The Bluffer's Guide to Opera by Keith Hann

Author:Keith Hann
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bluffer's Guides

RECITATIVE: CLASSIC OPERA PLOTS AND TUNES

THE PLOTS

The ultimate opera plot centres on a pretty (and, in past times, probably rather plump) young woman who is gravely impoverished and/or suffering from a terminal illness. A man is madly in love with her but cannot hope to win her heart because she is:

a) already madly in love with someone else; and/or

b) from a vastly different social class; and/or

c) already betrothed to an elderly guardian; and/or

d) incredibly frigid; or

e) a nun; or

f) a lesbian (twentieth century and later operas only); or

g) a bloke in drag.

The librettist then throws in a few more characters, at least two of whom will be operating under a false identity, for reasons too complex to grasp until at least your third reading of the synopsis. All of these will be in love with at least one of the principals, and possibly both of them.

In a classic opera, you may assume with a reasonable degree of assurance that Character A will be in love with Character B, who will be in love with Character C, who will in turn be in love with Character A. Or, if the librettist was aiming for something a bit out of the ordinary, Character D, E or F.

You can also be more or less certain that anyone presenting themselves as a slave or a prisoner of war is, in fact, concealing his or her identity as a member of some royal family or other.

To take an example, Handel’s opera Partenope concerns, unsurprisingly, (A) Partenope, Queen of Naples (a soprano; see ‘Glossary’, page 104) who is being pursued by four suitors: (B) Arsace, Prince of Corinth (originally a castrato); (C) Armindo, Prince of Rhodes (a contralto dressed as a man); (D) Emilio, Prince of Cumae (a tenor); and (E) Euremine (a contralto or mezzo-soprano who is not merely another woman dressed as a man, but really IS a woman called Rosmira in disguise). You will note how the librettist has cunningly added to the confusion by endowing at least two of the protagonists with reasonably similar names. A is in love with B, who was formerly betrothed to E. B, who has the good fortune to be marginally more intelligent than the sisters in Così fan Tutte, has seen through E’s disguise and knows that he is really a she. A rejects a proposal of marriage from D, who then declares war on her (as you do) but is defeated and captured by B, though E successfully claims the credit for the victory. C is spurned by A. E challenges B to a duel, which B accepts – but racily insists that they must fight bare-chested, which thoroughly puts the mockers on E’s disguise. B and E are then reconciled, and A gets together with C, presumably leaving D grumbling like Muttley the dog.

And if you think that is confusing, it was only chosen because it seemed like one of Handel’s simpler operas.

In eighteenth-century opera seria and later grand opera, the impoverished/terminally ill woman at the centre of the plot will die, noisily, possibly along with several other members of the cast.

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