Favorite Operas of the Year 2020 👍🏻

For another perspective on 2020 see the KK Awards.

This list is limited only to performances that I viewed in 2020.  This was another year without travel but with a lot of free streams from the Met and the Vienna State Opera due to the global pandemic.  These are my top ten for this year and are in chronological order.  I find this to be a lovely mix of a wide variety of operatic styles.

Favorite Performances

• Gershwin's Porgy and Bess  This came early in the year when we were still receiving live streams in HD in movie theaters from the Metropolitan Opera.  The stars were Eric Owens and Angel Blue.  I love this opera and found this cast perfect.
  

  

• Bartok's Judith   This came to me as a live stream from Munich before the theaters closed and is entirely an invention of  Katie Mitchell. Bluebeard's Castle becomes a crime story.  This mashup of Concerto for Orchestra in five movements and Duke Bluebeard's Castle, both by Bartok, was new for everyone.  I don't quite know if I should say it's a new opera.  The concerto is staged as a film showing Nina Stemme preparing to go under cover to capture Bluebeard.  You'd have to make your own film.
  

• Handel's Agrippina  This, too, is before the closing of the theaters and was live from the Met.  Joyce Didonato is Agrippina and Kate Lindsey as Nero are spectacular.  I didn't know that Handel wrote any comedies, but this is very funny.
  

  

• Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane [Heliane's miracle] is from Deutsche Oper Berlin and was performed in 2018.  It was new for me, and I am apparently not the only one.  Korngold died young, and only his Die Tote Stadt has remained in the repertoire.  He is a neo-romanticist who writes great singing roles.  People are wondering why they have never seen this.

 

• Beethoven's Fidelio   My selections jump to July long after the theater closing.  This performance is from ROH in London and occurred this year.  Lise blends in with the guys more than any other Leonore I've seen.  This is for the singing.  The staging of the last act is a bit odd.
  

• Britten's Gloriana   This performance came to me from Madrid and played in 2018.  I had never seen this opera before and liked it very much.  This was composed for the coronation of Elizabeth II and has something of a bad reputation in England.  The story is slanted more politically than romantically.
  

• Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos  This performance occurred in Vienna in 2017 and stars Lise Davidsen as Ariadne and Erin Morley as Zerbinetta.  This is for the singing.
  

• Puccini's Tosca  There were four Toscas for me this year, but I liked best this one from Vienna in 2019 starring Sondra Radvanovsky and Piotr Beczala.  Two of the other Toscas also came from Vienna.  I am feeling insecure about this choice since the other three were also very good.
  

• Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas    It comes from my alma mater Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, and played in 2016.  The set is a boat that rotates on the stage.  I saw a film of this last year, but this one is better.  If you have not seen this opera, try this one.  This was the first time I have viewed the IU website, and I should try it again.
  

• Puccini's La Boheme  This was a live performance from Munich played to an empty house.  The waiter wore a mask, and there were no crowds.  I loved it best of all because the singers showed us their real selves and projected a sense of intimacy.  Jonas Kaufmann was his wonderful self.

100 Operas from Buzzfeed

Here is a Buzzfeed quiz about what operas out of a list of 100 you have seen.  [Originally from 2015.]


Out of the list, I was in:

Rigoletto (Verdi)
The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)
Die Fledermaus (Strauss)
Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck)
Faust (Gounod)
Salome (Richard Strauss)
The Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky)
The Force of Destiny (Verdi)
Death in Venice (Britten)
The Bartered Bride (Smetana)

Out of what remains, I have not seen at all:

Akhnaten (Philip Glass)
Gloriana (Britten)
Albert Herring (Britten)


Operas that I have seen only in HD from the Met:

Rodelinda (Handel)
Maria Stuarda (Donizetti)

Operas I have seen only on DVD:

The Fairy Queen (Purcell)
Written on Skin (George Benjamin)
Anna Nicole (Mark Anthony Turnage)
The Minotaur (Harrison Birtwistle)
The Coronation of Poppea (Monteverdi)
Benvenuto Cellini (Berlioz)
The Silken Ladder (Rossini) (La Scala di Seta, I have an unwatched dvd.)

That makes 88 live, 3 HD only, 6 DVD only and 4 not at all.  I think that's pretty good.  The list comes from the ENO and emphasizes their repertoire.

