Those filthy, stinking, evil bastards of the horrid French Revolution! Just think, they actually did this. And much more!
Go to audiosancto org and put in the words French Revolution in the search box. Then listen. Devastating. Also see my amazon Listmania! page, Counter-Revolutionaries, Unite!
One of the greatest stagings ever placed on the Met stage... and all without "technology", almost without scenery. But so enormously moving. (and Lord, I miss Jesse.)
This reminds of a performance of this opera that I saw at Wolftrap. Each nun would walk off stage and as she did she would pass between two soldiers. As each nun passed, the soldiers would then turn around and face off stage and the sound of the guillotine would be heard. The soldiers would then turn back around to face the other nuns approaching.
I learned of this thanks to my now departed teacher Brother Ronald Hurst . Like no one ever before or since he could explain music and bring it to life off the page.
I love the RESOLVE of the old woman with the walking stick at 5:40. When she walks to her death, it's as if she's saying, "You want me? All right, let's get this over with. I'm not afraid; bring it! HERE I AM!!"
It's so brave and beautiful & heartbreaking all at the same time. In some ways, when SHE dies it gets me teary-eyed every time. {:'-0
@LoudCitizen Sometimes the effect is done as simply as shredding paper in front of a microphone and then using a cutting board to receive the impact of something. I am not sure how the Met achieves the effect specifically, but I know sometimes it is the simplest things just amplified beyond their natural sound that makes the greatest effects.
@LoudCitizen In a production I participated in back in '74 with singers from the Music Academy of the West, I used a paper cutter. I had a bit of a dispute with our director about sticking to the score. It was my thought that Poulenc was very deliberate about the timing which is indicated with downward arrows on the music. Our director wanted the timing to coincide with the exits of the nuns. I wonder how strictly this rendition sticks to the score. The strikes seem awfully fast in spots.
@yogione Thanks! Since you've had access to Poulenc's score, can you tell me how this is noted in the score? What instruments or implements did he note to be used?
@LoudCitizen I didn't see any note about the instrumentation if there is one. My roommate at Oberlin (who I notice lately is the director of the Los Angeles Opera) turned me on to this work and offered that it is commonly a paper cutter that creates the effect. I first saw it at Oberlin in 1968. All i saw in the score were the downward arrows. Our Sister Blanche from Oberlin went on to play the same part at the Met in the seventies. I can ask her what they used. She's on my facebook list.
@LoudCitizen At Brevard Music Center in 1982 they taped a microphone on to a paper cutter board and the sound man lowered the cutting arm to great effect. From the stage I saw a dozen people in the audience jump out of their seats.
@LoudCitizen Biola University is currently doing the show this weekend and next. For the guillotine sound, we simply downloaded a sound effect that we liked, uploaded it to my computer, and fed it through the speakers of the house at the push of a button on m laptop. (I'm also the pianist in the orchestra.)
This is one of my favorite operas, and I don't want to take anything away from this wonderful work, but a good comparison is the finale in Mussorgsky's Khovanschina.
Gall...I love Poulenc. It baffles me that some don't care for him and even suggest that he wasn't a very good composer. How beautiful is this?!? And when she brings in the different prayer at the end...chills. This is incredible.
This opera is based on historical fact. The Carmelite sisters offerd their lives in reparation for the harm done to the Church and to end the Reign of Terror.
The book To Quell the Terror tells the whole story
The are singing this Catholic prayer: Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
I fail to see why having a historically accurate depiction of something that happened in the Reign of Terror is unoriginal. Are history books then unimaginative? The imagination and thrill is the drama and the music. If you find this lacking imagination, then perhaps history isn't for you.
And do what?... some crap like they do in Germany?. Prefer traditional productions than the nonsense they do most of the times. Besides, this is traditional with a modern touch. The problem is that whenever they do something different (generally speaking), people don´t understand their concept and is far from interesting. In fact, most of the times is ugly.
@Rory1956 To answer your question, two words: James Levine. Back in the '70s, when he was young and hungry, the Met was the best in the world. Now that he is old and sated, well, you see what has happened. He was. BTW, the Carmelinte Martyrs, who inspired this opera, and whose feast is July 17, were executed in their Carmelite habits. The Committee for Public Safety didn't have anything else for them to wear.
A very chilling and profound scene. As a singer, when moments on stage like this one come together it is a life-changing event, not only for the audience but for the artist as well. Thank you for sharing it with us.
I know what you mean. When i did this opera many years ago I could not get through the 1st rehearsal. We were on stage for the 1st time and when i heard the first guillotine bang I had to sit. I was shivering all through the scene. I had to create a mental block in order to get through 4 performances
The first time I saw this opera full staged was recently (April 09). I had to carefully pace my breathing the last four minutes-- if I hadn't, I would have sobbed out loud. The woman sitting next to me, a complete stranger, and I gripped hands during the entire execution scene.
