They do - a lot
It's said that it ain't opera (they all do) but they call the songs fantastic, complicated and wonderful (they all do, at least some of them)
Costello's voice was very good, Stille's was amazing and they like the whole idea.
It also says that during the rehersals in copenhagen, EC decided to do only these new songs because it went so well. And clearly EC is not an actor (Stille did better with less) and an opera needs acting.
They conclude that it don't matter cause the songs needs no other company than their own.
Elvis/ Hans Christian Andersen opera , 8/9 Oct. 05
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VonOfterdingen
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Thank you John and everybody.
I did not know about Jenny Lind's part in Andersen's life. It made me think of another opera singer. Reportedly a few years ago E.C. had some sort of an "episode" for Cecilia Bartoldi. Whatever the story was, she may have been an inspiration.
(By the way CB just released a very original CD which is receiving good reviews).
Would anyone be a Darling and post the lyrics ? I am afraid of this Dime a torment site.
I did not know about Jenny Lind's part in Andersen's life. It made me think of another opera singer. Reportedly a few years ago E.C. had some sort of an "episode" for Cecilia Bartoldi. Whatever the story was, she may have been an inspiration.
(By the way CB just released a very original CD which is receiving good reviews).
Would anyone be a Darling and post the lyrics ? I am afraid of this Dime a torment site.
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mood swung
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sweetest punch
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http://www.qantas.com.au/content/dyn/ho ... al?lk=prqhjohnfoyle wrote:
The programme bio. of Elvis had some great news - The North Sea Jazz Festival Show from 2004 is to be released by Deutshe Grammophon next year. We are also told about the musicians who will be backing Elvis in the non-orchestra part of the Il Sogno shows in '06. The will be Steve Nieve , Sy Johnson , Bill Frisell and Vince Mendoza.
Elvis Costello and the Sydney Symphony, at Sydney Opera House, Sydney. Costello performs compositions he has arranged for orchestra together with songs arranged by Burt Bacharach, Bill Frisell, Steve Nieve and Vince Mendoza for this very special event.
I think that something got lost in the translation of the Danish programme bio.
(That's why I'm also curious about the North Sea Jazz release. I'm afraid that it will be released as a bonusdisc with 'Il Sogno'. Can someone translate exactly?)
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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Who Shot Sam?
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Tim(e) and bambooneedle - get in there!sweetest punch wrote:http://www.qantas.com.au/content/dyn/ho ... al?lk=prqh
Elvis Costello and the Sydney Symphony, at Sydney Opera House, Sydney. Costello performs compositions he has arranged for orchestra together with songs arranged by Burt Bacharach, Bill Frisell, Steve Nieve and Vince Mendoza for this very special event.
Mother, Moose-Hunter, Maverick
I'm just in from a gig here in Dublin by the excellent Sufjan Stevens. Who should I pass as I left the venue but Cait O'Riordan. So I'm mere feet from Diana Krall in Denmark last Monday and then Cait here five days later......help - I'm being stalked by Elvis' partners!
http://www.sufjan.com/
http://www.sufjan.com/
...
Got this email from a friend of mine:
My danish friend melissa went to see it. here's what she wrote:
I attended the 2nd performance of the Elvis Costello's song cycle about Hans
Christian Andersen and Jenny Lind at the Copenhagen Opera House yesterday
afternoon. It was a great experience!
The Opera has commissioned a chamber opera by Costello, and the concert
yesterday was basically a work in progress. As Costello told the audience
before the concert, he hadn't expected to have as many songs finished by
now, and had only planned on singing a few songs and then performing older
material. But he stressed that in the course of the last week, that things
had really progressed, and it was clear that he had been having a wonderful
time working with the Opera staff.
Costello had clearly done his research on H.C. Andersen, and had become
interested in his abilities as a manipulator and how Andersen's infatuations
had fueled the writing of his stories. A lot of research about H.C. Andersen
concentrates on his sexuality or lack thereof. Costello thought that
Andersen had equated promiscuity with abject poverty, and thus always placed
the objects of his desire on a pedestal which he couldn't reach.
Costello brings an American element into the song cycle, P.T. Barnum, The
King of Humbug. In 1850 Barnum had brought Jenny Lind to America to go on
tour along with the rest of his entourage. Costello neetly demonstrates how
Andersen might have felt about his dear Jenny Lind being presented alongside
the "FeeJee Mermaid" in his song "The Famous Artificial Bird", a clear
reference to Anderson's fairytale, "The Nightingale", which of course was
based on Jenny Lind, "The Swedish Nightingale"
My favorite song of the evening was, "She handed me a mirror" (lyrics),
which was a beautifully song ballad that captured the feeling of rejection
that Anderson must have felt. The strange nerdy guy who desired the most
popular girl, and had to understand her rejection by examining himself.
