Week 21 at the Met

Another Monday brings a fresh line-up of operas from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Week 21 at the Met features an English-language version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, productions of works by Verdi and Wagner from the 1990s, the company’s first-ever production of Handel’s Agrippina and more.

Each opera becomes available on the date listed at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT on the Metropolitan Opera website. There is no charge for watching these productions. Each opera will remain available for 23 hours. Note that the schedule is subject to change.

Those reading this column earlier enough on Monday, August 3rd, might still be able to catch the 2018-2019 season production of Wagner’s Die Walküre starring Christine Goerke as Brunnhilde.

Here is the line-up for Week 21 at the Met:

Monday, August 3 – Mozart’s The Magic Flute

Conducted by James Levine; starring Ying Huang, Erika Miklósa, Matthew Polenzani, Nathan Gunn and René Pape. This revival of Julie Taymor’s 2004 production is from the 2006-2007 season.

Mozart’s opera premiered in September 1791 in Vienna a mere two months before the composer died. It features a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder.

Prince Tamino is asked by the Queen of the Night to free her daughter Pamina from Sarastro. Tamino, however, is impressed with Sarastro and the way his community lives in the world and wants to be a part of it. Both alone and together Tamino and Pamina endure multiple tests. If they succeed, what will happen to them? To the Queen of the Night?

This production launched the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series. Had they not begun making live worldwide theatrical broadcast of their opera productions available, we very likely wouldn’t be enjoying all the streaming operas they have made available for free.

This version of The Magic Flute differs from the most recently shown Taymor production (on June 28th) in that it was shortened by over an hour and the German was replaced with an English language libretto.

Tuesday, August 4 – Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Conducted by Yves Abel; starring Erin Morley, Hibla Gerzmava, Kate Lindsey, Christine Rice, Vittorio Grigolo and Thomas Hampson. This revival of the 2009 Bartlett Sher production is from the 2014-2015 season.

Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffman had its world premiere in Paris in 1881. The libretto was written by Jules Barbier and was inspired by three short stories by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffman. Offenbach did not live to see this opera performed. He died four months before its premiere.

In the opera Offenbach and Barbier put the author of the stories in the middle of all the action. He’s seeking perfect love and tells a tavern crowd about three fruitless attempts at romance. The first with the daughter of an inventor who turns out to be a doll instead of a human being. The second with a beautiful young woman with a gorgeous voice, but whose singing may lead to her death. The third with a young woman who steals his reflection. Will poor Hoffman ever find love? Or will his writing be his lifelong companion?

In David Shengold’s Opera News review of this production he raved about Grigolo’s performance:

“…Grigolo may have found his most convincing Met part yet. His French is remarkably clear and accurate for an Italian tenor and — though he deployed his full resources at climaxes, often excitingly — Grigolo showed admirable dynamic variety in filling out Offenbach’s higher lines. His soft singing wasn’t exactly Gallic classic voix mixte but he integrated it gracefully into his overall vocalization, clear and attractive save for rather empty low notes. Grigolo paced himself well in this extremely demanding assignment; he tended to be placed near the lip of the stage, but he interacted with colleagues and created an actual character.”

Wednesday, August 5 – Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra

Conducted by James Levine; starring Kiri Te Kanawa, Plácido Domingo, Vladimir Chernov and Robert Lloyd. This Giancarlo del Monaco and Michael Scott production is from the 1994-1995 season.

Giuseppe Verdi’s opera is based on a play by Antonio García Gutiérrez, the same playwright whose work inspired Il Trovatore.  Francesco Maria Piave wrote the libretto. Simon Boccanegra had its world premiere in its first version in Venice in 1857. Verdi re-worked the opera and the revised version (with assistance from Arrigo Boito) was first performed at La Scala in Milan in 1881.

Simon Boccanegra is the Doge of Genoa. As the opera begins politics surround him and threaten to envelop him as rumors about his past follow him. But they are not just rumors. Twenty-five years ago Maria, his lover, died and their daughter disappeared.

Maria’s father and his adopted daughter are plotting to overthrow Boccanegra. Simultaneously the Doge is going to finally discover the whereabouts of his missing daughter. But will his enemies and the rising political storm make him another casualty?

This is not one of Verdi’s most beloved works. The fact he tried to re-work it doesn’t suggest great confidence. Critics often call in to question the absurd plotting and its reliance on secret revelations and coincidences.

Edward Rothstein wrote in his New York Times review, this was Verdi exploring themes that had long been a part of his work:

“Verdi’s lifelong preoccupations come to maturity in this work, as Boccanegra attempts to apply the laws of the family to the laws of the state. It is why the opera’s climaxes turn on recognitions: the hidden connections between citizens are being revealed, bringing with them the possibilities of political as well as familial reconciliation.

Thursday, August 6 – Puccini’s Madama Butterfly

Conducted by Karel Mark Chichon; starring Kristine Opolais, Maria Zifchak, Roberto Alagna and Dwayne Croft. This revival of Anthony Minghella’s 2006 production is from the 2015-2016 season.

