# Possible Subjects For New Operas



## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Not just the Wizard of Oz. Can any one here think of some really interesting ideas for new operas? Which contemporary composers might write them,and who might the librettists be?
How about Genghis Khan by Philip Glass, sung in Mongolian and Turkic dialects?
Thast's one idea I thought of.
Possibly Shakespeare plays which haven't been turned into operas yet? 
Osama Bin Laden,by John Adams? An opera about Hitler? How about it,folks ?


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

I can't even imagine how such a thing would be possible, but *Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid* is one of my most favorite books and I'd be interested in what an opera version might look like. Alternatively, *Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance* seems like it would be an interesting minimalist opera.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The hobbit/Lord of the rings, a four evenings opera to rival Wagner.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

There was a musical made about cricketer Shane Warne here in Australia. Also, singer Peter Allen ("The Boy From Oz") & (new) Saint Mary Mackillop. So I'd suggest that big personalities are always interesting to see on stage. One I can think of might make you laugh - Tiger Woods. Maybe George W. Bush vs. Saddam & Osama & all that (but to me, politics is always pretty boring). In that vein, Bill Clinton & that Monica situation might be more "sexy." & how about a rock-opera about Mick Jagger? It's all up for grabs, anything goes nowadays, it's doesn't have to be ancient stuff like Shakespeare, or even literary stuff...


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Art Rock said:


> The hobbit/Lord of the rings, a four evenings opera to rival Wagner.


I'm not sure if you are kidding or not, but if you aren't, I must say that I had this very thought today, even before I saw this thread. I was thinking, "you know, Tolkien's Ring is a nice story as well... what if someone made a four evenings opera of it...":lol:

I thought of a comedic opera based on Sex in the City... as a vehicle to put together four very sexy sopranos, such as Anna Netrebko, Miah Persson, Isabel Leonard, and Patricia Petibon. I bet it'd be a huge success.

As for more serious topics, José Saramago, the Portuguese winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, has some spectacular novels that would make phenomenal operas in my opinion, like The Stone Raft, Blindness, The Gospell According to Jesus Christ, etc.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

I love Saramago, and Blindness would be an interesting opera indeed! Death with Interruptions would be suitable as well.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Franz Kafka's _The Metamorphosis_ would make a great opera. I understand _The Trial_ has been made into one (but I haven't read that book).

Ray Bradbury - _Fahrenheit 451
_
Hermann Hesse - _Steppenwolf_

I'm sure there are several 100 thousand more.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I think _Fahrenheit 451 _has already been made into an opera, I remember reading about it a while back. Which brings up the question, is it worth making anything into opera if even we - seasoned classical listeners - haven't heard of them?...


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

That's a great question, leading to the more general query of, could any one of us identify talent if we didn't have it clearly marked as such ahead of time? How much of our appreciation for acknowledged classics is because they are, in fact, acknowledged as classics? I'm sure we all would like to believe that we could recognize genius without any other outside influences, but then one reads something like this:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Yeah, well I suppose classical is no longer mainstream. More people would notice if someone like Robert Plant or someone like that composed a rock opera about something than say Glass, Adams, Ades, etc. doing a "serious" opera. Many classical concerts I go to here in Sydney are dominated by the greys (in the audience) & I'm sure it's the same across the world (except Europe, maybe). It used to be mainstream but now it just a niche market. So is it even worth penning an opera today as compared to say a musical?...


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

rgz said:


> That's a great question, leading to the more general query of, could any one of us identify talent if we didn't have it clearly marked as such ahead of time? How much of our appreciation for acknowledged classics is because they are, in fact, acknowledged as classics? I'm sure we all would like to believe that we could recognize genius without any other outside influences, but then one reads something like this:
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html


Very interesting article.

Maybe arrogantly, I think I *can* identify talent even when it's not clearly marked as such. I have in many occasions immensely liked works that are obscure and not widely acclaimed in different artistic fields, such as painting, literature, cinema, and music. I believe that I'm not easily influenced by critics and the such, and always try to make my own mind about artistic works that I encounter.

