when the fat lady sings

[thebish]

Ok if we're going to hijack the thread, might as well do it in style.

Go on then, you've got me. I can understand that you 'make' your own minced beef, and 'making' sausages is a straightforward concept, but, as a pedant, I have to take you to task over making your own bacon, How can you do that, only pigs can make bacon!

pigs never make bacon... left to their own devices - there would never be bacon...

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/fo ... ing-bacon/

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Ok if we're going to hijack the thread, might as well do it in style.

Go on then, you've got me. I can understand that you 'make' your own minced beef, and 'making' sausages is a straightforward concept, but, as a pedant, I have to take you to task over making your own bacon, How can you do that, only pigs can make bacon!

pigs never make bacon... left to their own devices - there would never be bacon...

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/fo ... ing-bacon/

I see. it would appear that I've foolishly mixed up pork with bacon. For a pedant that is bad.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Ok if we're going to hijack the thread, might as well do it in style.

Go on then, you've got me. I can understand that you 'make' your own minced beef, and 'making' sausages is a straightforward concept, but, as a pedant, I have to take you to task over making your own bacon, How can you do that, only pigs can make bacon!

pigs never make bacon... left to their own devices - there would never be bacon...

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/fo ... ing-bacon/

I see. it would appear that I've foolishly mixed up pork with bacon. For a pedant that is bad.

Aye. Bish has saved me the bother. I prefer to make it myself as I can control the flavour/fat etc etc. It is easy as well

[TANGODANCER]

Returning to the fat lady:

Got drawn into the lounge tonight by hearing Andreas Bocelli singing the aria La Donna e mobile from Rigolleto. I first heard this many,many years ago in a radio drama: Paul Temple and The Case of the Singing Spider where they played it. Never forgotten that. There were three Chinese tenors singing O Sole Mio too, not opera, but done by a rake of opera singers, so a good fat lady night.

[William the White]

Returning to the fat lady:

Got drawn into the lounge tonight by hearing Andreas Bocelli singing the aria La Donna e mobile from Rigolleto. I first heard this many,many years ago in a radio drama: Paul Temple and The Case of the Singing Spider where they played it. Never forgotten that. There were three Chinese tenors singing O Sole Mio too, not opera, but done by a rake of opera singers, so a good fat lady night.

Rigoletto (daft drama, great tunes) is on in the NY Met season in the New Year. Are you coming?

[William the White]

tonight was NY Met Live, Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, in Cineworld down in the Valley.

Was stunning in every way - design, staging, orchestra and - especially - singing. An outstanding production. A delight. A romantic melodrama really, but delivered with real passion. Verdi is such a lush composer, no half measures for him. huge cast, including members of the Met ballet for the Masked Ball itself in Act 3.

My old git's ticket got me in for £10.35.

Next week is Verdi again - Aida. They showed a short preview. They've unearthed another stunning soprano. Cannot wait.

[bobo the clown]

tonight was NY Met Live, Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, in Cineworld down in the Valley.

Was stunning in every way - design, staging, orchestra and - especially - singing. An outstanding production. A delight. A romantic melodrama really, but delivered with real passion. Verdi is such a lush composer, no half measures for him. huge cast, including members of the Met ballet for the Masked Ball itself in Act 3.

My old git's ticket got me in for £10.35.

Next week is Verdi again - Aida. They showed a short preview. They've unearthed another stunning soprano. Cannot wait.

Spoiler .... she dies !!

[William the White]

tonight was NY Met Live, Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, in Cineworld down in the Valley.

Was stunning in every way - design, staging, orchestra and - especially - singing. An outstanding production. A delight. A romantic melodrama really, but delivered with real passion. Verdi is such a lush composer, no half measures for him. huge cast, including members of the Met ballet for the Masked Ball itself in Act 3.

My old git's ticket got me in for £10.35.

Next week is Verdi again - Aida. They showed a short preview. They've unearthed another stunning soprano. Cannot wait.

Spoiler .... she dies !!

[William the White]

Outstanding Verdi (again!) from New York Met Opera. Four hours and riveting.

Tonight was Aida. Tremendous in all ways, but the two female leads totally faultless.

The sets were massive.

The cast was huge. There must have been in excess of 300 people on stage by the end of the triumphal march.

This was the final production of this year - there's six more to come in the first six months of 2013. I just hope that one day I'll be able to see the NY Met live. A brilliant, brilliant company!

[bobo the clown]

4 hours of opera ? After 70 min of crab football ?? Really ???

Today, 3hrs of paint drying !!

[Montreal Wanderer]

4 hours of opera ? After 70 min of crab football ?? Really ???

Today, 3hrs of paint drying !!

Do crabs get penalized if they use their claws?

[William the White]

4 hours of opera ? After 70 min of crab football ?? Really ???

Today, 3hrs of paint drying !!

At the opera there was passion, commitment, skill, inventiveness, colour, variety, excitement, crisis, climax and resolution... no part of the opera was crab.

Which do you think was the more engaging?

That said, the three season ticket holders who went straight from the Reebok to the opera went in a far, far better mood than otherwise they might have. We valued those final 20 minutes - and the subsequent four hours, and, indeed, the fish and chips with Prosecco afterwards.