The following song in the cyclus, "He has forgotten me completely" is a duet
between Andersen and Lind. It starts with Andersen's lementation:
"She has forgotten me completely
My grief, my grief she does not see
So, take these scissors and this paper
And cut out any likeness that you have of me"
followed by his hallucination that Lind also grieves for the loss of him.
The musical score to this song is amazing. The haunting sound of a
vibraphone being played with a violin bow makes it really unique.
When the song cycle was finished and the audience applauded it was clear
that Costello (as always) was greatful for the response from the audience,
and had Gisela Stille perform the song "How Deep is the Red?" an extra time.
Costello sat on the stage clearly enjoying the sound of the song he had
written.
When she had finished and the applause had died down, Costello said that
Andersen had once written a play where they audience got to decide the
ending, and that he'd like to do the same thing, so we should say if we
preferred a Barnum song or an Andersen song. It seemed like the Barnum
song's were in favor, but I really wanted to hear "She handed me a mirror"
again, so I shouted it out at the last moment.
Costello shuffled through the papers on Anderson's desk and sang "She handed
me a mirror". Yay! After another round of applause the duet "He has
forgotten me completely"
was performed once again.
Costello seemed to be having so much fun with the Opera staff, it wouldn't
surprise me if he returns to Copenhagen to perform "The Secret Songs of Hans
Christian Andersen" when it becomes a chamber opera rather than only being
it's composer.
She handed me a mirror
She handed me a mirror
That she had gazed upon
The glass still held an image
The glass still held an image
But it was of a man
I turned from the reflection
To see who it might be
Is that poor vanity quite how she pictures me?
She handed me a mirror
Rather than tell me "no"
She let slip her handkerchief
Gentle laughter flowed
Just as her lips bestowed
A dashing word lik "brother"
A crushing word like "friend"
If there was no beginning
How could this be the end?
She handed me a mirror
So I could recognize
The distance from my heart to hers
The distance from my heart to hers
The pity in her eyes
She liked my pretty story
I thanked her for her song
And then I wrote a tale not very long to tell
"You are much more than pretty. You are beautiful"
Then she handed me a mirror and I saw her instead
She handed me a mirror
She handed me a mirror
And that is all she did...
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VonOfterdingen
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- Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
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sweetest punch
- Posts: 5983
- Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
- Location: Belgium
Heaving heard the bootleg for more than ten times now, I must say that EC has achieved something special.
Alltough a lot of the songs are long and complex, they are still quite good. And after some listenings, you hear musical themes being repeated through out the opera.
The songs that Gisela sings are especially beautiful and easy to capture. And I'm curious what a classical trained voice would do with the Andersen and Barnum songs.
Alltough a lot of the songs are long and complex, they are still quite good. And after some listenings, you hear musical themes being repeated through out the opera.
The songs that Gisela sings are especially beautiful and easy to capture. And I'm curious what a classical trained voice would do with the Andersen and Barnum songs.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
After seeing so much of the Secret Songs over such a short period on that October weekend in Denmark I have been reluctant to listen, in full , to the Aarhus recording. Had such sustained exposure blinded me to any failings in them? Had I just got sucked in and lost all perspective?
As it turned out a pretty hectic time at work, more travelling , other shows etc. gobbled up all my time . This evening, however , I found time to listened through it all again. My perception is little changed. True, some of the songs do not have the same impact as mere sound recordings. This can be allowed in that they are songs for a show and , presumably , will be more engaging in a full production. The reprised songs , How Deep Is The Red, She Handed Me A Mirror and He Has Forgotten Me Completely, are as powerful as ever. Red Cotton gets better and better. Listening to the Aarhus audience recording I was especially captivated by a moment in the reprises. Elvis lowered the microphone and what we hear is him singing , in effect , to the tapers device. By then his voice has really warmed up and the song , 'Mirror , is all the more poignant for the purity of the sound.
In short , this is a project I'm looking forward to seeing more of.
As it turned out a pretty hectic time at work, more travelling , other shows etc. gobbled up all my time . This evening, however , I found time to listened through it all again. My perception is little changed. True, some of the songs do not have the same impact as mere sound recordings. This can be allowed in that they are songs for a show and , presumably , will be more engaging in a full production. The reprised songs , How Deep Is The Red, She Handed Me A Mirror and He Has Forgotten Me Completely, are as powerful as ever. Red Cotton gets better and better. Listening to the Aarhus audience recording I was especially captivated by a moment in the reprises. Elvis lowered the microphone and what we hear is him singing , in effect , to the tapers device. By then his voice has really warmed up and the song , 'Mirror , is all the more poignant for the purity of the sound.
In short , this is a project I'm looking forward to seeing more of.
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VonOfterdingen
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- Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
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sweetest punch
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- Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
- Location: Belgium
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainmen ... 470190.stm
Costello's attraction to Andersen
Musician Elvis Costello has spoken about his first opera, The Secret Arias, after performing a sneak preview of some of the songs in Copenhagen.
While the opera, based on Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen's unrequited love for a Swedish singer, is not due to be staged until next year, Costello appeared on stage at the new Copenhagen Opera House to perform 10 songs from the work.