My university is performing this, and I'm working as an usher. I sat in on the show for the first time last night. I hardly ever cry at things, but I cried during this final scene... It's so powerful. I didn't think I would cry, but I after I visibly flinched at the first guillotine sound, I couldn't hold back. Then when it ended, I had to sit for a moment and compose myself before going to the door to say good night to the audience as they walked out.
My God..... it's been a while -in fact, not since the first time that I ever heard an opera- that any work has stricken me so cold and numb with awe. In a way, it is magnificent but the subject is simply horrific! I am amazed, awed, shocked...this is a brilliant production and an excellent performance. Bravissimi!!
The final scene of Poulenc's opera is a powerful indictment of murderous secular salvation ideologies (jacobinism, communism, atheism,etc.) It also shows their basic weakness in face of true religious faith. Dawkins, Hitchens et al., pay attention!
The main reason the people revolted against the clergy was because they were taking a huge portion of the common people's money and products, much like the nobles. It wasn't a sudden mass conversion to atheism. Certainly doesn't excuse the massacres in the Reign of Terror though.
I to would wish the MET would release this production on DVD Video Etc. It is one of my favorite productions. I was fortunate enought to see it at the MET the second time the mounted the production. I have a cassette set of the Audio of the Radio Brodcast of the same cast in my collection that I have always trasured very much. The MET could make a killing on the sales alone. I would buy it for sure.
The French Revolution murdered all the nuns they could get their hands on. This is the story of ordinary women with amazing courage, including a young nun who is very vivacious, and their final journey. Poulenc stated that he wanted the opera sung in the language of the people, not just French.
If this were released on dvd I would buy a copy immediately. Why is the Met not willing to do so? It can't cost that much to release it and it will more than pay for itself through sales.
Unfortunately it might have something to do with contract issues: Paperwork involving the performers and also whatever their deal is with EMI Classics. Maybe they'll add it to the Met Player one day, but I know not everyone's computer (including my own) meets the requirements to watch online, and I'm not anywhere near affording a new one.
Well I respect your opinion. BUT I've been in this business long enough to know what I am talking about. Trust me copy means only that other people haven't got any ideas, which means they are not good artists nor professionals, therefore not to be trusted in taste and ability.
You Should know that the Zeffirelli bohème comes from the shows of Samaritani and Visconti, to whom Zeffirelli was assistant.
Anyway I respect your taste and your opinion, but please don't start patronizing people.
And who says you are the only one in the business? I am perfectly aware that Zefirelli did one production of Boheme several times, and the same for Tosca and that he was heavily influenced by Visconti. That has never been a secret. Fact is that whether it is Zefirelli's or Visconti's the productions were hailed because the singers did not behave like museum pieces.
I agree with you on the copy comment. Thanks to that we have seen more Corporate Corruption rings that I would care to count.
The part about copying that you are neglecting to acknowledge is that people tend to copy what is seen as original, never done or interesting enough. You might not like it, but enought stage directors have thought the production worth copying. And enough audiences have not mind.
I find the production effective if a little overblown, but the fact is that it is faithful to what a public lynching would look like and effectively portrays a mob scene.
Give me a break, Zeffirelli's Bohème.... Please! It's theater not a museum. Aniway that's the beauty of it everyone has its taste and needs to be respected. Only the fact that something it's been copied doesn't make it good. The Met is known for its terrible productions like this Carmelitès, looks like Les Miserables...
Please, That Boheme might look like a museum piece now, but when it was new it was hailed as one of the most dramatic pieces on the year.
Funny, I thought that the best instance of flattery was to copy. I guess then that all those "dramatic" stage directors who copy this ad nauseum don't know their elbow from their ass.
Trust me, if it was THAT bad, it would have not been revived and kept in the rep.
Le Mis it's a cheap, intended in money spent on the show, musical, Opera, is a complete different art form with different codes, we are not trying to imitate the period but telling a story, watch Robert Cersen's production.
This seems to tell the story quite well, and it's pretty brutal too. I'm a music student graduating in a number of weeks and it's been my experience that it's a lack of an open mind and heavy criticism of things you don't agree with which is turning audiences away from operas and other wonderful forms of art.
Well, it's only a criticism, the lack of it I think it's the problem. Don't really like to be patronized, but I can tell you that it's not criticism that keeps the audience away. I think the problem it's deeper and it lays into opera not wanting to speak to new audiencies, but only to a very narrow and specific kind.
Your criticism though was not not constructive until I finally got to asking why, it was simply "terrible." One could also say that the new modernizations are only for specific audiiences - the ones who know what's going on, but I don't dare say that because it is simply another brand of staging. This opera is in itself pretty specific based on history. It's certainly not literal though considering that stage. The costumes are about the only thing accurate to the time.
i actually was at the Scala production in Arcimboldi during the renovation of the old theatre and found the production fine (amazingly sung and acted by the individual principals) but I prefer a more realistic story telling of the finale like the one on display here.
