# Stories that should be made into an opera



## tonyttonio (Oct 25, 2018)

What novels, myths, legends, Biblical stories, biographical lives should be made into an opera in your opinion?


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

My autobiography. Sadly I haven't written it yet.

N.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Spike Milligan's and John Antrobus's play _The Bedsitting Room_. The post-apocalyptic absurdism of the story would suit numerous contemporary composers - I can envisage something in the manner of Ligeti's _Le Grand Macabre_ or, if it was to err towards being a 'rock opera', Maxwell Davies's _Resurrection_. I reckon Gavin Bryars would be an ideal choice to have a crack at it.


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## Torkelburger (Jan 14, 2014)

Any of the plays by Lord Dunsany as published in his _Five Plays._ Definitely _The Gods of the Mountain._ Also _The Glittering Gate_ would be good as a short opera. As a composer, I would give anything to write these operas and have them performed. To my knowledge, no one has ever done them, but they are so deserving to be done with excellent music and top quality production.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

As I rack my brain for classic works that I've enjoyed, and then searching the net it becomes clear that composers and their various supporters have always plundered through the world's literature for something worth singing about.

Enoch Arden (Tennyson) could stand a better attempt that Strauss's piano and narrator.
Samson Agonistes (Milton) would be a gift to a narrative composer, akin to Duke Bluebeard's Castle perhaps?
Manfred (Byron) still awaits a worthwhile operatic or even oratorio treatment.

Interestingly, Animal Farm came up with no opera references. That could be interesting.

As for films and books, The English Patient is so glaringly operatic that surely it's only a matter of time. It has everything an opera needs, passion, drama, intrigue, stillness, romance and of course tragedy.

I'm not a fan of operas on modern themes and events.


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

I'd suggest Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, William Nicholson's Wind on Fire Trilogy, Garth Nix's Old Kingdom fantasy series. I think that epic fantasy/spirits/emotional extremes would be natural subjects for operas


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## ManuelMozart95 (Sep 29, 2018)

La casa de Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

ManuelMozart95 said:


> La casa de Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca.


This was turned into a one act ballet Las Hermanos (IIRC). It's fantastic and would make a great opera.

N.


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

The emperor Caracalla. Tried to kill his father; murdered his brother (in his mother's arms); slept with his mother; put the town of Alexandria to fire and the sword; and was haunted by ghosts.

Pretty much any revenge tragedy - especially _The Duchess of Malfi_, _Titus Andronicus_, and _The Revenger's Tragedy_.

_Gormenghast_?

In one detective story, the murderess kills herself by swallowing ladlefuls of molten gold. I'd love to have seen Strauss set that!

And - moving into television -

_The Prisoner_


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I've often thought that Il Gattopardo would make a great opera.

N.


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## sharkeysnight (Oct 19, 2017)

Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life", which was adapted into the Villenueve film _Arrival_, would be really interesting because you could incorporate all of its concepts into the question of why we attend operas where we know what's going to happen already, and could fold in the way that we know where music we're familiar with is going. Music exists, in its complete form, beyond our immediate perception of time, much like the Heptapod language - a piece of music is like a sculpture that we have to visit slice by slice, like those cut-up cross-sections in Body Worlds. They discuss Fermat's principle in the story, and that, theoretically, a ray of light has to know where it's going in order to know the shortest route, much like a finished piece of music is constructed with the knowledge of where it's going to end. The music itself could be played with, too, with reversed or obfuscated lietmotifs, and moving dissonance towards harmony - communicating Louise's acceptance of knowing her future with an understandable single conglomeration of notes.

I can't imagine how it would be written.


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## Tikoo Tuba (Oct 15, 2018)

The Wilderness of France

A woman arrives home from a years-long journey carrying the bones of her child . An artist friend listens and consoles ,
and makes a flute from a bone for when the family is gathered to receive her .


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Lorca's House of Bernarda Alba is a fine choice.
Zola's Germinal is another.


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## rodrigaj (Dec 11, 2016)

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Portrait of a Lady by Henry James


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

The _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy, with music by Wagner. Or Howard Shore.


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## sharkeysnight (Oct 19, 2017)

I would enjoy an adaptation of Ionesco's The New Tenant in which the orchestration itself becomes gradually overstuffed.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Hunchback of Notre Dame


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## tonyttonio (Oct 25, 2018)

Interesting. Who is this by? or is this a folk legend?


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

real
- Napoleon 
- The Trumponian Empire
- Rasputin
- Nobunaga

fictional
- Game of Thrones
- Hocus Pocus 
- King Arthur (well, he may have actually been real, but it would be a fantasy opera)



Itullian said:


> Hunchback of Notre Dame


^and this. definitely this


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## Kollwitz (Jun 10, 2018)

I was going to suggest Candide by Voltaire but a quick Google revealed that Bernstein got there first with an operetta in the 50s.

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton was my next thought. It has the potential to be very bleak and intense. Again, Google reveals it's already been done.

