# The Joy of Sets



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Post pictures of great opera set designs!

Donizetti - _Otto mesi in due ore_








Look at the ceiling!

Donizetti - _Anna Bolena_








Saint-Saëns - _Henry VIII_














Gounod - _Faust_


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Paladilhe - _Patrie!_




















Massenet - _Le roi de Lahore_








Massenet - _Le mage_


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Halévy - _La juive_


























Halévy - _La dame de pique_


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Halévy - _La reine de Chypre_


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Halévy - _La magicienne_








Gounod - _Sapho_














Thomas - _Hamlet_


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Meyerbeer - _Le Prophète_


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Meyerbeer - _L'Africaine_


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Meyerbeer - _Robert le Diable_














Meyerbeer - _Les Huguenots_


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Wagner - _Tannhäuser_














Auber - _La muette de Portici_


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Auber - _Gustave III_


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

David - _Herculanum_


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## Jeffrey Smith (Jan 2, 2016)

These two recordings from Rene Jacob's series of Mozart operas used set designs from the original productions for their covers.


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## Jeffrey Smith (Jan 2, 2016)

And for a more modern Mozart, the famous Chagall production of The Magic Flute. I saw this one in the late 70s, a few years before it was retired.


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## Ilarion (May 22, 2015)

And here I thought I was to be treated to a lovely extemporization on the joys of Set Theory...


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Ilarion said:


> And here I thought I was to be treated to a lovely extemporization on the joys of Set Theory...


Aaaaargh. Math.


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## Ilarion (May 22, 2015)

SimonTemplar said:


> Aaaaargh. Math.


Hehehehehehehe


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Great thread, its a subject I wished I knew more about.

I believe most of those designs would have been realised on stage as painted 'flats'. 3D effects were created with Trompe-l'œil.

I wish I could remember where I read it, but in some memoir the writer met one of the old stage hands who lamented that the old arts had been lost when the line of apprentice training was broken in WW11. The writer was shown some of the old designs hung, and marvelled at the effects. I believe this occurred in Italy in the 1950's. New designers also wanted to create more 'realistic' effects and things moved on. It was of course much cheaper and suited to having a different opera each night.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

The lake in Reyer's _Sigurd_, one of the most beautiful and fascinating operas I've ever heard:










Regarding the 'indoor' sets used at the Opéra, there is such a family resemblance between many of them in terms of architectural style that I wouldn't be surprised if bits of sets got recycled now and then. I'm sure I've read something somewhere about this, but as the old song says 'I can't remember where or when'.

More Sigurd:


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Belowpar said:


> Great thread, its a subject I wished I knew more about.
> 
> I wish I could remember where I read it, but in some memoir the writer met one of the old stage hands who lamented that the old arts had been lost when the line of apprentice training was broken in WW11. The writer was shown some of the old designs hung, and marvelled at the effects. I believe this occurred in Italy in the 1950's. New designers also wanted to create more 'realistic' effects and things moved on. It was of course much cheaper and suited to having a different opera each night.


They were still using talented scenic artists at La Scala right up to 1960, when Visconti was to direct *Poliuto* for Callas and Corelli. He eventually withdrew from the project in protest over the censorship by the Italian government of one of his films, but the his original concept for the sets (designed by Nicola Benois) remained. I read somewhere that Visconti had to take Karajan on stage to prove to him that what he was seeing was mostly just painted flats.


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

GregMitchell said:


> They were still using talented scenic artists at La Scala right up to 1960, when Visconti was to direct *Poliuto* for Callas and Corelli. He eventually withdrew from the project in protest over the censorship by the Italian government of one of his films, but the his original concept for the sets (designed by Nicola Benois) remained. I read somewhere that Visconti had to take Karajan on stage to prove to him that what he was seeing was mostly just painted flats.


Greg I think you have nailed it. I wanted to mention Karajan but didn't trust my memory enough that he was involved.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

If I remember correctly it was Zeffirelli who said in an interview that those kind of sets are no longer possible because there came a law in Italy which forced the artisans to retire at a certain age. I don't remember the date of the interview, but a sad thing. If someone wants to do it and still can then they should be allowed to keep working. Those Poliuto sets are just amazing you can only imagine how great they would have been live when they fooled even professionals like Karajan. Ironically now in Finland the government are trying to figure out ways to make people work longer. A different country perhaps, but how things change. 