You can definitely imply the execution, nobody needs blood stains all over, but it has to resemble an execution otherwise a very real, brutal fact -which is intended to culminate the story- goes essentially lost.
That's laughable; even more so since this production and /or elements from it are copied everywhere in Europe.
This production, along with Zefirelli's Boheme & Falstaff and the old Frau are still recognized as some of the most theatrical productions ever mounted at the Met. It outlasted the Schenk Ring, several Trovatores and Lucias, and even the Zefirelli Tosca (a classic by many's standard).
I did not know Betsy Norden was in this production. When I was in music school almost 17 years ago, I did a master class with her. She and my first voice teacher were good friends and sang at the Met together in the mid 70's and ealy 80's
I have to agree with Marko...I think more simplicity is more powerful with this piece. This performance is, in particular, too loud for my taste. It's more effective if they sound more like nuns and less like an opera chorus.
No no no....too noisy, too fast, too spectacular, too plastic, too much Hollywood, too much of everything...for a proper interpretation you should check the original recording with Denise Duval and Regine Crespin, conducted by Pierre Dervaux
While you might be right in terms of musical performance, I have to disagree with you in terms of staging. This production set the standard for many people when Dialogues is concern.
Yes, you're right. My first instinctive reaction was to the volume of the orchestra + singers. I saw this opera in Amsterdam in 2002, Robert Carson directing. Very minimalistic. The Carmelitesses being alone on stage (choir backstage)...they performed a gracious dance and after each guillotineblow slowly fell to the floor, their arms spread as if being ordained. That way murder and salvation came together. Chilling. Compared to that, this looks like a costume drama, in my opinion.
What Robert Carsen didn't tell you is that he copied the image of the nuns in the "ordained" position from the Met's opening scene.
I think you are proving my point. Over 30 years after this production opened, it is still being used to influence other productions or directors are copying some of the images used in it.
Hm, didn't know that, being 6 years old when the Met put this production on stage. Being in the ordained position is indeed very powerful and appropriate. Carsen also opens with this and kind of 'undressed' the staging: No French soldiers to be seen, no beggar women in brown clothes, etc. Only the characters with a name (Chevalier, The Prioress, Blanche, etc.) visible on stage. All the rest sounded from afar. I remember Yves Abel's conducting to be wonderful. Very fresh and devoid of effect.
I saw this magnificent production numerous times at the Met. The opening image of all the nuns lying prostrate on the white tile floor, arms outstretched, and the ending image of the empty tile floor were the bookends to a beautifully staged and sung production. I particularly loved Betsy Norden and Maria Ewing. A moving experience for me (who is a rather anti-religion person). Why oh why don't they bring back this production?! Thank you for posting this.
I remember the first time I saw this when it was broadcast on TV. I didn't know the opera, but I was mesmerized by it. By the end of this scene I was bawling inconsolably. Thank goodness I was videotaping it. I still cry like a baby every time I see it. After the death of my own mother, and I found myself unable to cry, I went home, put this on my VRC, and finally was able to break thru my emotional barrier. Why the Met isn't releasing this on DVD is a mystery.
I believe I read somewhere that Leontyne Price as Madame Lidoine and Shirley Verrett as Morther Marie starred in the American premiere of this opera. Does anyone have a recording of that performance.
I saw the broadcast as well. It was one of the most memorable performances I have ever seen. I was completely moved by it. Regine Crespin, who sang the role of M. de Croissy in this performance, starred in the premiere of the opera as Madame Lidoine in the 1950s, I believe.
I think this opera is about injustice and not about religion. It shows how easily the innocent can be swept away as the guilty in times of social upheaval.
@JosephCercy to the revolutionaries they were guilty. They were guilty for their beliefs. The church they were associated with was guilty for why the sociaty was the way it was. The church was associated with the King.
Geweldig, mooi ik ben er stil van. In mei gaan wij dit lied ter gehoren brengen en we zijn al druk aan het oefenen. Maar zo mooi als dit kan je bijna niet evenaren, nou van mij mag het ook op dvd uitkomen. Groeten cst
Thank you for posting this. I hope the powers that be might read these comments and change their mind. I would pay good money to have this on DVD - even though I already have another version.
I know someone at the Met's media department who told me that for the Met to release a DVD, a whole bunch of unions, groups, and artists have to agree on the details. It's very difficult because of the many egos and much greed. A disgrace.
OH MY GOD! I saw this production in the mid 90's with Teresa Stratas, Helga Dernisch, and Florence Quivar. I never knew that there had been a broadcast. Oh Yes, I vote that the Met release a DVD. Till then can you put up a few more of the great scenes from this opera, or can I convince you to upload the whole thing... Pretty Pleeeaase... lol. Thanks for putting this up.
