Tag: Opera
-
The parallel paths of opera and medicine
Fête musicale. Oil on canvas by Giovanni Paolo Pannini, 1747. Louvre Museum. Via Wikimedia. In 1597 when Jacopo Peri composed Dafne, the first opera ever written, sporadic epidemics of bubonic plague were still striking his city of Florence. Venice was also suffering greatly. It had been visited by the plague twenty-two times, and some 50,000…
-
Maria Callas—her inner voice revealed
Eelco Wijdicks Lea Dacy Rochester, Minnesota, United States Cover: Prima Donna: The Psychology of Maria Callas. In Prima Donna: The Psychology of Maria Callas, Paul Wink convincingly concludes—based on largely secondary sources—that Maria Callas was not only a wildly ambitious operator who was not known for an emollient manner, but a prime example of…
-
The finality in their voices: Death, disease, and palliation in opera
Lea C. Dacy Eelco F. M. Wijdicks Rochester, Minnesota, United States Figure 1: Violetta’s deathbed in La Traviata, from 2009 Glimmerglass Opera production directed by Sir Jonathan Miller. Photo by Richard Termine, used with his permission. I know she had tuberculosis! She was coughing her brains out . . . but still she kept…
-
Bad blood: The drama of bloodshed
Emily Boyle Dublin, Ireland Lucia’s mad scene – Rachelle Durkin as Lucia during The Chautauqua Opera’s dress rehearsal for Lucia di Lammermoor. Photo by Michelle Kanaar. In some professions, bloodstained clothing is a normal part of the job. The two jobs that come to mind principally are a butcher and a vascular surgeon, although…
-
“Breath of life you’ll be to me”—The portrayal of tuberculosis in the opera La Traviata
Judith Wagner Munich, Germany Maria Callas in La Traviata The white half-round of the stage is illuminated with an eerie blue light. The only prop is a large clock on the right-hand side. A dark figure is seated beside it. The door on the left opens and the heroine—clad all in red—enters the stage.…