"L'Objet du délit"

Bon, ben il y a un film français que je veux voir. C'est une chose qui m'arrive assez rarement, mais celui-ci m'intéresse. Vous devinerez facilement pourquoi. DOnc, le film a pour titre L'Objet du délit. Réalisé par Agnès Jaoui, il raconte une production troublée de l'opéra Les Noces de Figaro, de Mozart, alors que des allégations d'agression sexuelle éclatent. Une comédie dramatique inspirée du mouvement #MeToo, avec comme myse-en-abyme un opéra qui justement parle en des termes à peine couverts (sinon pas du tout couverts) de harcèlement sexuel. Vous pouvez voir la bande annonce plus bas.

Majestic Mozart

Well, it is still Mozart Week, so I am sharing more of his music. And a statue of Mozart himself: the one you can find in Vienna. It is often surrrounded by tourists, who just take pictures of it because, well, Mozart is a huge part of Vienna and Austria, maybe its most famous composers. And I was there as a pilgrim, a proper worshipper in fact. That said, like many other portraits and monuments to the man, I find this one strange at many levels. He looks atypically regal and Greco-Roman godly here. Maybe a tad Messianic too. As much as I'm a sucker for the monuments paying homage to him, I can't help but find them incomplete. There's a lot of Amadeus in this statue, but very little of Wolfgang, even less of Wolferl. There's no mischief. Anyway, this post would not be complete without a bit of music, here an aria from from Le Nozze di Figaro. Sung by Rod Gilfry. Tell me what you think of the music and the statue.

Cherubs and Cherubino

As you know if you are following this blog, we are during Mozart Week, a festival held in his native Salzburg to celebrate his birth and his life. As I am a big fan of Mozart, I'm celebrating it here too. I took this picture in Salzburg, during our last holiday in Austria. Which was, to me, a pilgrimage. It is a ridiculously allegorical portrait of Amadeus, but I thought it would be fitting for the aria I am sharing today. As there are cherubs visiting him from heaven (maybe to make sure he doesn't get naughty with the lady he is playing to?), I thought it would be fitting to put an aria from Le Nozze di Figaro. Sang of course by Cherubino, who here takes the voice and face of Israeli mezzosoprano Rinat Shaham. There are subtitles for your convenience.

Amadeus for Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. As it is sometimes a tradition on Vraie Fiction, I celebrate by sharing some love songs and I usually go for classical with Mozart. Because nothing ever put love in music as well as he did, whether it was its ideal and idealised aspects or its more problematic ones. So yeah, here is one love duet that is also a duet of deceit and unrequited infatuation, with Miah Persson and Gerald Finley. This is taken from Le Nozze di Figaro. For those who do not understand Italian, there are subtitles.

"Contessa, perdono" (Mozart)

This blog needs more music, so I decided to share something today. As it will be the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in two days and this is just a good excuse as any, I am listening to a lot of Mozart. This is taken from the finale of Le Nozze di Figaro. I will blog more about Mozart in the upcoming days. It puts me in a good mood (and Wolfie too). If you find this time of year dreary, think that it gave us the most joyful of all musicians.

'Mozart, You Drive Me Crazy!'

Here's some great musical news, at least for me: South African soprano Golda Schultz (maybe my favourite soprano) is releasing a new album, called Mozart, You Drive Me Crazy!. About Mozart's music from the three operas he composed in collaboration with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. Now, there are many like this, but Schultz just gets Mozart, she is one of the most Mozartian opera singers we have now. Plus, she loves the composer so much, she is as much a fan as she is a singer. And it shows when she sings it. This album is a labour of love and I intend to either buy it, or put it on my birthday presents list. But maybe I will not be able to wait until my birthday, even though it is soon. In any case, check this video about it:

"Meeting Mozart" for his birthday

Today is the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. My favourite composer and in my opinion the very best opera composer of all time. Which is why he is my favourite composer (and why I think he will always be the most accomplished classical musician of all time, sorry for the controversial opinion, but not sorry and take that Ludwig). Anyway, since today it is his birthday, I celebrate by listening to his music, but also reading about him. So this is the book I have been reading these last few days in preparation for the anniversary of his birth: Meeting Mozart: A Novel Drawn From the Secret Diaries of Lorenzo Da Ponte, by Howard Jay Smith. Grosso modo, it is a fictionalize account of his relationship and collaboration with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. It's pretty nice so far. Both Mozart and Da Ponte's lives are the stuff of legend, so they work well as prime matter for fiction (even if it is often fanfiction). In any case, I encourage you to Mozart up your life today. And to celebrate on this blog, I am sharing a duet from Le Nozze di Figaro. Sung by legendary Diana Damrau and Golda Schultz (who is playing the role of the Countess at the Met at the moment). So anyway, happy birthday Maestro and happy Mozarting everyone!

Mozart: The Man Revealed

Here is a bit of a reading suggestion for classical music lovers. Those who may not be artists or specialist themselves, but are not totally clueless. Anyway, my wife bought me last year for my birthday a biography of Mozart: Mozart: the Man Revealed, by John Suchet. I had asked her to get me a book about Mozart, not specifying which one in particular, just any biography of Mozart would do, providing it is a good one. She got me that one and I was not disappointed. In fact, of all the books I read last year, it is the one I read wih the most interest. I got through it really quickly and I wished I had taken more time to enjoy it. Suchet made the subject really accessible to anyone with even the slightest interest in classical music. Apart from one point of contention (he seems to think little of the brilliantly subversive plot of Cosi fan tutte), I thoroughly enjoyed it. Suchet also made me far more knowledgeable about Mozart, his time and his entourage, whether familial or professional. Anyway, I cannot end a post on Mozart without sharing a piece of his music. Here's the opening duet from Le Nozze di Figaro, with Markus Werba as Figaro and Golda Schultz as Susanna. At the moment, Schultz might actually be my favourite soprano, for many reasons, but this is for another post.