Costello was commissioned by the Royal Danish Opera to write a new piece celebrating the bicentenerary of the country's literary great, who wrote amongst other stories The Snow Queen and The Emperor's New Clothes.
"I wanted to find a way to connect Andersen the man to the Anglophone world, rather than Andersen the writer," Costello told BBC World Service's The Music Review programme.
"Obviously everybody knows his tales - but they sometimes know them in very bowdlerised versions. Not everybody's heard them in good and accurate translations, because they've been handed on so much since the Victorian era."
The story of The Secret Arias is Andersen's "infatuation and idealisation" of Jenny Lind, the Swedish soprano.
Andersen continuously became infatuated with both men and women throughout his life, but "kept the sexual dimension at a safe distance".
"A lot of modern biographers concentrate on pinning a label on him - whether he's gay or straight - to me that's of no concern," Costello added.
"To me what's of concern is that he seemed to do this wilfully - and one of the ways that he drove himself on was to be in a constant state of emotional flux. Jenny Lind is the most famous person on who he fixated in this way."
Lind, however, only returned the affection platonically, describing Andersen as being like a brother.
One key part of the opera is Lind's trip to the US, masterminded by the showman PT Barnham.
The opera shows Andersen's reflections on this, and the secret songs he might have written for her.
Costello, who first came to prominence in the late 1970s and had his biggest hit in 1979 with Oliver's Army, sings the parts of both Barnham and Andersen.
He said he had tried to find a different music thread for each of the characters.
The company's artistic director, Casper Beck Holten, said he appointed Costello because he had written "some remarkable songs."
"If there's one thing opera's about, it's writing good songs," he added.
"He also has a very special sense of narrative in songs, of telling stories with music and words.
"Finally, he's one of the musicians in the world who has shown the broadest musical styles - so I thought it was obvious really. I was surprised no-one had asked him before."
Costello's attraction to Andersen
Musician Elvis Costello has spoken about his first opera, The Secret Arias, after performing a sneak preview of some of the songs in Copenhagen.
While the opera, based on Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen's unrequited love for a Swedish singer, is not due to be staged until next year, Costello appeared on stage at the new Copenhagen Opera House to perform 10 songs from the work.
Costello was commissioned by the Royal Danish Opera to write a new piece celebrating the bicentenerary of the country's literary great, who wrote amongst other stories The Snow Queen and The Emperor's New Clothes.
"I wanted to find a way to connect Andersen the man to the Anglophone world, rather than Andersen the writer," Costello told BBC World Service's The Music Review programme.
"Obviously everybody knows his tales - but they sometimes know them in very bowdlerised versions. Not everybody's heard them in good and accurate translations, because they've been handed on so much since the Victorian era."
The story of The Secret Arias is Andersen's "infatuation and idealisation" of Jenny Lind, the Swedish soprano.
Andersen continuously became infatuated with both men and women throughout his life, but "kept the sexual dimension at a safe distance".
"A lot of modern biographers concentrate on pinning a label on him - whether he's gay or straight - to me that's of no concern," Costello added.
"To me what's of concern is that he seemed to do this wilfully - and one of the ways that he drove himself on was to be in a constant state of emotional flux. Jenny Lind is the most famous person on who he fixated in this way."
Lind, however, only returned the affection platonically, describing Andersen as being like a brother.
One key part of the opera is Lind's trip to the US, masterminded by the showman PT Barnham.
The opera shows Andersen's reflections on this, and the secret songs he might have written for her.
Costello, who first came to prominence in the late 1970s and had his biggest hit in 1979 with Oliver's Army, sings the parts of both Barnham and Andersen.
He said he had tried to find a different music thread for each of the characters.
The company's artistic director, Casper Beck Holten, said he appointed Costello because he had written "some remarkable songs."
"If there's one thing opera's about, it's writing good songs," he added.
"He also has a very special sense of narrative in songs, of telling stories with music and words.
"Finally, he's one of the musicians in the world who has shown the broadest musical styles - so I thought it was obvious really. I was surprised no-one had asked him before."
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
Listen via this link -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/progr ... view.shtml
' This week Music Review takes a look at musicians who are breaking new ground.
The programme features an exclusive interview with rock musician Elvis Costello who has just written his first opera based on the life of the Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson.'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/progr ... view.shtml
' This week Music Review takes a look at musicians who are breaking new ground.
The programme features an exclusive interview with rock musician Elvis Costello who has just written his first opera based on the life of the Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson.'
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charliestumpy
- Posts: 710
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 7:33 am
Aarhus 10-10-2005
Thanks to the Velvet Taper for fine work in recording/sharing this show.
At first I genuinely thought it was execrable. (The Costello show, not the sharing).
Have tried it again directly after watching 1952 Danny Kaye fantasy-film, and although it is 'difficult' to say the least, the 'musical/lyrical' qualities on Naims/old Linn Kans actually sounded quite good/interesting.
