Here's a thought. In relation to their japonisme, The Mikado is camp,
Madama Butterfly is kitsch.
Mark
At 09:51 AM 10/27/2007, you wrote:
>Yeah, the kitsch factor in great opera tends to inhere in the
>libretti, and starting from Shakespeare certainly helps.
>
>Madama Butterfly has healthy doses of kitsch in the music as well,
>tho who ever did anything nicer for a soprano than Un bel di? As
>good an example of sentimentality as one can find might be the
>little kid waving the American flag next to his dead mother at final curtain.
>
>Carmen is built on tourist kitsch--oh dem gypsies!--and the novel at
>this point seems more a case study in romanticism than anything
>else. But the opera is as tightly conceived as Greek tragedy, and
>just thinking about it makes me shiver. The Pearl Fishers, on the
>other hand, is best experienced with one's eyes shut--great music,
>conceptually daring, but a really annoying libretto. The same, I
>think, goes for Abduction from the Seraglio, to jump back a couple
>of generations.
>
>Boris Goudonov is about as free of kitsch as it gets.
>
>19th century opera had a lot of the demands placed on it that
>blockbuster movies now have. It was expensive to produce and
>expected to generate big profits. A little pandering probably was
>thought to go a long way.
>
>Mark
>
>At 09:25 AM 10/27/2007, you wrote:
>>Mark Weiss wrote:
>>>I'd add to his list Wagner, who I adore. But what 19th century
>>>opera doesn't float on a sea of kitsch?
>>
>>Verdi's *Otello*. Ah yes, kitschy moments: duet, end of Act I,
>>tenor & soprano. All love duets might be defined as kitsch whether
>>written by Bellini or even *Walkure* Act I, Siegmund and Sieglinde,
>>one of musical history's great sibling acts.
>>
>>Since this is Wagner, the humiliation of Sixtus Beckmesser, village
>>schoolmarm and pedant of the Received Idea. Of course Beckmesser
>>sets himself up. Oh, Wagner: spiritual father of Engelbert
>>Humperdinck, composer of stupendous fun kitsch in *Hansel und
>>Gretel*, and later Hans Pfitzner, who (source: Rabbi Mark Loeb,
>>Pikesville, MD) once is reputed to have demanded of Josef Goebbels
>>a reward for his musical services to the Reich. Goebbels gave
>>Pfitzner that freeze-vodka stare and said "Reward, Herr
>>Pfitzner? How about a one-way ticket to Treblinka?" So much for
>>the esteem supporting heilige deutsche Kunst.
>>
>>The musical kitsch isn't quite up there with the Keane paintings
>>and velvet representations of Jesus and Elvis (you mean they're NOT
>>the same?), not to mention Precious Moments and Hummel
>>figurines. Maybe the idea it's visual makes it even worse: no,
>>scratch that. You ever hear Tom Jones singing "I Never Said Goodbye"?
>>
>>KW
>>
>>------------------
>>Kenneth Wolman rainermaria.typepad.com
>>
>>"I agree with the Chekhov character who, when in a crisis, he is
>>reminded that 'this, too, shall pass,' responds 'Nothing
>>passes.'"--Philip Roth
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