#Francesca Chabrier

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

50 New Operas In 2021, By The Numbers

So, uh, yeah. 50 operas through May 2, 2021. By comparison: in the entire year of 2020, I experienced 52 new-to-me operas. We’re barely a third of the way through 2021 and I’ve already almost matched that.

Some Stats:

Video vs. Audio:

Video: 40

Audio: 10

Breakdown by language:

French: 25

Italian: 12

English: 2

German: 6

Russian: 4

Danish: 1

Breakdown by century of premiere:

17th: 3

18th: 4

19th: 28

20th: 14

Multiple centuries: 1 (17th, 18th, and 21st centuries for The Secret Life of Paintings because of the issue of the music’s original premieres versus the premiere of this)

Operas by first-time-for-me composers vs. not:

First time: 24 (by 23 composers)

Not: 25 (by 16 composers)

In between: 1 (The Secret Life of Paintings contains music by Vivaldi, and I have never seen any of his operas, but I have seen both Handel and Monteverdi operas)

Total: 50 operas by 40 composers 

Adam, Adolphe*

Le postillon de Lonjumeau (The Postilion of Lonjumeau)

Alfano, Franco*

Cyrano de Bergerac

Auber, Daniel François Esprit*

Fra Diavolo (Brother Diavolo)

Gustave III, ou le bal masqué (Gustave III, or The Masked Ball)*

Borodin, Alexander*

Knyaz Igor (Prince Igor)

Busoni, Ferruccio*

Doktor Faust (Doctor Faust)

Caccini, Francesca*

La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina (The Liberation of Ruggiero from Alcina’s Island)*

Chabrier, Emmanuel*

L’étoile (The Star)

Charpentier, Gustave*

Louise

Donizetti, Gaetano

Poliuto

Dukas, Paul*

Ariane et Barbe-bleue (Ariadne and Bluebeard)

von Flotow, Friedrich*

Martha, oder Der Markt zu Richmond (Martha, or The Market at Richmond)

Godard, Benjamin*

Dante*

Gounod, Charles François

La colombe (The Dove)*

Grétry, André*

Richard Cœur-de-lion (Richard the Lionheart)

Hahn, Reynaldo*

Ô mon bel inconnu (Oh, my beautiful unknown one)*

Halévy, Fromental

La reine de Chypre (The Queen of Cyprus)*

Handel, George Frideric

Rodelinda, regina de’Longobardi (Rodelinda, Queen of the Lombards)

Semele

Hervé (real name: Louis Auguste Florimond Ronger)*

Mam’zelle Nitouche

Korngold, Erich Wolfgang

Das Wunder der Heliane (The Miracle of Heliane)

Lortzing, Albert*

Zar und Zimmermann (Czar and Carpenter)

Lully, Jean-Baptiste*

Armide

Massenet, Jules

Don César de Bazan*

Don Quichotte (Don Quixote)

Le jongleur de Notre-Dame (The Juggler of Our Lady)

Sapho*

Meyerbeer, Giacomo

L’étoile du nord (The North Star)

Monteverdi, Claudio

L’Orfeo (Orpheus)

Nielsen, Carl*

Maskarade (Masquerade)

Offenbach, Jacques

La belle Hélène (The Beautiful Helen)

La vie parisienne (The Parisian Life)

Pergolesi, Giovanni Battista*

La serva padrona (The Servant Girl Turned Mistress)

Prokofiev, Sergei

Igrok (The Gambler)

Ravel, Maurice*

L’heure espagnole (The Spanish Hour)

Reynolds, Peter*

Sands of Time*

Rossini, Gioachino

La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie)

L’Italiana in Algeri (The Italian Woman in Algiers)

Saariaho, Kaija*

L’amour de loin (Love from Afar)- #50!!! (May 2, 2021)

Saint-Saëns, Camille

Henry VIII

Le timbre d’argent (The Silver Bell)*

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich

Orleanskaja deva (The Maid of Orléans)

Pikovaya dama (Pique Dame/The Queen of Spades)

Various Composers

The Secret Life of Paintings (pastiche of excerpts from operas by George Frideric Handel, Claudio Monteverdi, and Antonio Vivaldi)

Verdi, Giuseppe

Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc)

Oberto

Wagner, Richard

Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman)

Parsifal

Wolf-Ferrari, Ermanno*

Il segreto di Susanna (Susanna’s Secret)

Zandonai, Riccardo*

Francesca da Rimini

Here’s to the next fifty!