Edited end of 2018 I find that Akhnaten and Gloriana are the only ones I have still not seen.
Edited again in August, 2020, I find that Gloriana is the only one I haven't seen.  Perhaps it will never play here.  I am pleased to say that today I watched and very much enjoyed Britten's Gloriana.  That makes 88 live, 3 HD only, 6 DVD only and 0 not at all. 
I see the list is still in place, so compile your own.

Mother Plots

• Handel Giulio Cesare  Cornelia is the step-mother of Sesto who has just lost his father Pompey.

• Handel Agrippina   Agrippina is the mother of Nero*

• Mozart Die Zauberflöte  The Queen of the Night is the mother of Pamina.*

• Verdi Il trovatore  Azucena is the mother of Manrico (or not).  She also has mother issues of her own.  Her mother haunts the story.*
  

• Smetana The Bartered Bride Both of the main characters have mothers in the cast.

• Mascagni Cavalleria rusticana Turiddu's mother is prominent.

• Strauss Elektra  Elektra's mother Klytemnestra has killed her father.*

• Humperdinck Hänsel und Gretel The mother sends the children out alone into the woods. *

• Janáček Jenůfa Jenůfa's step-mother kills Jenůfa's child.*

• Strauss Salome Salome's mother starts this whole mess.*

• Puccini Madama Butterfly  The main character becomes a mother during the opera.*

• Wagner The Ring This features Erda, mother of the Earth.  Her children include the Valkyries and the Norms.*

• Massenet Werther.  Charlotte's dead mother haunts the story and persuades Charlotte to marry Albert.*
  

Ranking the Simulcasts 2019-2020

This is the list of HD broadcasts this season from the Metropolitan Opera shown in reverse order. Because the season was cut short, I saw only six operas. They were nevertheless an amazing set of operas.  

👍🏻Agrippina by Handel. From 1709 this is the oldest opera ever presented at the Met. It Starred Joyce DiDonato, Kate Lindsey and Brenda Rae in a new production by David McVicar.  Considering the Met's lack of experience in Baroque opera, it was excellent.

👍🏻Porgy and Bess by Gershwin in a new production by James Robinson, starring Eric Owens and Angel Blue.  This was an enormous hit.  Performances were added and encores of the live in HD were added in the following 2 weeks.

Wozzeck by Berg.  The William Kentridge production was new at the Met, but came originally from Salzburg.  Peter Mattei starred.  I had already seen the production which took some of the excitement out of it for me.

👍🏻Akhnaten by Glass.  Phelim McDermott created the very abstract new production.  It was long and included a lot of juggling.  I found it much more interesting than I thought I would.  In fact it was so popular the Met has arranged to bring it back in 2022.

Manon by Massenet. with Lisette Oropesa.  Revival.  This production by Laurent Pelly was new with Anna Netrebko. This is a good role for Lisette.

Turandot by Puccini. Revival of the ever popular Zeffirelli production. Christine Goerke and Yusif Eyvazov.  Perhaps I've seen this too many times.

All of these were very good, but one and two exceeded all expectations:

1. Porgy and Bess
2. Akhnaten
3. Agrippina
4. Manon
5. Turandot
6. Wozzeck

Neither one of these starred one of the great names of today, and neither one is a frequently performed opera.

Favorites of the Past Decade 2010-19 Without Big Names

Here are some favorites from the past decade which did not make the previous list because no big name appeared in the performance.

I saw Rossini's Maometto II at the Santa Fe Opera in the new critical edition in 2012. It starred Luca Pisaroni and Leah Crocetto.  Leah sang the role originally written for Isabella Colbran.  I found this a magnificent opera and have been disappointed that I haven't seen it revived elsewhere.

That same year I saw Heggie's Moby-Dick at the San Francisco Opera.  I declared it to be a masterpiece, but haven't seen much of it lately.  Dead Man Walking seems to be everyone's favorite Heggie opera.  Stephen Costello and Jay Hunter Morris were the stars.

For a triple threat year I also saw a touring company present in its original production Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass.  It was an historic event, even if I don't remember much about it.

Opera Parallèle brought me Golijov's Ainadamar in 2013.  This was already a favorite from recording.  There is time travel in the story which was easily solved by posting the current year in the titles.  The confusing story was well presented here.  It's about a play by Federico Garcia Lorca, done as a trouser role.  There was Flamenco dancing.  What more could you ask for?

