Klarinet Archive - Posting 000120.txt from 1993/11

From: Dave Gomberg <GOMBERG@-----.BITNET>
Subj: Re: Jeremy Reynolds comments on "Playing It Differently"
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 10:05:50 -0500

On Thu, 18 Nov 1993 05:27:10 -0800 Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu said:
>The best examples were the recent stagings of three Mozart operas for
>public television, one of which was set in the Bronx. These performances
>were, for some, uncharacteristic of the general epoch of Mozart's music.

Sure, but Mozart did not write the libretto of Marriage of Figaro, di Ponte
did. So you could plug in a new libretto without changing a note of what
Mozart did. And if the new libretto said "Here in the Bronx..." you could
aptly set the piece in the Bronx. I happen to have liked the Sellars
productions a lot, and think they did a lot for making opera more accesible
without screwing it up. Not the change in setting, but making it less of
a sacred cow.

Dave Gomberg, role model for those who don't ask much in their fantasy lives.
GOMBERG@-----.EDU fax-> (415)731-7797