The Opera Screen
Disclaimer: The inspiration for this post is inspired by an aspect of the Masters research of my voice coach, Miss Jo-Nette Le Kay. She has conceptualized and staged a show titled "Opera and the Silver Screen" several times across South Africa, with various collaborative pianists. She selected items of Operatic repertoire which appear in some of the greatest films of cinematic history. Part of the purpose of this blog post is therefore to expand that list, without pilfering from her own.
For the lay wo/man, I have often heard it said that Opera is "far off", only heard in the great Opera Houses, or in Concerts, Soirees, Fundraisers or Recitals. I thought it would be fun to mark the Festive season with a lighthearted blog post about how the opposite is the case - through a cinematographic lens!
I must add an important postscript: this post will be adapted! I recently packed up my digs, having now graduated with Distinction for my BA Honours year in Opera, at Rhodes University, South Africa. I had written an extensive list of films and series I have watched which feature a piece of opera music, but, Murphy's law, I packed it in a storage box, not my immediate luggage! By February 2019, those boxes will be back in my hands, and I'll get to work. I pinky promise.
The first item of repertoire on my list features in the film adaptation of E.M. Forster's A Room With A View, directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant. Featuring Helena Bonham Carter, Dame Judi Dench, and Daniel Day Lewis, this exquisite romance is set in Florence, and is accompanied throughout by the excellent music choices of Richard Robbins. One such piece is O mio babbino caro from "Gianni Schicchi" by Giacomo Puccini. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa sings with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Pritchard. If you're interested in purchasing it online, look for: CBS Masterworks (from the album "Kiri Te Kanawa - Puccini & Verdi Arias").
Here is a montage, which gives you an idea of the film, as well as the repertoire item in question:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyQ4vkTwc4E
Next on the list is:
What is so interesting about Happy Feet Two's inclusion of Puccini's E lucevan le stelle, from the opera Tosca, is that it is in English! While the lyrics are not direct translations (owing to having to make sense in the film script), the instrumental backing track stays true to the original composition. Not only does this use of a universal language break down the prejudice that opera is far off, but its use of the emotive backing track makes the drama of Tosca's opera more relate-able to a wider public.
Watch the delightful adaptation here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANgYdxHGk18
And watch Placido Domingo sing the original here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxdiJ74AL5
Number 3: Pretty Woman. In an iconic (some say problematic) scene, Vivian (played by Julia Roberts) trades her wardrobe of suits, polo dresses, and prostitute garb for a scarlet ball gown. Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) is whisking her off to a night at the opera! Vivian is moved to tears by San Francisco Opera's La Traviata. Interestingly, the plot revolves around the story of a prostitute who falls in love with a rich man.
Following closely behind is The Shawshank Redemption. Who can forget the goosebump-filled moment when (thanks Wikipedia):
"prisoner Andy Dufresne defies Warden Sam Norton by playing an excerpt of Mozart's Sull'aria over the prison's public address system. Norton sentences Dufresne to solitary confinement as a result. Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding remarks in his voice-over narration: "I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. [...] I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can't be expressed in words, and it makes your heart ache because of it."[2] This is ironic as the opera characters are singing about a duplicitous love letter to expose infidelity, and Dufresne's wife's affair is the event which indirectly leads to his imprisonment".
Check it out here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=718RlaIYBlo
Next is so famous that an explanation of it is unnecessary. It's also nicely explained by Opera Wire here:
http://operawire.com/opera-meets-film-the-godfather-part-iiis-operatic-structure-as-reflected-through-cavalleria-rusticana/
The operatic scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJGAaqeBUhs
Now for some films which feature a / the idea of an opera singer:
Renee Flemming makes several appearances in Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of The King; the first, with
* Howard Shore's Twilight and Shadow, sung in elvish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvFGfom72kQ
* The End of All Things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceMOyMF6tGQ
* And in a song that is just as much Arwen's as it it Aragorn's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHjt9Q00sp4
Her Majesty The Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody - in film and song.
I had great pleasure in watching this film with a friend, on Wednesday 19 December. Something that gave me great delight was how, while irreverently, Freddie Mercury and co. paid homage to opera, by including mock-operatic singing in the above-titled cross-genre composition. In fact, they titled the album in which their rhapsody lasted 6 minutes, "A Night At The Opera".
Enjoy! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEd5knqzQiw
Endeavour & Inspector Morse - Inspector Morse is constantly playing Opera, particularly works by Wagner.
The next two are on my "To Watch" list:
* Bel Canto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBIQ0KFGn8M
* Maria by Callas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xmsGzhhDGE
Here are some additions to the list, submitted by a reader who wishes to remain anonymous:
- Carmen Jones: Bizet's Carmen, reworked by Oscar Hammerstein into a WW2, African-American musical setting.
- Amadeus: About W. A. Mozart's life and work, featuring several famous compositions of his.
Diva - "This [French] atmospheric thriller is about a young postal delivery boy, his obsession with an opera diva, the bootleg tapes he makes of her performances, and the evil hoods who chase him down, thinking he has a tape that implicates them in a crime" (Thanks Rotten Tomatoes). A REAL OPERA SINGER, Wilhemina Wiggins Fernandez, stars as the diva of the film, and sings Catalani's aria "La Wally".
I hope that you enjoyed learning about a few lesser known opera and opera singer appearances that have made "the big screen".
Let us know in the comments below what other examples you can add to the list - many hands make light work!
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Love and Light
The Forest Weaver xx
I can be found flitting about on Insta @the_forest_weaver.
