Episode Transcript
Do you know that opera composers used to hire professional applauders at their live performances to stack the deck in their favor? And in the 1600s, male opera singers had their testicles removed for the sake of preserving their soprano voices. And in the first decade of the 18th century. Pope Clement the 11th banned operas in Rome because he considered them too arousing. Look, no one wants to read boring articles about the 400 year old history of opera. A quick Google search will produce the following top 5 most recognizable opera pieces used in film. Apocalypse Now, Sex and the City, The King's Speech, Pretty Woman, and who couldn't forget, Shawshank Redemption. But Pete. What does all of this have to do with being cultured and curious? Um, Because opera is a totally complex art form that blends music, drama, and visual arts. That cultivate an appreciation for different languages. Historical context and emotional nuances, Amanda. It broadens your horizons and deepens your curiosity. About artistic traditions. And the overall human experience. So bam. That's why. Well, let's go. hello, everyone. Welcome to Sort of Sophisticated, a podcast rooted in becoming more cultured and curious, where we endeavor to suspend judgment, expand our worldview, and explore new topics that will help us learn to appreciate varying perspectives and values. But really, it's a show where we hope to enlighten anyone who cares on topics that might make them more interesting and well versed humans, and just dangerous enough to hold their own in this sophisticated world. Well, sort of. I'm your host, Pete here with my cohost, producer, director, engineer, artist, extraordinaire, Amanda. And today we'll be taking a beginner's crash course on all things opera. From defining the art form for the beginners to some of the best and worst performances out there. Our goal is to make you a little more well versed and dare we say, actually interested in Opera We'll run through a Know Before You Go checklist, as well as share some fun facts we dug up just for this show. And finally, we'll share why opera can help us appreciate so much more that life has to offer. So open your mind, and your ears, and let's dive into the world of opera. Hold on, hold on, hold on. What? Okay, I read somewhere that the opera singers are like Olympic athletes. I don't really know what that means Is it really true? Because I feel like the stereotype is more of a voluptuous type than an Olympic athlete. Uh, uh, okay, wow. Let me unpack this one at a time. Um, it's voluptuous. And, uh, I wasn't thinking. I was thinking of male opera singers, not female opera singers. First of all, they're not all fat. I said voluptuous, not fat in all fairness. Same, same. Okay. I don't know. I feel like voluptuous is like curvy. Yes, you're being more kind. Fine. So I guess I took it more for the female opera singer. Either way, you're saying that you didn't think they were Olympic athletes. Yes. That's what you're saying. Fair. So While some of the like more famous ones out there are probably a little on the more curvy side There are plenty of excellent opera singers that let's be honest. They're hot. Okay, Google Google a few now Okay. Yeah, I think you'd fall in love So I think if you take the entire pool of opera singers out there, it's just a it's just a percent game, right? It just falls in line with the regular like how many people are overweight in the United States today 50 percent Okay Okay, same thing, right? You're just you're just paying attention second. Yes. They actually are compared to Olympic athletes. It's easy for us to tell like running a mile and under like 10 minutes is pretty fast. Cause like all of us have done that at some point in our lives. Have you done that? I mean, it's pretty much a, I think a California state standard. That is true. Right. Kids. But, but unless you're really familiar with singing, you don't quite understand how challenging it is to sing opera specifically. Essentially. Essentially. An opera singer's job is to sustain really, really high notes over a long period of time. And they have to use their body to amplify a sound so it can be heard over the orchestra through the massive opera hall or concert hall. So these are the elite athletes of our small muscles inside of our bodies. And they're not miked. They are not mic'd. That's insane. No, they're not mic'd. This is years and years of practice. So I can understand. They need lots and lots of lung capacity. That's why they have to be voluptuous. And this doesn't even take into account their language and their acting skills. It's really incredible if you think about it. Their technique involves a coordination of muscles in their mouth, in their throat, in their ribcage. Even in their pelvic floor, I've never thought about this. Yes. So like athletes, they have to be constantly aware of like how all of those pieces are working together. And that