It remains to be seen whether what I'm calling talent is real talent, or just something that pleases me.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

The life story of Marilyn Monroe. It has everything.

Act One:
-Rise to fame with flashbacks to unhappy youth (could be done by way of a big aria or two for the Marilyn character) that included rape, an insane mother and other insane family members and so on.

Act Two:
-Monroe is now a superstar, but is disappointed that fame hasn't brought her the happiness she had anticipated. 
-Marriage to Joe DiMaggio who loves her, but doesn't understand that her acting is important to her and he wants her to give up her career.
-Divorce from DiMaggio

Act Three
-Monroe fights the studio system that refuses to give her the more dramatic roles she longs to play.
-A frustrated Marilyn who on the one hand despises her sex symbol image but on the other hand keeps it up because she knows it's what the public wants from her becomes ever more dependent on booze and pills.
-Marriage to playwright Arthur Miller.

Act Four
-Miller loves Monroe but can't deal with the emotional problems (including suicide attempts) of his wife and their marriage ends in divorce.
-Monroe is now a complete emotional wreck and fears becoming insane like her mother and many other members of her family before her.

Act Five
-Marilyn, who loaths herself starts an affair with the Kennedy's who use her as nothing more than a sex toy. 
-Marilyn realizes the truth and threatens to go public about the Kennedy's.
-Marilyn is found death in her bed.....suicide? murder?......


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

jhar26 said:


> The life story of Marilyn Monroe. It has everything.
> 
> Act One:
> -Rise to fame with flashbacks to unhappy youth (could be done by way of a big aria or two for the Marilyn character) that included rape, an insane mother and other insane family members and so on.
> ...


We'd need to resuscitate Alban Berg to set this one to music.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Almaviva said:


> We'd need to resuscitate Alban Berg to set this one to music.


It could be a dream role for Anna. Put a blonde wig on her head (like she did in Manon) and she's ideal.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I think there are 2 operas about her already. Maybe I'm mistaken. I read it on wikipedia I think. 

Anyway, some new suggestions: 

- Coffee: An opera/world music crossover, for the era of globalization. The main characters are beans, they sing solos in the styles of the lands they're from (Kenya, Brazil, Indonesia, etc.) and then they come together and sing all at once, about being ground up, giving up their oils; an orchestral finale representing a caffeine overdose. 

- Alan Turing

- Peter Popoff 

- Anna Nicole Smith 

- Calvino's Cosmicomics

- Tennyson's Idylls of the King (this really needs to be done - enough Camelot crap)

- The Hemingses of Monticello 

- Kierkegaard and Regina

- Gore Vidal's Creation 

- Lorenzo da Ponte

I really should write operas.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Wait, I have the ultimate opera idea.
Pop Star to Opera Star: The Opera


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Science: Anna Nicole has already been done. I think it's playing now at Covent Garden.

And I think Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter could be an amazing three-part Wagnerian-ish opera. Also, Gösta Berling's Saga by Selma Lagerlöf could be an amazing opera. At least in my head.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Also, more Shakespeare operas. More English-language ones. And a non-French Hamlet.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

I have to agree with the fine reccomendations of member RGZ. Godel, Escher and Bach would be fantastic.

Some Gabriel Garcia Marquez would fit an impressionist opera.

Ive heard some rumours about Boulez doing it but - waiting for godot.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

emiellucifuge said:


> I have to agree with the fine reccomendations of member RGZ. Godel, Escher and Bach would be fantastic.
> 
> Some Gabriel Garcia Marquez would fit an impressionist opera.
> 
> Ive heard some rumours about Boulez doing it but - waiting for godot.


