In the Don Giovanni that has just opened in Paris, the eponymous hero has become an irredeemable sex pest of a businessman. Too much power and sex has corroded his soul. Perhaps you work with him. Perhaps you are him. At the end, in his nocturnal office, Giovanni is stabbed through the heart by the co-worker he sexually assaulted in act one, thrown through a window by a crowd of downtrodden cleaners, at least one of whom he tried to grope, and then accompanied to hell by the rotting corpse of the CEO he murdered at the outset. Twenty-first century moral? Don't stay late at the office.
Markus Werba as Don Giovanni
The desperate Don's comeuppance, though, strikes me as unfair. As Kierkegaard noted in Either/Or, Don Giovanni is the opera's erotically animating presence. "His passion resonates everywhere; it resonates in and supports the Commendatore's earnestness, Elvira's wrath, Anna's hate, Ottavio's pomposity, Zerlina's anxiety, Mazetto's indignation, Leporello's confusion. As the hero in the opera, Don Giovanni is the denominator of the piece." Take him away and you're left with the bourgeois moralising of the opera's epilogue – an epilogue that any director worth their salt would cut were it not for Mozart's music.
Duncan Rock & Richard Crichton talk to Gaydar's Neil Sexton and Debbie Ryan
In Carlos Saura's 2009 film Io, Don Giovanni about the life of Mozart's librettist Da Ponte, the hero becomes a projection of the librettist's desire. In Claus Guth's 2008 succès de scandale in Salzburg, the mortally wounded heroin user – Giovanni – is imagined as the creation of the desires of all three women (Zerlina, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira) he usually spends the opera mistreating. Women want him, men want to be like him. In Guth's treatment, the usually pious Donna Anna kills herself because she can't have him. No matter that he killed her dad. [Read entire article HERE]
What could we possibly say about Mozart that either hasn't been said or you don't know already? Born on January 27, 1756, he was a child prodigy, who wrote his first symphony when he was eight years old and his first opera at age twelve. He went on to write some of the most important masterpieces of the Classical era, including symphonies, operas, string quartets and piano music. Of course, he has been an endless source of material for Barihunks, especially his operas Don Giovanni and Cosi fan tutte, which provide us with an ongoing stream of sexy low voices.
We think the best way to celebrate his birthday is with some music from our favorite singers:
Erwin Schrott sings "Madamina" from Don Giovanni:
Markus Werba sings "Hai già vinta la cuasa" from "Marriage of Figaro":
Ildebrando D'Arcangelo & Ruxandra Donose sing "Il core vi dono" from Cosi fan tutte:
Gérard Souzay sings "Deh vieni alla finestra"from Don Giovanni:
Simon Keenlyside sings "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja" from the Magic Flute:
Here are five Brahms songs performed by barihunk Markus Werba and pianist Gary Matthewman. This is from an October 2010 performance at Wigmore Hall in London that was broadcast on BBC 3.
The set includes: Vor dem Fenster, Op.14'1 Ein Sonett, Op.14'4 Der Gang zum Liebchen, Op.48'1 Murrays Ermordung, Op.14'3 Alte Liebe, Op.72'1 O kühler Wald, Op.72'3 Unüberwindlich, Op.72'5
Here is Part 1 of the Italian TV show "Tutti all'Opera," which shows the making of Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" from a backstage perspective at the Teatro Petruzzelli. The clip includes some rehearsal footage and a brief interview with Italian barihunk Vittorio Prato.
You can read about Vittorio Prato's upcoming schedule at our previous post about the singer. There are also a few additional photos at that link.
The chorus doing to Markus Werba what the rest of us are imagining.
We love live footage from operas despite the shaky cameras. It truly captures singers in their natural element without sound engineers, microphones and editing. Here is Markus Werba and Irini Kyriakidou performing "Là ci darem la mano" from Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia:
Markus Werba is wrapping up a run as Papageno in Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris opposite the brilliant soprano Sandrine Piau as Pamina. Werba next heads to the Teatro la Fenice where he will perform Guglielmo in Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte."
Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com
2012 Barihunk charity calendars are still available
Fans of barihunks and Bach in Montréal were in luck this week when the internationally acclaimed Austrian barihunk Markus Werba teamed up with Canadian sensation and Met Auditions winner Philippe Sly for a riveting rendition of Bach's "St. John's passion." Our source in Montréal told us that Sly's voice filled the space with "a full, lush sound that radiated to the rafters." To top things off, Canadian barihunk Tyler Duncan was also in the cast.
We've followed Sly's career since he started creating a sensation during the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions Competition. Opera aficionados are already hailing him as the next great baritone sensation. We've had the pleasure of hearing him in recital and performance and the early praise is well-deserved. He will be featured in a solo recital on June 1, 2012 at the Shenkman Arts Cenre in Ottawa. We're telling you about it now, because tickets are bound to sell fast. You can visit the Shenkman website for tickets and concert information.