Thanks - Happy Christmas all.
At first I genuinely thought it was execrable. (The Costello show, not the sharing).
Have tried it again directly after watching 1952 Danny Kaye fantasy-film, and although it is 'difficult' to say the least, the 'musical/lyrical' qualities on Naims/old Linn Kans actually sounded quite good/interesting.
Thanks - Happy Christmas all.
An entirely different take on the Andersen/Lind story!
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/thea ... 342214.ece
The Andersen Project, Barbican, London
Fairy tale with a Grimm streak
By Paul Taylor
Published: 31 January 2006
If the name Hans Christian Andersen triggers harrowing memories of the Danny Kaye movie and of hearty Danish types singing "Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen", then Robert Lepage's latest multimedia solo show will offer relief of sorts. For his audience, the moniker of the celebrated author is now liable to conjure up images of masturbation, peep-show booths in sex shops and forlorn fantasies of unattainable intimacy.
When the committee in Denmark approached the Québécois wunderkind about creating a theatre piece for the 200th anniversary of Andersen's birth in 2005, they must have been aware - from the evidence of his earlier one-man shows, such as Vinci, Needles and Opium, and The Far Side of the Moon - that there was likely to be a strong, semi-autobiographical element. One wonders, though, whether they had bargained for a feat of identification as extreme as the one he pulls off (so to speak) in this flawed, but haunting piece.
Andersen is occasionally glimpsed as an oddball loner who's in constant flight from his native Denmark and in search of the illicit pleasures denied by his unprepossessing demeanour. His unconsummated love for the Swedish nightingale, Jenny Lind, is powerfully communicated in a scene where he vainly strips naked a female dummy which then glides away from him.
Threaded through the proceedings, there's a dramatisation, using tiny wooden puppets, of his story "The Dryad" about a virgin tree-nymph who longs to be transplanted to Paris, where she forfeits her existence for a brief snatch of human life as a visitor to the World Exhibition of 1867. It's heavily implied that Andersen pumped a great deal of his own yearning for the forbidden into this sad, self-destructive creature.
The titular hero is upstaged, however, by two modern characters in a bleak, but ruefully amusing, narrative that offers distorted echoes of his plight.
The Lepage surrogate is Frédéric Lapointe, a Canadian rock lyricist who has come to Paris to write the libretto for an opera of "The Dryad". Like Lepage (who lost all his hair in childhood to alopecia), the albino Frédéric has a condition that sets him apart. Knowing how cruel children can be, he has had a vasectomy and been deserted by his long-time lover, who wants to start a family.
Images of isolation are multiplied by the tragicomic figure of the Opéra Garnier producer - an unscrupulous fixer who has a porn-addiction that destroys his marriage. There's a desolately funny sequence where, just as he is about to get down to business in a peep show booth, this art-world mandarin receives a phone call from his little daughter, who has not been picked up from school. Even after that, he glances at his watch, to see if there's still time... "He was quite a wanker," declares Frédéric in the quietly hilarious scene where he has to explain his take on Andersen to the board of the Royal Danish Theatre.
The show suggests a link between emotional rejection, imagination and masturbatory fantasy, but for every person who can turn loneliness into true art, there are hundreds of thousands who are stuck at the wanking stage. With Andersen so often pushed into the background, the piece can shed little light on this crucial difference. What it does present is further proof of Lepage's ability to create a seamlessly spell-binding whole from the integration of live performance, puppetry, high-tech visuals and perfectly chosen music. Who could forget the magical moment where Frédéric suddenly mutates into the humanised Dryad, wandering through projected engravings of the Paris Exhibition, or the vignette where he caresses a marble statue? There is also a nice streak of self-reflexive comedy (an in-joke about the invidious politics of international co-production and the low status of French-Canadians).
The Andersen Project is dryly aware that a semi-autobiographical solo show could itself be considered a pretty onanistic activity.
To 18 February (0845 120 7516)
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/thea ... 342214.ece
The Andersen Project, Barbican, London
Fairy tale with a Grimm streak
By Paul Taylor
Published: 31 January 2006
If the name Hans Christian Andersen triggers harrowing memories of the Danny Kaye movie and of hearty Danish types singing "Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen", then Robert Lepage's latest multimedia solo show will offer relief of sorts. For his audience, the moniker of the celebrated author is now liable to conjure up images of masturbation, peep-show booths in sex shops and forlorn fantasies of unattainable intimacy.
When the committee in Denmark approached the Québécois wunderkind about creating a theatre piece for the 200th anniversary of Andersen's birth in 2005, they must have been aware - from the evidence of his earlier one-man shows, such as Vinci, Needles and Opium, and The Far Side of the Moon - that there was likely to be a strong, semi-autobiographical element. One wonders, though, whether they had bargained for a feat of identification as extreme as the one he pulls off (so to speak) in this flawed, but haunting piece.
