The Faber Pocket Guide to Opera (84 page)

What to listen for

Almost an oratorio in style, much influenced by Bach’s Passions, in which the story proceeds largely through a sequence of long meditative choruses and arias in which events are related and then pondered from different perspectives.
The score is richer and more complex, but less immediately accessible and entertaining, than that of
Nixon
in
China.
The image of the sea constantly laps in undulations through the music.
As well as some tremendous fortissimo choruses (at the end of Act I, for instance), there are passages of potent beauty, notably the Act II chorus ‘Hagar and the Angel’.
Amplified sound is used at certain points.

In performance

The inflammatory issue of political terrorism and the refusal to make predictable condemnations of the Palestinian question has made this opera extremely controversial.
The grey, austere and deliberately unemotional original production by Peter Sellars avoided any visual distinctions between
Palestinians and Jews, emphasizing the common root of both religions and their shared experience of dispossession.
The opera does not have conventionally conceived characters (dancers act out much of the story), but its central figure is the ship’s Conradian Captain – neither Jewish nor Palestinian – who stands between passengers and hijackers, unable to control the destiny of his ship.

Recording

CD: James Maddalena (Captain); Kent Nagano (cond.).
Nonesuch 7559 79281 2

Index of Operas

Where an opera is known well in both its original title and its translation, it will appear twice.
Operas mentioned in passing appear in italics.