Say it with Mozart

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. To celebrate on this blog, I decided toshare an aria from Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart, because you can't go wrong with Mozart. It shows a more painful aspect of love, but we can't shy away from this aspect of it either. For many people, single or not, Valentine's Day sucks, or is at least stressful. And this year, I did not go for a cynical aria. Here it is sung by German soprano Annette Dasch and she sure sells it.

Figarohaus

My father sent me a few weeks ago pictures dating back from our family trip in Austria, during the 200th nniversary of the death of Mozart. We visited a lot of towns and cities, among them Vienna. This is where he took this picture. I am not sure if it is the same as the Mozarthaus, only with a different name, but from my father's memory this is where Mozart composed Le Nozze di Figaro. I must confess I don't remember seeing the Figarohaus of the Mozarthaus, or whatever its official name is, but I do remember quite a few things about that trip, especially the music, the concerts and the operas we went to. I will blog more about our time in Austria it in the future. I also think a post about Vienna would not be quite completed without a bit of music, and that it would be fitting to share something from Le Nozze di Figaro, an aria sung by Luca Pisaroni.

Celebrating Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Today is the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. My favourite composer, mainly but not exclusively because of his operas, which were a huge revelation to me when I was a child. Every year, I try to celebrate him for his birthday, in my life and on this blog. I don't have time to go through a whole opera today, but I have been listening to plenty of his music. Since he was a prolific composer, there is a lot to listen to. And I will share today the overture of Le Nozze di Figaro. I think it's a first on this blog. But if I were you, I wouldn't stop at that one. Anyway, happy birthday Maestro Amadeus!

The great Wolfgang to celebrate

Today is the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and thus I celebrate it, on this blog and at outside the virtual world. To share my love for the great composer, I usually share one of the arias from his operas, as I came to love him through his operas and I consider that he wrote the greatest operas. This year it will be Dove sono from Le Nozze di Figaro. Sung by Dorothea Röschmann. One aria is not enough, but I will blog more Mozart in the weeks to come.

Mozart's #hashtags

I found this meme a while ago on Facebook and was wondering of the right moment to use it. And now is the right moment. it is funny and it is of course absolutely true. Mozart used hashtags and to great effect way before hashtags were cool. He was ahead of his time. Now, he is as modern and relevant as he was then. I decided to share it tonight as my wife, who is in the local orchestra, gave a concert yesterday where she played, among other things, the overture of Le Nozze di Figaro. So it is time to share some hashtags in music. See if you can identify them in the overture.

I missed Mozart's birthday

Well, I did not miss it completely, as I remembered it at the end of the day yesterday. But I did not blog about it until tonight. Last time I blogged about Mozart and uploaded his music here on Vraie Fiction was a very long time ago, so it is about time I add some. I tried to find something I had not uploaded yet. I hope nobody minds if it is more opera. An aria I sang myself, here interpreted bu Erwin Schrott. it is Se vuol ballare from Le Nozze di Figaro.I know Mozart wrote so much more, but I truly discovered him through opera and it is by far this part of his work that I love most.

Citons Beaumarchais

Je n'ai jamais lu ni vu Le mariage de Figaro, je connais plus la controverse entourant la pièce et l'opéra de Mozart que la pièce elle-même, mais j'ai cette citation en tête depuis le mariage (vous savez lequel):

"Noblesse, fortune, un rang, des places, tout cela rend si fier ! Qu'avez-vous fait pour tant de biens ? Vous vous êtes donné la peine de naître, et rien de plus : du reste, homme assez ordinaire! "

Ah, la sagesse républicaine!

Dinnertime conversations

So I went to that dinner yesterday, in an Italian restaurant, with my friends from the acting course. Not all were there, but it was a very nice evening. We barely had time to know each other before and after class, so it was lovely chatting to them and learning more about everyone. And also, of course, making yourself known.

As I was expecting, the staff was mainly Italian, so I did said a few words in Italian, enough to make them believe that I knew much more of the language than I do. So they learned about my Italian experience, they learned about the reasons why I wanted to do acting (which is actually similar to theirs, more on this below) and they even learned that I sang opera. Because, see, the next course will be very voice orientated and it appears that there might be some singing in it. One of them was hesitant about this as he thinks he is not much of a singer and he asked me "Could you sing?". I answered not only that I could, but that I did. It will be great to mix two of my greatest passions.

So it was a great evening. It is strange to discover that your own motivations mirror the ones of my fellow actors. We all wanted a more active social life with people sharing the same interests, we all wanted to express our creativity and many of us wanted to confront some kind of shyness. Oh, and we all feel reinvigorated after a class.

Getting back to singing, I thought I would end this post with an aria. It is one of the few Mozart arias I sang learning with Claudine Côté. It is Non piu andrai from Le Nozze di Figaro. I chose it because I always thought it was a physically demanding aria, that used to leave me breathless and dizzy.There is a physicality in opera just as there is one in acting. I will blog about it one day (if I haven't already and forgotten). Until then, I leave this aria here, as my mind is on Italy, acting and singing.