Ummm Goood production, thanks for posting, but that wasn't Florence Quivar, that was jessye Norman, and I think at the end it was maria Ewing not Teresa Stratas
Please, give me some credit, Im not that stupid. Perhaps you didnt read what tenore23 wrote in the notes on this clip. Im saying that I saw this production at the Met in the 90's with a different cast conducted by Kent Nagano and I didnt know that there had ever been a t.v. broadcast from any season. You dont have to guess who's in this clip just from the faces and the voices; the person who posted it tells you in the notes on the right. Thanks for helping out, nitz.
IT'S COMING BACK TO THE MET!!!
olympicfreak678 1 week ago 2
Those filthy, stinking, evil bastards of the horrid French Revolution! Just think, they actually did this. And much more!
Go to audiosancto org and put in the words French Revolution in the search box. Then listen. Devastating. Also see my amazon Listmania! page, Counter-Revolutionaries, Unite!
Jitpring 1 month ago
It's a horrible sin that this isn't out on DVD.
Jitpring 1 month ago
One of the greatest stagings ever placed on the Met stage... and all without "technology", almost without scenery. But so enormously moving. (and Lord, I miss Jesse.)
AndrewRudin 1 month ago
This reminds of a performance of this opera that I saw at Wolftrap. Each nun would walk off stage and as she did she would pass between two soldiers. As each nun passed, the soldiers would then turn around and face off stage and the sound of the guillotine would be heard. The soldiers would then turn back around to face the other nuns approaching.
MarySue1964 3 months ago
I love how it ends with nothing but the cross.
nww009 3 months ago
Is this version with Regin Crespin available for purchase anywhere?
jonfalkfalk 3 months ago
@jonfalkfalk Unfortunately it is not available for purchase.
tenore23 3 months ago
I learned of this thanks to my now departed teacher Brother Ronald Hurst . Like no one ever before or since he could explain music and bring it to life off the page.
Thanks Ronald
jpstenino 3 months ago
The return of Blanche in the final scene is one of the most moving moments in opera literature.
FredricEric 3 months ago
Maravillosa! Saludos desde Chile
cristobalmejiasr 5 months ago
I love the RESOLVE of the old woman with the walking stick at 5:40. When she walks to her death, it's as if she's saying, "You want me? All right, let's get this over with. I'm not afraid; bring it! HERE I AM!!"
It's so brave and beautiful & heartbreaking all at the same time. In some ways, when SHE dies it gets me teary-eyed every time. {:'-0
tfpp1 6 months ago 2
Can anyone explain exactly what the percussion section is doing to make the sound of the guillotine? It is so amazing.
LoudCitizen 10 months ago
@LoudCitizen Sometimes the effect is done as simply as shredding paper in front of a microphone and then using a cutting board to receive the impact of something. I am not sure how the Met achieves the effect specifically, but I know sometimes it is the simplest things just amplified beyond their natural sound that makes the greatest effects.
tenore23 10 months ago 3
@tenore23, I heard of one production that used a paper cutter and small cabbages in front of the microphone once.
CecilySebastian 2 months ago
@LoudCitizen In a production I participated in back in '74 with singers from the Music Academy of the West, I used a paper cutter. I had a bit of a dispute with our director about sticking to the score. It was my thought that Poulenc was very deliberate about the timing which is indicated with downward arrows on the music. Our director wanted the timing to coincide with the exits of the nuns. I wonder how strictly this rendition sticks to the score. The strikes seem awfully fast in spots.
yogione 10 months ago
@yogione Thanks! Since you've had access to Poulenc's score, can you tell me how this is noted in the score? What instruments or implements did he note to be used?
LoudCitizen 10 months ago
@LoudCitizen I didn't see any note about the instrumentation if there is one. My roommate at Oberlin (who I notice lately is the director of the Los Angeles Opera) turned me on to this work and offered that it is commonly a paper cutter that creates the effect. I first saw it at Oberlin in 1968. All i saw in the score were the downward arrows. Our Sister Blanche from Oberlin went on to play the same part at the Met in the seventies. I can ask her what they used. She's on my facebook list.
yogione 10 months ago
@LoudCitizen At Brevard Music Center in 1982 they taped a microphone on to a paper cutter board and the sound man lowered the cutting arm to great effect. From the stage I saw a dozen people in the audience jump out of their seats.
hermanzoon 8 months ago
@LoudCitizen Biola University is currently doing the show this weekend and next. For the guillotine sound, we simply downloaded a sound effect that we liked, uploaded it to my computer, and fed it through the speakers of the house at the push of a button on m laptop. (I'm also the pianist in the orchestra.)
tfpp1 3 weeks ago
Quite a lot of wobbly voices I think.
jangu63 1 year ago
This is one of my favorite operas, and I don't want to take anything away from this wonderful work, but a good comparison is the finale in Mussorgsky's Khovanschina.
CBordages 1 year ago
Revive this Peter Gelb!!!!!!!!!!!
fendibag17 1 year ago 4
A BAS LE REVOLUTION! VIVE LE ROI!!!!