• Abduction from the Seraglio, The
  1
  
• Aida
  1
  
• Akhnaten
  1
  
• Albert Herring
  1
  
• Alceste
  1
  
• Alcina
  1
  
• Amahl
  and
  the
  Night
  Visitors
  1
  
• Andrea Chénier
  1
  
• Anna Bolena
  1
  
• Antony
  and
  Cleopatra
  1
  
• Arabella
  1
  
• Ariadne auf Naxos
  1
  
• Arianna
  1
  
• Ariodante
  1
  
• Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny
  1
  

• Ballo in Maschera, Un
  1
  
• Barbiere di Siviglia, Il
  1
  
• Bartered Bride, The
  1
  
• Bassarids,
  The
  1
  
• Béatrice et Bénédict
  1
  
• Beggar’s
  Opera,
  The
  1
  ,
  2
  ,
  3
  ,
  4
  
• La Belle Hélène, La
  1
  
• Billy Budd
  1
  
• Bitter
  Sweet
  1
  
• Bluebeard’s Castle
  1
  
• Boar’s
  Head,
  At
  the
  1
  
• Bohème, La
  1
  
• Bohème,
  La
  (Leoncavallo)
  1
  
• Bohemian
  Girl,
  The
  1
  
• Boris Godunov
  1
  
• Boulevard
  Solitude
  1
  
• Burning
  Fiery
  Furnace,
  The
  1
  

• Cabaret
  1
  
• Calisto, La
  1
  
• Camelot
  1
  
• Candide
  1
  
• Capriccio
  1
  
• Capuleti e Montecchi, I
  1
  
• Cardillac
  1
  
• Carmen
  1
  
• Carousel
  1
  
• Cavalleria rusticana
  1
  
• Cenerentola, La
  1
  
• Clemenza di Tito, La
  1
  
• Comte
  Ory,
  Le
  1
  
• Consul,
  The
  1
  
• Contes d’Hoffmann, Les
  1
  
• Coronation of Poppea, The
  1
  
• Così fan tutte
  1
  
• Cunning Little Vixen, The
  1
  
• Curlew
  River
  1
  

• Damnation de Faust, La
  1
  
• Daphne
  1
  
• Death in Venice
  1
  
• Death of Klinghoffer, The
  1
  
• Desert
  Song,
  The
  1
  
• Dialogues des Carmélites
  1
  
• Dido and Aeneas
  1
  
• Don Carlos
  1
  
• Don Giovanni
  1
  
• Don Pasquale
  1
  
• Dragon
  of Wantley,
  The
  1
  

• Einstein
  on
  the
  Beach
  1
  
• Elegy for Young Lovers
  1
  
• Elektra
  1
  
• Elisir d’Amore, L’
  1
  
• Enfant et les sortilèges, L’
  1
  
• Entführung aus dem Serail, Die
  1
  
• Ernani
  1
  
• Eugene Onegin
  1
  
• Evita
  1
  

• Falstaff
  1
  
• Fanciulla del West, La
  1
  
• Faust
  1
  
• Fidelio
  1
  
• Fiery
  Angel,
  The
  1
  
• Fledermaus, Die
  1
  
• Flying Dutchman, The
  1
  
• Forza del Destino, La
  1
  
• Frau ohne Schatten, Die
  1
  
• Freischütz, Der
  1
  
• From the House of the Dead
  1
  

• Gambler,
  The
  1
  
• Gawain
  1
  
• Gazza
  Ladra,
  La
  1
  
• Gioconda,
  La
  1
  
• Gypsy
  Baron,
  The
  1
  
• Girl of the Golden West, The
  1
  
• Giulio Cesare,
  1
  
• Gloriana
  1
  
• Golden
  Cockerel,
  The
  1
  
• Grand
  Macabre,
  le
  1
  
• Great
  Gatsby,
  The
  1
  
• Greek,
  1
  
• Guillaume Tell,
  1
  
• Guys
  and
  Dolls
  1
  

• Hamlet
  1
  
• Hänsel und Gretel
  1
  
• Haunted
  Manor,
  The
  1
  
• Heure
  Espagnole,
  L’
  1
  
• Horseman,
  The
  1
  
• Hugh
  the
  Drover,
  1
  
• Huguenots,
  Les
  1
  

• Ice
  Break,
  The
  1
  
• Idomeneo
  1
  
• Incoronazione di Poppea, L’
  1
  
• Iolanthe
  1
  
• Iphigénie en Tauride
  1
  
• Italiana in Algeri, L’
  1
  
• Ivanhoe
  1
  

• Jenůfa
  1
  
• Julius Caesar
  1
  
• Junge
  Lord,
  Der
  1
  

• Kát’a Kabanová
  1
  
• Khovanshchina
  1
  
• King
  Priam
  1
  
• King
  Roger
  1
  
• Kismet
  1
  
• Knot
  Garden,
  The
  1
  

• Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
  1
  
• Last
  Supper,
  The
  1
  
• Leonore
  1
  
• Licht
  1
  
• Liebersverbot,
  Das
  1
  
• Life
  for
  the
  Tsar,
  A
  1
  
• Life
  with
  an
  Idiot
  1
  
• Lily
  of Killarney,
  The
  1
  
• Little
  Night
  Music,
  A
  1
  
• Lohengrin
  1
  
• Louise
  1
  
• Love
  for
  Three
  Oranges,
  The
  1
  
• Lucia di Lammermoor
  1
  
• Luisa Miller
  1
  
• Lulu
  1
  
• Lustige Witwe, Die
  1
  
• Lustigen
  Weiber
  von
  Windsor,
  Die
  1
  

• Macbeth
  1
  
• Madama Butterfly
  1
  
• Magic Flute, The
  1
  
• Mahagonny
  1
  
• Maid
  of
  Orleans,
  The
  1
  
• Makropulos Case, The
  1
  
• Manon
  1
  
• Manon Lescaut
  1
  
• Maometto
  Secondo,
  1
  
• Maria
  Stuarda
  1
  
• Maritana
  1
  
• Marriage of Figaro, The
  1
  
• Mask
  of
  Orpheus,
  The
  1
  
• Masked Ball, A
  1
  
• Mastersingers of Nuremberg, The
  1
  
• Mathis
  der
  Maler
  1
  
• Matrimonio
  Segreto,
  Il
  1
  
• Mazeppa
  1
  
• Medium, The
  1
  
• Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Die
  1
  
• Merry Widow, The
  1
  
• Mice
  and
  Men,
  Of
  1
  
• Midsummer Marriage, The
  1
  
• Midsummer Night’s Dream, A
  1
  
• Mikado, The
  1
  
• Misérables,
  Les
  1
  
• Mòse
  in
  Egitto
  1
  
• Moses und Aron
  1