Charles Stewart Parnell's Irish nationalist political career, with its dazzling rise and tragic fall at the hands of a divorce scandal, would make a good opera and doesn't seem to have been done. Parnell was a towering, if enigmatic figure. Someone could have fun writing leitmotifs for obstructive behaviour in parliament, the Irish land question, his love for Kitty O'Shea etc.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> - King Arthur (well, he may have actually been real, but it would be a fantasy opera)


You are a bit late on this one... "King Arthur, or The British Worthy, is a semi-opera in five acts with music by Henry Purcell and a libretto by John Dryden. It was first performed at the Queen's Theatre, Dorset Garden, London, in late May or early June 1691."

If the net is spread a bit wider, Isaac Albeniz worked on a trilogy of Arthurian legend operas to a libretto by Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer. He finished the first, _Merlin_, which has been recorded, worked on the second _Lancelot_, but never finished it and never even started on the third _Guinevere_.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

I had often thought that W.W. Jacob's _The Monkey's Paw_ would make a good opera, also Jerome K. Jerome's _Three Men in a Boat_. Also, if John Adams could do _Dr. Atomic_, maybe it's about time some did Hawking's _A Brief History of Time_.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Becca said:


> You are a bit late on this one... "King Arthur, or The British Worthy, is a semi-opera in five acts with music by Henry Purcell and a libretto by John Dryden. It was first performed at the Queen's Theatre, Dorset Garden, London, in late May or early June 1691."
> 
> If the net is spread a bit wider, Isaac Albeniz worked on a trilogy of Arthurian legend operas *to a libretto by Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer.* He finished the first, _Merlin_, which has been recorded, worked on the second _Lancelot_, but never finished it and never even started on the third _Guinevere_.


Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer sounds like someone who had nothing to do but sit on the veranda of his vacation bugalow in Injah, writing librettos and sipping Bristol cream sherry while being fanned by a brown boy in a turban who had barely escaped being eaten by a tiger that morning while fetching water from the well.

Now that Britain is (sort of) out of the EU maybe those happy days can return.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

He wrote the librettos *and* commissioned Albeniz to compose them. And yes, his family ran one of the oldest private banks (1692)


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Becca said:


> He wrote the librettos *and* commissioned Albeniz to compose them. And yes, his family ran one of the oldest private banks (1692)


Why couldn't I have been one of those people? I guess if you're born in New Jersey the deck is stacked against you.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Woodduck said:


> Why couldn't I have been one of those people? I guess if you're born in New Jersey the deck is stacked against you.


Makes me think of the Chrysler Lebaron motorcar, a cheap POS that would fall apart upon receiving a sharp glance. Its TV ads were voiced by Ricardo Montalban with his plummy Spanish accent: "Upholstered with the finest Cordovan leather…" and ending with "Lebaron: the car for the man who knows who he is."

Turns out there's no such thing as Cordovan leather, it was just a marketing department pipe dream. These jalopies were upholstered using a cheap generic leather bought in bulk from a distributor in New Jersey.

And that's why the deck is stacked against you in New Jersey.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

KenOC said:


> Makes me think of the Chrysler Lebaron motorcar, a cheap POS that would fall apart upon receiving a sharp glance. Its TV ads were voiced by Ricardo Montalban with his plummy Spanish accent: "Upholstered with the finest Cordovan leather…" and ending with "Lebaron: the car for the man who knows who he is."
> 
> Turns out there's no such thing as Cordovan leather, it was just a marketing department pipe dream. These jalopies were upholstered using a cheap generic leather bought in bulk from a distributor in New Jersey.
> 
> And that's why the deck is stacked against you in New Jersey.


Gosh. One more reason.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

So bad the memory is getting. It was the Cordoba, not the Lebaron. And it was Corinthian leather, not Cordovan...


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

KenOC said:


> So bad the memory is getting. It was the Cordoba, not the Lebaron. And it was Corinthian leather, not Cordovan...


Ricardo Montalban's own words at 32 second mark.............


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

- The Master and Margarita, with Woland as a bass (or bass-baritone) 
- Quo vadis (it probably already exists, but it's got everything for a Big Romantic Opera)
- Shakespeare's Julius Caesar with like, actual good music and just using the original text for libretto
- Rashomon. I imagine it would be modernist music with lot of Japanese instruments (but the Bolero also has to be included, too iconic). 
- The Children of Húrin, but I think it already exists. Also, can Jonas play Túrin Turambar?
- Robin Hood, but specifically the BBC one with Guy of Gisborne as the Sexy Evil Baritone, Robin as a the spinto tenor, Marian as a coloratura soprano and the Sheriff as a sort-of comic bass. Cut the filler episodes and it would make a good plot.
- Legend of Korra Book 1. Love triangles are more bearable when there's singing, Amon is THE quintessential bass villain, and there is a lot of drama. Plus both Korra and Lin Beifong could be contraltos. 
- Gone with the Wind, but it would be extremely long. Also, Scarlett is a mezzo. Ashley is a useless lyric tenor. Rhett is a sexy baritone.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Woodduck said:


> Why couldn't I have been one of those people? I guess if you're born in New Jersey the deck is stacked against you.


