#Hans Gedda

[federer7]

Nelson Mandela (...after his release from 27 years in prison...). Stockholm, Sweden. 1990

Photo: Hans Gedda

[dance-world]

Niklas Ek by Hans Gedda

Niklas Ek, born 1943, is a Swedish premiere dancer. He is the son of actor Anders Ek and choreographer Birgit Cullberg and brother of the director Mats Ek and actor Malin Ek. He has been active in the Cullberg Ballet and the Royal Opera.

[lepoingleve]

Nelson Mandela par Hans Gedda, 1990.

[itgirls-n-wannabes]

Geraldine Chaplin photographed by Hans Gedda

[princesssarisa]

Where do you watch operas?

There are plenty of complete filmed opera performances available on YouTube, which you can watch for free. Unfortunately, not all of them have English subtitles, but if necessary, you can always find a translation of the libretto online to follow along with.

In fact, just for fun, as an example, I'll provide some links to complete filmed performances of the world's top 10 most popular operas, with English subtitles.

Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)

Studio film, 1971 (Nicolai Gedda, Edith Mathis, William Workman, Christina Deutekom, Hans Sotin; directed by Sir Peter Ustinov; conducted by Horst Stein)

La Traviata

Studio film, 1968 (Anna Moffo, Franco Bonisolli, Gino Bechi; directed by Mario Lanfranchi; conducted by Giuseppe Patané)

Carmen

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 2006 (Anna Caterina Antonacci, Jonas Kaufmann, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, Norah Ansellem; staged by Francesca Zambello; conducted by Antonio Pappano)

La Bohéme

Studio film, 1965 (Mirella Freni, Gianni Raimondi, Rolando Panerai, Adriana Martino; directed by Franco Zeffirelli; conducted by Herbert von Karajan)

Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)

Teatro alla Scala, 2006 (Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, Diana Damrau, Marcella Orsatti Talamanca, Pietro Spagnoli, Monica Bacelli; staged by Giorgio Strehler; conducted by Gérard Korsten)

Tosca

Teatro Real de Madrid, 2004 (Daniela Dessí, Fabio Armiliato, Ruggero Raimondi; staged by Nuria Espert; conducted by Maurizio Benini)

Madama Butterfly

Theatrical film, 1995 (Ying Huang, Richard Troxell, Ning Liang, Richard Cowan; directed by Frédéric Mitterand; conducted by James Conlon)

Don Giovanni

Zurich Opera, 2001 (Rodney Gilfry, László Polgár, Isabel Rey, Cecilia Bartoli, Liliana Nikiteanu, Roberto Saccá, Oliver Wimer, Matti Salminen; staged by Jürgen Flimm; conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt)

Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)

Metropolitan Opera, 2007 (Peter Mattei, Juan Diego Florez, Joyce diDonato, John Del Carlo, John Relyea; staged by Bartlett Sher; conducted by Maurizio Benini)

Act I, Act II

Rigoletto

Studio film, 1982 (Ingvar Wixell, Luciano Pavarotti, Edita Gruberova; directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle; conducted by Riccardo Chailly)

[yama-bato]

Rolf Winquist (1910–1968), Unknown Woman and Man, 1961. Signed “RWinquist 61”. Gelatin silver print mounted on cardboard, 59 x 39 cm. Gift of the photographer Hans Gedda. Nationalmuseum, Swedish National Portrait Gallery, NMGrh 5016.

http://nationalmuseum.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:873909/FULLTEXT01.pdf

[themerchliing]

Wylan's Tutors.

Jan began hiring tutors for Wylan starting at age six. He established a strict rule: no tutor would be hired for more than two years if they couldn't succeed in teaching Wylan to read and write. He also purposefully hired people from different countries, thinking that it would somehow factor into Wylan's learning and cover all bases.

Age 6-7: Mr. Verhoeven (age 45) - A rather strict Kerch man who was set in his ways and absolutely did not possess the sensitivity and patience that a young child required for learning. He would easily become irritated with Wylan and would often snap at him, which only made the young child fear him. He was let go when Marya managed to convince Jan that they needed to hire someone with a more gentle approach.

Age 8: Miss. Orlova (age 25) - A kind Ravkan woman who was patient with Wylan. She encouraged and nurtured his creative side, believing that doing so would naturally lead him to seek out art and music books. She was right in thinking such as Wylan soon began to express interest in the history of art, the memoirs of artists, and encyclopedias relating to music. Unfortunately, Jan was adamant that she was coddling Wylan and fired her. Wylan was upset because, by this point, he had lost his mother and had been unknowingly seeking comfort and warmth in another female figure in a desperate attempt to fill the void that had been left behind.