[covertrook]

The internet feels like almost being someplace. It feels like doing a pretty normal thing somewhere strange, like playing fetch in a graveyard.

Francesca Chabrier

[goingattractions]

Everyday Genius in May

For the month of May, Adam Robinson has agreed to let me edit Everyday Genius. So this month is going to be an all female issue. There’s no real reason, other than this: four years ago my friend Francesca was looking through my bookshelf. She was disappointed. She said, “ooo honey you need some more women in here.” And she was right. So I changed that. And nothing has been the same since. This month will feature some of my favorite female writer, a new one featured everyday. It is my thank you to Francesca and the writers themselves.  Whoever you are as an artist, it is always important to remember that you are a fan first. I am a fan of these writers. I hope you enjoy them too.

First up is Sara Nicholson, whose new books The Living Method is just out from The Song Cave. 

[celle-ci]

Immediately after lunch I will write you a letter telling you I drew your face and hung it on my wall. Good morning you, I say. In my best cursive I will also tell you that at night I love when I turn over and you are not moving; a potato. Sometimes it is so cold I want to freak out. You blow hot into my ear. My face is drowning. Your hands are a net.

Francesca Chabrier

[clmporg]

Taste Test: Throw Yourself into the Prairie by Francesca Chabrier, Sarabande Books, 2014

Peach Some Laid Their Hands On

Peach some laid their hands on and they fell off.  An afternoon meal of peaches. A cloud does not dapple the sky: they are in touch the peach in the heat and the slow-moving hand. A litter of peaches squished and one peeling itself in the shade. I am who loves it here. I eat a peach with my whole mouth and can see everything. Peach is French for a feeling like be still be exactly still.

[poetsorg]

SORRY DAVID DAVID I AM SO SORRY

by Francesca Chabrier & Emily Hunt

Click for full video >

[badbloodreadingseries]

BAD BLOOD presents: Christopher DeWeese, Heather Christle, and Francesca Chabrier. Please join us at ADX for our 13th Bad Blood reading. Mingling will begin at 7pm, and the tingling will begin at 8. As always, we'll have the reader's books available for purchase, cold beers, and free broadsides. Please bring a few bucks for the books and for the happy jar. CHRISTOPHER DEWEESE is the author of The Black Forest (Octopus Books, 2012). His poems have appeared in Boston Review, jubilat, and Tin House. He teac...

hes at Smith College and lives in Northampton, Massachusetts. HEATHER CHRISTLE is the author of What Is Amazing, The Trees The Trees, and The Difficult Farm. She teaches poetry at Sarah Lawrence, lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, runs the Royal Society of Hadley for Improving Natural Knowledge at Flying Object, and is the web editor for jubilat. FRANCESCA CHABRIER lives and writes in Oregon. Her chapbook, The Axioms, is forthcoming from Pilot Books, and her first full-length collection, Throw Yourself Into The Prairie, will be published by Sarabande Books.

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

In Which notyouraveragejulie Catalogues All the Operatic Works She Experiences for the First Time in 2021

(to be continually added onto throughout the year)

the list is organized by alphabetical order of composers’ last names and then in alphabetical order of titles. an asterisk by a title, unless otherwise indicated, means my first full experience of that opera was audio-only. an asterisk by a composer’s name indicates that this year marks the first time I’ve ever experienced a full opera by them.

so, the ongoing list:

Adam, Adolphe*

Le postillon de Lonjumeau (The Postilion of Lonjumeau)

Alfano, Franco*

Cyrano de Bergerac

Auber, Daniel François Esprit*

Fra Diavolo (Brother Diavolo)

Gustave III, ou le bal masqué (Gustave III, or The Masked Ball)*

Aucoin, Matthew*

Eurydice

Bachelet, Alfred*

Scemo*

Barber, Samuel*

A Hand of Bridge

Blanchard, Terence*

Fire Shut Up in My Bones

Borodin, Alexander*

Knyaz Igor (Prince Igor)

Britten, Benjamin

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Busoni, Ferruccio*

Doktor Faust (Doctor Faust)

Caccini, Francesca*

La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina (The Liberation of Ruggiero from Alcina’s Island)*

Chabrier, Emmanuel*

L’étoile (The Star)

Charpentier, Gustave*

Louise

David, Félicien*

Herculanum*

Debussy, Claude*

La damoiselle élue (The Chosen Young Lady)*

L’enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Son)*

Pelléas et Mélisande (Pelléas and Mélisande)