055697 1 year ago
Humanity is so horrible, stupid and depraved that we deserve to be incinerated.
billyguns2 1 year ago
What a crazy coincidence, my university is doing this also!
azbart007 2 years ago
This was the 1987 revival of one of John Dexter's greatest productions.
BrianJosephMorgan 2 years ago
Gall...I love Poulenc. It baffles me that some don't care for him and even suggest that he wasn't a very good composer. How beautiful is this?!? And when she brings in the different prayer at the end...chills. This is incredible.
Iareto 2 years ago
This opera is based on historical fact. The Carmelite sisters offerd their lives in reparation for the harm done to the Church and to end the Reign of Terror.
The book To Quell the Terror tells the whole story
82roboc 2 years ago 3
mjp621 2 years ago 2
I've heard this song so many times, since it's one of this years pieces for Academic Decathlon, but actually seeing it acted out is quite chilling.
darkangelkalas 2 years ago 2
@darkangelkalas same here!
jessitreelover 2 years ago
My university is performing this, and I'm in their orchestra
crazygrainger2006 2 years ago 3
@crazygrainger2006 My university is doing this and I'm their Mere Marie. Amazing opera
MuLgS00 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Why always these traditional productions at the Met?
Don't they have a bit more of imagination?
Rory1956 2 years ago
Are you blind? have you read the entire comment threat?
tenore23 2 years ago 4
@Rory1956
I fail to see why having a historically accurate depiction of something that happened in the Reign of Terror is unoriginal. Are history books then unimaginative? The imagination and thrill is the drama and the music. If you find this lacking imagination, then perhaps history isn't for you.
Jaydoggy531 1 year ago 3
And do what?... some crap like they do in Germany?. Prefer traditional productions than the nonsense they do most of the times. Besides, this is traditional with a modern touch. The problem is that whenever they do something different (generally speaking), people don´t understand their concept and is far from interesting. In fact, most of the times is ugly.
ezayi 1 year ago
@Rory1956 To answer your question, two words: James Levine. Back in the '70s, when he was young and hungry, the Met was the best in the world. Now that he is old and sated, well, you see what has happened. He was. BTW, the Carmelinte Martyrs, who inspired this opera, and whose feast is July 17, were executed in their Carmelite habits. The Committee for Public Safety didn't have anything else for them to wear.
CBordages 1 year ago
I have been looking for this particular scene for a long time. It haunts you. Thanks for posting it.
ld400 2 years ago 2
A very chilling and profound scene. As a singer, when moments on stage like this one come together it is a life-changing event, not only for the audience but for the artist as well. Thank you for sharing it with us.
fdh1004 2 years ago 16
I know what you mean. When i did this opera many years ago I could not get through the 1st rehearsal. We were on stage for the 1st time and when i heard the first guillotine bang I had to sit. I was shivering all through the scene. I had to create a mental block in order to get through 4 performances
tenore23 2 years ago
The first time I saw this opera full staged was recently (April 09). I had to carefully pace my breathing the last four minutes-- if I hadn't, I would have sobbed out loud. The woman sitting next to me, a complete stranger, and I gripped hands during the entire execution scene.
monteverdi1567 2 years ago 33
My university is performing this, and I'm working as an usher. I sat in on the show for the first time last night. I hardly ever cry at things, but I cried during this final scene... It's so powerful. I didn't think I would cry, but I after I visibly flinched at the first guillotine sound, I couldn't hold back. Then when it ended, I had to sit for a moment and compose myself before going to the door to say good night to the audience as they walked out.
honestguitarist 2 years ago
I know the feeling so well. Same thing happened to me when i saw Fidler on the Roof for the 1st time, of all things.
tenore23 2 years ago
Carnegie Mellon? It was a very good performance and the guillotine sound was quite chilling.
xaenfilm 2 years ago
@honestguitarist Your soul is well intact, friend. Thank you for sharing this experience with us.
Jitpring 1 year ago
joliet west is doing opera scenes and this is one of the scenes. it was hard to learn the prayer because its in latin but it is amazing.. i love it.
xXxchoirnerdxXx 2 years ago
The prayer is actually not very hard. learn to recite it in English first, then it will make sense.
tenore23 2 years ago
well for choir we just learned the latin !
xXxchoirnerdxXx 2 years ago
My God..... it's been a while -in fact, not since the first time that I ever heard an opera- that any work has stricken me so cold and numb with awe. In a way, it is magnificent but the subject is simply horrific! I am amazed, awed, shocked...this is a brilliant production and an excellent performance. Bravissimi!!
Archsorceror 2 years ago
The final scene of Poulenc's opera is a powerful indictment of murderous secular salvation ideologies (jacobinism, communism, atheism,etc.) It also shows their basic weakness in face of true religious faith. Dawkins, Hitchens et al., pay attention!
marwes19 2 years ago 2
The main reason the people revolted against the clergy was because they were taking a huge portion of the common people's money and products, much like the nobles. It wasn't a sudden mass conversion to atheism. Certainly doesn't excuse the massacres in the Reign of Terror though.
