#Operablr Women's History Month

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Operablr WHM Assignments

The results are IN!!

Our opera assignments for Women’s History month are as follows:

Opera #1

@revedebeatrice: Agrippina (Händel) @notyouraveragejulie: Rodelinda (Händel) @sweatershowgirl: Ariane et Barbre-bleue (Dukas) @tatyana-dreaming: Jenufa (Janáček) @normallyparenthetical: La fille du Regiment (Donizetti) @lajeunefilleenfleurs: Norma (Bellini) @monotonous-minutia: La fanciulla del West (Puccini)

Opera #2

@revedebeatrice: Diary of a Madman (Dana Kaufman) @notyouraveragejulie: La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall'Isola di Alcina  (Francesca Caccini) @sweatershowgirl: Julie (Whitney George) @tatyana-dreaming: Nixon in China (John Adams & Alice Goodman) @normallyparenthetical: The Wreckers  (Ethel Smyth) @lajeunefilleenfleurs: Cendrillon (Pauline Viardot) @monotonous-minutia: Artemesia (Laura Schwendinger)

Notes:

--If you have been assigned an opera that you’ve already seen before, you can opt out of that one, or you can watch a production of it that you haven’t seen before--totally up to you. Or, you can just re-nerd-out over a favorite production that you have seen before.

--If you’ve seen BOTH of your assigned operas already, I did have a few people send back-up suggestions, so reach out to me and I can send those your way.

--Most people who suggested provided links to their suggested productions, as well as libretti/summaries if the video doesn’t have English subs. If you’d like these links, DM me and I’ll send them your way. If you want to search on your own, totally fine too.

--People who aren’t part of this list: you are absolutely welcome to watch and post about any of these operas as well! The idea is to highlight women-centric or women-created operas for WHM so anyone can participate. Just please don’t steal the thunder of the people who were assigned here!

--If I am missing anyone or if anyone has questions, let me know!

Thank you to everyone for their suggestions and participation! I am so excited to explore some new operas and see what others discover.

Happy Women’s History Month, Operablr!

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Rodelinda (Met, 2011): Reactions, Part I

And now for my OTHER Operablr Women’s History Month opera!

SET PORN

poor child :(

even just sleeping she’s fabulous *dies*

seriously so amazing also poor Rodelinda

NO ONE LIKES YOU

also stop hitting on Rodelinda

THEM

props to you for dumping him, Eduige

wait no stop

is there ANYTHING Stephanie Blythe cannot sing GLORIOUSLY

you have somehow managed to top Grimoaldo in douchebaggery

this dude is GOOD

also, at the time of this performance he was TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OLD????????

that awkward moment when you see your own funeral monument while you’re still very much alive

Iestyn Davies is so great *heart eyes*

gay vibes intensify

this aria is so beautiful and Rodelinda and the kid deserve SO MUCH BETTER

“dammit my wife’s coloratura is even more beautiful than I remember”

DON’T TAKE AWAY THE KID

FUCK YOU GARIBALDO

hey Bertarido, he literally threatened to kill your and her SON so maybe don’t get mad at her for saying she’ll marry Grimoaldo

“yeah if I have to marry him then the first thing I’m gonna do is to have him execute you”

once again, PLEASE keep the circumstances of Rodelinda accepting the proposal in mind

Unulfo is a good dude and Iestyn Davies is EXCELLENT as always

*sigh* Bertarido, how many times do I have to tell you that she was trying to save YOUR kid’s life???

destroying his own monument...

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Watching La fanciulla del West tonight for my Operablr Women’s history Month assignment! Stay tuned for thoughts/reactions :D I am totally new to this one

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I finally find a Puccini opera with a happy ending but I end up crying anyway

I love how this one ends with everyone letting him go because they all just love Minnie so much <3 she loved them all unconditionally and now it’s their turn.

this was a great one for WHM and I really enjoyed it!

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Rodelinda (Met, 2011): Reactions, Part II

don’t mess with her

okay Eduige calm down but also I’ll give you a pass because unlike Bertarido, you don’t know the context of her accepting the proposal

awwwwwwwww

yes girl you go get revenge on him

RODELINDA WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING

THANK GOODNESS GRIMOALDO HAS A CONSCIENCE

(I think now that Rodelinda was hedging her bets on that. still, an EXTREMELY risky and bold move on her part.)