Donizetti, Gaetano

Lucrezia Borgia

Poliuto

Dukas, Paul*

Ariane et Barbe-bleue (Ariadne and Bluebeard)

Eötvös, Peter*

Angels in America

Fauré, Gabriel*

Pénélope*

von Flotow, Friedrich*

Martha, oder Der Markt zu Richmond (Martha, or The Market at Richmond)

Glass, Philip*

Akhnaten

Godard, Benjamin*

Dante*

Gounod, Charles François

La colombe (The Dove)*

La reine de Saba (The Queen of Sheba)*-#100!!! (December 30, 2021)

Grétry, André*

Richard Cœur-de-lion (Richard the Lionheart)

Hahn, Reynaldo*

Ô mon bel inconnu (Oh, my beautiful unknown one)*

Halévy, Fromental

La magicienne (The Sorceress)*

La reine de Chypre (The Queen of Cyprus)*

Le dilettante d’Avignon (The Dilettante of Avignon)*

Handel, George Frideric

Rodelinda, regina de’Longobardi (Rodelinda, Queen of the Lombards)

Semele

Susanna*

Theodora

Hersant, Philippe*

Les Éclairs (Lightning)

Hervé (real name: Louis Auguste Florimond Ronger)*

Mam’zelle Nitouche

Ibert, Jacques*

Persée et Andromède (Perseus and Andromeda)*

Janáček, Leoš

Osud (Destiny)

Kimper, Paula M.*

Patience and Sarah

Korngold, Erich Wolfgang

Das Wunder der Heliane (The Miracle of Heliane)

Lecocq, Charles*

La fille de Madame Angot (The Daughter of Madame Angot)*

Lortzing, Albert*

Zar und Zimmermann (Czar and Carpenter)

Lully, Jean-Baptiste*

Armide

Martínez, José “Pepe”*

Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (To Cross the Face of the Moon)*

Mascagni, Pietro

L’amico Fritz (The Friend Fritz)*

Massenet, Jules

Don César de Bazan*

Don Quichotte (Don Quixote)

La Navarraise (The Navarrese Woman)*

Le jongleur de Notre-Dame (The Juggler of Our Lady)

Sapho*

Thérèse*

Messager, André*

Passionnément (Passionately)*

Meyerbeer, Giacomo

L’étoile du nord (The North Star)

Monteverdi, Claudio

L’Orfeo (Orpheus)

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario)*- #75 (July 28, 2021)

Mussorgsky, Modest

Khovanshchina (The Khovansky Affair)

Nielsen, Carl*

Maskarade (Masquerade)

Offenbach, Jacques

La belle Hélène (The Beautiful Helen)

La vie parisienne (The Parisian Life)

Orff, Carl*

Antigonae*

Pergolesi, Giovanni Battista*

La serva padrona (The Servant Girl Turned Mistress)

Ponchielli, Amilcare

I Lituani (The Lithuanians)*

Prokofiev, Sergei

Igrok (The Gambler)

Purcell, Henry*

Dido and Aeneas*

King Arthur*

Ravel, Maurice*

L’enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Spells)

L’heure espagnole (The Spanish Hour)

Reynolds, Peter*

Sands of Time*

Rossini, Gioachino

La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie)

L’Italiana in Algeri (The Italian Woman in Algiers)

Saariaho, Kaija*

L’amour de loin (Love from Afar)- #50!!! (May 2, 2021)

Salieri, Antonio*

Prima la musica e poi le parole (First the music and then the words)*

Saint-Saëns, Camille

Henry VIII

Le timbre d’argent (The Silver Bell)*

Scarlatti, Domenico*

L’Ottavia restituita al trono (Ottavia Restored to the Throne)*

Shostakovich, Dmitri

Ledi Makbet Mtsenskogo uyezda (Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District)*

Smetana, Bedřich*

Prodaná nevěsta (The Bartered Bride)

Spontini, Gaspare*

Olimpie*

Stephan, Rudi*

Die ersten Menschen (The First Humans)

Strauss, Richard

Salome

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich

Orleanskaja deva (The Maid of Orléans)

Pikovaya dama (Pique Dame/The Queen of Spades)

Various Composers

L’Aiglon (The Eaglet; music by Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert; this is the first time I have heard an opera by Honegger but not the first time I’ve heard one by Ibert)*

