Y Read: Omar Khayyam In Romani Part 1

   Jacob Larwood (1827-1918), THE HISTORY OF SIGNBOARDS: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day (1867)

I (as your honest liar, going to get in trouble with Dr. Paul Ekman) was all set to present a review of Norma (2023) to the comment section panel of New York CLASSICAL REVIEW since that is the only place I am comfortable submitting opera reviews.

_{Gaul, 50 B.C.E. In a forest at night, Oroveso, King of the Sicambi, leads the druids and warriors in a prayer for revenge against the conquering Romans. After they have left, the Roman proconsul Pollione admits to his friend Flavio that he no longer loves the high priestess Norma, Oroveso’s daughter, with whom he has two children. He has fallen in love with a young novice priestess, Adalgisa, who returns his love. Flavio warns him against Norma’s anger. The druids assemble, and Norma prays to the moon goddess for peace. She tells her people that as soon as the moment for their uprising against the conquerors arrives, she herself will lead the revolt…}

    Act I Synopsis of Norma (Courtesy of: The Metropolitan Opera, New York, 28 February – 25 March 2023)

Trailer for Norma (the whole 16 seconds)

Unfortunately, New York CLASSICAL REVIEW has closed the comment section for Norma. Why not just write a review? Well! Because of my lack of command of classical Opera English and failure to abide (or more like failure to understand) by the aesthetic laws of the operatic decampers from The Experts:

Credit: The Art Collection MET Museum

No! I have never been to any live opera, but that shall never stop me from writing about it. I have been having my dosage of opera in audio and video pills. Maybe my first live opera experience will be at the bicentennial anniversary of Norma (premiered at La Scala in Milan on 26 December 1831). In the past, my excuse was dress code phobia, but that one is becoming hard to sell these days. My second one was that tickets are too expensive, but these days, a tragedy at the MET is cheaper than the one that is likely to happen with the Mets at Citi Field.

More than book or movie reviews, I enjoy reading opera reviews from audience and professional critics. Here is a quote from Rick Perdian (Travel and Music), probably the only fair review I read (i.e. a good opera review to me is keeping it to the performance you saw, with audience reaction and not a shady comparative study with one from decades ago):

_{Benini was greeted with a lukewarm reception and even a few boos when he took his solo bow, but it was hard to fathom why. He instilled the opening measures of the Overture with a driving energy that gripped the listener from the start. Balance was never an issue and he paced the performance expertly.} 

Rick Perdian, New York CLASSICAL REVIEW (March 01, 2023), A mesmerizing Yoncheva leads a stellar cast in Met’s “Norma

Maurizio Benini is not the only conductor (& composer) this has happened to, but I have read about it happening to him a few times, and he’s been doing this for almost three decades. There are times when conductors mess up the tempo, and I think there is no harm in critics pointing that out. I have read about some cocktail-induced conductions, but I would have trouble differentiating those from the sober ones. Please keep in mind these are not impromptu shows.

During my Norma review binge-read, I first read a puzzling comparative study between Sonya Yoncheva and Angel Blue by the New York Times Critic. With revival operas, singers born after 1892 already have enough to worry about, but now they have to deal with critics scripting feuds.

Not to be outdone, European Conservative magazine seems to have hired an American critic on a mission to cancel Benini. Since this magazine caters to a faction that would prefer Norma without vocals, no fair review expected, I was reading to learn which poor souls pay the price. After praising Sondra Radvanovsky’s performance in 2017 at the MET and worrying about Yoncheva’s health (she had to cancel a few performances due to illness), our critic bragged about being at the one she performed. Then, I learned Benini’s “pedestrian conducting” may have impacted Yoncheva’s performance during critical moments.

Now, as the self-appointed president of the Cancel Culture Club with this as the anthem:

I am calling for an inquiry by an opera council into this matter. If this council fails to find evidence, then Benini ought to be granted permission to shove his baton up this critic’s… It has to be done live at The Metropolitan Opera House, and who knows, we may get a new voice type (Buffo Ass).

I first acknowledge Richard Fawkes (1944-2020) for the knowledge used in Y Read: Omar Khayyam In Romani (for many portions of Part 2 and some Welsh portions of Part 3).

Part 2 – A convolution piece using Omar Khayyam and Felice Romani.

Part 3 – Sharing my thoughts on challenges faced by academics doing Romani Studies using a book with Omar Khayyam quatrains in Romani (Language).