BADASS

DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT

“fine you win I can’t have child murder on my conscience”

good on you for finally deciding to give her up, I guess???

really excellent singer right here. everyone in this show is just very talented.

and Unulfo’s a bookworm! which makes him even cooler

Area Dude Has Taken Machiavelli Way Too Seriously

the lovable gay kind-hearted stylish bookworm with a fantastic voice that we all need in our lives

why can’t Rodelina, Unulfo, and Eduige all just co-parent this adorable child

Area Mezzo Miraculously Recognizes Disguised Brother By His Voice

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

when you find out your hubby is still alive after all

she finally caught a break

when you have a crush on your sister-in-law

boo Grimoaldo but YAY Bertarido for APOLOGIZING

hey STOP IT

still not a huge Bertarido fan but awwwwwwwwwww

nooooooooooooooooo

I love these three SO MUCH

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I decided to save finishing Fanciulla till it streams later this week, just for the fun of that since I’m watching the exact same production. So this weekend I decided to watch my Opera #2 assignment for Operablr Women’s History Month, which is Artemisa, a modern, English-language opera with music by Laura Schwendinger and libretto by Ginger Strand. It’s about the real-life painter Artemisia Gentileschi.

There are definitely going to be more posts about this amazing piece, but right now I wanted to share a quote from a review of the opera in The San Francisco Chronicle by Joshua Kosman that I found while doing some curious research.

It goes like this:

“The staging captures the opera’s multilevel conception, in which the biblical and mythical figures in the paintings – primarily Susanna, the victim of sexual harassment by two elders in the Book of Daniel – serve as autobiographical stand-ins for Gentileschi herself. But again, the correspondences tend to blur when the music for Gentileschi is indistinguishable from that of her painterly alter egos.” (emphasis added by me.)

I...think that was the point.

The way the various casts and characters overlapped in Artemisia’s paintings and recollections of her real life showed us how intertwined Artemisia’s art is with her own experiences. So the fact that the music is “indistinguishable” just emphasizes that.

Now I’m no music theorist, but I think the composer knew what she was doing.

And how interesting it is that a male reviewer is criticizing the work of female artists--a work that portrays (among other things) the struggle of being a female artist constantly getting criticized by men.

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I guess that’s one way of putting it

guess who’s starting up Fanciulla again!

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Rodelinda (Met, 2011): Reactions, Part III

BROTP (and also two parts of an OT3 with Rodelinda being the third)

Eduige is so brilliant and we stan

seriously she’s so badass 

HORSE!!!

Garibaldo is the devil on Grimoaldo’s shoulder

Area Tenor Has Conscience Crisis

ooh stage elevator time!

yet another lovely aria

DUDE NO THAT’S UNULFO

“oh shit I fucked up I’m sorry”

Unulfo is DEFINITELY gay for Bertarido

nooooooooooooo I promise it’s not what you think it is but also WE LOVE LADIES WORKING TOGETHER AND BEING BADASSES

poor Rodelinda :(

Renée Fleming is chef’s kiss as always, though

grieving together :(

“I have too many problems so Imma just sleep” mood

hey Garibaldo you’re a coward and also kindly fuck off please

well this is happening I guess

you had a gun and you STILL lost lol

surprise! he’s actually alive!

oh Unulfo...

THANK YOU GRIMOALDO

getting the family back together :)

(still wish it could be a Rodelinda/Eduige/Unulfo coparenting thing)

I love them

too precious

Eduige, honey, you deserve better (even though we do have to admire the fact that Grimoaldo actually stopped being a dick)

time to celebrate!

alright y’all I adored this

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of course I got slammed with HW tonight even after work, so I won’t be liveblogging a filmed production but I WILL be listening to this recording while I work!

first-ever opera composed by a woman—what could be better for today?

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anyway this opera slapped in the BEST early-Baroque way and the women’s duets all gave me HUGE gay vibes and the orchestration??? *chef’s kiss*

also we STAN powerful sorceresses (plural!) battling it out

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Operablr Pride Month Week #1 (June 1st-6th)

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH EVERYONE!

Here is the lineup for our first week of gay operas for Operablr Pride Month!

Norma (Bellini/Romani) Keywords: WLW, sapphic, strong women supporting each other, dick tenor alert, bel canto, Italian

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten/Pears) Keywords:  Shakespeare, gay hijinks, poly, LGBT+ authors, opera in English

Patience and Sarah (Kimper/Persons) Keywords: WLW, LGBT+ authors, modern opera, opera in English

Summaries, libretti, recommended productions, and more under the line!

