Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?)
In a message dated 12/05/2007 05:53:39 GMT Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Properly the title is AT the White Horse Inn Yes, I think you're right. From what I can remember the plot concerned two underwear manufacturers. As for the goat, this may well have been a sop to the people of Bolton who are a bit funny. (That's funny ugh not funny hah-ha) The most famous song from the show and one popularised by the great Josef Locke was Goodbye. This was also the one my grandfather sang most often. Cheers, Lawrence lawrenceyates.co.uk ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera
Having conducted this show over 100 times in my own country, the Netherlands and Germany, I'd like adjusting some facts. The score is right here on my desk. At the White Horse Inn isn't an operetta in the Vienna tradition like Strauss or Léhàr, but, according the score, a Singspiel, also a musical play. There are originally four (!) composers involved: Ralph Benatzky, Robert Stolz, Bruno Granichstaedtchen and Robert Gilbert. Stolz gave the most Viennese character by his well known songs, e.g. Die ganze Welt ist himmelblau (the whole world is blue like the sky), Mein Liebeslied muß ein Walzer sein (my love song has to be a Waltz) and 2 others. Gilbert wrote Was kann der Sigismund dafür (it isn't Sigismund's fault that he's that beauty) and from Granichstaedtchen käm Zuschau'n kann i net (I can not stay beside and look) - (My english translations of the song titles are very free and personal, please excuse me) - Benatzky has set up the score in 1929-1930. First performance in Berlin on 8th november 1930. It was the first marriage between the American musical in the Vienna tradition. After WW II a fifth composer (Hans Frankowski) came up with a more modern, more jazzy score for a new movie with Peter Alexander, which was released in 1958. This version is still performed, be it mostly by amateurs in the Netherlands. By these mish-mash from composers and therefore styles, I don't like to speak of a masterpiece due to a lack of uniformity, but I agree, some chorus settings are great! And it was a big success in Western Europ, including England if my memory is correct. But I doubt that it should have survived without the songs by Robert Stolz. BTW: according the libretto comes the emperor in the 3d act and that's no nonsense, because in Austria, at the Sankt Wolfgang Sea exists really a big hotel wit this very name (Im weißen Rößl) and it's historically correct that the Austrian Emperor Franz-Josef Iº has stayed several times in this house. Concerning the goat: There is a scene in the Alps (2d act) where one of the vest manufacturers (named Gieseke) has to run away for a he-goat. So, this can't be the mentioned country girl. I suppose the maid in question must be the post woman. Hans === You will excuse me for any typo's due to a visual handicap Op 05-mei-07, om 06:49 heeft Mark D Lew het volgende geschreven: Benatzky. Properly the title is AT the White Horse Inn (Im weissen Rössl). Large-scale operetta in the style of Léhar, J Strauss, Kálmán, etc. The usual operetta plotlines set at an über-quaint retreat somewhere in the Austrian alps. Luscious score with an abundance of melody. I don't remember a goat, but I vaguely recall there was a bucolic country-girl character, so I assume it was hers. mdl ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera
On May 12, 2007, at 2:43 AM, Hans Swinnen wrote: Having conducted this show over 100 times in my own country, the Netherlands and Germany, I'd like adjusting some facts. The score is right here on my desk. Thanks very much for this info, Hans! mdl ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?)
Sounds kind of like the operettas I saw in Olomouc--Polská Krev and Perly Panny Serafiny. Greet fun, esp for the local croud that sang and clapped along with the finales. Some great singers, although no animals that I remember. Aaron J. Rabushka [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://users.waymark.net/arabushk - Original Message - From: Mark D Lew [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: finale@shsu.edu Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2007 12:49 AM Subject: Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?) On May 11, 2007, at 4:30 PM, Aaron Rabushka wrote: Nope, no jacket, just a goat. This White Horse Inn is a new one on me--does it call for horses, too? Benatzky. Properly the title is AT the White Horse Inn (Im weissen Rössl). Large-scale operetta in the style of Léhar, J Strauss, Kálmán, etc. The usual operetta plotlines set at an über-quaint retreat somewhere in the Austrian alps. Luscious score with an abundance of melody. I don't remember a goat, but I vaguely recall there was a bucolic country-girl character, so I assume it was hers. mdl ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?)