La jacquerie (The Jacquerie Revolt; music by Édouard Lalo and Arthur Coquard; this is the first time I have heard any operas by either composer)*

The Secret Life of Paintings (pastiche of excerpts from operas by George Frideric Handel, Claudio Monteverdi, and Antonio Vivaldi; this is the first time I have heard an opera even partly using the music of Vivaldi)

Verdi, Giuseppe

Alzira

Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc)

Oberto

Un giorno di regno

Viardot, Pauline*

Le dernier sorcier (The Last Sorcerer)*

Vivaldi, Antonio*

Dorilla in Tempe

Wagner, Richard

Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman)

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg)

Parsifal

Weill, Kurt

Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny)

Wolf-Ferrari, Ermanno*

Il segreto di Susanna (Susanna’s Secret)

Zandonai, Riccardo*

Francesca da Rimini

von Zemlinsky, Alexander*

Der Zwerg (The Dwarf)

Final Count: 100

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Month of New Operatic Works: In Review

Well, everyone, February is now basically over, and with it, the first-ever Month of New Operatic Works.

I had fun. I am DEFINITELY going to do this again. I am considering doing a second edition in September. We’ll see.

Over the course of this month, I watched or listened to twenty-nine new-to-me operas (so just over one a day) by as many composers. I did not realize that I hadn’t picked up any repeat composers over the course of the month until yesterday. That’s just a happy coincidence.

A few statistical breakdowns:

Video vs. Audio:

Video: 21

Audio: 8

Breakdown by language:

French: 16 (surprising absolutely no one)

Italian: 6

English: 2

German: 2

Russian: 2

Danish: 1

Breakdown by century of premiere:

17th: 2

18th: 3

19th: 14

20th: 10

First-time-for-me composers vs. not:

First time: 17

Not: 12

The full list:

Adam, Adolphe*

Le postillon de Lonjumeau (The Postilion of Lonjumeau)

Alfano, Franco*

Cyrano de Bergerac

Auber, Daniel François Esprit*

Gustave III, ou le bal masqué (Gustave III, or The Masked Ball)*

Chabrier, Emmanuel*

L’étoile (The Star)

Dukas, Paul*

Ariane et Barbe-bleue (Ariadne and Bluebeard)

von Flotow, Friedrich*

Martha, oder Der Markt zu Richmond (Martha, or The Market at Richmond)

Godard, Benjamin*

Dante*

Gounod, Charles François

La colombe (The Dove)*

Grétry, André*

Richard Cœur-de-lion (Richard the Lionheart)

Hahn, Reynaldo*

Ô mon bel inconnu (Oh, my beautiful unknown one)*

Halévy, Fromental

La reine de Chypre (The Queen of Cyprus)*

Handel, George Frideric

Semele

Hervé (real name: Louis Auguste Florimond Ronger)*

Mam’zelle Nitouche

Korngold, Erich Wolfgang

Das Wunder der Heliane (The Miracle of Heliane)

Lully, Jean-Baptiste*

Armide

Massenet, Jules

Sapho*

Monteverdi, Claudio

L’Orfeo (Orpheus)

Nielsen, Carl*

Maskarade (Masquerade)

Offenbach, Jacques

La vie parisienne (The Parisian Life)

Pergolesi, Giovanni Battista*

La serva padrona (The Servant Girl Turned Mistress)

Prokofiev, Sergei

Igrok (The Gambler)

Ravel, Maurice*

L’heure espagnole (The Spanish Hour)

Reynolds, Peter*

Sands of Time*

Rossini, Gioachino

La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie)

Saint-Saëns, Camille

Le timbre d’argent (The Silver Bell)*

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich

Orleanskaja deva (The Maid of Orléans)

Verdi, Giuseppe

Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc)

Wolf-Ferrari, Ermanno*

Il segreto di Susanna (Susanna’s Secret)

Zandonai, Riccardo*

Francesca da Rimini

What a list. I feel proud looking at it.

Anything else? Ah yes, you probably want to know more thoughts about all the operas themselves. Well, that’ll probably be for another day soon. For now, I will leave you with, in no particular order, my five favorite pieces from this month:

Francesca da Rimini

Das Wunder der Heliane

L’étoile

The Gambler

La vie parisienne

There are many others not far behind. :)

This was fun. Let’s do it again! And I hope others here will try something like this too. 

[poetsorg]

COFFEE MAKES PEOPLE SMART - Francesca Chabrier