# Prima Donna



## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

The talented pop singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright wrote an opera entitled _Prima Donna_. He also wrote the original, French libretto. The American premiere was at the New York City Opera in 2012. Being a fan of some of his music, I was interested to hear it. It wasn't what I expected. It's crossover in the composition (if not at all in sound), but sung by an opera soprano. Here are some clips:






The end of the opera:





Thoughts? I'm interested to hear the TC crowd's reactions...


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

About 8 years ago I remember watching an arts documentary featuring a pop singer looking around the Royal Opera House and chatting about his love of opera and his idol Verdi. Then I recognised the name and realised it was Kate McGarrigle's and Loudon Wainwright III's kid. I was a huge fan of his parents, particularly the McGarrigle sisters.

I soon acquired his first 4 albums and became a fan. Those albums contain many classical and operatic references, the song-writing is often very impressive, as are the arrangements.

Rufus seems perpetually bemused that he's never been a big star, given his widely acknowledged talent, but I guess the pop buying public are often wary of those who seem a little too clever. All the while, I've been hoping he'd take the hint and give up on the pop and write for the theatre. Prima Donna isn't bad at all for a first attempt, I'm just disappointed that he seemed to be 'dabbling' with opera rather than committing himself to it. Hopefully, now he's turned 40, he'll give up on dreams of pop stardom and instead achieve something lasting in the operatic world.

This track is not representative of the albums, (except in how eclectic they are.)


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

Alexander said:


> Rufus seems perpetually bemused that he's never been a big star, given his widely acknowledged talent, but I guess the pop buying public are often wary of those who seem a little too clever. All the while, I've been hoping he'd take the hint and give up on the pop and write for the theatre. Prima Donna isn't bad at all for a first attempt, I'm just disappointed that he seemed to be 'dabbling' with opera rather than committing himself to it. Hopefully, now he's turned 40, he'll give up on dreams of pop stardom and instead achieve something lasting in the operatic world.


According to Wikipedia, he's going to be writing a second opera called _Hadrian_ with a libretto by Daniel MacIvor. I'm definitely interested.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts...or-into-a-coc-opera/article15677143/?page=all


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Thanks for that news, Humphrey. 2018! Not exactly Verdi's galley years is it?


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

Alexander said:


> Thanks for that news, Humphrey. 2018! Not exactly Verdi's galley years is it?


Well it's not exactly the Golden Age of Opera, either! It is a long time, though. Hopefully that means that it'll as big and well constructed work as they hint at.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

The man has remarkably acute songwriting ability, and this first attempt, and he was told along the way, was a stage disaster -- a diva wandering around her home, agoraphobic, and alone = absolutely 0 drama on stage.

It is to be hoped he learned from that, and is also willing to write outside his more usual range (this first opera did not go very far with that) and write more fully for the real capacity of the fully trained voices that do opera. 

He is so good, at least within his own genre, that I think his mistakes may still be far more interesting than stabs taken by others coming from the popular genre -- but he is up against 'history,' all that repertoire, and seriously already practiced big boys and girls, though. 

We shall see, or better, hear.


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

Few, if any, composers wrote a first opera that is considered particularly good, even by their partisans. I agree that he is an outstanding songwriter, and I hope he brings some of that lyricism back into opera. What I've heard of _Prima Donna_ isn't lyrical, but static, at least in feeling (then again, I'm really not a fan of the kind of orchestration that he used, the harshness etc.). It looks like his second attempt will be at something more like a grand opera, with a big plot, romance, chorus, orchestra etc. In order to make that work, he'll have to, as Wagner said, master the art of transitions, so we don't end up with "a diva wandering around her home, agoraphobic, and alone".


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

HumphreyAppleby said:


> Few, if any, composers wrote a first opera that is considered particularly good, even by their partisans.


Well there is *Peter Grimes*, not bad for a first attempt, and, though it took him a little while to get it right, Beethoven's first (and only) opera isn't half bad. 

Debussy only wrote one opera too,(*Pelleas et Melisande*) and it too is a masterpiece.

There are no doubt a few others I've forgotten for the moment.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

GregMitchell said:


> Well there is *Peter Grimes*, not bad for a first attempt,


It seems that Britten's first attempt is so poor that it's not even widely known: Paul Bunyan. Peter Grimes is his first successful opera.


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

GregMitchell said:


> Debussy only wrote one opera too,(*Pelleas et Melisande*) and it too is a masterpiece.


I'm with Puccini on this one: it's a musical masterpiece of the highest order but it doesn't completely work as an opera. _Fidelio_ is a similar case.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

Thanks for finding and posting clips of the piece! I saw NYCO's production of _Prima Donna_ and loved it. I went in as a fan of his pop music (and of opera, of course). This is what I wrote about it then (on a more rock-oriented message board):



> Ahh, Prima Donna. This is Rufus Wainwright's 2009 opera about an opera singer contemplating her return to the stage. My companion noted that it was more than a little _Grey Gardens_.
> 
> It has a small cast - four singing roles plus two silent ones - but it is an intimate piece (without being a chamber opera) so I never missed or expected a big chorus to show up and fill the stage. The small cast was fantastic. Melody Moore led the day as the retired soprano; she covered the most emotional range and turned in a great acting performance as well. The journalist seemed a little underpowered at times but was otherwise solid. Kathyrn Guthrie Demos sang a near-coloratura soprano as the maid and was also quite remarkable.
> 
> ...


So yes, it is a small piece but I never found it static or boring and found much magic and wonder in the piece. It is somewhat slight and I make no claims that it is a masterpiece; I would really need to hear/see it more. So, again, I appreciate the chance to hear these concert performance clips.

I am very much looking forward to his _Hadrian_.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

mamascarlatti said:


> It seems that Britten's first attempt is so poor that it's not even widely known: Paul Bunyan. Peter Grimes is his first successful opera.


OK, you got me, though I would argue that *Paul Bunyan* isn't actually an opera. Britten called it an operetta, and it was his attempt to write an American musical (no wonder it wasn't a success!).

That said, Britten's second attempt (if we should call it that) *Peter Grimes* was a whole lot more successful than Verdi's, Wagner's or Puccini's.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

HumphreyAppleby said:


> I'm with Puccini on this one: it's a musical masterpiece of the highest order but it doesn't completely work as an opera. _Fidelio_ is a similar case.


Works perfectly well as an opera for me (and I've seen it several times in the opera house).


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Well, let's not forget "Wozzeck" is an _opera prima_, too.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz..............................


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