In a message dated 11/05/2007 02:40:01 GMT Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Bring my goat! Are you sure you didn't mis-hear this - did put on his jacket just after this? The show with the well paid goat was White Horse Inn at the Bolton Octagon Theatre over thirty years ago. Other highlights of the show included a 54 year old bassoonist using his plastic fork to flick bits of his sandwiches at other members of the orchestra during his bars rest and me groping the very attractive oboist during her solos (I should add that we knew each other very very well). Ah, happy days, Lawrence lawrenceyates.co.uk ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?)
Mark D Lew wrote: On May 10, 2007, at 4:47 PM, Aaron Rabushka wrote: Porgy and Bess, by some chance? Porgy rides around in a goat-cart, but nothing in the libretto suggests an actual goat pulling it. Porgy propels himself with his strong arms. Meyerbeer's _Dinorah_, on the other hand, does feature a goat that is central to the story and appears prominently on stage ... but that opera, in spite of the one famous coloratura aria, is hardly produced anymore. Well, you know how hard it is to work with union goats -- these days it's getting harder and harder to find goats who carry a union card, and musician's union specifically forbids union members from working with non-union members. ;-) -- David H. Bailey [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?)
On May 11, 2007, at 12:03 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The show with the well paid goat was White Horse Inn at the Bolton Octagon Theatre over thirty years ago. Ooh, White Horse Inn! I love that score. Wonderful choruses. mdl ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Subject: Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?)
When I did a Porgy Bess tour, Porgy said Bring me my cart! I guess good directors find ways to adapt to being goatless. -Steve S NYC In a message dated 5/11/07 1:01:56 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Subject: Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?) Toward the end of the show when Porgy finds out that Bess is gone and is determined to go after her he says rather loudly (at least in the version they did in Bloomington) Bring my goat! And in the Bloomignton production for which I was on the stage crew there was a real goat. Dinorah is a new one on me. Then again, most of the Meyerbeer I know is in excerpts. ** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?)
In a message dated 11/05/2007 16:44:46 GMT Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Ooh, White Horse Inn! I love that score. Wonderful choruses. White Horse Inn was always very special to me - when I was a kid, my grandfather used to sing songs from it all the time. I've never played nor heard it since that week thirty years ago. Cheers, Lawrence lawrenceyates.co.uk ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?)
Nope, no jacket, just a goat. This White Horse Inn is a new one on me--does it call for horses, too? Perhaps an opera based on the original Greek goat plays would be in order--not even the Florentine Camerata went that far! Aaron J. Rabushka [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://users.waymark.net/arabushk - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: finale@shsu.edu Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 3:03 AM Subject: Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?) In a message dated 11/05/2007 02:40:01 GMT Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Bring my goat! Are you sure you didn't mis-hear this - did put on his jacket just after this? The show with the well paid goat was White Horse Inn at the Bolton Octagon Theatre over thirty years ago. Other highlights of the show included a 54 year old bassoonist using his plastic fork to flick bits of his sandwiches at other members of the orchestra during his bars rest and me groping the very attractive oboist during her solos (I should add that we knew each other very very well). Ah, happy days, Lawrence lawrenceyates.co.uk ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?)
On May 11, 2007, at 11:36 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: White Horse Inn was always very special to me - when I was a kid, my grandfather used to sing songs from it all the time. I've never played nor heard it since that week thirty years ago. I've never heard it ever, but in the good old days when I used to check out scores from the library and play through them at the piano, it was one of my favorites. I think it was recommended to me when I was putting together a program for a fundraiser concert with chorus plus soloists and the theme was Viennese. Some great selections, but I didn't have enough decent men in the chorus for all the divisi. They ended up doing the Fledermaus Brüderlein, which is a decent piece but too BTDT. mdl ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?)
