First Intermissions

by Lee, M. Owen

• ISBN13: 9780879109707
• ISBN10: 087910970X
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-11-01
• Publisher: Limelight Editions

Summary

For well over twenty years, M. Owen Lee has been offering intermission talks during the Saturday afternoon Texaco Metropolitan Opera broadcasts, which now reach countries on six continents. In this book, Father Lee covers various operas of Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini and Richard Strauss, as well as a selection of French operas, including Faust, Carmen and Les Contes d'Hoffman. In all, his repertory contains 23 operatic masterworks, to all of which he brings insight, learning and the most infectious enthusiasm. "One just cannot get enough of [Father Lee's] brilliant, stimulating, thought-provoking insights...I feel there is no one more knowledgeable or qualified in the entire field of opera commentary. No one." - The Opera Quarterly

Table of Contents

MOZART
A New Kind of Opera: Idomeneo	5	(8)
A Man for All Centuries: Le Nozze di Figaro	13	(8)
VERDI
When Verdi's Fathers Sing: Rigoletto	21	(10)
Patterns of Light: Simon Boccanegra	31	(8)
Chiaroscuro: Un Ballo in Maschera	39	(8)
Everything in This Drama is True: Don Carlo	47	(8)
Six Prophetic Trumpets: Aida	55	(10)
The Heart of Darkness: Otello	65	(12)
WAGNER
The Phantom Lover and the Eternal Feminine: Der Fliegende Hollander	77	(10)
You Use Works of Art to See Your Soul: Tannhauser	87	(10)
One Brief Shining Moment: Lohengrin	97	(12)
Songbirds and Saints: Die Meistersinger	109	(18)
Who Is the Grail?: Parsifal	127	(20)
FRENCH OPERA
The Matter of Melody: Faust	147	(8)
Unanswered Questions: Les Troyens	155	(10)
The Devil's Motif: Carmen	165	(6)
Six Characters in Search of a Poet: Les Contes d'Hoffmann	171	(10)
Phrases Massenetiques: Manon	181	(12)
PUCCINI
A Charming Life, and a Terrible One: La Boheme	193	(8)
The Maturing Male and the Voracious Virago: Turandot	201	(12)
STRAUSS
That Is What Fiction Means: Elektra	213	(10)
A Moment Beyond Time: Der Rosenkavalier	223	(8)
Love That Colors and Transforms: Die Frau ohne Schatten	231	(8)
Further Reading	239	(8)
Recordings and Videos	247	(12)
Broadcast Dates	259	(2)
Index	261