Viele Opern

Maya at Staatsoper

I have a gene that makes it incredibly hard to pass up an amazing bargain even if I don't love the product.  This gene, combined with my love of live music of almost any genre has led me to 11 operas in 8 weeks.  Vienna has a handful of venues to see opera and at the Staatsoper (the biggest, grandest of them all) a ticket for the Stehplatz (standing room) is only 4 Euro!  Yes, you have to wait in line for 1.5 hours, then scramble to another area and wait in another line, then scramble to your standing spot, tie your scarf on the banister to hold your spot, listen to a lecture about the rules, run outside to get some food to keep your stamina up, run back, check your coat, use the bathroom (cause sometimes it's 2 hours until intermission), and get back to your scarf before the show.  Then you stand for the whole thing.  This also means that if it is not so good, you can leave at intermission with no guilt (only 4 Euro!). 
I admit to loving the game of it. 
But what about the actual Opera part?
Has our relationship changed now that we have been seeing so much of each other?  No, but it's intensified.  The music is still our foundation, the singing still irritates more than it pleases.  The singing just has so much opportunity to go wrong.  The better one voice is, the more light it shines on the mediocre ones.  Even when two are good by themselves, they sometimes don't match in duets.  I have not yet seen an opera where one or two voices just weren't that spectacular and there is always a long solo by these guys where there is just too much time to think about my aching feet. And it is usually the guys.  The ladies, in general, have it down.  The guys disappoint.  My favorites have been those with good sets and great lighting and a decent amount of choral singing.  The choral singing is just gorgeous. 
That said, my very favorite part of the opera is the overture--yes the music without  the singing--the music written just for the music's sake.  But it's not just the music, its the whole thing, from start to finish.   The lights first dim, the crowd hushes, everyone looks for the conductor to come out, he does, we clap, his arms go up, the music!, and the curtain opens--wow!!!  This whole part makes me so happy (really joyful) that the rest just can't compete.  So, this is my dream opera night:  The lights, conductor, overture, curtain, most amazing set of the opera, plus one song on the opera that the singer(s) can really nail, most inventively lit.  Loud, crazy clapping.  "Bravo!!!! Brava!!!!"  and curtain.  Intermission, people watching (that dress is amazing, is that guys's suit leather or silk or what? that father and son seem to enjoy eachother so much!) , glass of wine, and begin again.  Different opera entirely with it's own conductor, overture, set, lighting, and one song, applause, and intermission....Repeat cycle 4 or 5 times and you have an awesome night. 

So, yeah, I just want the first date forever on repeat. 

The following is my little list of operas seen with comments mainly for my own memory.

1. Barber of Seville- Volksoper.  With Maya. 
2. Pique Dame- Staatsoper.  Best set and lighting.  "3 Cardi!!!"
TSCHAIKOWSKI / Letonja / Shicoff, Tomasson, Daniel, Bumbry, Poplavskaya
3.Magic Flute- Volksoper with Fam.  Too much talking.  Disjointed.
4. La Boheme- Theatre on der Wien.  Maya and I went to wrong theater, but still made it in time.  Strange, modern, but inventive set.  Ladies were amazing.  Men sucked.  Tiny theatre made it esp fun. 
5. Cenerentola
LA CENERENTOLA ROSSINI / Lopez-Cobos / Korchak, Priante, Corbelli, Erraught, D'Arcangelo
Staatsoper. Great set, and cast.  Maybe overall fave. 
6. Madame Butterfly
MADAMA BUTTERFLY PUCCINI / Soltesz / Carosi, Talaba, Daniel
Boring.  Set not nearly as inventive and beautiful as I had hoped.  Singers weak.
7/ Tosca
PUCCINI / Soltesz / Jose Siri, Antonenko, Sgura
Staatsoper. Fine all around. 
8. Traviata-
Staatsoper.  Worst of all.  Set looked like 3rd graders did it.  And the men were just bad bad singers.  Also, woman faints in standing room. and 3 cell phones go off, including one that spoke Chinese and went on for what seemed like forever. 
VERDI / Carignani / Petersen, Villazon, Capitanucci
10.Marriage of Figaro
Staatsoper.  Would have been a contender for best overall if the set hadn't been so very lame.  Voices and music were great.
MOZART / Langrée/ D`Arcangelo, Hartelius, Hartig, Plachetka, Frenkel
11.Aida
Good set.  Not that interesting lighting though.  I thought the singers were somehow off even though they were among the most powerful voices I have seen, seemed to lack control.  But students disagree and loved them.  The dancing and beautiful chorus were so visually fun for a change.  First half much much better than second. 
GIUSEPPE VERDI / Steinberg / Borodina, Lewis, Antonenko, Marquardt

Fam outside of Staatsoper

Marriage of Fig cast at Staatsoper

Volksoper

Volksoper

Volksoper

Volksoper

Good Days Sunshine

The sun has been out for 5 days!!!
I thought I loved Vienna before.  Now I am head over heels.  Over the weekend the Turkenschanzpark was packed with people.  College kids playing kickball.  Families walking the dogs, feeding the ducks.  Couples holding hands.  Jugglers juggling.  Slack liners wobbling.  People verbing whatever those strange hourglass-shaped things are that are spun on strings and thrown in the air.  Joggers jogging.  People having snacks and drinks at the Maierai (yep- a restaurant in the park).
I have been walking to the grocery store and catching the public transit back.  The well integrated public transit makes me infinitely happy as it is--but now that the sun is out it is even better.
Over the weekend we met a couple of Sanskritists from the Universitat Wien out at an animal park.  We hiked into the woods and, of course, there was an oldpalacenoweventscenterrestaraunt where we stopped for hot drinks.

The Viennese commitment to sitting outside makes me very happy as well.  Below are photos of Turkenschanzpark on the first sunny day of the year.  The Maierai put out blankets at the outdoor tables even though it was still below 40 degrees and people sat outside in the sun.  There were masses of people sitting on park benches, facing the sun, looking at the ducks on the pond in below 40 degree weather.

Then, on Monday the kids and I went to the thermal baths of Vienna and in the women's only area the thing to do was to get really hot in sauna or hotpool and lay out in the sun---naked--in 50 degrees.

Also with our increased outings, the children are becoming street food connoisseurs.  The street food categories are asian noodles, pizza, kebabs, and sausage.  Best kebabs so far near the Hofburg.  Best pizza on Schwedenplatz, best noodles Wahringer U6 stop, best sausage is Bitzinger by the Opera/Albertina.

 These first three photos are of the Maierai on the first sunny day.  Still lots of snow piles around and not quite as many people around in the early afternoon.

Wurstel Stand near Opera/Albertina

Difficult Viewing

Yesterday we went to Mauthausen, Austria's largest labor and concentration camp.  The site was chosen because it is near a granite quarry and the Danube.  The companies that were based on labor from this site increased in value 10 fold during the early years of the war.  The inmates were mostly German and Austrian political prisoners at first.  By the end of the war the entire gamut of non-Nazis were there--Spanish, Russian, Polish, Jewish, Slavic Peoples all with their own micro-camp experiences.
All of the terrible stories came to life.

Afterwards, we had lunch and then stopped at Melk Abbey on the way home.  Melk Abbey is an insanely Baroque Benedictine monastery.  It was especially hard to view and enjoy after Mauthausen.  What would Jesus do?  Vomit.
However, to be honest, it was nice to have something so visually and mentally absorbing for a bit.
Once the opulence became background noise I was able to enjoy the library.  I think the kids said it reminded them of Hogwarts.  It defiantly had a fictional feel.