impacts their vocal cords and what's coming out. Like it's, it's super, super nuanced. That kind of blows my mind a little bit. Like even just that alone, sort of sophisticated. Because who would have ever thought? It's incredibly sophisticated. Thank you very much. So, I think I'm already a little hooked. Even though we haven't really started anything about this episode yet. I'm actually super excited about the opera. Oh crap! I almost forgot. Our word of the day. Our word of the day today is dilettante. Dilettante? Dilettante? Dil a what? Dilettante. Okay. Is it like debutante? No. I had to look it up too. It's a person having a superficial interest in a branch of knowledge. So like someone who like only knows like a little bit about opera, but not a lot about opera. Okay. So this one's, I think this one might be a little tough, but I'm counting on you to work it in. Okay. Oh, baby Jesus. Yeah. I know what you're thinking. Not everyone is going to be super into this topic. Right. I mean, yeah, but if you're tuning in, I'm kind of hopeful you're staying true to the reason while this whole podcast exists in the first place. Remember dudes, the idea is to suspend judgment and expand our worldviews. So we kind of have to explore new topics to help us appreciate new things. So bear with us and let's be real to me, Mandy. Opera is magic. Just listen to Pavarotti belt out Nessun Dorma from the opera Turandot and try not to orgy. I did. It's orgy. It ain't just music, man. It is so much more. It is truly life changing once you get on board. Have you ever Dorma? No. Act three of Tour Dawn. No. And I can't say that I've ever orgied to music either. Okay. So if you must know, cause I did Google this like a long time ago, I have this thing with music and it does like, like, it's true. I do know you have, I want to be careful with the word arouse. It doesn't necessarily arouse me, but the same chemical reaction that I get from sex, I get with music. The same thing is happening in my brain and I looked it up once because my son Paul was Talking to me about this and why he gets so excited to listen to music. And we were like, I don't know. And a really, really small minority of people have that trait that it's like, they connect it together. Cause you know, some people like, you know, they have visual fetishes, right? So, so mine and my son's is music and it's super, super weird. But anyway, there you go. You got to listen. So besides your musical, not fetish, why don't you kind of give us a breakdown of the opera? Because being an uninitiated person, let's get busy living or get busy dying. Whoa, what did you do? Like, did you just look up Shawshank right now to try to be cool? No. Okay. You did? My husband told me. Whatever. He's so cool. Listen, go watch Shawshank just because it's a good movie. The opera scene's two minutes long. Just watch the damn movie. Okay, that'll be homework. Alright, let's get started. First, let's go with like, let's say, what is opera? It's the Italian word for work. Not like, work, work, work, work, work, work. But like, a work. Like a piece. Oh. Okay. And it tells a story through music and singing. Wait, operas tell stories? Operas are stories. Oh, I did not know that. Yes. The singers, or the musicians, they perform these works that combine a script. With music, usually in some ornate theatrical like in a big, massive setting and the dialogue is typically sung. It could be spoken, but not usually. Unlike a musical. Opera singers do not use microphones, like we said earlier, to amplify their voices. They do that just from all their years and years of practice, and fatness in some cases. And the music played by the orchestra is equally as awesome because it's also totally live. So like a musical, but not a musical, because they're not mic'd, everything is sung, not really spoken word. Yeah. I mean, this is like the ultimate event, right? Like as far as human, capacity and capability goes when it comes to art. Cause every night's going to be different every night. It's never going to be the same. It's like a performance. True, true performance. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Then we have the libretto. That's the actual script of the opera, and that's usually written in the language that the operas performed in. So a lot of operas are an Italian and the audience is Italian. And so the libretto is, is in Italian, but you can have libretto in any language depending on what the, uh, what the opera is gonna be performed in. So was it found in Italy the opera Opera was founded in Italy. Yeah. In the 16 hundreds. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So. They're and operas are based on pre existing works. So I had to look that one up. I didn't know that. So for example Carmen by Georges Bazet, if you guys know the opera Carmen, it was composed in 1875 and it's based on a novel of the same name Written by 1845. So a lot of operas come from The novel that was written years earlier. And then they set the whole thing to music, add lyrics, add dialogue, right. So is this the pre to film adaptations kind of, yeah. Yeah. You take a novel and do a film that's 'cause they'll even add the stage directions and all that stuff, right? Huh? Yeah. So I thought operas were like completely and totally made up. Yeah. No, they have a storyline they're already using. And in today's environment, I guess that would be like making a movie from a film adaptation. Right. Yes, absolutely. So anyway, you got to pay a lot of attention to the libretto because it's the key to understanding the story and the characters in the opera. And if you're ever interested in a deeper understanding of what it is you're watching or when you're watching the performance, you can always go back and read the novel that's inspired the opera. I mean, that in and of itself. And you'll get way more details. Yeah, sort of sophisticated right there all right Next, we have the structure. Operas are divided into acts and scenes, the same way plays are. Each act consists of a series of musical numbers, sometimes combined with dialogue, sometimes they're just awesome instrumentals. The structure totally varies depending on the composer, right? Then you got the orchestra, the engine room without the orchestra. We got nothing, baby. They provide the musical accompaniment to the singers, which make it all hum. It includes a gazillion instruments. But mostly made up of strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion. The number of musicians needed can totally vary depending on the orchestra. But some operas consist of small orchestras made up of 50 or so musicians. Compared to others. Notably Wagner he's a famous composer, uh, whose operas can require an ensemble of 120. I mean, it's pretty unfathomable musician of having 120 musicians, right? Come together to make such a beautiful piece of art on the same timing and right and it's all live. It's crazy Yeah, it's insane and little fun fact before we even get to the fun fact section up until the 19th century Conductors weren't even a thing because the orchestra was small enough to be handled by like one of the musicians so They would do their own like violin stuff, but then they'd be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, but everybody do this. And then it was, it was like around Beethoven's time when the orchestra started to grow and things got more complex and that one musician who was awesome couldn't keep up and the idea of a conductor was born. Huh. Kind of cool. Yeah. Who would have known? And finally, then you have the actors and singers themselves, the front men and women, voluptuous women, nonetheless, so to speak. So yes, the performers, I guess I should say. These guys. I mean that term collectively, both men and women are typically decked out in like the crazy costumes, the over the top sets. Like they bring the story to life. They're the people that you recognize on stage. When you go to an opera, you see on television or the clips on Tik TOK or whatever it is. Yeah. Most opera singers fall into certain voice types, which helps them be cast in a specific role. So like, not all singers are the same, just like everything else. And composers are looking for specific performers. Right. So for female singers, There's three main voice types and for male singers, there's like four main voice types. So, females, you have the soprano, which is the highest voice type. Then you have the mezzo sopranos, which is, I guess, like the mid range, like that a lot of people are. And then you have the contralto or the alto, which is the lowest, the lowest female voice, right? A little homework if you'd like, watch soprano Nadine Benjamin sing Musetta's Waltz from Puccini's La Boheme, then have a listen to mezzo soprano's Ginger Acosta Jackson singing Habanera from Bizet's Carmen, and you'll get a good comparison. Alright, so for male singers, the male voice types are countertenor Which is the highest male voice in the range, and this also falls within the women's voice range. These are like the dudes with undescended testicles. Or the ones that they chopped off. Yes, poor guys. So countertenor is like super, super high. Then you have the tenor, which is most often the highest male voice in an opera. Unless, of course, you happen to be the unicorn countertenor. Then the baritones. Which is the most common male voice in an opera. That's the mid range. And then the bass. The low one. Alright, and if you want to compare guys, then listen to Adam Smith sing with the Star Shining Brightly from Puccini's Tosca, and compare that with the bass of William Thomas singing Colleen's Aria from Puccini's La Boheme. So, you'll get a good sense of like lows and highs and mid ranges if you want. So, little homework for you. And of course, last but not least, You have behind the scenes all the directors, conductors, lighting