Friday, 6 January 2012

La mamma morta: Opera in film (part one)

Here, by request, is a famous clip featuring an aria from Umberto Giordano's opera Andrea Chenier (1896):

 

Now, we can do a lot with this clip so over the next few posts we'll look at Maria Callas (and other singers), Andrea Chenier and Tosca, Verismo, and Opera On Film. But let's start with a little quiz of opera in film.

Below are some clips of opera music used in films. All you need to do, is try and match the film with the music. (I'll give you options.)

1.

2.

3.

4.
 

5.

6.
 

7.

(Not strictly a film I know but.... ) 8.

And the operas are:

Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro (1786)
Offenbach: Les contes d'Hoffmann (The tales of Hoffmann) (1881)
Puccini: Tosca (1900), La Rondine (1917), Gianni Schicci (1918)
Verdi: La Traviata (1853), La forza del destino (The force of destiny) (1862)
Wagner: Lohengrin (1850)

Good luck! Can you think of any other opera scenes/ music used in films? Do you like a piece of music that you can't identify? Leave a comment and we'll try and identify it.

Posted by Edward George at
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9 comments:

  1. J6 January 2012 at 01:20

    Love that scene in Philadelphia. A teary Denzel... Thanks for that.

    I know the answer to La vita é bella as it is one of my most favourite movies and one of the few Operas I heard of and recognised pre EG..

    I think I know the Pretty woman one as well...

    Are we to wait to give replies?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kath6 January 2012 at 01:23

    Great idea for a quiz! Ok the ones I Know:

    2. Pretty Woman: La Traviata ( How ironic is it that they watch an opera about a fallen woman?)

    7. Marriage of Figaro

    8. Lovely Mitchell *sigh* listening to Tosca

    will have to think about the others..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sunny6 January 2012 at 01:26

    Okay, this was very interesting! Think I was able to recognize the 'style' of the music for several of them, even tho didn't recognize the opera. Here's what I thought:
    1. Puccini - but didn't know which one
    2. Verdi - La Traviata
    3. Puccini, but didn't know which one (you gave us 3 to choose from, grrr.)
    4. Wagner
    5. Offenbach
    6. Verdi - la Forza del destino (by process of elimination)
    7. Marriage of Figaro
    8. Tosca *sigh

    So, that's what I thought after hearing them. Actually closed eyes and listened to the music. The cool thing was hearing the different style (is that the right word?) of each one, one after the other. Started to hear some differences.
    Great post, and very good exercise.

    Thanks! Now going to google...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Edward George6 January 2012 at 01:28

    J: Go for it!

    And yes, La vita è bella is a wonderful film.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Edward George6 January 2012 at 01:42

    For a bonus point (because no clues):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emk_2-vprZY

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kath6 January 2012 at 01:52

    With just a little cheating from Google and YT..Both scenes from 'A room with a view' come from Puccini operas:

    1 Gianni Schicci
    3 La Rondine

    What advert features No 6?..it's driving me mad...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kath6 January 2012 at 02:09

    Edward George : Is it Faust? ( what do I win?)

    ReplyDelete
  8. J6 January 2012 at 02:44

    The Godfather trilogy has opera. Part 3has Cavalleria Rusticana.

    Well done you two.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Edward George6 January 2012 at 23:47

    Sunny,

    Almost, but not quite. Very close, though. Very close.

    Answers in the next blog. Well done to all, so far.

    J: you're quite right about Cavalleria Rusicana. Will post it in the next blog.

    ReplyDelete

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