Jaydoggy531 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Fail.
yumyumwhatzohai 2 years ago
I to would wish the MET would release this production on DVD Video Etc. It is one of my favorite productions. I was fortunate enought to see it at the MET the second time the mounted the production. I have a cassette set of the Audio of the Radio Brodcast of the same cast in my collection that I have always trasured very much. The MET could make a killing on the sales alone. I would buy it for sure.
JEFFERYSAVAGE 2 years ago
What in God's name is going on????
mtf71 2 years ago
The French Revolution murdered all the nuns they could get their hands on. This is the story of ordinary women with amazing courage, including a young nun who is very vivacious, and their final journey. Poulenc stated that he wanted the opera sung in the language of the people, not just French.
GracelynMusic 2 years ago 3
I love this clip... like many others, I wish the Met would publish the full DVD. I"d buy it in a heartbeat. Thanks Thanks for this bit of it.
carl44acq 2 years ago
If this were released on dvd I would buy a copy immediately. Why is the Met not willing to do so? It can't cost that much to release it and it will more than pay for itself through sales.
francescorudolfo 2 years ago
Unfortunately it might have something to do with contract issues: Paperwork involving the performers and also whatever their deal is with EMI Classics. Maybe they'll add it to the Met Player one day, but I know not everyone's computer (including my own) meets the requirements to watch online, and I'm not anywhere near affording a new one.
Jaydoggy531 2 years ago
goodness gracious. My heart breaks everytime I listen to or watch this scene. What a cast!
tjb286 2 years ago
I'd like to find a full DVD of this opera somewhere. Hell, it could be on video and I'd still watch it. This was electrifying.
FireofSekhmet 2 years ago
Amazingly powerful way to portray their silencing - wow...
Primsong 2 years ago
Well I respect your opinion. BUT I've been in this business long enough to know what I am talking about. Trust me copy means only that other people haven't got any ideas, which means they are not good artists nor professionals, therefore not to be trusted in taste and ability.
You Should know that the Zeffirelli bohème comes from the shows of Samaritani and Visconti, to whom Zeffirelli was assistant.
Anyway I respect your taste and your opinion, but please don't start patronizing people.
jacopospirei 2 years ago
And who says you are the only one in the business? I am perfectly aware that Zefirelli did one production of Boheme several times, and the same for Tosca and that he was heavily influenced by Visconti. That has never been a secret. Fact is that whether it is Zefirelli's or Visconti's the productions were hailed because the singers did not behave like museum pieces.
I agree with you on the copy comment. Thanks to that we have seen more Corporate Corruption rings that I would care to count.
tenore23 2 years ago
The part about copying that you are neglecting to acknowledge is that people tend to copy what is seen as original, never done or interesting enough. You might not like it, but enought stage directors have thought the production worth copying. And enough audiences have not mind.
I find the production effective if a little overblown, but the fact is that it is faithful to what a public lynching would look like and effectively portrays a mob scene.
tenore23 2 years ago
Give me a break, Zeffirelli's Bohème.... Please! It's theater not a museum. Aniway that's the beauty of it everyone has its taste and needs to be respected. Only the fact that something it's been copied doesn't make it good. The Met is known for its terrible productions like this Carmelitès, looks like Les Miserables...
jacopospirei 2 years ago
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Please, That Boheme might look like a museum piece now, but when it was new it was hailed as one of the most dramatic pieces on the year.
Funny, I thought that the best instance of flattery was to copy. I guess then that all those "dramatic" stage directors who copy this ad nauseum don't know their elbow from their ass.
Trust me, if it was THAT bad, it would have not been revived and kept in the rep.
tenore23 2 years ago
For someone who's in the artistic realm you certainly are cynical. Why such negativity? I see nothing wrong in this production.
Jaydoggy531 2 years ago
Good for you. I don't have a problem with that. Ah I'm not cynical.
jacopospirei 2 years ago
With a statement like "this isn't a museum" and saying this is a "laughable" production, it leads me to believe otherwise.
Jaydoggy531 2 years ago
I don't think i said laughable. I only think it's terrible, I hope I can express my opinion.
jacopospirei 2 years ago
But that makes complete sense since Les Miserables takes place in the same time period....
Julialsh 2 years ago
Le Mis it's a cheap, intended in money spent on the show, musical, Opera, is a complete different art form with different codes, we are not trying to imitate the period but telling a story, watch Robert Cersen's production.
jacopospirei 2 years ago
This seems to tell the story quite well, and it's pretty brutal too. I'm a music student graduating in a number of weeks and it's been my experience that it's a lack of an open mind and heavy criticism of things you don't agree with which is turning audiences away from operas and other wonderful forms of art.