crew, stagehands, farmers, merchants, tax collectors, et cetera, et cetera, making everything go off without a hitch. Okay, pete. So, I think I'm feeling a lot less like a dilettante than when we first started this episode. Good work. Proud of you for getting that in early. And did I actually, like, say it correctly? That's really the main thing. I think you did. Oh, there we go. Brownie points. Though question, I guess now we know a little bit about the structure of an opera. Can you maybe take us through some of the greatest operas of all time? Uh, I will give it the old college try, but, uh, it's not like I got all these memorized. That's okay. I'll let you refer to your notes for this one. Okay, thank God. Alright, so there's no unanimous list. I did Google that. Like, there's not, like, some list that really ranks them all. But I'll run through a few that, for sure, Like, stood the test of time. So the first one, of course, the famous, the one in Shawshank Redemption, the marriage of Figaro, Le Nozze de Figaro, by none other than the one and only Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Shawshank yep, that's the one. Did you know it was a comedy? What? Yeah, right? Apparently it tells the story of this dude Figaro and this girl Susana, two servants who, like, succeeded in getting married. But they screwed up the plans of their boss, Count Almavea, who's trying to seduce Susanna. And they end up teaching him a little lesson. It's the classic kind of comedy, I guess, where, disorder gets, like, reordered, like, that was the old Shakespeare stuff, you know, that's always, hits right with the audience. All right. Next we have Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi. I'm butchering the Italian. But this one's a classic love story between Violetta and her lover, Alfredo. As they fall in love. The shit sort of starts hitting the proverbial fan, so to speak, as it always does to create tension and drama. And ultimately, it leads to, spoiler alert, a heartbreaking conclusion. Dun dun dun. Right, I won't, I won't give it all up. Then we have, der Ring des Nibelungen. I believe that's German. By Richard Wagner. Translated, it's The Ring Cycle. It's actually four operas, Amanda. They were designed to be listened to in like a series, like back to back. It actually took Wagner 26 years to complete. So it's sorta like the modern day, three hour and thirty minute movie? I mean like, uh, Schindler's List, Titanic, maybe even The Hobbit? Right, like Kill Me Now, right? Well, I mean, how about marathon if you Lord of the Rings, right? I mean, that's that's what this is about It's long right but check it out The plot revolves around a magic ring that grants power to rule though It's totally a Lord of the Rings it grants power to rule the world forged by this dwarf from the gold He stole from the Rhine River and everyone dies at the end It's really sad and it is probably where JRR Tolkien Stole the idea of Lord of the Rings, seriously. If only we all just truly listened to the opera a little bit more, we would have made that connection. The more you know. First of all, I love J. R. R. Tolkien, so I got nothing to take away from him. But, I'm just saying, the story was kind of out there already. Alright, and then finally, who doesn't love themselves a little Madam Butterfly by Puccini. Giacomo, Giacomo Puccini. This one's about a tragedy set in Japan, telling the story of a young geisha named Chaochao san. And her love for some dude in the American Navy. Well, shit doesn't go as planned in the end. One of them ends up married and one of them commits suicide. I won't tell you which one, some heavy stuff for sure, but it's considered one of Puccini's a great, this works and you have to listen to Madam Butterfly. And then of course we have like Labwem and Carmen and Tosca, just to name a few other really, really awesome ones that round out the list. But look, comedy or tragedy, what all these operas have in common is their ability to stir our emotion, right? And captivate us through the use of their music and their storytelling. And they're this powerful drama that these composers create. That's why it started in the first place. Each one of these has its own unique qualities that lend themselves to the richness of the genre, making it so diverse and so fun to explore in the first place. Yeah, but were there any bad ones then? There had to have been. There probably were, right? Cause opinions are like assholes, man. Everybody's got one. But I mean, Amanda, what even really constitutes a bad opera? I don't know. Like the hook of the song sucks or something, or the tragedy's not tragic enough. I mean, how do, how do you even know? I don't know, but we rely on Rotten Tomatoes for movie preferences, a place where we can all conjure up all of our opinions. So I'm sure there's a list out there somewhere. Like everyone has an opinion. Like you said. There's a list. There has to be a list. So