We've posted Sly's rendition of Schubert's "Der Erlkönig" before, but we think it's worth posting again, as it rivals the greatest versions that have ever been performed (and he's in his early 20's!):
Markus Werba heads to the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris this December to sing Papageno in Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" in a cast that features the brilliant soprano Sandrine Piau as Pamina. Click HERE for tickets or additional performance information.
Here is Werba as Papageno from a 2003 production at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari with a cast that also featured Piau:
Tyler Duncan can next be heard in an eclectic program of music inspired by water with The Jefferey Concerts in London, Ontario. Joined by soprano Martha Guth and Duncan's wife, accompanist Erika Switzer, the trio will perform works by Schubert, Fauré, Joni Mitchell and Stan Rogers. Visit their website for additional information.
Tyler Duncan
Duncan then heads off to Boston to join the Handel & Haydn Society for their annual dose of the Messiah.
Contact us at barihunks@gmail.com
If you're thinking about a holiday gift, don't forget to purchase our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar. All proceeds are going to benefit young artists, so buy your calendar now and support our future generation of singers.
Markus Werba & Alex Esposito opening at La Fenice this week
They better have the sprinklers ready at La Fenice, because the famous theater is going to be on fire later this week. Luckily, not like the fires of 1774, 1836 and 1996, which literally burned the theater to the ground. This time the heat will be coming from Austrian barihunk Markus Werba as Count Almaviva and Italian barihunk Alex Esposito in their revival of Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro."
The two singers will share the stage in the first cast run of the opera beginning this Friday, October 14 and running through October 22. Visit the La Fenice website for additional cast and performance information. Here are Werba and Esposito singing some Mozart.
We recently featured a post about all of the Mozart on Alex Esposito's schedule. We've posted often about his definitive Leporello, but we've never featured a video of his Papageno. Fortunately, it was recorded by RAI 5 from La Scala during its recent run in April 2011. Esposito's Papagena is Ailish Tynan.
Günther Groissböck
The cast also included barihunk Günther Groissböck as Sarastro. Here he is singing "In diesen heil'gen Hallen." You won't want to miss hearing his beautiful rolling bass. The Austrian bass is currently singing the role at the Vienna State Opera with the Papageno of fellow barihunk Markus Werba.
Gérard Souzay is one of our favorite historical hunks, so it seemed fitting that we celebrate the 201st birthday of Robert Schumann with his Dichterliebe. The song cycle, which roughly translates as "The Poet's Love," was written in 1840 and is based on the great poetry of Heinrich Heine. The very natural, almost hyper-sensitive poetical affections of the poems are beautifully mirrored in Schumann's settings, with their miniaturist chromaticism and suspensions. The poet's love is a hothouse of nuanced responses to the delicate language of flowers, dreams and fairy-tales. Schumann adapts the words of the poems to his needs for the songs, sometimes repeating phrases and often rewording a line to supply the desired cadence.
1. Im wunderschönen Monat Mai (Heine, Lyrical Intermezzo no 1). (In beautiful May, when the buds sprang, love sprang up in my heart: in beautiful May, when the birds all sang, I told you my suffering and longing.)
2. Aus meinen Tränen sprießen (Heine no 2). (Many flowers spring up from my tears, and a nightingale choir from my sighs: If you love me, I'll pick them all for you, and the nightingale will sing at your window.)
3. Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube, die Sonne (Heine no 3). (I used to love the rose, lily, dove and sun, joyfully: now I love only the little, the fine, the pure, the One: you yourself are the source of them all.)
4. Wenn ich in deine Augen seh (Heine no 4). (When I look in your eyes all my pain and woe fades: when I kiss your mouth I become whole: when I recline on your breast I am filled with heavenly joy: and when you say, 'I love you', I weep bitterly.)
5. Ich will meine Seele tauchen (Heine no 7). (I want to bathe my soul in the chalice of the lily, and the lily, ringing, will breathe a song of my beloved. The song will tremble and quiver, like the kiss of her mouth which in a wondrous moment she gave me.)
6. Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome (Heine no 11). (In the Rhine, in the sacred stream, great holy Cologne with its great cathedral is reflected. In it there is a face painted on golden leather, which has shone into the confusion of my life. Flowers and cherubs float about Our Lady: the eyes, lips and cheeks are just like those of my beloved.)
7. Ich grolle nicht (Heine no 18). (I do not chide you, though my heart breaks, love ever lost to me! Though you shine in a field of diamonds, no ray falls into your heart's darkness. I have long known it: I saw the night in your heart, I saw the serpent that devours it: I saw, my love, how empty you are.)
