"Batter, my heart", from Doctor Atomic

Here's the end of Act 1 from John Adam's acclaimed opera Doctor Atomic: Oppenheimer's intense and exciting aria "Batter, my heart". It's wonderfully sung by baritone Gerald Finley (Amsterdam, 2007).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• opera
• john
• adams
• gerald
• finley
• doctor
• atomic

[doobeedoobeedooo]

You thought that was a video of an audience didn't you?... LOOK AGAIN!

[Homoclassicus]

@doobeedoobeedooo I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I think more people would be disappointed if a video would'n't even have photos of the production and the singer. Perhaps you haven't seen enough audio videos in YouTube, but in general those who upload them, of course, won't just put the audio recording and nothing more, but rather include photos that are directly related to the recording (a photo of the singer, of a production of the opera, etc.).

[doobeedoobeedooo]

@Homoclassicus It was merely a joke my friend, an observation.

[Homoclassicus]

@doobeedoobeedooo I see. Don't worry, I didn't think you attacked me at all, but it's good to observe that I didn't intend to atract people to WATCH to a video instead of just listening to an audio recording. I mean it's good to make it very clear because I did see videos in YT that had only audio but were uploaded with pictures of actual opera videos, so that people could indeed mistake them for a real video. I don't think that's completely "honest". :-)

[goblinob]

@Homoclassicus you're a yuppie fuck arent you?

[Homoclassicus]

@goblinob No, I'm not. Next question.

[iwo71]

Unbearably touching is how I found the London performance last night.

[sapience4]

Best part of the Opera, though after Nixon in China I was disappointed with this offering by Adams. Dr. Atomic had it's poignant moments could have been so much more if it hadn't been such a hodge podge and if hadn't overstated its message.

[moirasmith]

@AzNbOiJayJ Nice but I don't see the point of using the music without *these* wonderful and profound words .....

[StandingRoom]

@eniotnasnyw Er is een promotie-DVD uit ("De Nederlandse Opera - A world-class opera company") met fragmenten uit DNO-producties tussen 1994 en 2009, waaronder ook deze aria. Geen idee of hij gewoon verkocht wordt, ik kreeg hem zelf in ieder geval gratis bij aankoop van een andere DVD in het Muziektheater.

[eniotnasnyw]

I just saw this part of the film or clip taken of this opera where finley sings this aria. Ik zag zoëven een clip tijdens het programma van NTR 'De lange nacht van de klassieke muziek' op 25/12/2011. Niet alleen prachtige gezongen maar ook knap geacteerd door Finley.

Ik was helaas te laat om het op te nemen, maar is er iemand die de clip op youtube kan plaatsen? Gelukkig is er al deze opname. Dank.

[Forcesolidifyer]

i'm the first who disliked :D

[ProgramaVooDooShow]

Super channel! Mega videos!!!

Where are you from?

[AzNbOiJayJ]

My school's marching band is using the instrumental part of this song in our marching show.

[FusionSummit]

I cannot describe how beautiful this is. Minimalism is so human. :) the repeated i-V interlude with the d pedal in dissonance with the c# is just haunting and really gets the mental picture across of the torturous nature of the sonnet. The setting of the first stanza twice with a more varied interlude and slightly, only slightly engorged orchestration amplifies Adam's "dis-use" of the orchestra. A lot of modern opera uses the orchestra to convey the emotion and therefore is a compositional devi