Fidelio!

[Joy]

Our PBS station here in Phoenix will present 'Fidelio' from The Metropolitan Opera's season's premier performance this Thursday at 9:00p.m. Anyone else going to watch this opera on their PBS stations? Chaszz, will it be shown in your area?
I'm sure it will be shown on all PBS stations across the country.

[Chaszz]

Originally posted by Joy:
Our PBS station here in Phoenix will present 'Fidelio' from The Metropolitan Opera's season's premier performance this Thursday at 9:00p.m. Anyone else going to watch this opera on their PBS stations? Chaszz, will it be shown in your area?
I'm sure it will be shown on all PBS stations across the country.

Yes, Joy, I will be watching. I think it is a performance from last season, which was the premiere of this production. The small screen will probably give some idea of the splendor of the set, which in the first act held my attention as much as the music and the plot, albeit it was a prison.

[chopithoven]

Originally posted by Joy:
Our PBS station here in Phoenix will present 'Fidelio' from The Metropolitan Opera's season's premier performance this Thursday at 9:00p.m. Anyone else going to watch this opera on their PBS stations? Chaszz, will it be shown in your area?
I'm sure it will be shown on all PBS stations across the country.

Is the performance conducted by Peter Schneider? If it is, I listened it live in a radio broadcast, three weeks ago, sponsored by Chevron-Texaco, and it had a really great scope, because it reached Argentina, where I live.

[This message has been edited by chopithoven (edited December 23, 2002).]

[Chaszz]

Originally posted by chopithoven:
Is the performance conducted by Peter Schneider? If it is, I listened it live in a radio broadcast, three weeks ago, sponsored by Chevron-Texaco, and it had a really great scope, because it reached Argentina, where I live.

[This message has been edited by chopithoven (edited December 23, 2002).]

The performance conducted by Peter Schneider
which you heard was live from the Met. I had seen an earlier performance of the same production a week or two earlier which I commented on on this site.

The performance to be shown on PBS on 12/26 is a tape of the same production from last year, when it premiered, and was conducted by James Levine. Details can be found here: http://www.metopera.org/broadcast/fideliotelecast.html

[Chaszz]

In connection with these broadcasts and the name Peter Schneider, I'd like to tell a story. Years ago I had an aunt who was divorced and late in life remarried a man named Peter Schneider (a different one, of course). This Peter was a carpenter and cabinetmaker who had worked for years at the Metroplolitan Opera building and painting sets. This couple bickered quite a bit but were united in their love of opera and their cat. They lived at the beach and I would go there often; Saturday afternoons were the festive times of the Met broadcasts.

In my younger days I wouldn't listen to opera and only liked intrumental music, expecially Bach. Now that I'm into opera hook, line and sinker, I remember with regret the many times they would try to interest me in opera, and tell me that Bach was so mechanical and repetitious. They extolled the beauties of Mozart especially, crooning to me over the radio as it played on those Saturday afternoons. They both passed away some years ago. I would give anything to sit and enjoy some opera with them now. Time, what hast thou robbed from us?.....

[This message has been edited by Chaszz (edited December 24, 2002).]

[chopithoven]

Originally posted by Chaszz:
In connection with these broadcasts and the name Peter Schneider, I'd like to tell a story. Years ago I had an aunt who was divorced and late in life remarried a man named Peter Schneider (a different one, of course). This Peter was a carpenter and cabinetmaker who had worked for years at the Metroplolitan Opera building and painting sets. This couple bickered quite a bit but were united in their love of opera and their cat. They lived at the beach and I would go there often; Saturday afternoons were the festive times of the Met broadcasts.

In my younger days I wouldn't listen to opera and only liked intrumental music, expecially Bach. Now that I'm into opera hook, line and sinker, I remember with regret the many times they would try to interest me in opera, and tell me that Bach was so mechanical and repetitious. They extolled the beauties of Mozart especially, crooning to me over the radio as it played on those Saturday afternoons. They both passed away some years ago. I would give anything to sit and enjoy some opera with them now. Time, what hast thou robbed from us?.....

[This message has been edited by Chaszz (edited December 24, 2002).]

But aren't the radio broadcasts diffused on saturdays?

[Chaszz]

Originally posted by chopithoven:
But aren't the radio broadcasts diffused on saturdays?

Chopithoven, I'm not sure what you mean by 'diffused'...Yes, the broadcasts are still with us, thankfully. But my aunt and her Pete are gone...

[Chaszz]

I'm watching the PBS broadcast now. I hope some other members are getting to see it. The music is splendid. As for the sets, since they shoot it close so as to have the actors fill the screen, they rarely or never zoom out so you can see the whole 3-story-tall set, which is the way you watch it in the opera house. Therefore the stunning first act set was hard to appreciate at all. But the acting and of course the singing and the music...very fine.

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by Chaszz:
I'm watching the PBS broadcast now. I hope some other members are getting to see it. The music is splendid. As for the sets, since they shoot it close so as to have the actors fill the screen, they rarely or never zoom out so you can see the whole 3-story-tall set, which is the way you watch it in the opera house. Therefore the stunning first act set was hard to appreciate at all. But the acting and of course the singing and the music...very fine.

The nitwits of the media had the wrong programming number and the wrong time for the broadcast. As a result I was not able to record it (vcr) and to boot, I missed the entire 1st half. Grrrr! What I did see and hear I enjoyed very much.

[Joy]

I enjoyed it very much. The stage, actors, and the music were great!! I also enjoy the commentary telling about the opera house, etc. I did get to tape it. I saw another version a few years back, but think this was the best I've seen. Hooray for PBS!!

Joy

[spaceray]

It's difficult to enjoy the spectacle of opera on the small screen as Chaszz tells us about the wonderfull set that one cannot really see it's a bit frustrating.I don't enjoy going to the Opera at all too much perfume and people just won't be quiet it makes me wild particularly as one pays so dearly for the ticket.I haven't gone for years and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it.Beethoven 's writing for the human voice
is unsurpassed the quartet in the first act
"mir ist so wunderbar"the voices fit so splendidly together.