WHAT'S OPERA, DOC? part one

You guessed it - my next topic of discussion is opera. I have to present it in a way that makes it palatable to the 15 and 16 year old clientele to whom i serve it. What better way to introduce opera than in the same way I first came to enjoy it?

This first is a famous parody on the overture of the great Rossini's piece de resistance "Il Barbiere di Siviglia". Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.








The beloved aria "Largo al Factotum" from Rossini's Barber of Seville:







... and a version of the same which gripped me in a sort of horrid fascination ...







Italian opera in the first half of the 19th century is synonymous with the name of Giocchino Rossini. The most revered and successful operatic composer of his day, Rossini wrote 40 operas in the span of 20 years. His final opera, Guillaume Tell, was the longest (6 hours!) and most elaborate, depicting the 14th-century legend of the Swiss folk hero who led the fight for independence from the Austrian Hapsburgs. The Overture is actually a four-section tone poem: a depiction of dawn in the mountains opens the piece, followed by raindrops, wind and a violent storm. The English horn and flute provide the calm which follows; the tune is based on a Swiss cowherd's cattle call. The bucolic pastoral scene is interrupted with the approach of the Swiss army, heralded by the trumpet's now-famous Lone Ranger theme song.







... and just for fun ...