It is recognized in the opera world that the core figures who can always ensure box office performance and audience enthusiasm on the opera stage are only the five giants in history.
Mozart was the first, followed by Wagner and Verdi, followed by Puccini and Strauss.
Just like the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, this is a law.
Although it has never been explicitly stipulated, this is the tacit approval of experts and opera fans across the ages.
The reason why these "Big Five" stand out from the rest is naturally because their opera creations are significantly higher in quantity and quality than other opera writers.
Among them, Mozart is particularly outstanding. He is almost a decathlete and can bring his genius creative thinking to the extreme in almost every field of classical music, whether it is music or script.
There should be no dispute about this.
Among Mozart's operas, "The Marriage of Figaro" is the least controversial masterpiece.
"At least in terms of the selection of works, this conductor is smart." David Sri Lanka simply made a note on the score sheet.
The reason is that Figaro obviously has the main elements of an opera, a good script foundation, an excellent dramatic structure, and most importantly -
“Music quality.”
As a stage conductor, you may not have rehearsed Figaro's opera, but you will definitely have rehearsed Figaro's symphony.
"If you have never cared about the two latter, then you are not considered a qualified commander, no matter what position you stand in."
Kemper, chief conductor of the Naples Symphony Orchestra, spoke highly of the music on stage at this time.
Judges with different identities naturally look at the stage from different angles. David looks at the topic selection and Kemper looks at the quality of the music.
But no matter what angle you look at it, Sichuan Music presents a high-quality opera stage.
A play that spans twenty minutes is nothing now, but in Mozart's time, when Xiang told the emperor that this scene would take twenty minutes, all the court musicians and ministers present were shocked and their wigs fell off.
In their opinion, not to discuss the issues of class and "right of first night" in the play, there is only one male servant "Figaro" and a maid who are passionately in love. They used a little cleverness to find out the aristocratic master's evil plan to possess the maid's first night.
A story of frustration doesn't take that long at all.
"This is completely insulting to the audience." - Salieri's servant.
So it is really a challenge for a team to perform this plot perfectly within twenty minutes.
It seems like a simple scene, but it's actually not.
However, the conductor cleverly used music to accentuate the stage atmosphere, and the vivid performances and singing of the two main actors, the maid and the maid, successfully moved all the audiences present.
When the man playing the role of the noble lord knelt down and faced the audience, he chanted unwillingly: "You all come to the wedding of Figaro tonight!!"
The music stops.
Under applause, the performers took a bow.
"good."
Qin Jian clapped and said, "What do you think?"
Ning Qianxia on the side shook her head, "It's okay, the acting is good, the singing is average, especially Figaro, the singing is not as good as the one who plays the count."
Qin Jian curled his lips, "You have the final say on this, I don't understand."
As the first participating team left the stage, Shen Yin's teacher-student team, who was drawn to perform second, took over the stage.
Uncle Mo left the stage and Wagner waited.
Even a layman like Qin Jian had to worry about being on stage. The Shen Yin team had never participated in any rehearsals before, so no one knew what repertoire they had prepared.
Even Ning Qianxia was a little excited. The several-hour-long play "The Ring" is an epic masterpiece, just like its full title "The Ring of the Nibelungs - Twilight of the Gods".
The participating teams selected the most classic clips from the entire play.
Act 2 - Excerpt from Valkyrie
Half-brothers and sisters fell behind at home and had no choice but to separate. They met on a rainy night many years later, and then they both fell in love. Just when they decided to break the shackles of the world and run away, they received dissatisfaction from the goddess.
Because Valkyrie was moved by the true love between the two, she secretly protected the brother and sister.
The play unfolded in this background, but Qin Jian's attention was attracted by the music.
During the intermission, the orchestra played the majestic intermezzo "The Ride of the Valkyrie", which is indeed a piece of music that makes people's blood boil.
Just from a conductor's perspective, if the volume of the strings can be lowered by about 20 decibels, the magnificence of the brass can be better reflected.
Thinking made him miss the shocking soprano at the end. He only remembered that it was a very, very high soprano.
The stage came to an end with the heartbroken singing of the character playing the sister.
With a completely different background from Figaro, in order to reflect the magnificent story background and fierce fighting in the play, the Shen Yin team also used a large number of multimedia technologies to comprehensively construct a stage special effect that belongs to the background of that era.
“Very good too.”
Qin Jian was not an audience member who was stingy with his own applause, "What do you think of this soprano?"
He asked next to him again.
Ning Qianxia still chose to shake her head and said: "The position of her pronunciation is a bit strange. Did you know that in addition to the traditional coloratura, lyrical, and dramatic sopranos, there is another kind of soprano?"
"How do I know this?" Qin Jian answered honestly.
Ning Qianxia explained: "In addition to these three types, there is also one called 'Wagner soprano.'"
"Wagner soprano?"
"Yes, the volume and richness of this type of soprano are better than those of ordinary sopranos, because most of Wagner's plays contain grand scenes."
After Ning Qianxia's explanation, Qin Jian thought about the soprano just now and said, "There seems to be something missing."
"It's all a waste of excitement." Ning Qianxia sighed, "I thought I would hear something."
Qin Jian smiled, "Then can you sing Valkyrie?"
"Me? I can't gain weight."
Qin Jian thought for a moment, "Does pronunciation really have something to do with being fat or thin?"
Ning Qianxia looked at Qin Jian like an idiot, "Are you serious?"
Qin Jian didn't dare to ask any more questions, the stage had already reached the next scene.
Verdi was not to be outdone, and a team of teachers and students from Tianjin Academy brought his "La Traviata".
The compact plot, beautiful arias and duets are in the hall of Biolletta's house in the first act.
The main creator's intentions can be seen from the stage setting. If we score from Qin Jian's perspective, among the three teams that have completed the competition, La Traviata should be slightly better than Valkyrie, but still a little behind Figaro.
The difference lies in the singing of the main characters.
Then a team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences brought Puccini's "The Artist's Life", which describes the lives of a group of impoverished young artists in the Latin community of Paris, excerpting the love story of the male protagonist, the poet Rodolfo, and the embroiderer girl.
Qin Jian listened to the rehearsals of his senior brothers and sisters several times in school.
As always, it is in line with the large-scale production of Huaguo Yuan, which is wealthy and powerful. From stage costumes to props, the background of the story is restored almost flawlessly.
However, Li Shuang was not too optimistic about it, so he joined Jinyuan's La Traviata and joined A. "The women in Puccini's works and the men in Verdi's works. Both teams have reversed the key points of the characters that need to be highlighted."