Jaydoggy531 2 years ago
Well, it's only a criticism, the lack of it I think it's the problem. Don't really like to be patronized, but I can tell you that it's not criticism that keeps the audience away. I think the problem it's deeper and it lays into opera not wanting to speak to new audiencies, but only to a very narrow and specific kind.
jacopospirei 2 years ago
Your criticism though was not not constructive until I finally got to asking why, it was simply "terrible." One could also say that the new modernizations are only for specific audiiences - the ones who know what's going on, but I don't dare say that because it is simply another brand of staging. This opera is in itself pretty specific based on history. It's certainly not literal though considering that stage. The costumes are about the only thing accurate to the time.
Jaydoggy531 2 years ago
i actually was at the Scala production in Arcimboldi during the renovation of the old theatre and found the production fine (amazingly sung and acted by the individual principals) but I prefer a more realistic story telling of the finale like the one on display here.
You can definitely imply the execution, nobody needs blood stains all over, but it has to resemble an execution otherwise a very real, brutal fact -which is intended to culminate the story- goes essentially lost.
CONTESTAR 2 years ago
Just a point of correction. Les Mis is not a musical, it is an opera. Opera Rock, but stylistically an opera nonetheless.
tenore23 2 years ago
terrible production
jacopospirei 2 years ago
That's laughable; even more so since this production and /or elements from it are copied everywhere in Europe.
This production, along with Zefirelli's Boheme & Falstaff and the old Frau are still recognized as some of the most theatrical productions ever mounted at the Met. It outlasted the Schenk Ring, several Trovatores and Lucias, and even the Zefirelli Tosca (a classic by many's standard).
Sorry, your comment is laughable.
tenore23 2 years ago
Terrible? Seems effective to me.
Jaydoggy531 2 years ago
gosh !!
i can't hold my tears....
thank you so much for posting it!!
casanier 2 years ago
I did not know Betsy Norden was in this production. When I was in music school almost 17 years ago, I did a master class with her. She and my first voice teacher were good friends and sang at the Met together in the mid 70's and ealy 80's
TrevorDaniels 2 years ago
bravo maestro Poulenc!
Garouchka 3 years ago
I told myself I wouldn't cry when watching this. I couldn't hold the tears :(
Such a huge accomplishment for the little Poulenc.. totally different from his usual work.
klickenpod 3 years ago
well, i have to admit that I have never seen this scene unless it is through a cloud of tears...
tenore23 3 years ago
I have to agree with Marko...I think more simplicity is more powerful with this piece. This performance is, in particular, too loud for my taste. It's more effective if they sound more like nuns and less like an opera chorus.
phantomangelfire08 3 years ago
I AGREE!
klickenpod 3 years ago
wtf? less like and opera chorus? but it is an opera.
yumyumwhatzohai 2 years ago
This is something more than wonderfull ....
Baldinzinha 3 years ago
wow
betsywetsy16 3 years ago
Goosebumps all over my body!!!!!!!!!!
daniel0azar 3 years ago
I love Poulencs music =)
MasterMangi 3 years ago
No no no....too noisy, too fast, too spectacular, too plastic, too much Hollywood, too much of everything...for a proper interpretation you should check the original recording with Denise Duval and Regine Crespin, conducted by Pierre Dervaux
MarkoKassenaar 3 years ago
While you might be right in terms of musical performance, I have to disagree with you in terms of staging. This production set the standard for many people when Dialogues is concern.
tenore23 3 years ago
Yes, you're right. My first instinctive reaction was to the volume of the orchestra + singers. I saw this opera in Amsterdam in 2002, Robert Carson directing. Very minimalistic. The Carmelitesses being alone on stage (choir backstage)...they performed a gracious dance and after each guillotineblow slowly fell to the floor, their arms spread as if being ordained. That way murder and salvation came together. Chilling. Compared to that, this looks like a costume drama, in my opinion.
MarkoKassenaar 3 years ago
What Robert Carsen didn't tell you is that he copied the image of the nuns in the "ordained" position from the Met's opening scene.
I think you are proving my point. Over 30 years after this production opened, it is still being used to influence other productions or directors are copying some of the images used in it.
tenore23 3 years ago
Hm, didn't know that, being 6 years old when the Met put this production on stage. Being in the ordained position is indeed very powerful and appropriate. Carsen also opens with this and kind of 'undressed' the staging: No French soldiers to be seen, no beggar women in brown clothes, etc. Only the characters with a name (Chevalier, The Prioress, Blanche, etc.) visible on stage. All the rest sounded from afar. I remember Yves Abel's conducting to be wonderful. Very fresh and devoid of effect.
MarkoKassenaar 3 years ago
Wow! That has to be the most effective staging of opera I've ever seen.
Freely granted, my experience is limited, but that was spectacular.
