Rossini in Wildbad
One of the mysteries of operatic history is why the composer Gioacchino Rossini (1792 – 1868) abruptly stopped composing in 1829 at the age of 37, when he was at Read More …
Tag: Operas
The opera house in Ghent
The two Flemish cities of Antwerp and Ghent have a joint opera company, the Flemish Opera (Vlaamse Opera), which presents the same opera productions in both cities. Since Antwerp is Read More …
Gent / Ghent / Gand / Gante
This invigorating Flemish city is called Gent in Dutch, Ghent in English, Gand in French and Gante in Spanish. The Spanish ruled Flanders for many years, which is why they Read More …
Le Capitole
For a long time I have known that the opera house in Toulouse is called the “Théâtre du Capitole”, but I didn’t realize (never having been there before) that the Read More …
The National Opera of Bordeaux
Bordeaux is one of six French cities with a ‘National Opera’, the others being Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg, Montpellier and Nancy. As I have noted in one of my Nancy posts, Read More …
Through the Looking Glass
In 2014 the Grand-Théâtre in Bordeaux was open all summer for an exposition called Au-delà du miroir, which means “Beyond the mirror” or, as they translated it, “Through the looking Read More …
Paintings on opera themes
When I go to art museums I am always glad to see paintings on themes that I ‘know’ because they have also been made into operas. I noticed four of Read More …
Mozart’s Così fan tutte in Freiberg
A slight source of confusion for foreigners in Germany is that there are numerous place names ending in -berg (= mountain or hill) or -burg (= castle), and it can Read More …
Light and shadow in Weimar
My recent visit to Weimar was ‘between the years’, as the Germans would say (meaning in the week between Christmas and New Year’s), so the square in front of the Read More …
Two Marthas in Detmold
Detmold is a city of fewer than 75,000 people which inherited its theater, but not much else, from the former Principality of Lippe. This tiny principality had Detmold as its Read More …