I, so I did some research and there's not really a list. We don't have this website that tells us all this shit because not enough people probably do. Care about operas? I don't know. But don't worry, that's what I'm here for, Amanda. Well, let's go. Let's go! I think I just declared myself an opera critic. I think you did. And you know what? I'm gonna make you a little plaque for your desk that says that. Thank you so much. So, subjective or not, here are a few operas that received a ton of negative reviews from audiences. So first we have Giuseppe Verde, right? The famous Giuseppe Verde, who we just talked about in one of the most famous operas. He has one of the most infamous operas, Un Gorno del Regno, A King for a Day. That was his second opera, which premiered in 1840, and it was, like, immediately a commercial failure. It was a comedy. And critics would say it just, it sucked. It just didn't land with any of the audiences. I say it's because in the three years leading up to this, I Googled this, two of his children died. So in 1840, he wrote this in 1838, his two year old died in 1839. He's like four year old died. And in 1840, his wife died. And then he wrote the fucking opera. So I think give the guy a little bit of grace. Yeah, he wasn't at his best. No, not at all. And then it's like, Oh, this opera sucks. So I'm just going to leave that one where it is. Terrible. Then we have Puccini. Yes, the famous Puccini. He had one called Edgar, which premiered in 1889 and was, how do I say this politely, not well received by audiences. It was way too complex and it, the music like wasn't developed at all like what Puccini's famous for. So I think people were like, but, eh. They, they gave him the hook quick, total rookie mistake. Cause this was one of his earlier operas, but through practice, he ended up nailing it with La Boheme, which is like the super most, one of the most famous operas out there. So it just goes to show you like, there's no such thing as failure. Keep working on it. And let's not forget, Leon Calvo's La Boheme. Not to be I'm sorry, what? Yes. Not to be confused with Puccini's La Boheme. Wait, bear with me here. No, no, no, this is, this is, this is a funny story, actually. So these guys run into each other at a Starbucks in the late 1890s. Okay, like not really Starbucks, but like really an Italian cafe. You can look this up. They start chatting about their like successes and they find out they're both writing an opera at the same time called La Boheme based on the novel. Of course, like we talked about before, written in 1851 called Scenes De La Boheme. So freaking game on, right? Whoever finishes first is probably going to win. So Leon Calvo turns to the press to release a statement. saying Puccini stole his idea. That's this guy's great idea. Instead of finishing the opera, he goes to the press, saying, well, this guy stole my idea, right? And Puccini retorts with a release of his own, saying, well, let's just let the public decide. So this is all in the press, right? Like, back in the day, that's how all this got around. So now it's total game on. I'd argue Puccini took the high road. The rest, as they say, is history. Is history, Amanda. Puccini's La Boheme became known as maybe the sixth greatest opera ever written. Cause I already had a top five there. It might even be the greatest opera ever written. Right. And Leon Calvo's slipped into oblivion because he didn't finish it before Puccini's. That's it. Sometimes it's just a race to the finish line. Right. I would have gone home and just started writing the finishing the hell out of it. This guy goes to the press to be like, Oh, it was mine first. I don't know. I don't know this guy, Leon Calvo. I mean, he's pretty famous. I Googled him and did a lot of research. So I don't want to like, he's a good, he was a good composer, but I'm just saying totally blew it right here. Who would have known? All right. And I got to close this one on the worst operas with this guy, Wagner, he did one called Das Liebesverbot, the ban on love. And while this opera might've been awesome, only three people show up to it for the premiere The lead singer was drunk, forgot his words, a fist fight broke out backstage before the curtain even went up. So I guess, regardless of how good it could have been, it never was. Like, it never even got started. It just, that was it. It sounds like it was jinxed from the beginning. It was. So he did, like, I don't know, back then, I guess they don't give it a second try. They just, brum brum brum, and they just kill it. Hey, so have you ever been to any of these operas that we've already talked about? Or just any opera in general, Amanda? I have been to an opera, actually, at the L. A. Opera House. You have? Yeah. Hey, then take us through, what sort of you can expect, when you get there, and what you gotta know. I guess I would say first, Research, it's probably important for you to familiarize