Have any operas been performed yet which incorporate actual sex within the opera?
Certainly many performances of opera from the classical repertoire,
from Monteverdi’s Ulisse and Poppea on,
have featured the star divas engaging in highly suggestive behavior.
But what about real, out-and-out, unclothed, unsimulated sex acts?
I.e., an X-rated opera.
I am not aware of such.
Anyhow, surely some have thought of such an idea.
It would certainly expand the audience for opera.
What sopranos (or altos) might be willing to and be successful at
performing in such a dual role, both singing and performing sex?
Most likely, they would be from the younger generation.
But I would like to propose three now middle-aged divas
who I, personally, think would be outstanding in such a role.
One is Catherine Nagelstad (born 1965), who did such a fantastic job of combining great singing with excellent acting in her (1999) performance in Alcina by Handel.
another soprano is Lucy Crowe,
who has appeared in several masterpieces from the Baroque era,
in both a staged and non-staged setting,
where she has combined excellent singing with an evident willingness to stress her womanly attributes.
An interesting set of reviews of operas on DVD is at http://lens-views.com/Operas/Opera_Index.html.
I discovered this by a Google search on Handel's Deidamia,
where their highly favorable review of the 2012 Nederlandse Opera's production
accords well with my equally favorable opinion of the video.
Rule Britannia - Last Night of the Proms 1990
Featuring:
Ann Murray - mezzo-soprano
Lesley Garrett - soprano
Håkan Hardenberger - trumpet
With the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus
Conducted by Andrew Davis
Performed at the Royal Albert Hall, London on Saturday 15 September 1990
@Wikipedia; Text Andrew Parrott conducts the Taverner Consort and Players:
Video:
0:22 I. Symphony 10:10 II. Hail, bright Cecilia! (Recitative & [10:38] Chorus)
0:10 III. Hark! hark! each tree 4:10 IV. ’Tis Nature's voice 7:38 V. Soul of the world
0:10 VI. Thou tun’st this world below 6:00 VII. With that sublime celestial lay 8:40 VIII. Voluntary (in D minor) - [12:25] Wondrous machine!
0:10 IX. The airy violin 1:40 X. In vain the am’rous flute 7:42 XI. The fife and all the harmony of war [****] 10:54 XII. Let these amongst themselves contest
0:10 XIII. Hail! Bright Cecilia 1:16 Who, whilst among the Choir above 2:25 XIV. With rapture of delight 3:20 Hail! Bright Cecilia
The above is really a gorgeous work and performance. I would love to see a video of it. Appended after the Parrott performance is one by Gabrieli Consort, Gabrieli Players, Paul McCreesh.
What a feat!
To maintain that high fortissimo for 10 seconds, without a breath.
Looks pretty tough to me :-)
But I am not a singer; I have no idea how common that ability is among singers.
From the comments to the first part, there are doubts about the authenticity of the supposed Greek music sung at the beginning here. But other than that, this certainly provides a fast overview of the whole magnificent panorama of Western music! Note that it continues up to Part XX!
History of music - Part I (From ancient Greece to renaissance) 7:31 Seikilos epitaph Gregorian chant Organum Neidhardt von Reuental: Winter wie ist nu dein Kraft (minnesang) Guillaume de Machaut: Missa Notre Dame Guillaume Dufay: Deus tuorum militum Jean Ockeghem: Missa Ecce ancilla Domini Josquin Desprez: Missa Pange lingua Adrian Willaert: Qual dolcezza giamai Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli Orlando di Lasso: Mattona mia cara, Osculetur me John Dowland: Time stands still
Part II (Baroque) 9:23 Claudio Monteverdi: Ariadne´s complaint, Madrigals of War and Love Girolamo Frescobaldi: Fiori musicali Jean Baptiste Lully: Acis and Galatea Arcangelo Corelli: La Folia, Concerto grosso in G minor Johann Pachelbel: Canon Henry Purcell: Three parts upon a ground François Couperin: Pièces de clavecin Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, Guitar concerto in D major, Violin concerto in A minor, Concerto grosso in C major, Gloria Georg Philipp Telemann: Suite in B flat major Jean Philippe Rameau: Pièces de clavecin en concert
History of music - Part III (Baroque) 10:22 Georg Friedrich Händel: Music for the Royal Fireworks, Water music, Serse (Xerxes), Concerto grosso op. 6, Messiah Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Brandenburg concertos, Preludium in C major, Badinerie, Air, Chaconne, Cantate BWV 147, Double violin concerto, St. Matthew Passion Domenico Scarlatti: Harpsichord sonata in D major Giuseppe Tartini: Devil´s Trill sonata Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: Stabat Mater