Yes. It's supposed to be performed in 2015. That might be interesting.
Also, absurd opera could be interesting.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Another idea: The Count of Monte Cristo. It'd have to be epic in scale, 5+ hours to even hint at all the plotlines and machinations, but damned it if wouldn't be perfectly suited for the opera stage. Just the right amount of drama, intrigue, and romance.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

science said:


> I think there are 2 operas about her already. Maybe I'm mistaken. I read it on wikipedia I think.
> 
> Anyway, some new suggestions:
> 
> ...


Interesting list & some great ideas.

Anna Nicole Smith has an opera already.


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

I'd like to see _All Quiet on the Western Front_. Or maybe Orwell's _1984_.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

1984 is already an opera by Lorin Maazel.

How about Brave New World?


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

science said:


> I think there are 2 operas about her already. Maybe I'm mistaken. I read it on wikipedia I think.
> 
> Anyway, some new suggestions:
> 
> ...


There is an opera about Anna Nicole Smith already, getting its world premiere in London.

The life and death of JFK would be a good one.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> There is an opera about Anna Nicole Smith already, getting its world premiere in London.
> 
> The life and death of JFK would be a good one.


I totally read JFK as JDF. But yes, that would be a great idea. The JFK one, I mean.

I also somehow think that Birds Without Wings by Louis de Berniéres would be a good opera.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

I think some of the novels of William Dean Howells could form the basis for an opera libretto - "A Modern Instance" comes to mind. 

Has anyone heard of any plans to base an opera on the life of Princess Diana? There is enough drama and tragedy to rival any of Donizetti's queens.


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## jflatter (Mar 31, 2010)

MAuer said:


> I think some of the novels of William Dean Howells could form the basis for an opera libretto - "A Modern Instance" comes to mind.
> 
> Has anyone heard of any plans to base an opera on the life of Princess Diana? There is enough drama and tragedy to rival any of Donizetti's queens.


Renee Fleming in my view would be perfectly cast.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

I hope some major composers and librettists are reading this. We're having some pretty good ideas, hehehe.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Aksel said:


> Yes. It's supposed to be performed in 2015. That might be interesting.
> Also, absurd opera could be interesting.


The Boulez Godot opera is a really strange rumor. That's pretty much it now, as I've never seen Boulez say anything about it except that he's not going to conduct much if at all anymore after this season.

There are tons of absurd operas; you just need to know where to look. Ligeti wrote what is generally known as the sort of definitive absurd opera, but there are many critics of it as well. Aulis Sallinen wrote one called "The King goes forth to France" or something like that; it's recently been out of print.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

SuperTonic said:


> Or maybe Orwell's _1984_.


This is one of those "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it" situations.











e: Maybe some here will like it. Just too discordant and non-melodic for me.


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

rgz said:


> This is one of those "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it" situations.
> 
> e: Maybe some here will like it. Just too discordant and non-melodic for me.


Yeah, after I found out it had already been done I googled it. The reviews of Maazel's music were mostly bad. So I'll amend my original statement to say that I'd like to see it done WELL.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

jflatter said:


> Renee Fleming in my view would be perfectly cast.


Yes, I think the role of Diana would need to be written for a soprano. I imagine the role would be similar to that of Madama Butterfly in that it would need to show the character's emotional development from the inexperienced 19 year old in love to the wiser woman who has matured through an unhappy marriage and unsatisfying love affair.

Who do you think would be suitable in this hypothetical opera's other roles?


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

MAuer said:


> Yes, I think the role of Diana would need to be written for a soprano. I imagine the role would be similar to that of Madama Butterfly in that it would need to show the character's emotional development from the inexperienced 19 year old in love to the wiser woman who has matured through an unhappy marriage and unsatisfying love affair.
> 
> Who do you think would be suitable in this hypothetical opera's other roles?


Diana: Renée Fleming
Prince Charles: Mariusz Kwiecień
Camilla: Anna Caterina Antonacci

Dodi Fayed: Joseph Calleja
Dr. Hasnat Khan: Jonas Kaufmann

Queen Elizabeth: Sonia Ganassi
Prince Philip: Ildebrando d'Arcangelo


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Annie, don't you think that Mariusz Kwiecień is too young and spicy to be a convincing oldish and boring Prince Charles?