Constantlibrarian 3 years ago
Wow...when Maria Ewing could still sing...
altodivo 3 years ago
i sang this opera many times and it's just the most gratifying music ever. Divine ending!
amballa 3 years ago
I saw this magnificent production numerous times at the Met. The opening image of all the nuns lying prostrate on the white tile floor, arms outstretched, and the ending image of the empty tile floor were the bookends to a beautifully staged and sung production. I particularly loved Betsy Norden and Maria Ewing. A moving experience for me (who is a rather anti-religion person). Why oh why don't they bring back this production?! Thank you for posting this.
craigstur69 3 years ago
that was beautiful
MUSCLECOLT 3 years ago
There is a version on youtube from Strasbourg I think. The scenic mouvement is better in that one, but i like this scenery though...
zamolxis7 3 years ago
ça calme !.....
boisfarine1970 3 years ago
I am very excited to work this opera with the Austin Lyric Opera. I cant wait. The finale is always so breathtaking.
xdajlo82 3 years ago
I remember the first time I saw this when it was broadcast on TV. I didn't know the opera, but I was mesmerized by it. By the end of this scene I was bawling inconsolably. Thank goodness I was videotaping it. I still cry like a baby every time I see it. After the death of my own mother, and I found myself unable to cry, I went home, put this on my VRC, and finally was able to break thru my emotional barrier. Why the Met isn't releasing this on DVD is a mystery.
Bobbo22 3 years ago
I believe I read somewhere that Leontyne Price as Madame Lidoine and Shirley Verrett as Morther Marie starred in the American premiere of this opera. Does anyone have a recording of that performance.
albertthrelkeld 3 years ago
I saw the broadcast as well. It was one of the most memorable performances I have ever seen. I was completely moved by it. Regine Crespin, who sang the role of M. de Croissy in this performance, starred in the premiere of the opera as Madame Lidoine in the 1950s, I believe.
albertthrelkeld 3 years ago
Yes the great Regine create the role of Madame Lidoine at Opera de Paris in 1958.
StCorentin 3 years ago
THank you Jessie for makeing the sign of the cross . Thats what it was about . Not social upheavel or revolution
tenorismo 3 years ago
But making the sign of the cross was considered revolutionary.
tenore23 3 years ago
@tenorismo
I think this opera is about injustice and not about religion. It shows how easily the innocent can be swept away as the guilty in times of social upheaval.
JosephCercy 1 year ago 5
@JosephCercy It's not about either/or, of course, but about both/and. In other words, it's very Catholic.
Jitpring 1 year ago
@JosephCercy to the revolutionaries they were guilty. They were guilty for their beliefs. The church they were associated with was guilty for why the sociaty was the way it was. The church was associated with the King.
tenorismo 1 year ago
Not the most "famous" opera but certainly the most dramatic finale. Thanks for the posting
lungdoc 3 years ago
Geweldig, mooi ik ben er stil van. In mei gaan wij dit lied ter gehoren brengen en we zijn al druk aan het oefenen. Maar zo mooi als dit kan je bijna niet evenaren, nou van mij mag het ook op dvd uitkomen. Groeten cst
cstwestland 3 years ago
Fantastic production and very good filming!
SimSutcliff 3 years ago
HOW is this not on DVD, its magnificent.
altodivo 3 years ago
The bigger question is not how, but WHY!!? I guess there needs to be a writting campaign.
tenore23 3 years ago
Thank you for posting this. I hope the powers that be might read these comments and change their mind. I would pay good money to have this on DVD - even though I already have another version.
owenboi66 3 years ago
I know someone at the Met's media department who told me that for the Met to release a DVD, a whole bunch of unions, groups, and artists have to agree on the details. It's very difficult because of the many egos and much greed. A disgrace.
chu10rro 2 years ago
Wonderful....Definitely worth a DVD release!!!!
rrgallo 4 years ago
this scène is awesome.
have you Crespin scènes ?
StCorentin 4 years ago
OH MY GOD! I saw this production in the mid 90's with Teresa Stratas, Helga Dernisch, and Florence Quivar. I never knew that there had been a broadcast. Oh Yes, I vote that the Met release a DVD. Till then can you put up a few more of the great scenes from this opera, or can I convince you to upload the whole thing... Pretty Pleeeaase... lol. Thanks for putting this up.
1michael4 4 years ago
Ummm Goood production, thanks for posting, but that wasn't Florence Quivar, that was jessye Norman, and I think at the end it was maria Ewing not Teresa Stratas
tjaphrodite 4 years ago
Please, give me some credit, Im not that stupid. Perhaps you didnt read what tenore23 wrote in the notes on this clip. Im saying that I saw this production at the Met in the 90's with a different cast conducted by Kent Nagano and I didnt know that there had ever been a t.v. broadcast from any season. You dont have to guess who's in this clip just from the faces and the voices; the person who posted it tells you in the notes on the right. Thanks for helping out, nitz.
1michael4 4 years ago
Thank you for posting. One of the best scenes in opera.
cardinalg 4 years ago