OPERAWISE: Singspiel

Seattle Opera · OPERAWISE: SINGSPIEL

In this series of podcasts, Seattle Opera Dramaturg Jonathan Dean gives listeners a taste of nine different types of traditional opera. Singspiel (that’s German for SongPlay) mixes songs, dialogues, choruses, and marvelous orchestral writing with fun and fantasy for a lowbrow, family friendly art form—the ancestor of today’s Star Wars movies. Mozart’s ever-popular Magic Flute is the perfect introduction to Singspiel, as well as one of the most beloved operas ever written. Another wonderful Singspiel, Weber’s Der Freischütz, demonstrates the power of this form to send a wonderfully creepy chill down your spine.

Musical examples on the podcast include:

• •Celebratory chorus from Hans Heiling, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Ewald Körner (Marco Polo 1992)
• •“Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja” from Die Zauberflöte; John Moore and Seattle Opera orchestra conducted by Julia Jones, 2017
• •Hunters’ Chorus from Der Freischütz; Seattle Opera chorus and orchestra conducted by Gerard Schwarz, 1999
• •Melodrama from Fidelio, Jane Eaglen and Kevin Langan, Seattle Opera orchestra conducted by Gerard Schwarz, 2003
• •A line of Papageno’s from Die Zauberflöte, John Moore and Seattle Opera orchestra conducted by Julia Jones, 2017
• •Act 1 Finale from Die Zauberflöte, Andrew Stenson and Seattle Opera orchestra conducted by Julia Jones, 2017
• •Act 2 Finale from Die Zauberflöte , Seattle Opera orchestra conducted by Julia Jones, 2017
• •“Der Hölle Rache” from Die Zauberflöte, Christina Poulitsi and Seattle Opera orchestra conducted by Julia Jones, 2017
• •“O Isis” Chorus from Die Zauberflöte Seattle Opera chorus and orchestra conducted by Julia Jones, 2017
• •Opening duet from Fidelio, Lucia Popp, Adolf Dallapozza, and Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein (Deutsche Gramophon, 1978)
• •“O namenlose Freude” from Fidelio, Gundula Janowitz, René Kollo, and Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein (Deutsche Gramophon, 1978)
• •Cat duet from Der Stein der Weisen, Jane Giering-De Haan, Kevin Deas, and Boston Baroque conducted by Martin Pearlman (Telarc, 1999)
• •Wolf’s Glen Scene from Der Freischütz, Harry Peters, Gabor Andrasy, and the chorus and orchestra of Seattle Opera conducted by Gerard Schwarz, 1999
• •Overture from Der fliegende Holländer, orchestra of Seattle Opera conducted by Sebastian Lang-Lessing, 2016
• •Dance of the Apprentices from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg , forces of the Bavarian State Opera conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch (EMI Classics, 1993)

Stay tuned for one more podcast introducing another kind of opera next week!

Fidelio Preview Trailer

Watch a preview of dress rehearsal footage (complete with full orchestra & chorus) featuring Maestro Asher Fisch and the talented cast bringing Beethoven's dramatic score to life.



Learn more about Fidelio on the Seattle Opera Website

Fidelio Community Supernumeraries

Director Chris Alexander introduces the corps of local volunteers who will take the stage in FIDELIO’s triumphant finale. Three minute video includes wardrobe review montage and staging rehearsal footage.



Learn more about Fidelio on the Seattle Opera Website

Fidelio Rehearsal Chat

Learn more about Fidelio from our latest video, in which Maestro Asher Fisch and stage director Chris Alexander discuss how Beethoven's dynamic music heightens the pathos of the opera's compelling story. Video includes footage of principal cast members in rehearsal.



Learn more about Fidelio on the Seattle Opera Website

Fidelio Singalong

On September 12, 2012, 50 community members joined the Seattle Opera chorus for our first-ever singalong: The final scene from Fidelio.



Learn more about Fidelio on the Seattle Opera Website

Fidelio: Preview (2003)

Two choral excerpts from Beethoven’s triumphant finale accompany video footage and photographs from our 2003 production, which will be revived at McCaw Hall this October.



Learn more about Fidelio on the Seattle Opera Website

ARIA READY: Q&A with Christiane Libor, our Leonore

We started looking at “Abscheulicher!”, the major aria at the heart of Fidelio, the other day, and today we find out more about this great piece from the singer who will be performing it in Seattle, Christiane Libor. Ms. Libor will be making her Seattle debut with Leonore in the fall, and we’re tremendously excited to have her take on this challenging role, which she has already sung with great success in Berlin, Hamburg, Zurich, and Nice. Says Speight Jenkins, Seattle Opera’s General Director, “When I heard her in Berlin, I determined at that moment to do for her a Fidelio. She is amazing.” We asked Ms. Libor a few questions about singing this aria, and were impressed by her thoughtful and heartfelt answers.

Why does Leonore sing the aria “Abscheulicher”?
This aria is all about her "mission" and what she knows she has to do.

What do you like the most about singing this aria?
I like the dramatic and musical effects—the changes between action and reflection.

What is its greatest challenge?
For me the challenge is being both male and female. This is a big part of the fascination of the role - being a woman, myself, playing a female character playing a man - and trying to convey both roles/genders/characters as a part of the drama.

Does singing it take a lot out of you?
The role is harder for me mentally than physically or vocally.

What’s the dominant emotion in this piece?
Eternal love.

Presumably you’ve never been in Leonore’s extreme situation (i.e. masquerading as a man, up against a paranoid tyrant, etc.). Is it easy for you to relate to what she’s going through?
I have never been in Leonore's situation but I can relate to her emotions because Beethoven gives me the music to "feel" her joy, her pain, her love, her life.

What is distinctly Beethoven, couldn’t have been any other composer, about this aria?
The way this aria transforms the principle of hope into a reality and makes the moment very alive.

Does Leonore change or grow in this scene?
Very much. Leonore finds self assurance and this gives her the freedom and energy to act.

Has your interpretation of this aria changed in the time that you’ve been singing it?
Yes, over many performances it has evolved from a dramatic approach to an intellectual one.

What are you usually thinking or feeling when you get to the end?
At the end of the opera, I am always thinking about "freedom" and what this idea means for the character, for the story, and the audience, as experienced through the music of Beethoven.

Here is a recording of Christiane Libor singing “Abscheulicher!” in Berlin, a couple of years ago: