Opera in our time

In the year sixteen seventy eight sent every mon said Opera

is a bizarre affair of poetry and music in which the poet and the

musician each equally obstructed by the other give themselves

no end of trouble to produce a wretched result.

On the other hand a hundred years later Mozart said the best

thing of all is when a good composer who understands the stage meets an able

poet.

In that case no fears need be entertained as to the applause

even of the ignorant Riverside radio WRVA are in New York City presents

opera the battleground of the arts. In this series of half hour

programmes Borys gold ASCII discusses some of the problems that beset operators

and those who create and produce them. The programmes are produced in association

with the gold of ski opera Institute for National Educational radio under a

grant from the National Home Library Foundation. Is

nationally known as an intermission commentator for broadcaster the Metropolitan Opera

and as an opera producer principally through the productions of The God of Opera

Theatre which have been presented in about 400 communities from coast to coast

and now here is Mr. Gold of ski truly fine

performances of opera are quite rare.

They result from the presence of three basic elements talent money

and time by talent.

I mean the availability of a very considerable number of exceptionally gifted

people not only singers instrumentalists conductors stage

directors and Seanie can costume designers but also repertoire coaches

carpenters electricians and a host of other competent technicians.

Money is needed not only to remunerated these often very expensive

people but also to pay for scenery costumes and properties not to

mention the upkeep of the Opera House itself with its

endlessly complicated machinery. Even when there is ample

talent and money most of the time is usually spent on the preparation of new

productions so that the bulk of the repertoire is thrown together in a hurry

without the necessary rehearsals and with the resulting loss of detail and finish.

And finally even in cities such as New York or London

where a certain number of fine performances are given only comparatively few

spectators are lucky enough to get tickets to see them. Because

of this the relative rarity of fine operatic offerings many substitutes have

become popular these substitutes. We can call them results.

Opera can be divided into two basic groups live

but in complete opera and can opera in the first group we

have opera in concert form and opera in the round and in the second group.

Opera on radio and film on television and finally the

most popular of all substitutes opera on records.

Opera in concert form although it uses live singers and orchestra players

sacrifices most of the theatrical elements of this form of art. There

is no scenery or lighting and only a rudimentary amount of costuming in

dramatic action. The last naturally is monumental but to

compensate for it there is a very substantial saving in money and because of this

opera in concert form permits the performance of unfamiliar works

works and insistence on which would quickly bankrupt the impresario who would

attend full productions of these operas. It is well to keep in

mind that the basic international repertoire of opera consists of no more

than 60 works.

There are not too many opera devotees who can boast of having seen four productions of even the

60 but 60 more titles can be easily put together from among

neglected works of such acknowledged masters of opera as a bloke Mozart Rossi need

only that the verity Meyer bear must a name and Rimsky-Korsakov

unfamiliar operas of these and other composers could very profitably

be given in concert form. This would at the very least give the opera lover an

opportunity to become acquainted with their music. The great danger of this form of presentation

is that in this incomplete form many operatic works make a poor

impression because he sees a live performance of The Spectator often

imagines that he sees a complete theatrical presentation but the total

effect of such operas as Rimsky-Korsakov the Tsar's Bride or Meyer bears the

Huguenots is predicated on the presence of scenery costumes lights and above

all and stage movement and action. The impact of these works depends on the drama

and when most of the drama is absent the listener only too often is heard

remarking.

Now I understand why this work has been neglected for so long. It

is possible therefore that performances in concert form have occasionally done more

harm than good. In the round

because of its savings and scenery is also much less expensive than the more orthodox

type. And furthermore in this type of presentation one does not lose as many

theatrical values as in concert performances. There is plenty of dramatic action in theaters

in the round and this action is actually brought much closer to the spectator than

it is in conventional theatres where the orchestra pit forms a barrier between the singing

actors and the audience. This absence of an orchestra pit creates

However its own special problem. The trouble is that there is no

logical place to seat the instrumentalists. And as a result the number of

players is often reduced to a point where musical values suffer a very substantial loss.

Another disadvantage comes from the great difficulty of arranging for a proper

highlighting of important characters and events. One cannot get rid

of secondary characters by moving them up stage or by having them turn their backs

on the audience. There is no up stage. Strictly speaking and when

performers turn their backs on one section of the audience they automatically face another

group of spectators.

This creates very unfortunate situations especially with choristers who constantly tend

to obstruct the view of principal singers. One can sometimes remedy this

by making choristers crouch or sit on the ground but I will never forget my

struggles. Several summers ago when I was asked to produce verities

Rigoletto in the round it did not seem possible or proper to

ask the tall and proud courtiers of the Duke of Mantua to crouch or sit on the

floor.

And what with Rigoletto himself being a deformed dwarf like figure the problem of

visibility became a real headache. As we turn to

opera for the radio we observe at once that productions designed especially for

radio audiences do not exist any longer in the United States.

This type of opera still has a very great vitality in Europe where most of the great radio

networks have their own very fine orchestras and where not only the standard

repertoire but also many new and unfamiliar operatic works can be heard quite

regularly over the radio. The last real radio productions

of opera in our country were those conducted by Arturo Toscanini with the

NBC symphony orchestras. Of the many operas that

the incomparable Toscanini gave us I think it was his Aida that made the

most unforgettable impression on me.

There must be many others who will recall the thrill of hearing sounds such as

these.

To.

Me.

Since the death of the maestro and the unfortunate the minds of the NBC symphony

most of the radio operas we hear are broadcasts of recordings and these we will

discuss a little later in today's program. The one great exception the

feel of radio is found in the Saturday afternoon broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera

Association broadcast which are made possible through the far side the generosity

of the Texas company.

Heard by millions of listeners every week these programs have had a tremendous influence on the

popularization of opera in the United States. Since these are broadcast of live

performances the listener catches all the excitement of unpredictable and

uncensored musical events and events that are actually happening at the same

instant that he's listening to them. He occasionally hears young singers before they have become

world famous and in this way participate in the exciting processes of music history in the

making.

All this of course cannot compensate him for the irreparable loss of the article

values values that can be perceived enjoyed and evaluated only through one's

own eyes.

But here again half a loaf may be better than none.

The other great disadvantage of the Metropolitan broadcast is that because of the

inexhaustible economics of live opera so few novelties can be given

at least 80 percent of all the operas broadcast during the season have been heard during the

preceding two or three years. The young people in the radio audience grow up under the

impression that the entire literature of opera consists of a few dozen

works all written by the same 12 composers. Those

who become opera enthusiastic tend to turn into record collectors. And while

in this medium they become familiar with many other operas they continue to imagine

that opera is meant only for the ears and not for the eyes or for the

enjoyment of theatrical events. Thus the substitute

article airs at Opera often remains the only type of opera that the radio

listeners and the record collectors know and enjoy

turning to opera on film and TV. One is at first surprised that this form of

presentation has not become more popular.

What happens in the movies is that the defects of conventional operatic

acting are particularly obvious and become doubly offensive when

they are magnified on the screen.

Many attempts have been made to introduce characters who pretend tomorrow the words that are

being sung by invisible operatic voices. This wedding of facial

expressions and actions with super imposed operatic sounds is known as dubbing

and it has not generally speaking been convincing enough. The

mismatching between what one sees and what one hears is too obvious.

I venture to predict however that opera in the movies will be more successful in the

future when we develop more singers who managed to master the highly

specialized and subtle acting techniques required in the films.

If Opera in the movies is objectionable mainly because if it's exaggerated

size television opera suffers mostly from the smallness of the average

screen. You know some of the scenes mum naturally wants to see all

those who are singing at the time. This however reduces the size

of the individual singer to the point where one cannot distinguish his facial

expressions in close up shots on the other hand it is disconcerting to

hear many voices while seeing only one or two faces.

In my own operatic work on television I found that the BEST results are achieved with

operas having very few characters and no chorus or other

ills Allerdyce by your or his the Spanish power. Since it is built almost

exclusively on soul and US situations is ideally suited for the small

television screen and so of course is meant not these Amahl and the Night

Visitors which has been commissioned by the National Broadcasting Company especially

for a presentation on television.

Successful television opera depends almost entirely on a closer up or

between the operas musical producer and the camera director or an

imaginative television director has at his disposal not only such

obvious resources as close ups and unusual and exciting camera angles

but also the most fantastic tricks of super impositions split

screens and other devices that do not begin to exist in the conventional theater.

Here is a great only partially explored field of operatic presentation. And

there is no doubt that many works both old and new are ideally suited to

this medium.

It is all the more regrettable that after having given us so many memorable

operatic television productions the National Broadcasting Company has seen fit

to discontinue this valuable public service. It is a sad reflection

on our vaunted cultural explosion that when serious artistic enterprises

disappear the general public does not to rise up in anger and force

the networks to reconsider their decisions. Having skimmed

over such a broad accepted youth as opera in concert form and in the round as well as opera on the radio

film and TV we can now turn our attention to the most important form

of canned opera opera on records in

recent years recordings of operatic albums featuring complete operas have been sold in quite

astonishing quantities and have become enormously popular.

Furthermore it is quite probable that many avid collectors who are proud possessors of dozens or

even hundreds of albums have never once witnessed a live presentation of their favorite art

form. When one considers that the recorded opera is totally devoid of

visual appeal there the characters of the plot are never seen that there is no dramatic

movement and a complete absence of such essential theatrical paraphernalia as scenery

lights and costumes.

One wonders that in the face of these shortcomings this form of presentation

commands so much loyalty and affection on the part of its devotees.

The answer is that although recorded opera appeals only to her

ears it after is our ears many delights that cannot be

readily matched in live full productions of opera.

Before we go on to discuss the remarkable musical advantages of recorded opera

a few words must be said about modern recordings as such

in the past. A recording represented a record of an actual

performance. But this generally speaking is no longer true. The

modern recording is no longer a documentation of one single continuous

musical event. It is not an aural photograph of one real

happening. On the contrary it is a composite of many trials and

errors. A Mozart of many photographs is splicing together of

the most successful fragments of many attempts to perform separate passages of music.

The performer who faces a live audience knows perfectly well that many things will go

wrong and that when they go wrong he will not have a second chance. He

cannot stop and repeat the offending passage. He can only hope that his performance

will have relatively few blemishes and that these blemishes will not be too

apparent to his listeners. When making a recording on the other hand the performer has not

only a second chance but the third fourth and if he needs it even a twentieth chance

he can replay or re sing a difficult passage dozens of times and the final

result can be made up of the best features of all these attempted performances.

As a matter of fact it is even possible to introduce the whole voice of another singer

and blended in imperceptibly to help out the performer in a situation where

for one reason or another such assistance is needed. A dramatic example

of a rescue operation of this type is found in the recording of Agnes Tristan and

Isolde were a world famous soprano whose high notes were no longer

secure receive the help of a younger colleague.

The high C which you just heard was sung by another singer and the amazing

thing is that this entire substitution was performed in a manner that

completely defies detection. On another recording we hear the sounds

of cathedral bells which lend their majestic tolling which was

recorded separately to the coronation scene of ski's Boris Godunov.

There is no harm in all this provided that the listener realizes that what he is in

effect offered is not a record of one continuous single event but the

new and different type of musical performance. Unfortunately

listeners as a rule are not aware of this distinction and many a young musician who

goes to hear a live presentation by his favorite recording artist is shocked and

appalled at its imperfections and imperfections that were completely absent in the

recorded version he has been playing at home on his high fidelity

phonograph. This difference between the recording of a single

musical event and an assemblage of several fragmentary attempts is not

an academic distinction. It has a direct bearing on our evaluation of the excellence of our

own performances and of the performances of others.

Imagine playing golf under rules that would allow you each time to

choose the best of 12 practice shots. Under these circumstances your

total score would consist of nothing but birdies and eagles. A golfing enthusiast who would

become used to such scoring results would be appalled at the shamefully high scores

achieved by our best champions playing under conventional rules that do not allow any second

chances. Opera lover should realize that phonograph records and real performances

of opera are similarly produced under very different rules of the game.

To avoid confusion it would be best I believe if recording companies would label

their products more accurately and distinguish between true records

and the much more typical composite. So in the meantime we must

realize that the composites that go into the making of the average operatic album

embody a new form of art and that the advantages of this new art

form come from its ability to offer the listener better vocal performances

better instrumental playing and above all a better balance between the

voices in the instruments.

To understand why this should be so we must return to what we said at the very beginning of

today's program.

In the restate the essentials of superior operatic performances there dependence

aren't enough talent money and time.

Well then the recording companies have more money more time

and since they do not have to worry about the visual side of opera they can quite often assemble at a

greater number of gifted vocalists and instrumentalists and in trusted direction

too particularly gifted conductors making it possible for all these talented

people to work together under conditions that permit the careful assembling of

composite performances. Another enormous

advantage of phonograph performances lies in the electronic control of musical

intensities in the real opera house most singers wonder whether their

voices are voluminous and resonant enough to be heard in the vast spaces of the

modern of the two rooms and in their desire to compete with a symphonic sonorities of modern

opera orchestras the singers usually aim for maximum vocal

intensities. When he stands behind the microphone from the singer can sing as

softly as he wants to and he never has to force his voice.

He can pay much more attention to nuances of phrasing to the coloring of his

voice and can thus act with his voice much more freely than his

colleague in the opera house. The conductor similarly does not have to worry

about drowning out the singers and can therefore permit his orchestra musicians

a much wider range of dynamics.

Not satisfied with these inherent advantages of their new musical art form

recording companies are becoming more and more intent on giving their product a

semblance of the optical realities to achieve this they're introducing

sound effects that are calculated to evoke and heighten those events of the plot

that can be made or double by other than strictly vocal orchestral means.

A recent recording of Wagner's Ring of the needle features a number of such special

effects that will give our listeners an idea of the variety and

scope of these attempts to make recorded opera more vividly dramatic

and theatrical. Listen to the howling of the new belongings as they are

pursued and mercilessly whipped by the invisible Albury.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And here are those female warriors out here then hello

as they arrive at their meeting place on top of the valve gear Iraq. Notice the effect of

distance and spaciousness as these Amazons approach and come gradually

nearer and nearer.

Thanks.

Was.

And here is vote on who was about the sit around the sleeping Brunhilda with magic fire

striking the rock with his beer. This is the sound you are not

likely to hear in the opera house.

The. Goal.

And striking the final hammer blows in fashioning the

mighty sword with which he will slay the dragon Fafnir.

And here is Hofner is the voice booming from the deep recesses of his dragon

like body.

The next illustration is particularly interesting because it shows how the art of recording

can help to solve certain difficulties of acting with the voice.

The plot of the go to them indicates that at a certain point in the drama Zeke

freed must pretend to be there and must sound like.

Since Siegfried is a tenor and winter a baritone this poses problems in Coloring the

voice so as to achieve the proper impersonation in the recording this

change of time or is achieved by purely electronic means.

Here is the phrase a voice in its Fulton Auriol splendor.

And he disguising his voice to sound like a baritone.

Another interesting recording novelty is the sound of an actual song

which is supposedly played by Haagen as he calls his men to assemble in front

of his mansion.

And here to finish our program is the catastrophic ending of the Great that

Nemuro with the flooding and destruction of the whole of the home.

You've been listening to opera the battleground of the Arts where the Burra scrolled

off a nationally known operatic commentator producer and scholar

author of the battleground of the arts is produced in association with the gold

osteoporosis Institute by WRVO. The noncommercial cultural and

information station the Riverside Church in New York City. Producer Walter

Shepherd production assistants on tactical operations. Peter Feldman and

Matthew Bieber felt it. Next week Mr. Gold off topic will be

discussions so pinions and judgments. Two weeks from now for the final program in this

series he will talk about opera in our time. A grant from

the National Home Library Foundation has made possible the production of this program for national

educational radio. This is the national educational radio network.