Andersen is occasionally glimpsed as an oddball loner who's in constant flight from his native Denmark and in search of the illicit pleasures denied by his unprepossessing demeanour. His unconsummated love for the Swedish nightingale, Jenny Lind, is powerfully communicated in a scene where he vainly strips naked a female dummy which then glides away from him.
Threaded through the proceedings, there's a dramatisation, using tiny wooden puppets, of his story "The Dryad" about a virgin tree-nymph who longs to be transplanted to Paris, where she forfeits her existence for a brief snatch of human life as a visitor to the World Exhibition of 1867. It's heavily implied that Andersen pumped a great deal of his own yearning for the forbidden into this sad, self-destructive creature.
The titular hero is upstaged, however, by two modern characters in a bleak, but ruefully amusing, narrative that offers distorted echoes of his plight.
The Lepage surrogate is Frédéric Lapointe, a Canadian rock lyricist who has come to Paris to write the libretto for an opera of "The Dryad". Like Lepage (who lost all his hair in childhood to alopecia), the albino Frédéric has a condition that sets him apart. Knowing how cruel children can be, he has had a vasectomy and been deserted by his long-time lover, who wants to start a family.
Images of isolation are multiplied by the tragicomic figure of the Opéra Garnier producer - an unscrupulous fixer who has a porn-addiction that destroys his marriage. There's a desolately funny sequence where, just as he is about to get down to business in a peep show booth, this art-world mandarin receives a phone call from his little daughter, who has not been picked up from school. Even after that, he glances at his watch, to see if there's still time... "He was quite a wanker," declares Frédéric in the quietly hilarious scene where he has to explain his take on Andersen to the board of the Royal Danish Theatre.
The show suggests a link between emotional rejection, imagination and masturbatory fantasy, but for every person who can turn loneliness into true art, there are hundreds of thousands who are stuck at the wanking stage. With Andersen so often pushed into the background, the piece can shed little light on this crucial difference. What it does present is further proof of Lepage's ability to create a seamlessly spell-binding whole from the integration of live performance, puppetry, high-tech visuals and perfectly chosen music. Who could forget the magical moment where Frédéric suddenly mutates into the humanised Dryad, wandering through projected engravings of the Paris Exhibition, or the vignette where he caresses a marble statue? There is also a nice streak of self-reflexive comedy (an in-joke about the invidious politics of international co-production and the low status of French-Canadians).
The Andersen Project is dryly aware that a semi-autobiographical solo show could itself be considered a pretty onanistic activity.
To 18 February (0845 120 7516)
-
Man out of Time
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- Location: just off the coast of Europe
- Contact:
Re: Elvis/ Hans Christian Andersen opera , 8/9 Oct. 05
Another review (in Danish) of the first night's show: http://www.b.dk/kultur/elvis-i-eventyrland:
"Elvis i eventyrland
Af Søren Kassebeer, sk@berlingske.dk
10. oktober 2005, 03:30
Musik: »The Secret Songs of Hans Christian Andersen«Bedømt som popmusik er sangene i Elvis Costellos nye kammeropera om H.C. Andersen i en klasse for sig. Musikdramatisk er de derimod ikke meget bevendt.
*** (out of six)
Var det værd at lytte til? Absolut! Kan man kalde det musikdramatik? Nix!
Hverken musikalsk eller dramaturgisk havde det, man oplevede i Operaen lørdag aften, ret meget med opera at gøre. Når vi alligevel bruger ordet »opera« i denne anmeldelse, er det af den simple grund, at Det Kgl. Teater insisterer på, at det er lige netop dét, den britiske sanger og sangskriver Elvis Costello nu i et par år - og på nationalscenens opfordring - har gået og rodet med: En opera. Eller helt præcist: En kammeropera. Det forhold, at de 10 sange fra »The Secret Songs of Hans Christian Andersen« blev uropført, hvor de nu engang blev urpført, nemlig på landets fineste operascene, satte en tyk streg under denne pointe: Det, vi hørte, var uddrag af en opera. Som sådan må det bedømmes.
Det gør vi så. Og konstaterer i den forbindelse, at det musikdramatiske potentiale i den nye H.C. Andersen-opera synes at kunne ligge på et eventyrligt lille sted. Selv om »The Secret Songs of Hans Christian Andersen« endnu ikke er færdig - og guderne må vide, hvornår den bliver det - og selv om det, vi oplevede, var en koncertopførelse med nogle få rekvisitter til at give lidt stemning, synes én ting allerede nu at stå klart: Elvis Costellos første opera nogensinde består i hovedsagen af statiske monologer. Kun i sangen »He has forgotten me completely« er der ansatser til dramatisk dialog. Resten er enetale på enetale på enetale. Læg dertil, at Elvis Costello, der jo ellers kan så meget, aldrig forlader populærmusikkens trygge havn for at sejle ud i andre musikalske farvande. Det er lidt synd, for ordet opera forpligter til at turde noget mere, også rent musikalsk, end blot at lyde som en begavet udgave af Andrew Lloyd Webber. Også af den grund er vi tæt på en falsk varebetegnelse.