Bay Area wonders continued with West Edge Opera's presentation of Berg's Lulu in 2015.  It starred Emma McNairy, so far my favorite Lulu ever.  She played her for sex, an entirely not irrelevant part of the story.  I see her name pop up in Europe now.

I visited Berlin in 2016 to see five Strauss Operas but ended up liking best Marschner's Der Vampyr at the Komische Oper.  No one I'd heard of before or since was in it, but it was enormous fun.

2017 was a notable year primarily for two different and very interesting productions of Mozart's  La Clemenza di Tito by two of the more notorious regisseurs in opera:  Claus Guth at Glyndebourne and Peter Sellars at Salzburg. Sellars focused on creating a racial context for the drama with racial casting while Guth moved the story from Rome to a river bank.  Sellars featured Golda Schultz and Russell Thomas while Guth had Alice Coote.  I dearly loved both of these performances and have come to regard this as Mozart's greatest opera.

Glyndebourne brought us in 2018 Barber's Vanessa. It was wonderfully mysterious and charming, and made me wonder why it never plays here.

2019 topped everything with the Metropolitan Opera's presentation of Glass's Akhnaten in an astounding production by Phelim McDermott.  We didn't know an opera could be about juggling.  Much of this success is due to the brilliant performance of Anthony Roth Costanzo.

I have added this list because it is simply not complete with only the great stars. Obscure companies can bring us wonderful opera.  This isn't every wonderful thing.  You should create your own list.

Favorites of the Decade 2010-19 👍🏻

We have turned over a new decade, so I have decided to follow the trend and do a list of favorites of my own.  I will group them by favorite artists.

Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros

I am feeling a bit sad that the Bayerische Staatsoper doesn't seem to cast them opposite one another any more.  I hope I'm wrong because together they have brought me some of my favorite Verdi performances.

• My first experience of this pairing was in Wagner's Lohengrin on DVD (2010).  I saw this production live in Munich but with a different soprano.  This is the much maligned blue t-shirt production.  For me it worked and continues to be very watchable.  They are two great artists with magnificent charisma who are musically and theatrically on the same page.  The look may be odd, but it doesn't damage the story.  This is available on DVD.

• Next they appeared together in Verdi's Don Carlo from the ROH (2013).  Thomas Hampson was Rodrigo.  In this wonderful opera they reign supreme.  It is a traditional production.  This is available on DVD.

• That same year brought me my favorite ever of Verdi's La Forza del Destino (2013) from Munich. The villain brother is played by Ludovic Tézier.   Forza is very hard to stage, and I felt this version was successful by keeping the villain evil.  This is available on DVD.

• Giordano's Andrea Chénier (2017) from Munich.  The DVD of Kaufmann in this opera is from ROH, but I prefer this one.  It shows them at the guillotine.

• And finally Verdi's Otello (2018) from Munich.  This is a lot of two Germans performing the essential Italian, but I loved all of it.  Unfortunately the DVD of Kaufmann's Otello is for a different performance from London, but I very much prefer this one for its tilt toward Desdemona and his relationship to her.  It goes very deep.

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Anna Netrebko

This is the decade when Anna Netrebko moved from a lyric soprano to a Verdi spinto.  This change was not to everyone's taste, but I was surprised to find that I liked her Verdi almost as much as I had liked her Donizetti. The red dress Traviata I loved so much is from the previous decade.

• I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Bellini (2012) from Munich with Vesselina Kasarova.  For the lovers of wailing, this is the best.  This is toward the end of Netrebko's bel canto period.

• Verdi's Il Trovatore in HD from the Met (2015).  This is Dmitri Hvorostovsky's last performance in opera.  He died two years later.  Netrebko is becoming a Verdi soprano, and who better to share the stage with than Dmitri?

• Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin in HD from the Met with Peter Mattei (2017).  There are multiple versions of this opera, but I think I like this one best.  As Netrebko matures, her Tatiana improves.

• Verdi's Aida from Salzburg (2017).  I liked this for the exotic production where everything looks like Iran. Netrebko sang beautifully.

