转贴:美国初中生评歌剧《秦始皇》Is “The First Emperor” the Emperor’s new Clothes? | Mar 19 2007- ת硶ʼʡ
Ŀ"Emperor" won't be attracting younger opera audiences
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"Emperor" won't be attracting younger opera audiences
COMMENTARY
Published in one of major newspaper in a state 02/5/07
By JIN LIN
CORRESPONDENT
Recently, the Metropolitan Opera produced several "newly-packaged" operas to attract more young audiences.
One of them, "The First Emperor," composed by Chinese-American Tan Dun, has received negative reviews and I have to agree with the criticism.
When I first arrived at the Met, I was excited. When the lights went out, I was all wound up. When the curtain opened, and the drummers began tapping and the Shaman started singing, I was thrilled. As the opera went on, though, I became less interested.
During intermission, I summarized what I heard: Sharply leaping melodies that are like controlled yells, and two other melodies that sounded decent. The only thing is, Tan Dun repeated them over and over.
Of course, he did develop them just not so well. Then, he added the Chinese zheng, a twangy instrument, to the harp. However, the tones did not match. The zheng follows the five-tone scale. It's this pattern of notes that gives Asian music its significance. With the harp, you have a different scale.
Also, almost all the melodies had the same personality: The Emperor, for instance, had the same characteristics as the prisoner, Shadow.
Somehow I don't remember any of the arias unless you count this vague memory of the "Anthem." Then, you had the unexpected sharp bursts of trombones in between acts that made me jump. When you finally relaxed from the shock, they sounded again.
Not so enjoyable.
There were many beautiful and elegant Chinese melodies, but they were so distorted you could barely recognize the Asian qualities. The Beijing opera dude wasn't that cool either. His costume should have been more traditional, something a Westerner would want to see.
However, writing a three-hour opera isn't easy, so I have to give Tan Dun some credit and Placido Domingo's awesome singing compensates for the music.
But the libretto gets a failing grade. The words are not poetic, just a literal outline of a fake love story. There were similes and metaphors, but none were great.
A good libretto makes you care about what's happening, but in "The First Emperor," you don't care about the tragedies (although there was some pity for the Emperor at the end, thanks to Domingo's awesome acting).
So you're left watching the pretty costumes, the awesome solo dancing by famous Chinese dancer Huang Dou Dou, and the humongous stairs on the set.
It is visually successful, but is this where opera is going in the future? If so, where can I look for music? The movies?!
It's difficult to imagine watching Wagner's complete Ring Cycle while eating popcorn.
And now for my biggest objection with the show: the R-rated love scene. The Met didn't provide any warning. And then, the dialogue that followed was just yucky. Puh-lease!
Some of the future audiences the opera is trying to attract are underage, remember?
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Original one
Is The First Emperor the Emperors new Clothes?
--JIN LIN --- A Serious Future Opera Audience
Let me start out by saying, as an Asian American, I am still proud of Tan Dun and his crew for accomplishing this much. I understand that it is very hard. However, as a serious future opera audience, from an artists perspective, I must state my true opinion even if it may be uncomfortable to say. I very much hope and wish he will produce better music in the future.
When I first arrived at the Met, I was excited. When the lights went out, I was all wound up. When the curtain opened, and the drummers began tapping and the Shaman started singing I was thrilled. As the opera went on, though, I became less and less interested. During Intermission I basically summarized what I heard into three musical ideas: These sharply leaping melodies that are like controlled yells, and two melodies that actually sound pretty good. The only thing is, Tan Dun repeats them over and over again. Of course, he does develop them just not so well.
Then, he adds the zheng, to the harp. I understand he wants the plucky-ness to match, using his 1+1=1 method. However, while the qualities match, the tones dont match. The Chinese zheng follows the Five-tone scale. Its this pattern of notes that gives Asian music its significance. With the harp, you have a different scale, from western cultures.
I also noticed the melodies almost all had the same personality. The Emperor had the same characteristics as the Shadow. Of course, not all operas have this type of character song either but at least one of the arias is definitely supposed to be catchy. Somehow I dont remember any of the arias unless you count this vague memory of the Anthem.
Then, youve got trombones in the music between acts that have unexpected sharp bursts that made me jump each time. Then, when you finally cooled down from the shock, they yelped again not so enjoyable.
Not only was the western part of his 1+1=1 not so great, his eastern part wasnt so hot either. There were many beautiful and elegant Chinese melodies so distorted in the music you could barely recognize their Asian qualities. The Beijing opera dude, wasnt that cool either. His costume should have been more traditional, something a westerner would want to see.
However, despite of thesethings, I can still give the music a passing grade, because writing an opera that lasts for three hours isnt so easy. Besides, Domingo was in it so his awesome singing compensates for the music. As for the libretto, I must fail it.
The rough words have absolutely no hint of a deep poetic meaning. They just give you the literal story line like newspaper articles. The only time I actually got a hint of poetry was when Gaojian Li and the Yue Yang were quoting from an actual Chinese poem by an ancient poet. So basically, they copied and pasted, and then translated. That is just Sad. This was supposed to be the work of an award winning author but now, it has left me quite disappointed. Of course, he did use his similes and metaphors extensively, but none of them were good-good they were just good. I cant even use italics on them.
Go, my thoughts on wings of gold, go, alight on the cliffs and on the hills,
where warm and gentle, the sweet breezes of our native land blow.
That is just lovely. Its the Slaves Song from Nabucco, Verdis opera. Compare that to the libretto for the slaves in The First Emperor and you can see why I failed it. The words of The First Emperor have no true passion, just a fake love story that wasnt even based on historical events.
Of course, Turandot, Pelleas et Melisande, and Aida are made up too, but they have passion. They make you actually care. Except for the pity you felt for the Emperor at the very end (with awesome acting by Placigo Domingo), you didnt feel, you just watched. Not listen, not read the words, just watch the pretty, sparkly costumes, the solo dancing (which was done awesomely by Huang Dou Dou), and the humongous stairs on the set. Its become too visual and too practical. I must remind you that the most important part of Opera is the music and the poetic words and that was exactly what was missing here. Hes turned Opera into a live movie. Did Opera die in the hands of The First Emperor?
However, my most important criticism, the one that makes me cringe, is the one that concerns their love scene. Ew I had no clue that they were actually going to act it out. I cant believe that they used this kind of adult-stuff as bait for more audiences. And then, some of the dialogue that followed it was just ugh. There are people underage here! I had to turn around and close my eyes until my mom told me it passed. They didnt even give us any warning! At least Salome, the rated R opera everyone knows about, tells us beforehand.
So, my question is, if this is where opera is going for in the future, then where can I, a future opera audience, look for the music now? The Movies?!
JIN LIN 1/23/07