Farverig humbugmager
Hvis vi derimod holder os til det, der rent faktisk foregik på Operaen i lørdags, må vi konstatere, at Elvis Costello har skrevet nogle fantastisk fine popsange, der tilsammen skaber en slags episk forløb og sjovt nok involverer den legendariske amerikanske impressario og cirkusmand P.T. Barnum. Denne farverige humbugmager har hyret operasangerinden Jenny Lind til en turné, og koblingen til eventyrdigteren ligger så selvfølgelig i sidstnævntes velkendte betagelse af den berømte svenske nattergal. Elvis Costello tager sig den kunstneriske frihed at påstå, at H.C. Andersen i virkeligheden skrev hemmelige breve til Jenny Lind. Det er disse breve, der har givet operaen navn.
Fik hvad de kom efter
Det var Elvis Costello selv, der sang partierne som Barnum og Andersen, mens en af Det Kgl. Teaters faste kræfter, sopranen Gisela Stille, tog kegler som Jenny Lind. Englænderens karakteristiske, lidt nasale popsangstemme vekslede fint med Stilles skolede operarøst, og den instrumentale side af sagen blev varetaget af et ganske velspillende lille band, der trakterede klaver, slagtøj, tuba, banjo, sav, cello, bas og forskellige blæserinstrumenter.
At dømme efter publikums reaktioner fik de fleste, hvad de var kommet efter, selv om de sange fra Elvis Costellos gamle sangbog, der ifølge forhåndsannonceringen skulle have været en del af programmet, helt glimrede ved deres fravær! Begejstringen var for så vidt forståelig, for mere mere raffineret popmusik end Costellos laves næppe i dag. Men med opera havde det ikke meget at gøre."
Or in "English" via Google Translate:
"Elvis 's Adventures in Wonderland
By Søren Kassebeer, sk@berlingske.dk
10. October 2005, 03:30
Music : " The Secret Songs of Hans Christian Andersen " Rated as pop music songs of Elvis Costello's new chamber opera about Hans Andersen in a class by itself. Musical Drama the other hand, not very helpful .
Was it worth listening to ? Absolutely ! Can we call it music drama ? Nix !
Neither musical or dramatic had it occurred at the Opera House on Saturday night , much to opera to do. When we do use the word ' opera ' in this review , it is for the simple reason that the Royal Theatre insists that this is exactly what the British singer -songwriter Elvis Costello now for a few years - and on the national scene call - I've gone and messed with an opera. Or exactly : a chamber opera . The fact that the 10 songs from " The Secret Songs of Hans Christian Andersen ' was first performed , where they now were once urpført , namely the country's finest opera stage , put a strong emphasis on this point: What we heard was an extract from a opera. As such it must be judged.
We are doing so . And notes in this context that the music dramatic potential of the new HC Andersen opera seems to be on a magical little place. Although ' The Secret Songs of Hans Christian Andersen " is not yet finished - and goodness knows when it will be - and even if what we saw was a concert performance with a few props to give a little atmosphere , one thing seems already become clear : Elvis Costello's first ever opera is composed mainly of static monologues . Only in the song " He has forgotten me completely ' are there rudiments of dramatic dialogue. The rest is monologue monologue and monologue . Add to this that Elvis Costello, who normally can do so much , never leave popular music safe harbor to sail out into other musical waters. It is a pity , because the word opera committed to dare something more , even musically , than just sound like an intelligent version of Andrew Lloyd Webber. For this reason we are close to a false trade description .
colorful humbugmager
However, if we stick to what actually took place at the Opera House on Saturday , we should note that Elvis Costello has written some great fine pop songs that together create a kind of epic course and curiously involving the legendary American impresario and circus man PT Barnum . This colorful humbugmager hired opera singer Jenny Lind for a tour, and the coupling to the storyteller is so obviously in the latter's well-known fascination with the famous Swedish nightingale. Elvis Costello takes care of the artistic freedom to claim that HC Andersen in fact wrote secret letters to Jenny Lind. It is these letters which gave the opera 's name.
Got what they came for
It was Elvis Costello himself, who sang parties as Barnum and Andersen, while one of the Royal Theatre's regular artists , soprano Gisela Stille , took cones as Jenny Lind. Englishman's distinctive , slightly nasal popsangstemme alternated fine with equivalent trained opera voice and the instrumental side of the case was handled by a very accomplished little band who regaled piano, percussion, tuba , banjo , saw, cello , bass and various wind instruments .
Judging by the reactions of the audience got most of what they had come for, even though the songs from Elvis Costello's old songbook , according to pre- announcement should have been part of the program , quite conspicuous by their absence ! The enthusiasm was as understandable, for more more refined pop music than Costello made hardly today. But with the opera had not much to do."