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Almaviva said:


> Annie, don't you think that Mariusz Kwiecień is too young and spicy to be a convincing oldish and boring Prince Charles?


He's a prince, dammit. If we can suspend disbelief about some bearded tubby tenor as the love interest in many operas, we can suspend disbelief about Prince Charles being played by a really hot baritone.









We also need Tim Mead as James Hewitt. I don't care if he is a counter-ternor.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Annie, don't you think that Mariusz Kwiecień is too young and spicy to be a convincing oldish and boring Prince Charles?


I thought about this. I couldn't think of a paranoid, whiny singer so I opted for a good actor.

And yes, gotta have Tim Read as James Hewitt. He could also sing Prince Harry at the funeral.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

sospiro said:


> Diana: Renée Fleming
> Prince Charles: Mariusz Kwiecień
> Camilla: Anna Caterina Antonacci
> 
> ...


It's interesting how we all imagined Charles as a baritone and Camilla as a soprano, At first, I wasn't certain if the role shouldn't be written for a mezzo -- typical for the "other woman" in opera. Now I'm thinking dramatic soprano (Debbie Voigt? Linda Watson?) to distinguish her from Fleming's more lyric timbre.

What about Anthony Michaels-Moore as Charles?


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## Il Seraglio (Sep 14, 2009)

Jade Goody - A Family Tragedy

Columbine - A Hilarious Comedy

Don't Tweet Back - Orpheus Joins Twitter to Rescue Eurydice

Pope Benedict XVI - A Science Fiction Adventure


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

Now that toy titan Mattel has created Facebook pages for Ken and Barbie, can an opera be far behind?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechcon...03/ken-and-barbie-update-their-status?sc=emaf
(Hope the stupid link works this time.)

With the role of Ken, Andrea Bocelli might actually find a part commensurate with his talents. And I think Katherine Jenkins would be an ideal Barbie.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

In the "what are you reading" thread I mentioned that I've just finished Misha Glenny's McMafia, and it seems to me like we need more operas about organized crime. 

Maybe some incredibly brave Russian composer could write "Gazprom."

Or one of the up-and-coming Chinese composers could write "Snake Head" (the name for human traffickers in China - not the evil "slave" kind of traffickers, but people who help emigrants get into other countries illegally). 

And clearly, clearly, yes clearly - we need an opera about Dubai. I hear traditional Arab music in the opening scene, maybe an aria of Arabic poetry, then a 20th century storm of glitzy pop-ish music, dissonant, glorious; then the guest workers and mafia from India arrive accompanied by ghazal - I see a ballet here, influenced by Bollywood style music videos - and the a scene with prostitutes from Eastern Europe and China trying to out-sing each other. It needs a really big set so that there can be water on the forestage and an apron projecting into it in the shape of a palm tree. There should be indoor snow.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I think the "Ken and Barbie" idea has something going for it. 

Maybe Barbie should get "plastic" surgery at the beginning....


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

science said:


> In the "what are you reading" thread I mentioned that I've just finished Misha Glenny's McMafia, and it seems to me like we need more operas about organized crime.
> 
> Maybe some incredibly brave Russian composer could write "Gazprom."
> 
> ...


Are there prostitutes in Dubai?


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

I'd like to see The Name Of The Rose as an opera but as it has a huge male cast and only one female, it would be tough to cast. 

Also, was Tartuffe ever made into an opera? I've read a book that was specially about rarely played works but don't recall one. And it would be so perfect (if only Mozart would have done it).

And how about For Whom The Bell Tolls? Perfectly romantic and could be great on stage. 

And I'd love to see Les Mis as an opera even thoguh I ADORE the musical. But some of the characters would work better with a different vocal range. Valjean should be a nice, huggable bass, like René Pape or Matti Salminen. And Enjolras would be the barihunk role. 