yourself with the specific opera. I clearly did not. I went. Cold turkey in? You cold turkey'd it? Yeah. Were you embarrassed or no? I was a little confused the whole time, but now that we're going through this, it all makes so much more sense. So I would say first research it, read a summary, the plot, like listen to some of the music beforehand. I guess that makes sense. It would make it more fun. Like you would know what the hell they're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. Like it'll be way better because now I'm just getting that reaction now. So definitely do that. Second, know the dress code. I mean, there's not really a strict dress code. What did you wear when you went? I wore like a business casual. Oh, you did. But yeah, but some of the people there were much more dressy. Yeah. So you definitely have to know the opera house that you're going to. Pick out the right outfit, dress for the occasion, third, arrive early. There's like no room to procrastinate. Because you didn't arrive early. You didn't. I know you. Nope. Right. So, but you're suggesting audience to arrive early. Yeah. Oh, this is great. Money where your mouth is. Got it. Okay, good. Because it's a little embarrassing. Like, if you don't get there on time, it starts right away. And you won't be able to let in until there's a break. So, either you're going to go early, Oh, they do that, like in performances? Always live performances, right? They don't stop you and you get stuck and you sort of, you can miss the whole first act if you don't show up on time. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. It makes sense. Fourth, probably etiquette like during the performance, don't be a douchey douche, stay quiet, remain attentive and don't be on your phone. Right? Like these are true performers, greenagers. So don't bring your kids. Essentially. Is that, is that code for don't bring your kids? No, no, no. I think you can bring your kids. I think, I think it's good experience for kids. I just think. Phones off. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, like disconnect for a hot second fifth. Probably maybe translations because Especially if you're watching in another country ask about translation services because sometimes operas do have the ability to give you kind of like a transcript. Wait, where did you see yours? The LA Opera House. Oh, okay. So yours was easy. They didn't have anything like this there. No, they didn't, but it also was in a different language. So it's interesting because they didn't. But if you go to different countries, sometimes they do have, Oh, that's awesome. So you can ask about if they have them. Great. You have maybe a leg up because you can understand it better. Right. You can follow along. I like it. And then six intermission. So there's at least one. in most operas. And I mean, unless you're doing that ring cycle one where it's like nine hours long, then we're all praying that there's like, there's a lot of intermissions. And you, I think you probably even have to poop at one of those intermissions. It's probably not even a P intermission. That's like a poop intermission. I mean, I don't know. I mean, my, my cycle is pretty regular and I probably wouldn't, but you know, definitely make sure that you take advantage of the intermission because you don't want to interrupt the live performance. So make sure you're doing your thing at the appropriate time. And finally. Probably just applause. Like applause, applause, applause. I live for the applause. No. I mean, who doesn't? Who doesn't? I got you. I'll get you. But who doesn't live for the applause? Right. So at the end of each act, because there's different acts, it's definitely expected to applaud for the performers, right? And I think as a performer, they also feed off of that, um, and the length and intensity of the applause really shows how much the audience is enjoying it. And I do feel like if the audience is enjoying it, the performers enjoying it and your overall experience is way okay. So I got a little fun fact about the applause, uh, when we get to it. All right, but are you going to give me some fun facts now? Because that would be great. Oh, we're there? Yeah. Like I can go? Yeah. Oh, wait. I love fun facts. All right. Okay. So the applause fun fact. Did you know that some no name? I shouldn't say no name because he's maybe famous, but Dustin Luke Nelson set the world record for longest applause in an opera. Like really? Did he? There wasn't like a Guinness Book of Record back then. There is, because this is very recent. Oh! Yes! So actually, Placido Domingo thought he had it in the bag like in 1991, because the world record was set when his standing ovation lasted one hour and ten minutes. Yes. Is he a crazy person? Like who does that? I don't, that's insane. I would never, right. I would, like by himself, I wouldn't put up with that for a second. So I would have been the awkward