Didn't do Bruce Springsteen or Frank Sinatra much harm being born there heh heh.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

Becca said:


> You are a bit late on this one... "King Arthur, or The British Worthy, is a semi-opera in five acts with music by Henry Purcell and a libretto by John Dryden. It was first performed at the Queen's Theatre, Dorset Garden, London, in late May or early June 1691."
> 
> If the net is spread a bit wider, Isaac Albeniz worked on a trilogy of Arthurian legend operas to a libretto by Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer. He finished the first, _Merlin_, which has been recorded, worked on the second _Lancelot_, but never finished it and never even started on the third _Guinevere_.


I can think of two more:

_Le roi Arthus_ by Ernest Chausson, premiered in 1903.

_Przygoda Króla Artura_, a radio opera by Grażyna Bacewicz from 1959. It was also apparently televised in 1960, though I don't know if it was staged, semi-staged, or just like a concert performance. There is a recording from 2014.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

Sieglinde said:


> - Rashomon. I imagine it would be modernist music with lot of Japanese instruments (but the Bolero also has to be included, too iconic).


Curious, this is the second subject (along with _The House of Bernarda Alba_) that Michael John LaChiusa has adapted into a musical. He wrote music, lyrics, and book for both. He also also written everything for a couple operas, and librettos for operas by a few other composers.

Or, at least related. _Rashomon_ was based on a short story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, "In a Grove." LaChiusa's _See What I Wanna See_ was based on that plus two of his other short stories, "Kesa and Morito" and "The Dragon," and the setting is moved to New York's Central Park in 1951.

I don't know _Bernarda Alba_ well, but I really love _See What I Wanna See_. Both only had off-Broadway productions.



Sieglinde said:


> - Legend of Korra Book 1. Love triangles are more bearable when there's singing, Amon is THE quintessential bass villain, and there is a lot of drama. Plus both Korra and Lin Beifong could be contraltos.


I'm on board for this. There's a lot of story to work with, but some very compelling opera could come from this.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Sieglinde said:


> - Gone with the Wind, but it would be extremely long. Also, Scarlett is a mezzo. Ashley is a useless lyric tenor. Rhett is a sexy baritone.


this, but Rhett is more bass-baritone imo. more characters
- Mammie: contralto
- Melanie: coloratura soprano (or we could make her more of a tragic spinto/dramatic type, but she's more on the side so imo that fits less)
- Mr. O'Hara: bass 
- Charles Hamilton: another useless lyric tenor...but written like a spinto tenor to simulate his trying to be dramatic/formidable 
- Bell: another mezzo

alternatively we could write Scarlett as a coloratura soprano and make Melanie the mezzo, then give Scarlett a mad scene, but....nah. too conventional.

PS: I love the odd parallelism between us: you are a lesbian who adores sexy low male voices and I'm a gay man who adores sexy low female voices


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

The ill-fated Franklin expedition to find the North West Passage in 1845. I might baulk at any cannibalism scenes, though.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

sharkeysnight said:


> I would enjoy an adaptation of Ionesco's The New Tenant in which the orchestration itself becomes gradually overstuffed.


Trying to remember "The New Tenant." I do recall "The Chairs," which could work the same way. And "Exit the King" might work as well. I had an Ionesco phase many decades ago. For a brief period he was the second most often produced playwright in the world (after Shakespeare).



elgars ghost said:


> Spike Milligan's and John Antrobus's play _The Bedsitting Room_. The post-apocalyptic absurdism of the story would suit numerous contemporary composers - I can envisage something in the manner of Ligeti's _Le Grand Macabre_ or, if it was to err towards being a 'rock opera', Maxwell Davies's _Resurrection_. I reckon Gavin Bryars would be an ideal choice to have a crack at it.


I saw the film adaptation, whose titles listed its cast in order of height.

I'm surprised there's never been a proper opera of "Uncle Vanya." Wikipedia lists "Sonya's Story", which is told from her perspective. From a more comic perspective one could adapt "The Idiots Karamazov," from the play by Christopher Durang and Albert Innaurato, which includes the Three Sisters, Mary Tyrone Karamazov, and Constance Garnett (originally played by Meryl Streep).

I'm looking forward to seeing what Missy Mazzoli does with "Lincoln in the Bardo."


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## sharkeysnight (Oct 19, 2017)

jegreenwood said:


> Trying to remember "The New Tenant." I do recall "The Chairs," which could work the same way. And "Exit the King" might work as well. I had an Ionesco phase many decades ago. For a brief period he was the second most often produced playwright in the world (after Shakespeare).


It's fun, it's the one where a guy is moving into a new apartment and the moving men keep bringing furniture until not only are all the characters trapped in the room, but his incoming furniture has clogged the entire city.


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

For a comic opera Trump's presidency?:devil:


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

Byrons poem about Manfred. There has been works composed about it so why not an opera?


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## The Wolf (Apr 28, 2017)

ManuelMozart95 said:


> La casa de Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca.