[TANGODANCER]

Outstanding Verdi (again!) from New York Met Opera. Four hours and riveting.

Tonight was Aida. Tremendous in all ways, but the two female leads totally faultless.

The sets were massive.

The cast was huge. There must have been in excess of 300 people on stage by the end of the triumphal march.

This was the final production of this year - there's six more to come in the first six months of 2013. I just hope that one day I'll be able to see the NY Met live. A brilliant, brilliant company!

Lust in the dust hey Will. I know the story but have never seen the production, just bits of it in films etc (Inspector Morse was a real opera buff ) Jolly little tale ain't it just, and no happy ending. I can imagine it being terrific on stage.

On another topic I have videos of two versions of Bizet's Carmen, the Spanish one and the Glyndbourne version. Good stuff.

[William the White]

Second half of the season for the New York Met Opera Live season opens on Saturday with Berlioz's Les Troyennes (The Trojans).

This is a new one on me but I'm confident it will be brilliant.

On at dozens of cinemas in the country - in Bolton at Cineworld in the Valley. Sat, 17.55.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Second half of the season for the New York Met Opera Live season opens on Saturday with Berlioz's Les Troyennes (The Trojans).

This is a new one on me but I'm confident it will be brilliant.

On at dozens of cinemas in the country - in Bolton at Cineworld in the Valley. Sat, 17.55.

If it is the whole thing I believe it is quite long. Many performances are only part of it, leaving out the destruction of Troy and starting with Dido in Carthage.

[William the White]

Second half of the season for the New York Met Opera Live season opens on Saturday with Berlioz's Les Troyennes (The Trojans).

This is a new one on me but I'm confident it will be brilliant.

On at dozens of cinemas in the country - in Bolton at Cineworld in the Valley. Sat, 17.55.

If it is the whole thing I believe it is quite long. Many performances are only part of it, leaving out the destruction of Troy and starting with Dido in Carthage.

341 minutes!!!

It starts at 17.00, by the way... So, 19 mins short of 6 hours...

Not the longest I've been to (that was the complete live performance of Don Carlos by Verdi, in Manchester, which started at 17.00 and finished at 23.40)... Two good intervals for food and drink, we took a picnic for the first and surreptitious gin and tonic for the second... It was brilliant, and appealed to the Dunkirk spirit - the thought that we could definitely get through this and come out the other side, exhausted but undefeated got us through to the curtain...

[Montreal Wanderer]

Second half of the season for the New York Met Opera Live season opens on Saturday with Berlioz's Les Troyennes (The Trojans).

This is a new one on me but I'm confident it will be brilliant.

On at dozens of cinemas in the country - in Bolton at Cineworld in the Valley. Sat, 17.55.

If it is the whole thing I believe it is quite long. Many performances are only part of it, leaving out the destruction of Troy and starting with Dido in Carthage.

341 minutes!!!

It starts at 17.00, by the way... So, 19 mins short of 6 hours...

Not the longest I've been to (that was the complete live performance of Don Carlos by Verdi, in Manchester, which started at 17.00 and finished at 23.40)... Two good intervals for food and drink, we took a picnic for the first and surreptitious gin and tonic for the second... It was brilliant, and appealed to the Dunkirk spirit - the thought that we could definitely get through this and come out the other side, exhausted but undefeated got us through to the curtain...

I guess 'quite' was my typical English understatement. Rather you than me, William, unless they provide a bed at the intermission.

[William the White]

Well, it was fantastic. Disappointingly short at only 5 hours 29 mins when we had been promised 5 hours 41...

And it's certainly possible to see why, as Monty says above, they frequently produce only the love story of Dido and Aeneas and leave the whole first act, focused on the fall of Troy, and culminating in the mass suicide of the Trojan women. This Act is not far short of 2 hours in itself. I'm very glad to have seen it though. It is dark as midnight, cruel and fierce.

There are long balletic sections - the second opera on the run when the Met Dance Co has been called into action - particularly in Act 2, as the love story gets steamier and steamier, reaching its climax with the aria On a night like this... a night of infinite ecstasy, a duet of 15 minutes length and totally erotic.

The production was tremendous, from the military massacres, to the love affair, to the betrayal. The music is stunning. the performances, particularly of Cassandra, Dido and Aeneas, outstanding as the met of ten is.

Over one hundred singing in the chorus, two dozen dancers, a dozen principals, this is opera on a monumental scale. Fantastic.

All this for a tenner...

[William the White]

Tomorrow (Tues) night, 19.15, live from Covent Garden, in cinemas all over the UK and in 22 different countries, Puccini's La Boheme is broadcast.

On in Bolton at Cineworld in the Valley.

This is a great opera, and just produced at the appropriate time of year for a piece whose most famous aria is the much mocked Your tiny hand is frozen....

A mere 2 hours 45... I've seen this opera four or five times. And love it.

[bobo the clown]

Tomorrow (Tues) night, 19.15, live from Covent Garden, in cinemas all over the UK and in 22 different countries, Puccini's La Boheme is broadcast.
.................

A mere 2 hours 45... I've seen this opera four or five times. And love it.

Could you not understand it the first 2 or 3 times ???