Blogging

For me blogging is something I do for my own self-education. There have to be activities before I actually learn anything. I am surprised to see that in the just less than 4 years I have been blogging, I have seen 58 operas, either live or on DVD, I had never seen before.

Some are relatively new operas not frequently performed or premiers.

# = live (64 so far)

The Ghosts of Versailles, Corigliano (DVD-4/18/2005)
The Dangerous Liaisons, Susa (VHS-9/12/2005)
Doctor Atomic, Adams (premier series) (SFO-10/7/2005) #
L'Amour de Loin, Saariaho (DVD-10/28/2005)
Rent, Larson (DVD-12/12/2005)
A Night at the Chinese Opera, Weir (London-3/28/2006) #
El Niño, Adams (not sure I should count this) (DVD-4/16/2006)
Sophie's Choice, Maw (WNO-10/6/2006) #
The First Emperor, Dun (HD-1/13/2007)
Tea: A Mirror of Soul, Dun (Santa Fe-4/27/2007) #
The Devils of Loudun, Penderecki (DVD-6/25/2007)
Orphée, Glass (Glimmerglass-8/30/2007) #
Appomattox, Glass (premier series) (SFO-10/12/2007) #
Moses und Aron, Schoenberg (DVD-10/29/2007)
The Bonesetter's Daughter, Wallace (premier series) (SFO-9/26/2008) #
The Letter, Moravec (premier series) (Santa Fe-8/8/2009) #
Heart of a Soldier,  Theofanidis (SFO-9/22/11) #
Il Postino, Catán  (TV-11/26/11)
Anna Nicole, Turnage (DVD-10/8/11)
Four Saints in Three Acts, Thomson (SF-8/22/11) #
The Last Savage, Menotti (Santa Fe-8/7/11) #
The Great Gatsby, Harbison  (SF-2/11/12) #
The Secret Garden by Nolan Gasser  (SF-3/11/13) #
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene by Mark Adamo  (SF-6/20/13) #
Dolores Claiborne by Tobias Picker  (SF-9/19/13) #
Ainadamar by Golijov  (SF-2/17/13) #
The Minotaur by Birtwistle  (DVD  1/25/2014)  
Hydrogen Jukebox by Glass (SF 8/10/2014)  #
The End of the Affair by Heggie (SF 8/10/2014) #
Death and the Powers by Machover (simulcast from Dallas 2/17/2014)  
Anya17 by Gorb (SF 6/24/2014) # 
27 by Gordon (StL  6/18/2014) #
Brokeback Mountain by Wuorinen (streamed 2/7/2014) 
Les mamelles de Tirésias by Poulenc (SF 4/26/2014)  #
Susanah by Floyd (SF  9/10/2014)  #
Written on Skin by Benjamin (DVD  3/23/2015)
La Ciociara by Tutino (SF 6/15/2015)  #
As One by Kaminsky (SF 7/27/2015)  #
Usher House by Getty (SFO 12/11/2015)  #
Champion by Blanchard  (SF 2/20/2016)   #
Powder her Face by Ades (SF 8/7/2016)  #
Bon Appétit! by Hoiby (Stream 7/18/2019)
If I Were You, Heggie (SFO 8/5/2019) #
Breaking the Waves, Mazzoli (SF 8/11/2019) #
Florencia en el Amazonas, Catán (Stream 8/26/2019)
Ice, Kuusisto (Stream 8/31/2019)
Akhnaten, Glass (Met HD 11/23/2019)
The Snow Queen, Abrahamsen (Stream 12/29/2019)
Bones of Girls, Suleiman (Sacramento 1/26/2020) #
Three Decembers, Heggie (Stream 1/1/2021)

I deliberately sought out operas by Rossini and Handel that I hadn't seen, including:

Il Viaggio a Reims, Rossini
Semele, Handel (City-9/14/2006) #
L'Assedio di Corinto, Rossini (Baltimore-10/23/2006) #
Tancredi, Rossini (DVD-11/14/2006)
Bianca e Falliero, Rossini (DVD-11/16/2006)
Ermione, Rossini (DVD=11/17/2006)
Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, Handel (Zurich-1/19/2007) # 
Ariodante, Handel (SFO-6/25/2008) #
Rinaldo, Handel (Zurich-7/3/2008) #
Armida, Rossini (HD-5/1/2010)
Le Comte Ory, Rossini (HD-4/9/2011)
Rodelinda, Handel (HD-12/3/11)
Serse, Handel (SFO-11/17/11) #
Maometto II, Rossini (Santa Fe-8/17/2012) #
Matilde di Shabran by Rossini (DVD  5/9/2014)
Partenope by Handel  (SF  5/9/2014) #
La Donna del Lago by Rossini (HD-3/15/2015)
Agrippina by Handel    (SF  8/7/2016) #

That still leaves a lot. You could go to the opera a long time and never see:

Francesca da Rimini, Zandonai (DVD-9/15/2005)
I Lombardi, Verdi (DVD-8/25/2005)
La Juive, Halévy (DVD-4/26/2005)
La Leggenda di Sakùntala, Alfano (Rome-4/22/2006) #
Cyrano de Bergerac, Alfano (ROH-5/14/2006) #
Betrothal in a Monastery, Prokofiev (DVD-4/11/2006)
La Calisto, Cavalli (DVD-4/5/2007)
L'enfant et les sortilèges, Ravel (Berkeley-5/8/2008) #
Clari, Halévy (DVD-12/10/2010)
Lucrezia Borgia, Donizetti (SFO-10/3/11) #
The Fairy Queen, Purcell (DVD-7/10/2011)
Fierrabras, Schubert (DVD-1/7/2008)
From the House of the Dead, Janáček (DVD-11/12/2009)
Alceste, Gluck (Santa Fe-8/6/2009) #
Griselda, Vivaldi (Santa Fe-8/6/11) #
The Gambler, Prokofiev (Met-4/9/2008 not sure I should count this.) #
Benvenuto Cellini, Berlioz (DVD-7/7/12)
Médée, Charpentier* (DVD-7/2/2007)
Mitridate, Re di Ponto, Mozart (DVD-5/1/2006)
Platée, Rameau (Santa Fe-7/29/2007) #
The Rape of Lucretia, Britten (SF-8/31/2005) #
Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria, Monteverdi* (DVD-7/19/2006)
Roberto Devereaux, Donizetti (DVD-12/4/2005)
Sir John in Love, Williams (ENO-3/5/2006) #
Stiffelio, Verdi (DVD-9/20/2005)
Thais, Massanet (HD-12/21/2008)
Vanessa, Barber* (DVD-7/15/2005)
Hamlet, Massenet (HD-3/27/2010)
La Vestale, Spontini's  (Stream-10/23/2013)
The Nose, Shostakovich (HD-10/26/2013)
The Perfect American,  Glass  (Stream-2/6/2013)
Königskinder, Humperdinck (DVD-2/9/2013)
A Hand of Bridge, Barber (Sac-5/5/2013) #
Hippolyte et Aricie, Rameau   (Stream-7/26/2013)
Sweet Betsy From Pike, Bucci  (Sac-5/5/2013) #
A Game of Chance, Barab (Sac-5/5/2013) #
Antony and Cleopatra. Barber   (Stream-7/21/2013)
Die schweigsame Frau by Strauss  (streamed  10/5/2014)
Ercole Amante by Cavalli  (DVD  1/15/2014)  
I due Foscari by Verdi from ROH,   (HD  12/3/2014) 
Rita by Donizetti (SF  2/16/2014) #
Iolanta by Tchaikovsky (HD 2/14/2015)
Giovana d’Arco by Verdi (Stream-12/6/15)
Der Vampyr by Marschner (Berlin-4/4/16) #
Die ägyptische Helena by Strauss  (Berlin-4/9/16) #
Die Liebe der Danae by Strauss (Berlin-4/10/16) #
Rienzi, Wagner (Stream-5/27/19)
Das Wunder der Heliane, Korngold (Stream-3/20/20)
Euryanthe, Weber (Stream-9/30/20)
Die Vögel, Braunfels (Stream-11/17/20)


Or at least that's the excuse I'm using. What is my excuse for:

La Belle Hélène, Offenbach (ENO-4/14/2006) #
Fedora, Giordano (DVD-8/28/2005)
L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Monteverdi (DVD-9/28/2005)
Iphigénie en Tauride, Gluck (SFO-6/21/2007) #
The Maid of Orleans, Tchaikovsky (SFO-6/19/2006) #
Nabucco, Verdi (DVD-6/3/2010)
Orfeo ed Euridice, Gluck (HD-1/24/2009)
Orpheus in the Underworld, Offenbach (Glimmerglass-8/30/2007) #
La Rondine, Puccini (SFO-11/8/2007) #
La Sonnambula, Bellini (HD-4/2/2009) (Paris-2/15/2010) #
Street Scene, Weill (DVD-4/13/2007)
Die tote Stadt, Korngold (SFO-10/2/2008) #
Il Trittico, Puccini (already seen Gianni Schicchi) (HD-4/28/2007) (SFO-9/19/2009) #
I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Bellini (Stream-5/19/12)
Maria Stuarda, Donizetti  (HD-1/19/2013)


And should I count?

The Enchanted Island (HD-1/21/12)

Some of the entries in this list may be bogus--I may simply have forgotten. I hear things differently than I did when I started. You can never go back. In the future I will not be able to keep up this tempo of newness.  Or?

Footnote. Marilyn Horne sang Marie in Wozzeck in 1962, so it was her I saw. It was amazing. I may have seen her in Tancredi in 1979 but also maybe not. I absolutely saw her in Semiramide in 1981 and as Adalgisa in Norma in 1982. I probably saw Orlando in 1985 and I certainly saw Orlando Furioso in 1989. So I still don't know if I already had seen Tancredi.

I must have told this before. As a student at San Francisco State in 1962, I was allowed to sign up to usher in 2 operas. I chose Der Rosenkavalier with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Wozzeck with Marilyn Horne.

I am maintaining this list as I go along, adding any new operas I have seen since the original posting.