Already has 2 operas...

https://www.staatsoper.de/stueckinfo/bernarda-albas-haus/2002-03-03-19-00.html#

https://www.plateamagazine.com/crit...asa-de-bernarda-alba-de-ortega-en-la-zarzuela


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## The Wolf (Apr 28, 2017)

Sieglinde said:


> - Rashomon. I imagine it would be modernist music with lot of Japanese instruments (but the Bolero also has to be included, too iconic).


Only the bolero scene, worth several operas


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## The Wolf (Apr 28, 2017)

Isabel Allende X³:

- Hija de la Fortuna
- Retrato en Sepia
- La Casa de los Espíritus


Other ideas:

- Suspiria (production directed by Argento)
- Blue Velvet
- Les Diaboliques
- American Beauty


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> this, but Rhett is more bass-baritone imo. more characters
> - Mammie: contralto
> - Melanie: coloratura soprano (or we could make her more of a tragic spinto/dramatic type, but she's more on the side so imo that fits less)
> - Mr. O'Hara: bass
> ...


I have a weakness for them, especially Verdi baritones. I kind of imprinted on Count di Luna when I was 12 XD


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Itullian said:


> Hunchback of Notre Dame


Franz Schmidt went there with _Notre Dame_, even if the work isn't thought to be one of his better achievements.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

elgars ghost said:


> The ill-fated Franklin expedition to find the North West Passage in 1845. I might baulk at any cannibalism scenes, though.


Oh, we talked about this in the cross-section of the fandom, and someone said roughly "throw some fake snow on a Billy Budd set and we're good to go".

I'd absolutely be here for this, and hey, if Sweeney and Titus can do cannibalism on stage, why not an opera?

It would be roughly One Very Tired Mezzo Done With All These Men. I also nominate Sir John Tomlinson for Demon Bear.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Sieglinde said:


> Oh, we talked about this in the cross-section of the fandom, and someone said roughly "throw some fake snow on a Billy Budd set and we're good to go".
> 
> I'd absolutely be here for this, and hey, if Sweeney and Titus can do cannibalism on stage, why not an opera?
> 
> It would be roughly One Very Tired Mezzo Done With All These Men. I also nominate Sir John Tomlinson for Demon Bear.


Does that mean you kind of like the idea, then?


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

jegreenwood said:


> Trying to remember "The New Tenant." I do recall "The Chairs," which could work the same way. And "Exit the King" might work as well. I had an Ionesco phase many decades ago. For a brief period he was the second most often produced playwright in the world (after Shakespeare).
> 
> . . .


Funny, when I mentioned "Exit the King," I thought of adding the somewhat (superficially) similar "Endgame." I didn't know this was about to open at La Scala.

How about an opera of "Krapp's Last Tape"? How do you handle the tape recorder?


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## sharkeysnight (Oct 19, 2017)

Have the performer record, over the years, the separate tapes, and then finally present the piece in its finished form when they're actually 69.


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## Faramundo (Jul 16, 2016)

Harry Mulisch's Siegfried and Louis Bromfield's The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

Sieglinde said:


> I'd absolutely be here for this, and hey, if Sweeney and Titus can do cannibalism on stage, why not an opera?


There are opera that include cannibalism! The three I found when looking into this were:
George Benjamin - Written on Skin
Dan Ikuma - Hikari Goke ("Luminous Moss")
Philip Glass/Robert Moran - The Juniper Tree

And of course we have threatened cannibalism in Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel. Conrad Susa's Transformations also has a H&G scene.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener."


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Fritz Kobus said:


> Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener."


Excellent suggestion!


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

still think the anime Code Geass needs an opera

Lelouch della Ribellione! 

Lelouch vi Britannia: high bass 
Kallen Kozaki: spinto soprano (could also make her a mezzo tom boy type)
Nunnally: soubrette
Suzaku Kururugi: spinto tenor
Euphemia li Britannia: lyric coloratura soprano
Cornelia li Britannia: dramatic mezzo
Charles li Britannia: basso profondo


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## LorianBartle (Nov 19, 2018)

How about an opera about Bernie Madoff and his deceptions? There is definitely a meteoric rise followed by an equally dramatic fall in his life and those around them. What is the mindset of someone who deliberately swindles those around him? Did Madoff at any time experience any remorse for what he did? To me, this story has the makings of a modern opera that highlights the years of plenty followed by the Great Recession in the early aughts.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> real
> - Napoleon
> - The Trumponian Empire
> - Rasputin
> ...


I'd LOVE to see an opera about Nobunaga. He was such an over-the-top character, he would be great as a dramatic baritone (or bass-baritone) lead. Hideyoshi is probably a buffo basso because his personality just screams "Rossini". Ieyasu is a rare tenor who has more than one brain cell. As for the vassals, Toshiie and Tsuneoki are tenors, Nagahide and Katsuie are basses or bass-baritones, Mitsuhide is a lyric baritone. Ranmaru is a cute mezzo in pants. If Shingen shows up he's bass, Katsuyori is a tenor. Azai Nagamasa is a tenor and Oichi is a soprano (probably lyric). Nohime is more of a spinto. Nene is a lyric mezzo. Shogun Yoshiaki is a whiny character tenor if I've even seen one. Hisahide is a one-scene wonder and probably also a character tenor but more on the intense crazy side. If Sen no Rikyu shows up he's the most dignified basso cantante ever.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

