Tedrin’s Commentary on the Winter/Spring 2008 Class Topics

By popular demand, I will feature two operas starring Luciano Pavarotti to begin the semester. These masterpieces of the bel canto style, Bellini’s La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker) and Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment), offered Pavarotti two of his greatest roles, and both recordings also feature Joan Sutherland at her best. We will compare and contrast her performance with the stupendous Beverly Sills’ renditions of the title character’s arias in the Donizetti opera – also by special request.

We will reconvene in mid-February for classes on two operas that could be considered the absolute opposites of one another in many ways – Samson and Delilah and Hansel and Gretel. The former is a very dramatic and sensuous Biblical epic, while the latter, being performed in March by UK Opera Theatre, is a very sweet and fanciful fairy tale. They are both among the most beloved operas ever written.

Our one class session in March will explore the passionate melodrama Verdi composed on a commission for the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, where it was premiered, La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny). This is one of Verdi’s most complex and deeply felt operas, exploring political, social, and religious themes as experienced in two distinct types of communities – the military and the monastery. It also overflows with uncommonly beautiful and powerful music, mature Verdi at his most expressive.

In April, we will end the semester with two operatic westerns. The first was commissioned from Puccini by the Metropolitan Opera, La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West), and is the composer’s most symphonic score. It is a very effective work, though not without its laughable moments – such as Puccini’s quoting of a famous Stephen Foster tune! The second western, Douglas Moore’s The Ballad of Baby Doe, is one of the most successful and influential American operas. The title role was one of Beverly Sills’ specialties, and we will hear her in the recording of the legendary 1958 New York City Opera production. Believe me when I say that this opera, both charming and moving, is not to be missed – it will become one of your favorites, too!

See you in class!

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For more information or reservations
call UK Opera Theatre (859) 257-9331 or email meriah.kruse@uky.edu