Norma

Libretto: Italian: http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/norma.htm English: https://www.opera-arias.com/bellini/norma/libretto/english/ Summary:  https://www.liveabout.com/norma-synopsis-724278 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norma_%28opera%29 Productions: Met Opera 2017: https://www.operaonvideo.com/norma-met-2017-radvanosvsky-calleja-didonato/ Opera On Video search link: https://www.operaonvideo.com/?s=Norma%20Bellini Bonus: Podcast episode discussing the plot/history of this opera! https://www.operaplothappyhour.com/episodes/ep-25-norma Bonus bonus: some cool info from ENO! https://eno.org/operas/norma/

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Libretto: http://www.operaacappella.com/libretto https://www.opera-arias.com/britten/a-midsummer-night%27s-dream/libretto/ Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Midsummer_Night%27s_Dream_%28opera%29 Productions: Opera On Video search link: https://www.operaonvideo.com/?s=a+midsummer+night%27s+dream Bonus: some cool info about the opera and comparisons to the play (though it attributes the libretto to Britten instead of Pears) https://eno.org/discover-opera/midsummer-nights-dream-libretto-vs-script/ Bonus bonus: character analysis: https://www.theopera101.com/operas/dream/

Patience and Sarah

Libretto: if anyone can find it let me know XD Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patience_and_Sarah_%28opera%29 Productions:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hoss76HPbI8 Bonus: some history/analysis of the opera: https://www.wfmt.com/2018/10/14/the-only-thing-i-want-to-see-in-opera-is-a-good-story-librettist-wende-persons-on-patience-and-sarah-and-patience/ Bonus bonus: the opera has a web site! http://patiencesarah.com/ Extra bonus: History, analysis, and interview w/composer: https://thefrontrowcenter.com/2016/06/patience-sarah-an-opera-revival-for-lgbt-pride-week/

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Operablr Pride Month idea

So I had this idea:

Because I highly doubt the Met (or any opera streaming platform, for that matter) is going to in any way acknowledge Pride Month and do a gay opera lineup, I thought Operablr could do our own thing again.

The Faust watch party weekend was really fun, and the Operablr Women's History Month also went well, so I was thinking of combining the ideas:

Like with the Operablr WHM, people can submit opera suggestions. This time, you'll be suggesting operas that are particularly gay, and/or gay opera productions. It'll probably be even harder to find ones written by LGBT+ people, so that won't be a submission requirement this time, but a cool bonus if you do know of some!

Then, taking a leaf from the Faust watch party:

Each week in June, 2-4 operas will be highlighted per week (number depending on how many operas are suggested). People can watch as many of those operas as they want at any time during that week. Again, posts about your thoughts/reactions are highly encouraged!

People can submit their opera suggestions to me and once I have them all, I'll put together a calendar assigning each opera a random week, and post the calendar so everyone knows what operas are being watched during what weeks. (I'll probably also post weekly reminders.)

Would anyone be interested in this, or something along these lines? (I’m open to suggestions if people have other ideas about how to do it.)

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Operablr WHM idea

So I had this idea, and it’s either crazy, or just crazy enough to work.

So a lot of us were talking about how the Met kind of missed the ball when it comes to the week of selections for Women’s History Month. And some of us were coming up with operas that would have been a better selection--operas with stronger female leads and more feminist messages.

So here’s my idea: each of us can watch an opera that fits the bill more accurately to make up for the less-than-ideal selection.

Here’s how it’ll work:

A group of us will agree to participate, and each person will suggest an opera (if you want you can suggest a specific production) that they think would be good for WHM.

Then, each opera and each person participating will be put into a random generator to be assigned their opera. (If you get assigned your own suggestion, it’ll be re-randomized.)

Once assigned their opera, each participant has until the end of the month (March) to watch that opera.

Once the opera’s been watched, post some kind of content on it--a liveblog of your reactions, a review of the opera/production, GIFs, edits, analysis--whatever you feel inspired to do.

If we feel ambitious, we could also have people suggest/be assigned more than one opera.

Would anyone be interested in participating in something like this?

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tomorrow’s well now today’s tentative plans for opera-watching:

Rodelinda to finish up my Operablr Women’s History Month assignments

another production of something else random? I am currently leaning towards the 2013 Liceu Hoffmann but I also am self-aware enough to know that I may not be in that Mood