There are plenty of pictures of Callas in various performances, but a picture in the end is just a picture and a recording just a recording. I'm satisfied most of the time and sometimes I get so moved of what artists like Callas, Gobbi and Di Stefano manage to do, but sometimes I just hate for being born too late. In the end form the filmed things and recordings you only get an idea what it might have been to hear the artist live. Even more so with artists from the acoustic era. When you listen to artists like Caruso or Ruffo you can only imagine how glorious they must have sounded. 

On the bright side who knows what the future has in store. It's no secret that I love older tenors, but when I first heard Kaufmann Í was amazed. Then I realized that the future is indeed bright. I know that we won't see a new Callas, Gobbi or DI Stefano, but perhaps there will come along singers who are equally good, but different. 

Every singer is different and that's the way it should be. A good example is Gigli who many thought back in the day to be the second Caruso. Gigli himself said that he preferred the first Gigli. So different artists. Björling has also been compared to Caruso and in the EMI Icon box set it even said The Swedish Caruso. Caruso's wife said that Björling's voice was closest to Caruso's. To me this comparing is pointless. All singers are unique I hope that in my lifetime I will get to see many great artists. From the past and from the future. I discover new singers all the time. I don't like them all, but that's alright.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

RIGOLETTO: Act I, scene 2 (the street outside Rigoletto's house) and Act II (inside the Ducal Palace). The first picture, I think, is more widely known than the second:


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Bellinilover said:


> RIGOLETTO: Act I, scene 2 (the street outside Rigoletto's house) and Act II (inside the Ducal Palace). The first picture, I think, is more widely known than the second:
> 
> View attachment 83919
> 
> ...


Nice! Here's Act III, from Paris.


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Figleaf said:


> The lake in Reyer's _Sigurd_, one of the most beautiful and fascinating operas I've ever heard:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Massenet, maybe? He complained that in his first operas, the stage manager would say "Good news! We can use part of the fireplace from _La favorite_, and a wall from _Les Huguenots_!"


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

SimonTemplar said:


> Massenet, maybe? He complained that in his first operas, the stage manager would say "Good news! We can use part of the fireplace from _La favorite_, and a wall from _Les Huguenots_!"


Nothing wrong with reusing.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Sloe said:


> Nothing wrong with reusing.


Absolutely. The worst thing about opera is decadence, i.e. not making good re-use of the fantastic resources (sets and costumes) which are available locally or elsewhere.

(I'm loving this thread)


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

I forgot to say that I love the puntastic thread title too


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

Interesting set design for an Un Ballo in Maschera many years ago at La Fenice... I wonder how this came off live. Traditional 18th century costumes with Cezanne-like backdrops. I like it.

http://www.archiviostoricolafenice.org/scheda_d.php?ID=22556


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

Benois' back drop for Stravinsky's opera _Le Rossignol_, ca. 1918


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

I'm mainly an aural person (like most here I would think) but when I go to see a live opera, I'm intrigued to know what the director/designer might offer. Alas it can often be mundane and cheap, but there are still many grand and wonderful productions to be seen, both classic and modern. Going to an opera can still be a delight for the eyes.


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

Can I add how sick I am of projections? In most cases they add nothing to the story, NOR the atmosphere I might add, because it's been done so many times already. Although in the future they will probably have holographic projections and then I will be wishing for good old fashioned 2D ones...


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Don Fatale said:


> I'm mainly an aural person (like most here I would think) but when I go to see a live opera, I'm intrigued to know what the director/designer might offer. Alas it can often be mundane and cheap, but there are still many grand and wonderful productions to be seen, both classic and modern. Going to an opera can still be a delight for the eyes.


Hear, hear :tiphat:


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Karl Friedrich Schinkel's design for _DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE_ (1818)


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

There was a production of Attila many years ago where the gathered Roman legions were represented only by a long, sleek line of shields and spears on the stage. It was quite effective (and economical, not having to pay extras...)


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

This set concept for L'Elisir D'Amore is simply adorable.


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