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Thursday, March 26, 2009

Das Rheingold


I went to see my first opera last night! I saw Wagner's Das Rheingold at the Metropolitan Opera House. It was a really great production, but we had gotten the cheap 'day-of' tickets that are standing room only. This opera was the first in the tetrology Der Ring des Nibelungen, and the shortest, but still clocked in at two and a half hours without intermission. Needless to say, my feet hurt quite a bit afterward.


I don't know if any of you are familiar with this opera series, but it seems like Tolkein's Lord of the Rings was strongly based off of it. In Das Rheingold a gnome forsakes love and steals the Rheingold from the Rhinemadiens, using it to forge a ring of power. This ring give him domination over everything and he uses its power to amass wealth and intends to eventually conquer the world. He forces his brother to craft a helmet that allows him to change his shape, or even become invisible (sound familiar?). Eventually, the ring is stolen from him and he curses it such that those who possess it will meet ignoble demises until the ring is back in his possession once again.


Kinda cool right? I want to see the other operas, but I don't think I could bear to stand again. I think the longest one clocks in at just under six hours...

7 comments:

  1. Sounds like fun if it weren't for the standing! Track down some Dr. Scholl products for the next one (provided you don't mind being seen at an opera wearing shoes that can conceal gel insoles).

    Tell Scotty happy birthday for me. I don't have his number to text him and I'm scared what you would do to me if I cost you fifteen cents =D

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  2. I am Scotty! Thanks for the birthday wishes though.

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  3. Scott, I can't believe you put that picture on my blog. You're forgiven this once. But only because it's your birthday.

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  4. I saw Norma at the Sydney Opera House by paying $50 to sit behind a pole. I then spent the whole opera leaning over the armrest and invading the space of the person in the seat next to me so that I could see. I was pretty happy when I realized half an hour in that there was an English translation being shown on a ticker above the stage. That made the whole thing a lot more enjoyable (well, maybe not for the person I was leaning over). I think the story was about a vestal virgin who doesn't stay so virgin and then throws herself off a cliff to make up for her sins. And she takes the dude with her, which seemed kind of harsh, especially because he really didn't want to go. Operas are funny things.

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  5. I think my new dream is to hack into one of those signboards and paraphrase things in my own words. A la my personalized voice overs for telenovelas. "Dude, I'm taking you down with me." That would go great in Norma. I think they have instructions for that kind of thing online. Anyone want to come help narrate?

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  6. Yes, yes I do - you can do that with the ones along the road, too. One of my favorites Road sign prank.

    I realized Scotty posted this when I saw the 'Cosmo Mafia' post and thought 'Hmm, two in one day. That seems like a lot, even for Ri.' Happy birthmas Scott =)

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  7. There was an xkcd comic the other day about inserting "no pun intended" into sentences that don't have a pun in them just to mess with people. I'll gladly help with the opera mis-translation if we can also all start sprinkling "no pun intended" into our conversation more. No pun intended.

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Recap Defined

ri•cap 1 (rē-kāp') Pronunciation Key tr.v. ri•capped, ri•cap•ping, ri•caps
1. a summary at the end that repeats the substance of a longer discussion
2. To replace a cap or caplike covering on: recapped the camera lens.
3. Ri - a female given name: derived from Adrienne.