Le Villi (or Les Willis or The Fairies) – Puccini – Royal Festival Hall

Le Villi (or Les Willis or The Fairies) – Puccini – Royal Festival Hall

David Buchler
Royal Festival Hall

Giacomo Puccini’s first staged work was the one act opera ‘Les Willis’ based on a short story by Jean Baptiste-Karr.  The story tells the tale of the love between Anna and Roberto.  Roberto is enchanted away from Anna by another and Anna dies of a broken heart.  Her father calls upon the ‘Villi’ to take vengeance and the Fairies make Roberto dance until he dies of exhaustion.  This one act opera was written for a competition, but politics played and it did not get even an honourable mention.  However, Puccini’s work was heard by Ricordi, who immediately recognised its outstanding qualities and he published the work. 

War Requiem at the English National Opera

War Requiem at the English National Opera

David Buchler
English National Opera

In 1958, Benjamin Britten was asked to write a work for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral – the old one had been bombed and destroyed in 1940 and hundreds of people had died.  Britten decided that this work would commemorate the dead of both World Wars and his text combines the traditional Latin Mass for the Dead, with fairly dour poems by Wilfred Owen.  After its premiere in 1962, Shostakovich regarded Britten’s War Requiem as ‘The greatest work of the 20th century’ and indeed it was universally hailed as a masterpiece. 

Werther – Jules Massenet – Israeli Opera

Werther – Jules Massenet – Israeli Opera

David Buchler
Israeli Opera

Jules Massenet took a novel from Goethe to compose a lyrical 4 act opera from a French libretto by Eduard Blau.  It was meant to have its premiere at the Paris Opera Comique in 1887, but due to a fire at the Opera House this did not happen and it did not take place until 1892 in a German language translation in Vienna.  The French language premiere followed that year in Geneva. 

Lucia di Lammermoor at the English National Opera

Lucia di Lammermoor at the English National Opera

David Buchler
English National Opera

David Alden’s 2008 staging is brought back to the Coliseum for its second revival, with an outstanding cast, a compelling translation into English by Amanda Holden and clever moving sets by Charles Edwards.  This is a truly interesting performance of a subject – forced marriage, here of Lucia – which is relevant in some communities even today.  However, this is the Scottish Highlands and the dark and unattractive costumes, designed by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, are a testament to Highland imagery. 

Verdi's Requiem at the Royal Opera House

Verdi's Requiem at the Royal Opera House

David Buchler
Royal Opera House

In a remarkable career spanning six decades, Giuseppe Verdi 1813-1901, composed nearly 30 operas, at least half of which are at the core of today’s repertoire.  His Requiem, premiered in 1874, stands as a unique testimony to his artistic and human vision and is a setting of the text for the Roman Catholic mass for the dead as it existed until its revision in 1970. 

Porgy & Bess at the English National Opera

Porgy & Bess at the English National Opera

David Buchler
English National Opera

Porgy & Bess, the folk opera composed by George Gershwin with the libretto by the original author, DuBose Heyward and Lyricist, Ira Gershwin, was first performed in Boston in 1935.  The libretto tells the story of Porgy, a black disabled street beggar living in the Charleston slums, attempting to rescue his love, Bess, from the clutches of Crown, her violent and possessive lover, and her drug dealer, Sporting Life. 

Götterdämmerung at the Royal Opera House

Götterdämmerung at the Royal Opera House

David Buchler
Royal Opera House

Götterdämmerung, the last of the four operas making up Wagner’s Ring Cycle, held our breath throughout the six and a half hours of operatic intensity. Keith Warner’s production comes to its sizzling end as the ring and the gold is once more returned to its home with the rhinemaidens, beautifully, and finally fleshily, played by Lauren Fagan, Christina Bock and Angela Simkin.

Die Walkure at the Royal Opera House

Die Walkure at the Royal Opera House

David Buchler
Royal Opera House

Die Walkure is the second part of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle and is based on Norse mythology, where a Valkyrie is a female figure who decides in battle which soldier shall live or die.  It received its premiere in Munich in 1870 and was first presented as part of the complete Ring Cycle in 1876 in Bayreuth.

Paul Bunyan by the ENO at the Wilton's Music Hall

Paul Bunyan by the ENO at the Wilton's Music Hall

David Buchler
Wilton's Music Hall

Paul Bunyan is an American legend – a giant lumberjack with Titanic power and strength. In folklore, he and his blue ox named Babe are said to be responsible for the creation of several American landscapes and natural wonders including the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota, Mount Hood and the Grand Canyon. Today undoubtedly, in Trump’s America, they would regard this as ‘fakelore’!

Ariadne auf Naxos at Opera Holland Park

Ariadne auf Naxos at Opera Holland Park

David Buchler

As the thunderstorm roared and the rain fell on the canvas roof, Opera Holland Park’s Ariadne got off to a slow and uncertain start.  The prologue and particularly The Party Planner of Eleanor Bron were most difficult to hear, that is until the entrance and the ecstasy of The Composer sung by the Swedish soprano, Julia Sporsen.  She was a revelation with flawless delivery and a performance that tugged at the heartstrings, particularly when confronting her relationship with the Zerbinetta of Jennifer France.

Falstaff at the Royal Opera House

Falstaff at the Royal Opera House

David Buchler
Royal Opera House

Giuseppe Verdi had written 27 operas by the time he started a four year project to in 1889 to write only his second comedy opera.  His first comedy work ‘Un giormo di regno’ was staged unsuccessfully in 1840 and Rossini, a great admirer of Verdi, commented that he thought him incapable of writing a comedy. Verdi was concerned that at his advanced age, to start a new substantial project was a real risk.  However, such was his profile that at the world premiere of Falstaff at La Scala Milan in early 1893, the huge success of his work was recognised with an applause lasting almost an hour. 

La Bohème at the Royal Opera House

La Bohème at the Royal Opera House

David Buchler
Royal Opera House

Richard Jones must be delighted by this latest outing of his 2017 new production of La Bohème. The production is tighter and clearer. He and his designer Stewart Laing have put a huge amount of effort into the Act 2 Café Momus scene. It is outstanding, as he provides 3 shopping arcades on the stage, which eventually move apart as the Café Momus set arrives for the main part of that Act.

Mamzer Bastard at the Royal Opera House / Hackney Empire

Mamzer Bastard at the Royal Opera House / Hackney Empire

David Buchler
Royal Opera House, Hackney Empire

The collaboration between the Royal Opera and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama was established in 2013 as an opportunity for one composer every two years to research and write a major operatic work. Na’ama Zisser is the second such composer in residence, and she studied at the Royal College of Music under Turnage. Together with her sister Rachel and her partner Samantha Newton, who jointly wrote the libretto, they have structured a new chamber opera called Mamzer Bastard.

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