• Cilèa's Adriana Lecouvreur in HD from the Met (2019) with Anita Rachvelishvili.  Piotr Beczala is a wonderful added bonus.  This performance brings us a whole new generation of wailing.  It is appropriate that Anna end the decade with a new female voice at her side.  They were together in Aida at the Met, but the tenor spoiled the performance.

 

Elīna Garanča

Elīna's performances are beautifully sung and magnificently acted

• Bizet's Carmen (2010) in HD from the Met with Roberto Alagna begins the decade.  Will she ever top this astoundingly sexy performance?  This is on DVD.

• Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier (2017) in HD from the Met.  This was for Renée Fleming's retirement from opera where they pulled out all the stops.  Günther Groissböck as Ochs was an added bonus.  Both acting and singing were magnificent.

 
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Cecilia Bartoli

Cecilia began the decade with a Grammy for Sacrificium.  Shortly after that she became the manager of the Salzburg Whitsun Festival.  Of her triumphs I enjoyed these most.  Her contract in Salzburg continues to 2026 while she has added Opera de Monte Carlo to her future management duties.

• Handel's Giulio Cesare at Salzburg (2012) in a regie production.  This production made it to DVD, and the DVD was nominated for a Grammy.  For some reason not known to me this opera is often regarded as a comedy with silly action.  In spite of that the musical elements are spectacularly beautiful.  Cecilia singing with a bag over her head may be going too far.

• Bellini's Norma I experienced first as a CD and then in live performance at Salzburg (2013) in her second year as Intendant.  This was a critical edition performance which was subsequently performed in various places in Europe but has not become a DVD.  The regie production moved us to WWII.

• Handel's Ariodante (2017) from Salzburg.  This is Cecilia having fun with gender issues.  She begins with a beard and wearing a suit of armor.  She takes off her armor, dances, changes into a dress, and eventually removes her beard.  She blows smoke rings, or at least mimes blowing smoke rings since we see no smoke.  The singing is lovely.  The beard idea has found its way onto her latest album.

• Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri (2018) from Salzburg.  Of the bunch, this is my favorite.  Cecilia rides a camel, takes a bath, rejects the baritone and talks the tenor into returning to Italy, all in great comic style.  Cecilia sings wonderfully, acts as only she can and looks gorgeous.

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Nina Stemme

Nina Stemme is an almost incidental singer, but nevertheless there are a few performances by her that have completely charmed me.  [That sounds worse than I meant it.]

• Wagner's Ring in San Francisco (2010).  Die Walküre is my favorite Wagner and this one was fun.
  

• Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (2013) from Vienna with Jonas Kaufmann.  He didn't just sing with Anja that year.  I have watched this a few times and never fail to feel the romance between these two great artists.

• Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (2016) from the Met with Stuart Skelton.  I realize I'm not supposed to, but I loved this.  Simon Rattle conducted and drew me into the music throughout.  

 

Everyone Else

Here are some favorites from the past decade which did not make the previous list because no big name appeared in the performance.

I saw Rossini's Maometto II at the Santa Fe Opera in the new critical edition in 2012. It starred Luca Pisaroni and Leah Crocetto.  Leah sang the role originally written for Isabella Colbran.  I found this a magnificent opera and have been disappointed that I haven't seen it revived elsewhere.

That same year I saw Heggie's Moby-Dick at the San Francisco Opera.  I declared it to be a masterpiece, but haven't seen much of it lately.  Dead Man Walking seems to be everyone's favorite Heggie opera.  Stephen Costello and Jay Hunter Morris were the stars.

For a triple threat year I also saw a touring company present in its original production Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass.  It was an historic event, even if I don't remember much about it.

Opera Parallèle brought me Golijov's Ainadamar in 2013.  This was already a favorite from recording.  There is time travel in the story which was easily solved by posting the current year in the titles.  The confusing story was well presented here.  It's about a play by Federico Garcia Lorca, done as a trouser role.  There was Flamenco dancing.  What more could you ask for?

Bay Area wonders continued with West Edge Opera's presentation of Berg's Lulu in 2015.  It starred Emma McNairy, so far my favorite Lulu ever.  She played her for sex, an entirely not irrelevant part of the story.  I see her name pop up in Europe now.

I visited Berlin in 2016 to see five Strauss Operas but ended up liking best Marschner's Der Vampyr at the Komische Oper.  No one I'd heard of before or since was in it, but it was enormous fun.