MOOT
"Elvis i eventyrland
Af Søren Kassebeer, sk@berlingske.dk
10. oktober 2005, 03:30
Musik: »The Secret Songs of Hans Christian Andersen«Bedømt som popmusik er sangene i Elvis Costellos nye kammeropera om H.C. Andersen i en klasse for sig. Musikdramatisk er de derimod ikke meget bevendt.
*** (out of six)
Var det værd at lytte til? Absolut! Kan man kalde det musikdramatik? Nix!
Hverken musikalsk eller dramaturgisk havde det, man oplevede i Operaen lørdag aften, ret meget med opera at gøre. Når vi alligevel bruger ordet »opera« i denne anmeldelse, er det af den simple grund, at Det Kgl. Teater insisterer på, at det er lige netop dét, den britiske sanger og sangskriver Elvis Costello nu i et par år - og på nationalscenens opfordring - har gået og rodet med: En opera. Eller helt præcist: En kammeropera. Det forhold, at de 10 sange fra »The Secret Songs of Hans Christian Andersen« blev uropført, hvor de nu engang blev urpført, nemlig på landets fineste operascene, satte en tyk streg under denne pointe: Det, vi hørte, var uddrag af en opera. Som sådan må det bedømmes.
Det gør vi så. Og konstaterer i den forbindelse, at det musikdramatiske potentiale i den nye H.C. Andersen-opera synes at kunne ligge på et eventyrligt lille sted. Selv om »The Secret Songs of Hans Christian Andersen« endnu ikke er færdig - og guderne må vide, hvornår den bliver det - og selv om det, vi oplevede, var en koncertopførelse med nogle få rekvisitter til at give lidt stemning, synes én ting allerede nu at stå klart: Elvis Costellos første opera nogensinde består i hovedsagen af statiske monologer. Kun i sangen »He has forgotten me completely« er der ansatser til dramatisk dialog. Resten er enetale på enetale på enetale. Læg dertil, at Elvis Costello, der jo ellers kan så meget, aldrig forlader populærmusikkens trygge havn for at sejle ud i andre musikalske farvande. Det er lidt synd, for ordet opera forpligter til at turde noget mere, også rent musikalsk, end blot at lyde som en begavet udgave af Andrew Lloyd Webber. Også af den grund er vi tæt på en falsk varebetegnelse.
Farverig humbugmager
Hvis vi derimod holder os til det, der rent faktisk foregik på Operaen i lørdags, må vi konstatere, at Elvis Costello har skrevet nogle fantastisk fine popsange, der tilsammen skaber en slags episk forløb og sjovt nok involverer den legendariske amerikanske impressario og cirkusmand P.T. Barnum. Denne farverige humbugmager har hyret operasangerinden Jenny Lind til en turné, og koblingen til eventyrdigteren ligger så selvfølgelig i sidstnævntes velkendte betagelse af den berømte svenske nattergal. Elvis Costello tager sig den kunstneriske frihed at påstå, at H.C. Andersen i virkeligheden skrev hemmelige breve til Jenny Lind. Det er disse breve, der har givet operaen navn.
Fik hvad de kom efter
Det var Elvis Costello selv, der sang partierne som Barnum og Andersen, mens en af Det Kgl. Teaters faste kræfter, sopranen Gisela Stille, tog kegler som Jenny Lind. Englænderens karakteristiske, lidt nasale popsangstemme vekslede fint med Stilles skolede operarøst, og den instrumentale side af sagen blev varetaget af et ganske velspillende lille band, der trakterede klaver, slagtøj, tuba, banjo, sav, cello, bas og forskellige blæserinstrumenter.
At dømme efter publikums reaktioner fik de fleste, hvad de var kommet efter, selv om de sange fra Elvis Costellos gamle sangbog, der ifølge forhåndsannonceringen skulle have været en del af programmet, helt glimrede ved deres fravær! Begejstringen var for så vidt forståelig, for mere mere raffineret popmusik end Costellos laves næppe i dag. Men med opera havde det ikke meget at gøre."
Or in "English" via Google Translate:
"Elvis 's Adventures in Wonderland
By Søren Kassebeer, sk@berlingske.dk
10. October 2005, 03:30
Music : " The Secret Songs of Hans Christian Andersen " Rated as pop music songs of Elvis Costello's new chamber opera about Hans Andersen in a class by itself. Musical Drama the other hand, not very helpful .
Was it worth listening to ? Absolutely ! Can we call it music drama ? Nix !
Neither musical or dramatic had it occurred at the Opera House on Saturday night , much to opera to do. When we do use the word ' opera ' in this review , it is for the simple reason that the Royal Theatre insists that this is exactly what the British singer -songwriter Elvis Costello now for a few years - and on the national scene call - I've gone and messed with an opera. Or exactly : a chamber opera . The fact that the 10 songs from " The Secret Songs of Hans Christian Andersen ' was first performed , where they now were once urpført , namely the country's finest opera stage , put a strong emphasis on this point: What we heard was an extract from a opera. As such it must be judged.