History of music - Part IV (Classical) 8:15 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Quartet in A minor Christoph Willibald Gluck: Melody for violin and piano (from Orpheus and Eurydice), Dance of the blessed spirits (from Orpheus and Eurydice) Jan Václav Stamic: Symphony in A major Jiří Antonín Benda: Symphony in B flat major Joseph Haydn: Trumpet concerto, Symphony nr. 94 "Surprise", Cello concerto in C major, Quartet in C major "Emperor", Quartet in D minor "Quinten", Symphony nr. 104 "London" Josef Mysliveček: Il Bellerofonte Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf: Violin concerto in G major Luigi Boccherini: Minuet Antonio Salieri: Sinfonia Veneziana Muzio Clementi: Sonata op. 25 nr. 5
History of music - Part V (W. A. Mozart) 10:36 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music), Rondo alla Turca, Don Giovanni, Clarinet concerto, Violin concerto in G, Symphony nr. 39, 40 and 41, Divertimento in D, Sonata facile, Piano concerto in A, The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte), Quintet for clarinet and strings, Requiem
History of music - Part VI (L. van Beethoven) 9:35 Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony nr. 5 in C minor, Für Elise, Symphony nr. 3 in E flat major "Eroica", Symphony nr. 6 in F major "Pastoral", Violin sonata nr. 5 in F major "Spring", Piano concerto nr. 5 in E flat major "Emperor", Piano sonata nr. 8 in C minor "Pathétique", Triple concerto for piano, violin and violoncello in C major, Romance for violin and orchestra in F major, Piano sonata nr. 14 in C sharp minor "Moonlight", String quartet nr. 16 in F major, Violin concerto in D major, Symphony nr. 7 in A major, Symphony nr. 9 in D minor (with Ode to Joy)
History of music - Part VII (From classical to romanticism) 10:27 Niccolò Paganini: Caprice nr. 24 for violin solo, Violin concerto nr. 2 in B minor "La Campanella" Carl Maria von Weber: Der Freischütz, Invitation to the Dance Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le diable Gioachino Rossini: The Barber of Seville, William Tell, La gazza ladra Franz Schubert: Symphony nr. 8 in B minor "Unfinished", Die schöne Müllerin (Ungeduld - Impatience), Piano Quintet in A major "The Trout Quintet" (Forellenquintett), Ave Maria Gaetano Donizetti: L´elisir d´amore Hector Berlioz: Harold in Italy, Fantastic symphony Johann Strauss I: Radetzky March
Part VIII (Romanticism) 10:34 Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila, Ivan Susanin Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: A Midsummer Night´s Dream, Violin concerto in E minor, Symphony nr. 4 in A major "Italian" Fryderyk Chopin: Fantaisie-Impromptu in C sharp minor, Ballade in F major, Étude in G flat major "Black Key Étude", Nocturne in E flat major, Waltz in D flat major, Étude in C minor "The Revolutionary Étude" Robert Schumann: Symphony nr. 1 in B flat major "Spring", Scenes from Childhood (Dreaming - Träumerei), Piano concerto in A minor
Part IX (Romanticism) 10:12 Ferenc Liszt: Les Préludes, Dream of Love (Liebestraum)nr. 3, Mephisto waltz nr. 1 Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Valkyrie (Die Walküre) Giuseppe Verdi: Aida, Rigoletto, The Troubadour (Il trovatore), La traviata, Nabucco Charles Gounod: Ave Maria Jacques Offenbach: Orpheus in the Underworld César Franck: Violin sonata in A major, Symphony in D minor
Part X (Romanticism) 10:40 Bedřich Smetana: Vltava (Die Moldau), Prodaná nevěsta (The Bartered Bride) Anton Bruckner: Symphony nr. 4 in E flat major "Romantic", Te Deum Johann Strauss II: The Blue Danube (An der schönen blauen Donau) Johannes Brahms: Symphony nr. 1 in C minor, Hungarian dance nr. 5, Waltz in A major, Symphony nr. 4 in E minor Alexander Borodin: Polovetsian dances (from Prince Igor) Camille Saint-Saëns: The Carnival of the Animals (The Swan), Cello concerto nr. 1 in A minor Max Bruch: Violin concerto nr. 1 in G minor
This continues up to Part XX! I will leave you to find your own way as far as you desire. If you click, not on the triangle, but on the title, it will come up in its own window with some side links to some of the other entries.
KHarbaugh would include Monteverdi, Handel, and Papa Haydn and ditch Schubert, Debussy, Stravinsky, Brahms, and Bartok. In particular, how on earth could Tommasini omit Handel?