8. Und wüßten's die Blumen, die kleinen (Heine no 22). (If the little flowers only knew how deeply my heart is wounded, they would weep with me to heal my suffering, and the nightingales would sing to cheer me, and even the starlets would drop from the sky to speak consolation to me: but they can't know, for only One knows, and it is she that has torn my heart asunder.) 9. Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen (Heine no 20). (There is a playing of flutes and violins and trumpets, for they are dancing the wedding-dance of my best-beloved. There is a thunder and booming of kettle-drums and shawms. In between, you can hear the good cupids sobbing and moaning.) 10. Hör' ich das Liedchen klingen (Heine no 40). (When I hear that song which my love once sang, my breast bursts with wild affliction. Dark longing drives me to the forest hills, where my too-great woe pours out in tears.) 11. Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen (Heine no 39). (A youth loved a maiden who chose another: the other loved another girl, and married her. The maiden married, from spite, the first and best man that she met with: the youth was sickened at it. It's the old story, and it's always new: and the one whom she turns aside, she breaks his heart in two.) 12. Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen (Heine no 45). (On a sunny summer morning I went out into the garden: the flowers were talking and whispering, but I was silent. They looked at me with pity, and said, 'Don't be cruel to our sister, you sad, death-pale man.')13. 13. Ich hab' im Traum geweinet (Heine no 55). (I wept in my dream, for I dreamt you were in your grave: I woke, and tears ran down my cheeks. I wept in my dreams, thinking you had abandoned me: I woke, and cried long and bitterly. I wept in my dream, dreaming you were still good to me: I woke, and even then my floods of tears poured forth.)
14. Allnächtlich im Traume (Heine no 56). (I see you every night in dreams, and see you greet me friendly, and crying out loudly I throw myself at your sweet feet. You look at me sorrowfully and shake your fair head: from your eyes trickle the pearly tear-drops. You say a gentle word to me and give me a sprig of cypress: I awake, and there is no sprig, and I have forgotten what the word was.)
15. Aus alten Märchen winkt es (Heine no 43). (The old fairy tales tell of a magic land where great flowers shine in the golden evening light, where trees speak and sing like a choir, and springs make music to dance to, and songs of love are sung such as you have never heard, till wondrous sweet longing infatuates you! Oh, could I only go there, and free my heart, and let go of all pain, and be blessed! Ah! I often see that land of joys in dreams: then comes the morning sun, and it vanishes like smoke.)
16. Die alten, bösen Lieder (Heine no 65). (The old bad songs, and the angry, bitter dreams, let us now bury them, bring a large coffin. I shall put very much therein, I shall not yet say what: the coffin must be bigger than the 'Tun' at Heidelberg. And bring a bier of stout, thick planks, they must be longer than the Bridge at Mainz. And bring me too twelve giants, who must be mightier than the Saint Christopher in the cathedral at Cologne. They must carry the coffin and throw it in the sea, because a coffin that large needs a large grave to put it in. Do you know why the coffin must be so big and heavy? I will also put my love and my suffering into it).
As a bonus, here is Souzay singing Widmung. In "Widmung," Schumann confessed all of the things his beloved Clara Wieck (Schumann) was to him; his peace, angel, repose, rapture, heart, soul, grave for sorrows, better self and his heaven. In this carefully balanced arrangement of text and music, he revealed the depth of his engagement as a poet-musician. This spirited song contains a few devices which reappeared in his later works, including sweeping keyboard passages and the haunting enharmonic progression (A flat major to E flat major) to the central section. He altered the text by repeating the final verse, and these last measures contain a thoughtful instrumental effect, which eclipses the text and introduces a new motif.
Also, make sure that you check out our recent post of Austrian barihunk Markus Werba singing Schumann's "Faust."
We posted a clip of Markus Werba in April 2008 dubbed "Goethe-dammerung," which featured him singing from Schumann's underperformed "Scenes from Goethe's Faust." The original clip was deleted by the YouTube user, but a new clip has emerged and we feel that it's worth watching, so we're reposting it with a little bit of history about the piece (excerpted from Wikipedia). You can also hear some very different interpretations by Bryn Terfel, Herman Prey and Christian Gerhaher at the Robert Schumann site.
Written between 1844 and 1853, Szenen aus Goethes Faust (Scenes from Goethe's Faust) has been described as the height of composer Robert Schumann’s accomplishments in the realm of dramatic music.
Schumann's work on what he labeled an oratorio began just over a decade after Goethe’s completion of Part Two of the dramatic poem Faust in 1832, the year of Goethe's death. Many contemporary readers of Faust found Goethe's epic poem daunting and difficult to grasp. Goethe himself declared only Mozart fit to write the music for Faust (though Mozart died in 1791, almost 20 years prior to the completion of Part One of Faust).
Schumann explained the weight of the task before him in an 1845 letter to Felix Mendelssohn: "[A]ny composer would not only be judged by his treatment of one of the seminal and most-widely acclaimed works in German literature, but would also be setting himself up to be compared to Mozart."
Yet despite Schumann's expressed reservations about the work, it has been labeled Schumann's "magnum opus." Schumann opens wide "a manifold musical world" that coherently draws together elements of "lied, horror opera, grand opera, oratorio, and church music."
Schumann's music suggests the struggle between good and evil at the heart of Goethe's work, as well as Faust's tumultuous search for enlightenment and peace. Schumann's restless orchestration brings to the fore Faust's delusions upon hearing of a new world being created and its rapturous promise of an everlasting present.
Although often overlooked within Schumann's impressive oeuvre, Szenen aus Goethes Faust has been deemed among Schumann's most moving works, and a pinnacle of his quintessential Romantic concern with the extra-musical and literary potential of musical expression.