We are doing so . And notes in this context that the music dramatic potential of the new HC Andersen opera seems to be on a magical little place. Although ' The Secret Songs of Hans Christian Andersen " is not yet finished - and goodness knows when it will be - and even if what we saw was a concert performance with a few props to give a little atmosphere , one thing seems already become clear : Elvis Costello's first ever opera is composed mainly of static monologues . Only in the song " He has forgotten me completely ' are there rudiments of dramatic dialogue. The rest is monologue monologue and monologue . Add to this that Elvis Costello, who normally can do so much , never leave popular music safe harbor to sail out into other musical waters. It is a pity , because the word opera committed to dare something more , even musically , than just sound like an intelligent version of Andrew Lloyd Webber. For this reason we are close to a false trade description .
colorful humbugmager
However, if we stick to what actually took place at the Opera House on Saturday , we should note that Elvis Costello has written some great fine pop songs that together create a kind of epic course and curiously involving the legendary American impresario and circus man PT Barnum . This colorful humbugmager hired opera singer Jenny Lind for a tour, and the coupling to the storyteller is so obviously in the latter's well-known fascination with the famous Swedish nightingale. Elvis Costello takes care of the artistic freedom to claim that HC Andersen in fact wrote secret letters to Jenny Lind. It is these letters which gave the opera 's name.
Got what they came for
It was Elvis Costello himself, who sang parties as Barnum and Andersen, while one of the Royal Theatre's regular artists , soprano Gisela Stille , took cones as Jenny Lind. Englishman's distinctive , slightly nasal popsangstemme alternated fine with equivalent trained opera voice and the instrumental side of the case was handled by a very accomplished little band who regaled piano, percussion, tuba , banjo , saw, cello , bass and various wind instruments .
Judging by the reactions of the audience got most of what they had come for, even though the songs from Elvis Costello's old songbook , according to pre- announcement should have been part of the program , quite conspicuous by their absence ! The enthusiasm was as understandable, for more more refined pop music than Costello made hardly today. But with the opera had not much to do."
MOOT
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Re: Elvis/ Hans Christian Andersen opera , 8/9 Oct. 05
A short review in ABC Madrid (a Spanish Newspaper).
Elvis Costello debuta en la ópera de la mano de Andersen
Una obra que conjuga música clásica con pop, blue-grass y music-hall y que aborda la relación entre el escritor Hans Christian Andersen y la soprano Jenny Lind. Así es el debut del músico británico Elvis Costello en el mundo de la ópera. “The secret songs” es el resultado de un encargo del Teatro Real de Copenhague incluido en el programa de actividades del bicentario del célebre escritor, que el sábado y el domingo se ha presentado en la nueva ópera de las capital danesa. Costello ha ofrecido con notable éxito de públic (en la imagen agredece los numerosos aplausos) un esbozo de la ópera de cámara definitiva que estrenará la próxima temporada.
Or in "English" via Google Translate:
Elvis Costello Opera debut in the hands of Andersen
"A work that combines classical music with pop and blue-grass music hall and addresses the relationship between the writer Hans Christian Andersen and the soprano Jenny Lind. This is the debut of the British musician Elvis Costello in the world of opera. "The Secret Songs" is the result of a commission from the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen included in the program of activities of the Bicentennial of the famous writer, who on Saturday and Sunday has been presented in the new opera of the Danish capital. Costello has offered remarkable success with the public (pictured thanking the numerous applause) an outline of the final chamber opera debut next season."
Shows how widely the Secret Songs show was reported.
MOOT
Elvis Costello debuta en la ópera de la mano de Andersen
Una obra que conjuga música clásica con pop, blue-grass y music-hall y que aborda la relación entre el escritor Hans Christian Andersen y la soprano Jenny Lind. Así es el debut del músico británico Elvis Costello en el mundo de la ópera. “The secret songs” es el resultado de un encargo del Teatro Real de Copenhague incluido en el programa de actividades del bicentario del célebre escritor, que el sábado y el domingo se ha presentado en la nueva ópera de las capital danesa. Costello ha ofrecido con notable éxito de públic (en la imagen agredece los numerosos aplausos) un esbozo de la ópera de cámara definitiva que estrenará la próxima temporada.
Or in "English" via Google Translate:
Elvis Costello Opera debut in the hands of Andersen
"A work that combines classical music with pop and blue-grass music hall and addresses the relationship between the writer Hans Christian Andersen and the soprano Jenny Lind. This is the debut of the British musician Elvis Costello in the world of opera. "The Secret Songs" is the result of a commission from the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen included in the program of activities of the Bicentennial of the famous writer, who on Saturday and Sunday has been presented in the new opera of the Danish capital. Costello has offered remarkable success with the public (pictured thanking the numerous applause) an outline of the final chamber opera debut next season."
- EC in Copenhagen
- ABC Madrid October 2005 Photo.jpg (43.08 KiB) Viewed 16459 times
MOOT