Fledermaus: Strauss (Johann)
Dec. 9th, 2014 08:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
motodraconisI've wanted to visit Austria and in particular Vienna for many years, and one of the things I wanted to do was see an opera when I got there. This time, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
_vargr_ did some research before we went, and we booked tickets to see a very appropriate opera - Fledermaus, itself set in Vienna in the 19th century by a composer rather famous in the city.
Fledermaus is one of my favourite operas, and I was sorely disappointed by the recent ENO version.
The opera house seemed only half full, and I get the impression this opera is played pretty often (most likely for the benefit of the tourists.) I'd been warned by Opera-Fan-CoWorker that Vienna opera might be rubbish. When he and his wife went, people were talking and fidgeting and a full blown brawl broke out in the audience. I was nervous of a sloppy, careless production.
Sung in German, but with subtitles in English. However, there seemed more talking than I remembered (from the 2 versions I have seen in the UK.) The subtitles didn't provide translations of the spoken parts, only brief summaries. However, what I was unprepared for was the audience roaring with laughter at the jokes. I've never been to an opera where people have guffawed so heartily.
But then, that is how Fledermaus was originally meant to be played! So pleased to see it rendered with it's proper gusto (and hint of vulgarity.) I even managed to twig a few jokes with my minimal German.
Even Vargr, who speaks no German at all chuckled out loud at some of the jokes, and the Frosh sequence, (often cringeworthy) and entirely spoken, was clearly getting people to laugh and worked well.
Plenty of visual gags for the tourists.
And the final ending.
Really rather good! Best Fledermaus I've ever seen.
_vargr_ did some research before we went, and we booked tickets to see a very appropriate opera - Fledermaus, itself set in Vienna in the 19th century by a composer rather famous in the city.Fledermaus is one of my favourite operas, and I was sorely disappointed by the recent ENO version.
The opera house seemed only half full, and I get the impression this opera is played pretty often (most likely for the benefit of the tourists.) I'd been warned by Opera-Fan-CoWorker that Vienna opera might be rubbish. When he and his wife went, people were talking and fidgeting and a full blown brawl broke out in the audience. I was nervous of a sloppy, careless production.
Sung in German, but with subtitles in English. However, there seemed more talking than I remembered (from the 2 versions I have seen in the UK.) The subtitles didn't provide translations of the spoken parts, only brief summaries. However, what I was unprepared for was the audience roaring with laughter at the jokes. I've never been to an opera where people have guffawed so heartily.
But then, that is how Fledermaus was originally meant to be played! So pleased to see it rendered with it's proper gusto (and hint of vulgarity.) I even managed to twig a few jokes with my minimal German.
Even Vargr, who speaks no German at all chuckled out loud at some of the jokes, and the Frosh sequence, (often cringeworthy) and entirely spoken, was clearly getting people to laugh and worked well.
Plenty of visual gags for the tourists.
And the final ending.
Really rather good! Best Fledermaus I've ever seen.