This is a fun thread idea. Personally, I've always been sad that Sibelius didn't write a full opera or operas based on the _Kalevala_ compiled by Elias Lonnrot. The Swan of Tuonela is one of my favorite pieces, and there's so much more material that would be operatic and interesting on the stage. The epic literally begins with a singing match between Vainamoinen and Joukahainan, the upstart who is sung into a mire by Vainamoinen's "singing magic". A main character who can sing things into existence is ripe material. This could be an epic scene. What's more, it is immediately followed by the beautiful and tragic love (or, _not_-love) story of Ainu. There could even be a counterpart to the forging scene in the _Ring_ when Ilmarinen forges the Sampo. There's a ton of great opera material here! (Plus, _Kalevala_ plug, it is one of the funniest pieces of traditional world literature I know. I don't know if it comes from Lonnrot or the Karelia bards, but it's clever and charming throughout.)



> I'd LOVE to see an opera about Nobunaga. He was such an over-the-top character, he would be great as a dramatic baritone (or bass-baritone) lead.


Agreed. Someone suggested adapting _Rashomon_, but _Kagemusha_ is more of an epic story and involves Nobunaga. Would be interesting in the right hands. As far as Japanese lit goes, there are a lot of early stories that would make good opera. _The Tale of the Heike_ was originally sung and adapted into many Noh dramas, and has many stories that could be adapted well. Chikamatsu's plays also are dramatic enough for good opera. I think Japanese literature would be well suited to opera in general. Their three major indigenous theatrical styles involve music and stylized speech/singing, and I think they transfer easily to opera. The Met's bunraku _Butterfly_ was a great idea, but they should have done with whole thing with puppets.

If we're doing Melville, I think _Benito Cereno_ would make a fascinating opera, although you'd probably get roasted if you tried to put it on a stage right now.

I think Puccini was right that the Wild West has huge operatic potential. If only we had a Puccini now!!!


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

vivalagentenuova said:


> This is a fun thread idea. Personally, I've always been sad that Sibelius didn't write a full opera or operas based on the _Kalevala_ compiled by Elias Lonnrot. The Swan of Tuonela is one of my favorite pieces, and there's so much more material that would be operatic and interesting on the stage. The epic literally begins with a singing match between Vainamoinen and Joukahainan, the upstart who is sung into a mire by Vainamoinen's "singing magic". A main character who can sing things into existence is ripe material. This could be an epic scene. What's more, it is immediately followed by the beautiful and tragic love (or, _not_-love) story of Ainu. There could even be a counterpart to the forging scene in the _Ring_ when Ilmarinen forges the Sampo. There's a ton of great opera material here! (Plus, _Kalevala_ plug, it is one of the funniest pieces of traditional world literature I know. I don't know if it comes from Lonnrot or the Karelia bards, but it's clever and charming throughout.)


I totally second this! Nordic mythology is oftentimes extremely dark and cruel though. This of course might only make it better for operas. I can only imagine Kullervo as an opera! And, it would have been amazing if Sibelius could have written an opera in Finnish, though considering he wrote many (majority?) of his songs in Swedish, it't questionable whether that would have happened.


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## Autumn Leaves (Jan 3, 2014)

annaw said:


> I totally second this! Nordic mythology is oftentimes extremely dark and cruel though. This of course might only make it better for operas. I can only imagine Kullervo as an opera! And, it would have been amazing if Sibelius could have written an opera in Finnish, though considering he wrote many (majority?) of his songs in Swedish, it't questionable whether that would have happened.


There already is an opera on Kullervo, sadly, a little-known one:






I wanted to write that I'd love to see an opera based on Andersen's _The Shadow_, then I checked up Wikipedia and found out such an opera also already exists - in Icelandic, though, and I couldn't even find it on YouTube. Still, hopefully one day there would be a more popular opera based on this fairytale. It's beautifully dark, and has some amazing opportunities for music (I can picture a dramatic trio of the princess, the shadow and the scientist).

Among the more lighthearted pieces, I think Dickens's _The Cricket on the Hearth_ would make a lovely opera for the Christmas season (I've really always felt that this novella is unfairly neglected and overshadowed by Scrooge and company). There might be violin leitmotifs for the cricket throughout the piece and harp solos for the blind girl.

And I've just realized that Neil Gaiman's _Stardust_ (the book, not the film) would also make a beautiful and bittersweet opera. It's way less action-packed than the film, so there might not even be many changes to the plot. There could be an epic Wagner-ish finale with Yvaine staying to reign alone on earth forever, her family far away and her beloved dead.


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

Autumn Leaves said:


> There already is an opera on Kullervo, sadly, a little-known one:


Wow, didn't know such existed. Thanks! Though Sibelius Kullervo opera would be still utterly great I think.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

I think the classic film "Inherit the Wind" with Spencer Tracey and Frederic March could make a terrific opera , possibly with music by John Adams.