2017 was a notable year primarily for two different and very interesting productions of Mozart's  La Clemenza di Tito by two of the more notorious regisseurs in opera:  Claus Guth at Glyndebourne and Peter Sellars at Salzburg. Sellars focused on creating a racial context for the drama with racial casting while Guth moved the story from Rome to a river bank.  Sellars featured Golda Schultz and Russell Thomas while Guth had Alice Coote.  I dearly loved both of these performances and have come to regard this as Mozart's greatest opera.

Glyndebourne brought us in 2018 Barber's Vanessa. It was wonderfully mysterious and charming, and made me wonder why it never plays here.

2019 topped everything with the Metropolitan Opera's presentation of Glass's Akhnaten in an astounding production by Phelim McDermott.  We didn't know an opera could be about juggling.  Much of this success is due to the brilliant performance of Anthony Roth Costanzo.


Oh.  I award the decade to Jonas Kaufmann.  I liked him in more things than the performances with Anja Harteros. 

Favorites by Year 2019 👍🏻

For another perspective on 2019 see the KK Awards.

This list is limited to performances that took place in 2019.  This was another year without travel, but there is so much on the internet these days that it hardly matters.  This year I reviewed 50 performances, including 1 DVD, 8 HDs, 12 live, 3 movies of musicals, 3 oldies from Met on Demand, and 22 Streams.  14 operas were new to me.  Some of my favorite viewings this year came from performances in previous years and don't appear in this list.  It was an ok but not very exciting year for me.

Favorite Performances

• Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur.  I love it when they wail and you cannot beat Anna Netrebko and Anita Rachvelishvili when it comes to wailing.  This came to me in HD from the Met.  ** Met HD

• Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment.  This also came to me live in HD from the Met and starred Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena in outstanding performances.  They were both lively and outgoing in their roles.  ** Met HD

• Poulenc's Dialogue des Carmélites.  This is a third item live in HD from the Met starring Karita Mattila and Isabel Leonard.  It is a magnificent almost all female opera done extremely well.  ** Met HD

• Hoiby's Bon Appétit!.  An opera has been made of an episode of Julia Child's cooking show.  It was seen live streamed from Iowa.  The surprise here was to find out how few Europeans were familiar with Julia Child.  She cooked while she sang, and the audience got a taste.  **

• Verdi's Rigoletto.  This was an outdoor summer festival item from Bregenz and was chosen for the spectacular set.

• Heggie's If I Were You.  This was composed for the Merola Program of the San Francisco Opera, and performed by its graduates.  I attended the world premier.  **

• Mazzoli's Breaking the Waves.  This was produced in excellent style by West Edge in the Bay Area.  We like to recognize all the good new opera.  **

Marcellina, Bartolo, Count, Curzio, Figaro 

• Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.  This was a new production from the San Francisco Opera.  **

• Massenet's Manon. This came in HD from the Met.  I love Lisette Oropesa, and this was her best performance of the year.  ** Met HD

• Strauss, J II's Die Fledermaus.  This streamed from the Wiener Staatsoper.  This was all in the traditional style with all the old jokes which I love.

• Glass's Akhnaten.  Also live in HD from the Met.  ** Met HD

Singer of the Year

The singer of the year doesn't appear anywhere in this list but must be Lise Davidsen for Tannhäuser at Bayreuth and Pique Dame at the Met.  If you don't know her, listen.
.

New to Me Opera

Hans Abrahamsen'sThe Snow Queen (2019) streamed from Munich.
Daniel Catán's opera Florencia en el Amazonas (1996) on film
Glass's Akhnaten in HD (1984) from the Met.
Heggie's If I Were You  (2019) live in San Francisco.  **
Henze's The Bassarids (1966) streamed.  My first Henze.
Hoiby's Bon Appétit! (2018) streamed from Iowa.  **
Kuusisto's Ice (2019) streamed.
Mazzoli's Breaking The Waves (2016) live in the Bay Area  **
Menotti's Amelia Goes to the Ball (1937) live at CSUS  **
Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona (1733) on DVD
Sullivan's The Yeomen of the Guard (1888) live in Sacramento  **
Verdi's I Masnadieri (1888) streamed.
Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans (1716) streamed.
Wagner's Rienzi (1842) streamed on medici.tv

** live, live stream or live in HD

Things recommended to buy

The pickings are very slim.