On May 11, 2007, at 4:30 PM, Aaron Rabushka wrote: Nope, no jacket, just a goat. This White Horse Inn is a new one on me--does it call for horses, too? Benatzky. Properly the title is AT the White Horse Inn (Im weissen Rössl). Large-scale operetta in the style of Léhar, J Strauss, Kálmán, etc. The usual operetta plotlines set at an über-quaint retreat somewhere in the Austrian alps. Luscious score with an abundance of melody. I don't remember a goat, but I vaguely recall there was a bucolic country-girl character, so I assume it was hers. mdl ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?)
On May 10, 2007, at 4:47 PM, Aaron Rabushka wrote: Porgy and Bess, by some chance? Porgy rides around in a goat-cart, but nothing in the libretto suggests an actual goat pulling it. Porgy propels himself with his strong arms. Meyerbeer's _Dinorah_, on the other hand, does feature a goat that is central to the story and appears prominently on stage ... but that opera, in spite of the one famous coloratura aria, is hardly produced anymore. mdl ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?)
Toward the end of the show when Porgy finds out that Bess is gone and is determined to go after her he says rather loudly (at least in the version they did in Bloomington) Bring my goat! And in the Bloomignton production for which I was on the stage crew there was a real goat. Dinorah is a new one on me. Then again, most of the Meyerbeer I know is in excerpts. Aaron J. Rabushka [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://users.waymark.net/arabushk - Original Message - From: Mark D Lew [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Finale-List 3 finale@shsu.edu Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2007 9:09 PM Subject: Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?) On May 10, 2007, at 4:47 PM, Aaron Rabushka wrote: Porgy and Bess, by some chance? Porgy rides around in a goat-cart, but nothing in the libretto suggests an actual goat pulling it. Porgy propels himself with his strong arms. Meyerbeer's _Dinorah_, on the other hand, does feature a goat that is central to the story and appears prominently on stage ... but that opera, in spite of the one famous coloratura aria, is hardly produced anymore. mdl ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?)
Welll.. Except for the actual 1935 libretto's direction just before Porgy's initial entrance: (Scipio opens one side of iron gate. Porgy enters in goat cart; crowd greets him.) And then there's the line in the final scene in which Porgy shouts Bring my goat! and just a moment later, the stage direction reads: (Mingo leads goat and cart over, Porgy holds up arms and is helped into cart) .just before Porgy sings I'm on my way. Best, Les Les Marsden Founding Music Director and Conductor, The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra Music and Mariposa? Ah, Paradise!!! http://arts-mariposa.org/symphony.html http://www.geocities.com/~jbenz/lesbio.html - Original Message - From: Mark D Lew To: Finale-List 3 Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2007 6:09 PM Subject: Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?) On May 10, 2007, at 4:47 PM, Aaron Rabushka wrote: Porgy and Bess, by some chance? Porgy rides around in a goat-cart, but nothing in the libretto suggests an actual goat pulling it. Porgy propels himself with his strong arms. Meyerbeer's _Dinorah_, on the other hand, does feature a goat that is central to the story and appears prominently on stage ... but that opera, in spite of the one famous coloratura aria, is hardly produced anymore. mdl ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: goats in opera (was Can you spot the fake?)
On May 10, 2007, at 6:38 PM, Mariposa Symphony Orchestra wrote: And then there's the line in the final scene in which Porgy shouts Bring my goat! and just a moment later, the stage direction reads: (Mingo leads goat and cart over, Porgy holds up arms and is helped into cart) I stand corrected! The consolation for making a fool statement is that at least one learns something new in the process. To Les and Aaron: thanks for educating me on this. mdl ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