guy. Who like, clapped and then sort of stopped and like grabbed my bags after like five minutes and just started walking out hoping no one would give me shit for walking out. But anyway, check this out. 23 years later, 2004, this guy Dustin, right? Get a two Two hour applause. Two hours, exactly, and 23 seconds, I looked it up, at the Walker Arts Center Open Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota, of all places. Go figure. Two hours! Like, I want to be there, because I don't believe that that many people all stood there clapping for two hours. I don't believe it. Is it like as people start leaving and people start clapping and then like at the end, one person's still clapping, so it counts as two hours. I don't know how they decide that, Amanda. Right. But now it's just all about that person. Like it just seems a little self-righteous here. I don't know. Anyway, that was a cool, fun fact. Alright, another fun fact. So they used to, back in the 16, 17 hundreds, they used to hire professional groups called cls. They were hired, not cls. cls, not cls. Clacks, C-L-A-Q-U-E-S. cls were hired to stack the deck for performers. They were like plants, huh? Yeah. They would fake In the audience. Yeah, in the audience. So, just like magic shows and crap like that, right? So, they'd fake tears during sad parts, laugh during the funny parts, chant for encores at the end of the show. Like, like the whole idea was that the audience was taking all these cues. So, like, all these performances were like totally rigged. Okay, but kind of brilliant because then it, you can go along with the story and participate. Back in the day when there was competing operas, there's times when, uh, Opera composers would hire clacks to go in and boo. Yes, to boo someone else's performance. Absolutely. Yes, it was crazy what they used to do. Yeah, yeah, it was a big deal. It was cutthroat. Yeah. So, uh, fun fact number three, as we stated in the beginning of the show, young male opera singers did actually have their testicles removed to preserve their voices. I just can't. That blows my mind. I just report the facts man. Don't be attacking the messenger. So you know how boys voices crack during puberty? So apparently God doesn't like the opera because the older a dude gets, he loses his sopranoness. You made that up. No, no, no, no. Soprano ness? That's not a word. You made that up. I totally did just make that up. Okay, okay. But you get the idea. So these guys were known, there's a word for it, they were known as castrati. Plural, castrati. Or castrato, singular, castrated. Right? Huh. The last castrato, the last like known castrato, his name was Alessandro Morishi. God rest his ball less soul. He died in 1990 As far as we know, there are no more castellati around today. Yes! But like, was he old? So he was like, born in like 1910? Right, but they were doing this back in the 1600s and 1700s. So the fact that somebody still in the 1900s Yes! Cut his ball sack off, Amanda. I can't. I can't. I mean Okay. Beyond me.. Uh, for the Sydney Opera House in Australia. You know that, I mean everybody Beautiful. Right, right, right, right, right. Was the world's most over budget project. 15 times over budget to be exact and took 10 years longer to build. So back in the day in 1954, it was 100 million over budget, which equates to today in today's dollars, 1 billion with a B dollars over budget. So I don't remember the actual budget, but the fact that you're 1. 1 billion over budget is a problem. That's like, that's like when you're like. That's like when you're preparing for World Cup and the United States like goes over like that's crazy, right? Because like that's how much that kind of crap costs like Countries are going countries are going out of business at that point I don't understand how they did it And it was supposed to only take four years to build and it took 15 fucking years to build one I feel like somebody had to be fired for sure better been fired, but also two I really want to go see this. It better be like a masterpiece. No, I know. I haven't been there. Personally, I think it should have been one of the seven modern wonders of the world, but it wasn't. So, I don't know. And five, like we said earlier, if you ever wonder why opera singers voices can be heard over the orchestra without amplifiers, it's because they train their voices to sing at distinct frequencies. Most of us sing in a natural frequency, but opera singers adjust the resonance frequency of their vocal tracks to a level close to the fundamental frequency of the pitch. Translated, that means they sing freaking loud. That's incredible. So it's not as if they're just using all of the air in their lungs to project and be really loud. It's a different pitch that they're actually singing at. Yes, absolutely. That's incredible. Yes. Who knew? It's a voluptuous pitch. That's a good fun fact. Yeah. And this is definitely helping me appreciate