Best Singers Today

This list from 2010 included:

Sopranos:

• Renée Fleming -- currently retired from opera but still singing.
• Natalie Dessay -- also retired from opera
• Anna Netrebko -- still at the top
• Angela Gheorghiu

Mezzo-sopranos -- all still active:

• Elina Garanča
• Cecilia Bartoli -- still going strong.
• Joyce DiDonato

Tenors:

• Juan Diego Florez -- has changed Fach
• Jonas Kaufmann -- still at the top?
• Placido Domingo -- no longer a tenor

Baritones and basses:

• Simon Keenlyside
• René Pape -- still at the top
• Bryn Terfel
• Dmitri Hvorostovsky -- has died

This new list reflects my biases:

Sopranos:

• Anna Netrebko -- still at the top
• Anja Harteros -- She's a star.
• Lisette Oropesa -- best candidate to replace Dessay
• Sondra Radvanovsky -- has achieved greatness.

Mezzo-sopranos -- all still active:

• Elina Garanča
• Cecilia Bartoli -- still going strong
• Joyce DiDonato -- she seems to shine brightest in Europe
• Anita Rachvelishvili -- any modern mezzo list must include Anita 
• Jamie Barton

Tenors:

• Javier Camarena -- best current coloratura tenor.
• Jonas Kaufmann -- still at the top?
• Roberto Alagna -- he's singing very well these days.
• Piotr Beczala

Baritones and basses:

• René Pape -- still at the top
• Bryn Terfel
• Ludovic Tézier -- he's been cancelling.  
• Željko Lučić
• No one really replaces Dima.

Watch List

Kálmán - Gräfin Mariza:



Prokofiev - The Love For Three Oranges:



Offenbach - la grande duchesse du Gerolstein:



Douglas J. Cuomo -Doubt:

MeToo Operas

This has to be regarded as a short list of operas about the oppression of women by powerful men, the basic theme of the MeToo movement.  There is no order.  In our own era the powerful men are generally employers.  If I am paying you money, I can do what I want with you.  In the past it was more a case of members of the Lordly class assuming that everyone in a lower class could be abused at will.

Rigoletto by Verdi is rather an unusual case.  The Duke is the person of highest rank in the story, but he seems to be completely indiscriminate in his choices of women to prey on.  In the court all the ladies seem to be targets, even wives of his main subordinates.  If their husbands object, they are banned from the court.  These wives are the only true MeToo characters I have found, but they aren't enough for the Duke.  He wanders the streets in disguise looking for women who would never come into the court.  The Duke successfully pretends to be lower class when pursuing Gilda, Rigoletto's daughter.  Maddalena from the last act is a professional and therefore does not count as exploited.  Strangely, he seems to like her best.  We begin a pattern when it is the exploited Gilda who dies and not the exploiter Duke. Unlike the standard MeToo victim, she loves the man who has exploited her and offers her own death to save him.

Tosca by Puccini involves a man in a position of political power who has something to offer a famous woman, not his employee.  Tosca is not the sort of woman to allow herself to be used sexually and instead kills her would be tormentor before he has a chance to do anything.  At the end she also dies.  We could hardly ask any of our MeToo women to do these things.

Il Trovatore by Verdi may not count.  This is more your love story plot.  A count loves Leonora, one of his subjects who would actually make a suitable mate.  The count frowns and looks unhappy all the time.  She instead loves a gypsy who sings love songs to her.  The count doesn't get his way and kills them.  Everyone dies.  I'm not sure if this fits the MeToo scenario.  We can't go around requiring people to die to avoid sex.

Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart involves a married count who was the hero of another opera earlier in his life, but now has lost interest in his wife.  She expected happily ever after but instead got this.  His current interest is in one of his wife's servants, Susanna.  This is sort of a Downton Abbey plot.  In Downton Abbey one of the daughters is interested in and marries the chauffeur.  In Nozze Susanna is engaged to the Count's valet, Figaro.  The count has two kinds of power in this situation:  he can deny them the right to marry at all and/or he can revive the ancient right of the Lord to sleep with the bride of a servant.  The women plot against him and win in the end.  Everyone lives happily ever after at last. This is a successful thwarting of the MeToo scenario.

Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss involves a father with money wanting to acquire a royal title by marrying his daughter to a baron.  Someone not part of either side of this transaction, Octavian, intervenes to prevent the marriage.  He could not accomplish this without the help of his girlfriend The Marschallin.  Again we may presume a happy ending.  It seems that Count Octavian will marry the heiress instead of the baron.  This is another instance of exploitation thwarted.

Luisa Miller by Verdi describes a young nobleman who wanders around the countryside in disguise looking for girls, very much like the Duke in Rigoletto or the King in La Donna del Lago.  He knows that makes him a shit, but does it anyway.  Unlike other operas, both the exploiter and the exploited die.  Does no one explain to these nobles that they are required to marry in their class?  In the modern world this hardly makes a plot.  Prince Harry married an American actress.

This is turning out to be interesting.  Our opera stories must be regarded as in praise of women.  Except for the wives at court who may be roughly comparable to employees who could lose their status, our purported victims resort to murder, self-sacrifice, and plotting to avoid any actual sexual exploitation. 

Don Giovanni by Mozart may possibly represent the usual MeToo story.  During the opera the Don pursues Donna Anna, Zerlina, and an unknown woman seen through the window.  He flees Donna Elvira since he no longer is interested in her.  Leporello explains to Donna Elvira that she is just one in a long line of lovers.  Afterward Anna goes to Ottavio.  Zerlina returns to her new husband and begs him to beat her.  We aren't exactly sure what happens to the Don at the end, but I think he is supposed to end up in hell.  Has anyone lost anything?  The Don kills Anna's father who in the end gets his revenge.  The women presumably give in because they are genuinely interested in Giovanni, though it is possible that Donna Elvira thinks she is his wife.  It's too complicated to draw any general conclusions.

This turned out to be more revealing than I imagined.

Favorite Verdi Performances 👍🏻

In honor of Verdi's birthday I have selected a list of my favorite performances throughout the life of the blog.

• We must begin with Anna Netrebko in the Willy Decker production of La Traviata in 2006 from Salzburg.  She is the only one I have truly loved in this production.  An abstract production requires active and exciting performers in the lead roles, which we certainly had here with Anna and Rolando Villazon.

• I got very excited over Macbeth in 2008 from the Met with Maria Guleghina.  This was a new production, and I think perhaps I still prefer Maria in this role.

• That same year was a great excitement when I saw Aida at the Arena di Verona.  Amonasro was Ambrogio Maestri, but everyone else I did not know.  No matter.  The thrill of the Arena di Verona lies in the space itself.  Such massive scale for Aida cannot help but be thrilling.

• Other Aidas have been excellent.  In 2017 Netrebko's version from Salzburg was in an unusual production which moved us to a modern middle eastern country.  That same year featured Netrebko and Anita Rachvelishvili in the standard Met production.  They were gorgeous together, but the performance was marred by some very bad singing from Aleksandrs Antonenko.  Casting Verdi is difficult.

• The Met brought us a regie production of Un Ballo in Maschera in 2012 which starred Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Sondra Radvanovsky, Marcelo Álvarez, Stephanie Blythe and Kathleen Kim. This would be a very hard cast to top.  The singing was spectacular.

• The Verdi bicentennial in 2013 brought many wonderful performances, but my favorites starred the fabulous duo of Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros.  From Salzburg we saw Don Carlo performed with "intensity and excitement."

• The other Verdi with Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros came from Munich.  This was the best production I have seen of La Forza del Destino with all the confusing action very carefully laid out.  Our stars have great stage rapport.

• The final great performance of 2013 was the magnificent Falstaff from the Metropolitan starring Ambrigio Maestri.  Sir John is staying in a hotel with beautiful rooms.  Ambrogio is the person you want for the role of Falstaff, and the supporting cast were all excellent.

• I seem to have failed to include an Il Trovatore.  My favorite seems to be Anna Netrebko and Dmitri Hvorostovsky at the Met in 2015.  This is some of Anna's best singing and also one of Dmitri's last performances.

• My last great Verdi performance for this particular list must be Otello from the Bayerische Staatsoper in 2018 with our duo of Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros.  Gerald Finley, a great singing actor, rounded out the trio.  This is the most serious Otello I have seen.

Most of these selections are either available from Met on Demand or can be purchased as DVDs (not Arena di Verona or BSO Otello).  Enjoy.
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