduction of evil to sexual (homoerotic or not) longing, so I resist the idea that goodness means you're just not that bright or perceptive. I would disagree with you that Billy's entrance onto the warship causes complete disorder -- I think in both the story and the opera he is seen as someone who unites the men and brings the crew together through his personality -- his goodness (and the officers realize this -- "he could have been a leader"), rather than as someone who tears them apart due to conflicting sexual jealousies. I've actually worked with a couple of guys in various jobs who could be described as Billy-like -- strikingly handsome, but not vain; good guys with magnetic personalities. In one case this worked against the guy, and though sexual longing might have played a part for some, I suspect it was mostly an alpha male response by older executives to a perceived threat from a younger, more appealing and virile man. In another case it seemed to help the guy but there were a few who spread surprisingly spiteful rumors about him -- again, I think this was envy rather than sexual longing (though I wouldn't deny that could have been some element, however small, in the envy). But judging these degrees is the fascination of the opera.<BR/>I think you might have liked the Zambello set -- the blue was certainly beautiful. Since I've seen German Expressionist films that actually weren't German Expressionist enough for me, I didn't have the same reaction as you to the SF production, though I can see your point that it didn't bring out the beauty of the sea, or the isolation it causes, enough. But I prefer either production to one that obsesses over whether the rigging is correct, etc. I haven't seen the earlier production you mention -- I did see the Thomas Allen version years ago, but I don't remember it very well -- I think it was my first exposure to the work. I do know of Dale Duesing -- he sang Ottone (same as Nathan Gunn) in one of the Poppea DVDs I watched before I went to Houston last year. Your description of the final, quiet notes and their power is so true -- and I did think the elevated stage and triumphant swell in the Zambello production swamped the uncertain final moment in her production.<BR/>If you're actually handing out T-shirts, I can wear either L or XL. ;-)Patrick J. Vazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-81445968598257891902007-05-23T00:29:00.000-07:002007-05-23T00:29:00.000-07:00Dear Patrick: You deserve a Collectors' Edition ba...Dear Patrick: You deserve a Collectors' Edition backstage "Billy Budd" T-shirt, which I happened to make in an edition of 36 for some fellow supernumeraries when we were sailors with Nathan Gunn in your epochal production. The T-shirt says "Super Seamen" at the top (this was my favorite shouted instruction of the assistant directors, "Super Seamen, run to stage right and look out towards the ocean, over there, no, I mean, over there." Below the double entendre it reads, on three separate lines, "Beauty, Handsomeness, Goodness," and refrained from adding "it is in my power to destroy you tonight."<BR/><BR/>Among Britten's many masterpieces, "Billy Budd" may be the queerest. Melville was a homo who loved men from many cultures. E.M. Forster, the librettist was a discreet homo who loved working-class men from other countries. Britten and his lover Pears, who debuted as Captain Vere, were aksi major homos and in Britten's case a tortured boy-lover. The story itself is about an impossibly beautiful and good young sailor whose entrance onto a warship causes complete disorder throughout all orders on account of his exquisitely sincere sexiness. The whole thing doesn't get any queerer.<BR/><BR/>But you're right. Playing it anachronistically gay is all wrong. It's not how it was written, felt, composed. And it's one of the great masterworks of the twentieth-century.<BR/><BR/>I'm not as crazy about the Nathan Gunn San Francisco production as you, even though I was in it, because I thought the whole thing was way too Germanic Expressionist. There needed to be more color, more a sense of the beauty of the sea which ripples through every note of the score.<BR/><BR/>The San Francisco Opera used to have a nice, serviceable production based on the original John Piper design from Covent Garden, and a young baritone named Dale Duesing sang it both times. The guy never had much of a career, but his performance as "Billy," both times, was exquisite. I cried every time he sang his "Fathoms, down fathsoms..." lullaby and with Nathan Gunn in that particular production, that was never the case.<BR/><BR/>In any case, the opera really belongs to Captain Vere. I saw a performance by James King late in his career in that old production and I've still not quite gotten over it. The final, quiet notes of an old man horrified by his own stupidity and amazed at the ways of fate were a given perfect rendering.<BR/><BR/>Glad you got to hear the opera again. It really is a strange, elusive masterpiece.Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.com