Also, The Master and Margarita!


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Sieglinde said:


> I'd like to see The Name Of The Rose as an opera but as it has a huge male cast and only one female, it would be tough to cast.


Just like Rossini's Armida. It could work!:tiphat:


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Just finished Bram Stoker's "Jewel of the Seven Stars" and for the second half of the book I couldn't stop thinking how perfectly it lends itself to an opera. Well, except for the ending which is a bit weak. Ideal for a 3 act opera, with A1 in the Tralawny House, A2 a flashback to an Egyptian tomb, A3 in the Tralawny oceanfront house. Perfect sized cast -- 1 female and 2 male leads, 2 supporting roles, and a couple very minor roles. Nice love story (that seems like it will end tragicly but doesn't ... hence a reworked ending would be ideal and easily accomplished I think), wonderfully Gothic tone with just a dash of the supernatural.

Anyway, it's a fun read and available at Project Gutenberg for free.

e: Also, I was thinking the other day that the movie *Before Sunrise* might make for a fascinating opera, one with an actually compelling love story.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

The Princess Bride. It's badass, romantic, parodies the hell out of swashbuckling adventures and just imagine how awesome would Inigo vs. Westley be with a duet in the old Verdi style!


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

"Jennie Gerhardt" is another one of Theodore Dreiser's novels that could provide terrific material for an opera. Better yet, I like the idea of his Cowperwood trilogy -- the three novels "_The Financier_," "_The Titan_," and "_The Stoic_") based on the life of 19th century tycoon Charles Yerkes. The role of Frank Algernon Cowperwood would be a real plum for a baritone, as would the role of his first mistress/second wife Aileen Butler for a soprano.


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## Schnowotski (May 13, 2011)

I'm quite perplexed about the fact that there isn't opera based on Kafka's The Trial. 

Glenn Gould allegedly tried to work "Metamorphosis" into a opera, Philip Glass has made opera based on "In the penal colony" and Salvatore Sciarrin has - I found this out just minutes ago from google - made opera based on the famous parable inside "The trial": Before the law. Other music inspired by Kafka, that I know, is Schnittke's Pianissimo, which refers to the torturous apparatus in the short story "In the penal colony".

It seems that no one has tried to stage the novel itself. I might be partly because composers are drawn more to the purely allegoric and abstract aspects of the novel - such as the allegoric parable "Before the Law". But I think the novel itself would be quite magnificent if staged correctly; many films have been made and they work fluently - then why not an opera?

It would, of course, be little grotesque and hilarious the see someone recite the long, abstract babblings - but at the same it would create wonderful and unique atmosphere. I can easily see how it would work out. I think the ending, where mr K. speaks his famous last words, "Wie ein Hund!", would be astounding - just like in Schönberg's Moses und Aron which ends with Moses resigning to his fate: "O wort! Du wort das mir fehlt!".


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I think someone should write operatic cycle based on the life of Ridge Forrester


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

When I finished reading _A Tale of Two Cities_, I thought to myself, "Why isn't there an opera adaptation of this?" Turns out there is, but it's by Arthur Benjamin, best known for his piece _Jamaican Rumba_.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Similarly to Meaghan, I just finished Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" and holy cow it would be great as an opera (obviously with extreme abridgement to plot and characters). The Prince would be a tenor, Nastasia would be a coloratura, Aglaya a lyric soprano, Rogozhin as a baritone. I can damn near picture the whole staging in my head, with the climactic quartet being the show stopper. Nastasia's madness would be such a plum role for a certain French soprano.

Ah, I see on the wikipedia page that it almost became an opera
_The Russian composer Nikolai Myaskovsky planned an opera on The Idiot during World War I, but did not complete it._

I know this is the opera forum and not the literature forum, but I highly recommend this book. Best of all, it's available for free on Project Gutenberg for those of you with e-readers.


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