the opera a little bit more. Like when I was younger, I didn't really get it. But now that I've had sort of my fair share of trips around the sun, I can appreciate how opera can offer several benefits that totally impact my life. So it's about the joy and what impacts us. And I think what I'm hearing is, is that you're really encouraging us. Listeners and myself to actually go to the opera and just like with any type of theater, art or literature. It's just a form of expression and something that can give us a new cultural enrichment because it's embracing a diversity that we probably don't interact with in our daily lives and also discovers, maybe What we like and what we don't like and if we like the opera like the potential that we could actually think it's this brilliant Masterpiece, even though we are in this modern society Yeah I think you said it really well right like the idea is to get out there and do new and different and Your tastes change And as a 50 year old man, if I would have told my 20 year old former self, like I was going to love opera when I was 50, I would have never believed it in a second. So the whole, again, the whole idea of the podcast, right? I think, I think this opera is a cool way of like really explaining what our podcast is all about. So look at the end of the day, I think listening to opera is awesome. Just take the plunge, man. Dive into the deep end, be better, people. Exploring new interests and expanding your cultural horizons is what it's all about. And I would argue, doing this through opera contributes to our personal growth in a big way. It's going to challenge us to step outside our comfort zone, cultivate our curiosity, and relentlessly pursue lifelong learning. Ultimately, listening to opera is a deeply enriching and rewarding experience that can provide joy, inspiration, and fulfillment for all those who engage with this vibrant and diverse art form. Now, while this was fun and all, Pete, can you sum it up for me here? What real world crap can we really take away from this podcast that is actually meaningful? You always ask me that. All right. And it's always so good. I know. Alright, here's how we work it in. First, listen to Nessun Dorma. The aria from Puccini's Turidon, my favorite version is by Pavarotti, just please, it's like three minutes long. Listen to it. Second, re listen to the part of the podcast that summarizes five of the world's greatest operas. I'm not saying go to them. I'm saying like, just get the synopsis in your bones, right? So you're familiar with those. Third, if you're feeling bold. Go see an opera in your neighborhood, right? Amanda went to LA opera house, right? Like, I'm going to ask you to go far, but get out there. Fourth, when you're at your next event and there's a lull in the convo, ask your colleagues what they do for fun. Or if they've tried anything new lately, right? This is your, this is your in to start talking about the opera. Hey, what do you do for fun? Right. Fifth, listen in faint interest in what they do for fun. You know, Oh, I play soccer on the weekends or whatever it is. Okay. Ask a few pertinent questions. But then sixth. Wait for a timely break in the convo and tell them you just started listening to opera and you're fascinated by how it's starting to open up your mind, right? And finally then share these interesting and relevant details to seem sort of sophisticated. One, opera started in the 1600s as a means to bring various art forms together in one venue. That whole idea of music, art, costume design, pageantry, all that came together. Two, The Marriage of Figaro, written by Mozart, is probably one of the most recognizable opera pieces ever written. Three, did you know there were actually two La Bohèmes? Like I said earlier, one went multi platinum and the other slid into oblivion because it couldn't get finished fast enough. Four, opera singers don't use amplifiers of any kind, they're just amazingly loud because of an insane amount of conditioning and practice. Five, they used to castrate boys to keep their voices high, so they'd be sopranos, but not anymore as far as we're aware. And finally, Amanda, we forgot to mention as far as etiquette goes, you're never supposed to whistle at an opera. Like we whistle at sporting events, right? Or, or performances sometime at an opera. It's a sign of disrespect. Like you're booing the performance. You're only supposed to applaud. Well, that's intriguing. And there you have it, dear listeners. Thank you for joining us on this incredible journey into the beautiful world of the opera. We'd like to think we've shared just enough information to make you more sophisticated and either a flaming nuisance or a bit more interesting to your fellow humans, sort of. If you enjoyed this podcast and found it particularly enthralling, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and share with your peeps. Until next time, stay curious, stay inspired.