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is one of the world’s best-loved operas. Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa wrote the libretto based on John Luther Long’s short story, Madame Butterfly and on the 1887 French novel Madame Chrysanthème by Pierre Loti. David Belasco turned Long’s story into the play Madame Butterfly: A Tragedy in Japan. Puccini saw the play in 1900 in London. His opera had its world premiere in 1904 at La Scala in Milan.

Cio-Cio San falls in love with an Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy named Pinkerton while he is stationed in Japan. They hold a wedding ceremony that Cio-Cio San takes very seriously. When Pinkerton has orders to go back to the States, she awaits his return. Unbeknownst to Pinkerton, Cio-Cio San has gotten pregnant and given birth to a son. When he finally does return with his American wife, Cio-Cio San is devastated. (If this sounds like the musical Miss Saigon, it is because Madama Butterfly served as the inspiration for that musical.)

In Eric C. Simpson’s review for New York Classical Review he praised Minghella’s production:

“Anthony Minghella’s production only grows more compelling with each viewing, it seems. Dazzlingly lit, brightly costumed, and light on its feet, it is an entertaining experience on its surface, but its brilliance goes much deeper. The use of stylish, symbolic choreography and hauntingly human bunraku puppetry finds inventive and illuminating solutions to the work’s narrative challenges. Populated with performers as thrilling as those in this cast, this staging is among the most dynamic that the Met can bring to bear. This is one revival that is not to be missed.”

Friday, August 7 – Wagner’s Parsifal 

Conducted by James Levine; starring Waltraud Meier, Siegfried Jerusalem, Bernd Weikl and Kurt Moll. This Otto Schenk production is from the 1991-1992 season.

Richard Wagner was inspired by Wolfram von Eschenbach’s poem about the knight Percival who was in search of the Holy Grail and served at King Arthur’s Round Table. Parsifal was the composer’s last completed opera. It had its world premiere in Bayreuth in 1882. Wagner wrote both the music and the libretto.

Young Parsifal is woefully unaware of right or wrong. He has no concept of sin nor redemption. Raised by his mother, he’s unfamiliar with the ways of the world. He meets one of the Knights of the Grail and is given the opportunity to see the Holy Grail. While at the Castle, he hears King Amfortas, crying in pain. Though Amfortas was given a life of immortality by the Grail, his pain comes from a wound inflicted by Klingsor who took the Holy Spear from the King. Parsifal makes it his mission to return the Spear and destroy Klingsor and his kingdom in order so that the King’s suffering can end.

The first ever performance of Parsifal outside of Bayreuth took place on Christmas eve in 1903 at the Metropolitan Opera. Wagner was known to write long operas and this is no exception. This production ran 5 hours and 45 minutes. However, since intermissions are not kept at performance length in these streams, you will probably save an hour or more from the runtime.

Saturday, August 8 – Handel’s Agrippina

Conducted by Harry Bicket; starring Brenda Rae, Joyce DiDonato, Kate Lindsey, Iestyn Davies, Duncan Rock and Matthew Rose. This David McVicar production is from the 2019-2020 season.

George Frideric Handel’s Agrippina has a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. The opera had its world premiere in 1709 in Venice at the Teatro S Giovanni Grisostomo which was owned by Grimani.

Agrippina is the Roman empress who is fixated on the idea of having her highly unqualified son, Nerone, take over the throne. To do that, she will stop at nothing to get her husband, Claudio, to cede it to him.

Though McVicar’s production was first staged in Brussels in 2000, this marked the first ever Metropolitan Opera production of Agrippina. Conductor Harry Bicket lead from the harpsichord and audiences and critics were enthralled.

Zachary Woolfe, in his review for the New York Times said, “Three centuries on, Agrippina remains bracing in its bitterness, with few glimmers of hope or virtue in the cynical darkness. But it’s irresistible in its intelligence — and in the shamelessness it depicts with such clear yet understanding eyes.”

Sunday, August 9 – Mozart’s Don Giovanni

Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Hibla Gerzmava, Malin Byström, Serena Malfi, Paul Appleby, Simon Keenlyside and Adam Plachetka. This revival of Michael Grandage’s 2011 production is from the 2016-2017 season.

The legend of Don Juan inspired this opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto is by Lorenzo da Ponte. Don Giovanni had its world premiere in 1787 in Prague.

Don Giovanni loves women. All women. Early in the opera he tries fleeing Donna Anna. In doing so her father, the Commendatore, awakens and challenges him to a duel. Giovanni kills the Commendatore – an event that will ultimately lead to his own descent into hell.

When Simon Keenlyside was announced as the title character in this production, it came two years after he suffered a vocal cord injury while rehearsing a production of Verdi’s Rigoletto in Vienna. A year later, thyroid surgery sidelined him.

James R. Oesterich, writing in the New York Times said his return was a good one:

“…he seemed in fine shape, vocally and physically. His voice rang out cleanly and clearly, and he showed good stamina in a portrayal long on physical exertion.”

That’s the complete line-up for Week 21 at the Met. Enjoy the operas. Enjoy your week. And if you enjoy these weekly previews of the Metropolitan Opera streaming schedules, be sure to tell your friends about Cultural Attaché.

Photo: Joyce DiDonato in the title role of Handel’s “Agrippina.” (Photo by Marty Sohl/Courtesy of Met Opera)