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## DeGustibus (Aug 7, 2020)

This is a fun question. In the true-life category, I submit J.E.B. Stuart, Confederate cavalry general (although one couldn't/shouldn't have a Confederate hero today.) Self styled cavalier with a plume in his hat and scarlet lining for his cape, he rode completely around the enemy army twice, but in trying to do it again, contributed to the downfall of his idol and mentor R.E. Lee at Gettysburg. 
At least 2 great aria possibilities--one the climax of the confrontation with his father in law who chose to fight on the Union side, to which Stuart said "He shall regret it but once--and that will be continually." And his last words on the battlefield (although he later had a bit more to say on his deathbed): "Go back, go back, and do your duty, as I have done mine, and our country will be safe. Go back, go back! I had rather die than be whipped." (Whipped as in defeated, not as in flogged, in case this isn't clear.)


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

vivalagentenuova said:


> This is a fun thread idea. Personally, I've always been sad that Sibelius didn't write a full opera or operas based on the _Kalevala_ compiled by Elias Lonnrot. The Swan of Tuonela is one of my favorite pieces, and there's so much more material that would be operatic and interesting on the stage. The epic literally begins with a singing match between Vainamoinen and Joukahainan, the upstart who is sung into a mire by Vainamoinen's "singing magic". A main character who can sing things into existence is ripe material. This could be an epic scene. What's more, it is immediately followed by the beautiful and tragic love (or, _not_-love) story of Ainu. There could even be a counterpart to the forging scene in the _Ring_ when Ilmarinen forges the Sampo. There's a ton of great opera material here! (Plus, _Kalevala_ plug, it is one of the funniest pieces of traditional world literature I know. I don't know if it comes from Lonnrot or the Karelia bards, but it's clever and charming throughout.)
> 
> Agreed. Someone suggested adapting _Rashomon_, but _Kagemusha_ is more of an epic story and involves Nobunaga. Would be interesting in the right hands. As far as Japanese lit goes, there are a lot of early stories that would make good opera. _The Tale of the Heike_ was originally sung and adapted into many Noh dramas, and has many stories that could be adapted well. Chikamatsu's plays also are dramatic enough for good opera. I think Japanese literature would be well suited to opera in general. Their three major indigenous theatrical styles involve music and stylized speech/singing, and I think they transfer easily to opera. The Met's bunraku _Butterfly_ was a great idea, but they should have done with whole thing with puppets.
> 
> ...


Another good theme from Japanese history would be the Chushingura. It doesn't get much more operatic than that. Obviously I'd love to have it from a Japanese composer.

And yes, Kalevala opera pls! (Or a good movie adaptation.)

Also: why are there practically no Moliere operas we know of? They would have been excellent bases for Rossini or Mozart, and yet... nothing.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Sieglinde said:


> Another good theme from Japanese history would be the Chushingura. It doesn't get much more operatic than that. Obviously I'd love to have it from a Japanese composer..


_Chushingura or 47 Ronin_ might be a good bet, but to hold the tenor bill down it might be given as_ Three Ronin_.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Sieglinde said:


> Also: why are there practically no Moliere operas we know of? They would have been excellent bases for Rossini or Mozart, and yet... nothing.


Lully was practically contemporaneous with Moliere, but only wrote tragic operas. Most of the time before the 19th century operatic comedies choose contemporary plays for comedies (I wonder how popular Moliere would have been outside France). I imagine Rossini could have written a superb Merry Wives of Windsor and Mozart might have produced a fine Much Ado. That said, with Don Giovanni Mozart almost wrote a Moliere opera, but it is based on the Tirso de Molina version rather than the Moliere.

I suppose there have been some operatic treatments of Moliere, but they obviously didn't make it into the rep. Interestingly none of the French 19th century composers set Moliere (even Berlioz preferred to set Shakespeare's Much Ado as Beatrice et Benedict than a Moliere play). Perhaps the preponderance of operatic tragedy has meant he has been overlooked.

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

The Conte said:


> Lully was practically contemporaneous with Moliere, but only wrote tragic operas. Most of the time before the 19th century operatic comedies choose contemporary plays for comedies (I wonder how popular Moliere would have been outside France). I imagine Rossini could have written a superb Merry Wives of Windsor and Mozart might have produced a fine Much Ado. That said, with Don Giovanni Mozart almost wrote a Moliere opera, but it is based on the Tirso de Molina version rather than the Moliere.
> 
> I suppose there have been some operatic treatments of Moliere, but they obviously didn't make it into the rep. Interestingly none of the French 19th century composers set Moliere (even Berlioz preferred to set Shakespeare's Much Ado as Beatrice et Benedict than a Moliere play). Perhaps the preponderance of operatic tragedy has meant he has been overlooked.
> 
> N.


I suppose the closest would be Strauss's incidental music for _Le bourgeois gentilhomme_, which was originally intended to preface his opera *Ariadne auf Naxos*. The intention was to follow the play with a performance of the opera but it proved to be a very long evening and Strauss and Hofmannsthal decided to excise the opera and write a new Prologue for it, which is how it is performed today.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I suppose the closest would be Strauss's incidental music for _Le bourgeois gentilhomme_, which was originally intended to preface his opera *Ariadne auf Naxos*. The intention was to follow the play with a performance of the opera but it proved to be a very long evening and Strauss and Hofmannsthal decided to excise the opera and write a new Prologue for it, which is how it is performed today.


