The Last Post Game!!!!

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Are you saying that Fidelio is boring because of it's four overtures?

Last _{actually the music is wonderful, is the too sugary finale what bothers most people} Post

[Swatopluk]

They tend to play only two of the overtures (the third one before the finale, the Leonore before the first act).

In Mr.Beetfield's days they did not force youngsters to go to the opera and if they went it was for a quickie in the boxes (although that was more common in Mr.Motender's time).
And unlike today it was possible to just go in for the favorite parts and leave afterwards (another advantage of the boxes). That also played a role in Mr.Carriagebuilder's lack of success in Paris. He refused to put the ballet into the second act, the time when the dandies usually showed up, but put it in the first, so the whole orgy was wasted on the cultured shmucks tha had nothing better to do than to sit through the whole thing.

To go off on a slightly different tangent, there are some very talented composers that for whatever reason believed that operas were their calling despite not having an ounce of dramatic sense. Dvorak and Glinka overstuffed their operas with wonderful music  but they are (for the most part) total dramatic duds. Someone should have told them that it does not create suspense to interrupt the plot on a regular base with intermezzi that may last a quarter of an hour without serving a real function (compare in contrast Hitchcock's use of a fullblown cantata in The Man Who Knew Too Much*). I think both can be excused to a degree. Glinka tried to feed his new national style to the elites who were primarily interested in opera and ballet not in symphonic music and Dvorak was simply too good-natured to be a good dramatist (lacking the necessary cruelty).

Last _{Glinkas operas are in essence oratorios} Post

*similar plot devices can be found in several operas too

[Griffin NoName]

It is essential that youngsters are prevented from quickies in opera boxes.

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[Swatopluk]

Well, cinemas are more popular for that these days at least for youngsters (but that may be obsolete info too by now)

Last _{and the French Revolution took care of the other thing for the most part} Post

[pieces o nine]

It is essential that youngsters are prevented from quickies in opera boxes.

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Last   my thoughts exactly!   Post

[Swatopluk]

They are expected to sleep in the opera not to sleep with somebody there.

Last _{no snoring please} Post

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

As if there was a way to prevent youngsters from quickies.

Last _{cars, booths and back alleys} Post

[Swatopluk]

It should be not that difficult to persuade them to leave the fornication in the opera to pervy adults (now that there are alternatives).

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Edit: I just come from the opera. I saw a very good production of Rimsky-Korsakov's Tsar's Bride.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Last _{virtual sex is not the answer} Post

[Swatopluk]

Are there no other places than the opera even with drive-ins getting rare?

Last _{and the Japanese would object to your claim} Post

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

To be perfectly honest, quickies at the opera may be a bit difficult these days, at least in the States. Not too long ago I went to see a production of Don Giovanni which had some risque scenes (nothing outworldly, no nudity and some light touching implying the intent of cunnilingus in one). The public included a number of highschoolers invited to the dress rehearsal and you could actually hear the collective gasp. In no time criticism of the production showed up just because of that.

A few days later I overheard a conversation among the stage director for DG talking with the one for the other production about to start, where both laughed at the puritanical Americans and their reaction to what would be a middle of the road show in Europe.

Last _{you perverts!} Post

[Swatopluk]

But it is easier now that the light hets switched off completely in the opera unlike in the past when a) gas light could not be switched off completely before the invention of catalytic ignition b) people demanded enough light to be able to read the textbook or even the score.

Full frontal nudity is not a rarity on the stage anymore in Europe. Pissing on the stage was in fashion too for some time.
Personally I think that it rarely adds to the experience in a positive way.

Last _{only few cases where it fits the scenario, e.g. the first act of Tannhäuser or Klingsor's castle in Parsifal} Post

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Here they use a 'nudie' dress, skin color, with the relevant parts drawn so that it looks like the lady in question is naked while she really isn't.

Last _{it tells a lot about the puritanical state of mind on this side of the Atlantic} Post

[Swatopluk]

That one is in use over here too but actual nudity also occurs. I remember that a female singer unsuccessfully sued because she did not want a full nude scene (in Alban Berg's Lulu iirc).

Last _{now waiting for real stage coitus}  Post

[Griffin NoName]

I often think the only difference between us and the great apes is that we don't like having out bottoms exposed.

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