Yes, interestingly _Le bourgeois gentilhomme_ was originally a comedy-ballet with music by Lully, as were some of Moliere's other works. I have only read his work in translation and seen his Don Juan performed in French, but I think Shakespeare was the better playwright and not only due to the fact that Moliere didn't write any tragedies. However, the basic plots could easily have been adapted into something Rossini could have fashioned into a good opera buffa. I imagine Moliere wasn't on the contemporary Italian radar and would have been considered old hat even for a Bartolo type.

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

The Conte said:


> Yes, interestingly _Le bourgeois gentilhomme_ was originally a comedy-ballet with music by Lully, as were some of Moliere's other works. I have only read his work in translation and seen his Don Juan performed in French, but I think Shakespeare was the better playwright and not only due to the fact that Moliere didn't write any tragedies. However, the basic plots could easily have been adapted into something Rossini could have fashioned into a good opera buffa. I imagine Moliere wasn't on the contemporary Italian radar and would have been considered old hat even for a Bartolo type.
> 
> N.


One of my French tutors at univerity believed Molière was the greatest dramatist after Shakespeare. She was imensely enthusiastic about him. I remember to this day her initial lecture in which she told us all that we were privileged to be able to study him. That said (and she was a terrific lecturer), I never quite developed her enthusiasm.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> One of my French tutors at univerity believed Molière was the greatest dramatist after Shakespeare. She was imensely enthusiastic about him. I remember to this day her initial lecture in which she told us all that we were privileged to be able to study him. That said (and she was a terrific lecturer), I never quite developed her enthusiasm.


To be fair I've only read him in translation, but I did see that Don Juan in the original French. I would probably pick Racine as my favourite French playwright, but I need to read more French plays. (I'm in the middle of Dialogues at the moment and it is wonderful - also, it's not a piece that cries out 'set me to music'! I also prefer Goldoni over Moliere and that brings us back to why Rossini didn't set any of his comedies to music, but again, I think it is about fashion and the Neapolitan roots of opera buffa.

N.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

KenOC said:


> _Chushingura or 47 Ronin_ might be a good bet, but to hold the tenor bill down it might be given as_ Three Ronin_.


I'd probably keep the soloist ronins down to 5-6 people and the rest should be just male chorus. There's also the shogun and Kira who need to be soloists. Probably some women too?


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## AlexD (Nov 6, 2011)

2001: A Space Odyssesy

The Odyssesy and the Iliad

The Matrix.

Conrad's Heat of Darkness. 

Dicken's Bleak House, Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.

Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas 

Easy Rider 

The Shining or The Green Mile.


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## Bellerophon (May 15, 2020)

Tess of the d’Urbervilles


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

Season 1 of Korra would be rather nice for an opera.

The love triangle would be more bearable with singing (or it could just be changed to get Korrasami early), you have a bass villain AND a baritone villain (plus some minor villains), the major female roles could be mezzos and contraltos (Korra, Asami and Lin all strike me as lower voices), and the story is nice and over-the-top, perfect for opera.


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## Autumn Leaves (Jan 3, 2014)

Bellerophon said:


> Tess of the d'Urbervilles


I looked it up, and it turns out there is an opera based on it, by Frédéric d'Erlanger to a libretto by none other than Illica!


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

Rebecca 
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 
Treasure Island
Three Musketeers - seems there was one written by a Reginald Somerville but I can't find info.

There are characters which have been adapted every other way but I don't think opera: Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Mary Poppins, Willy Wonka/Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda. I think if they are adapted at all they become West end musicals rather than operas.


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## Autumn Leaves (Jan 3, 2014)

Revitalized Classics said:


> Rebecca
> The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
> Treasure Island
> Three Musketeers - seems there was one written by a Reginald Somerville but I can't find info.
> ...


There is an opera based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, called _The Golden Ticket_.






_Rebecca_ would make an amazing opera, I agree, and it's possible to adapt it without removing any major characters, since there are few.


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## Andjar (Aug 28, 2020)

Stalin's Rise To Power or Stalin's Great Purge would be very juicy subjects for an opera. Many operas could be written about different episodes of Stalin's life....Boris Godunov style.
Hitler's Final(Bunker) Days would be another.
Movies? Apocalypse Now ,There Would Be Blood ,Nights Of Cabiria, La Strada and The Joker.


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## Ice Dragon (Jun 20, 2018)

The current US administration. Trump can be a countertenor, and every time he makes those hand motions, play the accordion.

On a lighter note, I've noticed Rossini wrote operas called L'Italiana in Algeri and Il turco in Italia. So, we need an opera called Il Algerino in Turchia (I hope I got the Italian right) to make the "trilogy" complete. 

As well, I just found out about a singer called Cornelie Falcon, a young 19th-century soprano whose voice blew out during a performance when she was 23. She never regained her former brilliance. That could make a good opera as we watch her rise and vocal deterioration.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Andjar said:


> _Stalin's Rise To Power or Stalin's Great Purge would be very juicy subjects for an opera. Many operas could be written about different episodes of Stalin's life....Boris Godunov style._
> Hitler's Final(Bunker) Days would be another.
> Movies? Apocalypse Now ,There Would Be Blood ,Nights Of Cabiria, La Strada and The Joker.


I'm surprised no-one has tackled Uncle Joe yet (or at least I don't think anyone has...) - there's enough material there for at least a tetralogy.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Andjar said:


> Stalin's Rise To Power or Stalin's Great Purge would be very juicy subjects for an opera. Many operas could be written about different episodes of Stalin's life....Boris Godunov style.
> Hitler's Final(Bunker) Days would be another.
> Movies? Apocalypse Now ,There Would Be Blood ,Nights Of Cabiria, La Strada and The Joker.


*Nights of Cabiria* _*was*_ made into a movie musical: *Sweet Charity *


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## ManuelMozart95 (Sep 29, 2018)

Inglorious Basterds the movie by Tarantino would make an incredible Opera in my opinion.
The movie is already divided into different segments, it has a mix of history, humour, fan fiction, action and violence all in one.
Lots of the characters always felt very operatic in my book.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

*Gloria Laura Vanderbilt*'s life was as operatic as one could get! There we're sensational stories, books, etc. written about this over the years. One of her sons committed suicide (Anderson Cooper is the other).

She also had sons by Leopold Stokowski, the conductor in Disney's *Fantasía*.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

*Dune*

One of the reasons the novel fails when brought to the screen is that so much of the story depends on what happens in people's heads.

Opera can have soliloquies, either in recit. or aria without batting an eye.


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

The Cat in the Hat.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

pianozach said:


> *Dune*
> 
> One of the reasons the novel fails when brought to the screen is that so much of the story depends on what happens in people's heads.
> 
> Opera can have soliloquies, either in recit. or aria without batting an eye.


The sand worms might be a problem, though.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

MAS said:


> The sand worms might be a problem, though.


Well, the sand worms can be non-singing roles I guess . . . .


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

there should be an opera about Donal Trump and Kim Jong-un and their beautiful love. (why not, if we have Nixon in China)


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

pianozach said:


> Well, the sand worms can be non-singing roles I guess . . . .


Sand worms should be voiced by a basso profondo with an amplifier (like dragon!Fafner usually is).


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Itullian said:


> Hunchback of Notre Dame


Victor Hugo himself adapted this as as an opera in 1836; the music was by one of the few women composers, Louise Bertin. Unfortunately, it flopped.

You can hear some of the music here:


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Sieglinde said:


> - Quo vadis (it probably already exists, but it's got everything for a Big Romantic Opera)


Jean Nouguès's 1909 opera was actually a hit; it was given in London, Milan (translated into Italian), and New York. Extracts from the opera:


















The Polish composer Nowowiejski also wrote a magnificent oratorio in the same year. This was performed in 150 cities worldwide, but forgotten after World War II.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

*Charlie and the Chocolate Factory*.

Oh the possibilities.


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## Autumn Leaves (Jan 3, 2014)

_East_ by Edith Pattou could be turned into a sweet _Hänsel und Gretel_-esque romantic opera.

From the classics:
Pushkin, _The Blizzard_ and _The Lady Peasant_. Mistaking somebody else for your lover or vice versa - it just _screams_ opera material!


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

Luchino Visconti's film _Senso_ would make an interesting opera, especially since it has part of a performance of _Il trovatore_ in it.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

Here again with my Samurai Bull$hit(TM): the Battle of Sekigahara could be a good base for an opera. Obviously the combat sections would be orchestral bits with video projection, and scenes in-between could alternate the camps of various commanders.

I'd start before the battle, where the lead-up (Hideyoshi's death and the general situation) would be explained in an opening aria, probably by Ishida Mitsunari XD Then launch into the battle. And I'd also show the aftermath (the two leaders gotta have their dramatic post-battle duet, after all). 

For the vocal lineup, it would probably be a Billy Budd kind of situation since it's overwhelmingly male characters. 


I'd say Ieyasu would work best as a character tenor. The old tanuki just has that kind of personality. And character tenors don't have that many big roles, so they deserve more.
Honda Tadakatsu is a bass if I've ever seen one. Ii Naomasa is probably a baritone, Kuroda Nagamasa too (although both would be supporting roles). Date Masamune is a good role for a younger spinto tenor.


For the West, Ishida Mitsunari is probably a lyric baritone. He has to have a vocal contrast with Ieyasu. Shima Sakon is a bass or bass-baritone, Otani Yoshitsugu is a baritone (if he had a duet with Ishida, this could be a problem, but he definitely has that Tragic Baritone Best Friend vibe). Kobayakawa Hideaki is one of nature's dumbass tenors who ruins everything. 

Obviously there are some other smaller roles (there were a lot of participants in this battle) and a huge male chorus.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

*Donner Pass*. I can't wait for the Aria _*"Mangiami!"*_

Spoiler alert!

It's a tragedy.


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