Age 9-11: Mrs. Dewine (age 56) - A snooty woman from the Wandering Isle. Like the first tutor Wylan had, she was also strict and often pushed Wylan to practice for hours without proper breaks. She believed in organic treatments and alternative medicine, which she recommended to Jan. He purchased oils, creams, and soaps that were said to "help with clearing the mind" and demanded Wylan use them. Of course, they were useless and a waste of money. Mrs. Dewine was let go because she failed to "fix" Wylan. Even several years after having her as his tutor, Wylan still hates the smell of coconut — it reminds him of the overpowering scent of the hand cream she constantly used.

Age 12: Miss. Sörenstam (age 21) - A Fjerdan woman who was living in Ketterdam for a brief time. The only reason she even got the job as Wylan's tutor was because Gert Van Verent, a member of the Merchant Council, recommended her purely based on her "lovely disposition", saying that his son had learned well from her. Jan, immediately hired her, thinking that maybe Wylan would learn better if he had a pretty teacher. He was unaware that as his son was approaching puberty, he was gradually realizing that he had no interest in women. Miss Sörenstam, while harmless enough, had no real skill for teaching and soon headed back to Fjerda.

Age 13: Mr. Gedda (age 36) - An empathetic Zemeni man who tried his best. He would encourage Wylan to doodle and get a feel for how different shapes could make up letters. Due to the relaxed state of their sessions, Wylan was able to write his name for the first time. The two of them often spoke about Novyi Zem and Wylan enjoyed hearing stories about his family. However, Mr. Gedda didn't agree with Jan's practices, especially when he lingered during their sessions to breathe down their necks. He confronted him about it one day, saying that he needed to lay off the pressure if Wylan was to make progress. After that encounter, Wylan never saw Mr. Gedda again.

Age 14-16: Mr. Kamei (age 62) - A Shu Han scholar who never quite connected with Wylan because he had closed up by this point. That didn't stop him from trying, though. While he worked out ways to teach Wylan (he was very much aware of the time limit he had) Jan was seeking out other methods, such as hypnosis. He dragged Wylan to a number of "professionals" and when it didn't work, they blamed Wylan for not "believing enough." Jan also turned to tonics and drugged his son for a time, thinking it would do something. This only caused Wylan to be out of it during tutoring sessions and Mr. Kamei resigned before his trial period was over because he could no longer stand by and watch the abuse continue. Unfortunately, he knew the power Jan Van Eck held and couldn't find the courage to report him to the Merchant Council — he had a family of his own to think of.

Age 16: Mr. Borovkov (age 40) - An intimidating Ravkan man who was often very frustrated with his student. During this time, Jan started to beat Wylan. He hated his son and could no longer hide it. Upon seeing the way Wylan was being treated, Mr. Borovkov realized that violence wasn't frowned upon in the Van Eck household and began to lash out at Wylan whenever he made mistakes. Wylan was afraid of him and would flee to the gardens to hide every time he had a tutoring session. On more than one occasion, he was dragged back to the library, kicking and screaming. Fortunately for Wylan, Mr. Borovkov suddenly stopped showing up. Jan had no idea what happened to him, either. The theory is that he skipped town due to a major run-in with the Stadwatch.

Age 17-18: Mr. De Lange (age 31) - A Kerch man who saw the potential in Wylan. Mr. De Lange thought it best to carry out most of their sessions in another setting, figuring a change of environment away from his father's judging glare would do him some good. They often visited the Ketterdam University where Wylan was able to find peace and quiet to study:

“I used to meet with one of my tutors here, back when my father still thought… The tutor had a lot of interesting stories. And I always liked the maps. Tracing the letters sometimes made it easier to… It’s how I found the passage.” - Chapter 5, Crooked Kingdom.

Mr. De Lange was understanding and Wylan gradually opened up. He found it easier to speak with him than any of his previous tutors and this slowly helped him get back on track. They worked together to come up with methods that would help Wylan in his learning:

"So just do one thing at a time." It was a technique one of his tutors had taught him to try to keep him from getting overwhelmed by the page. It hadn't worked, particularly not when his father was looming over him, but Wylan had managed to apply it elsewhere." - Chapter 14, Crooked Kingdom.

During De Lange's employment, Wylan developed a crush. If he were to look back on it with a level head, he would probably recognize that it was an unhealthy attachment that manifested because he was a lonely, young man who wasn't receiving attention or affection. Due to his age, hormones also played a big part, which led to Wylan flirting with De Lange one night in the Van Eck library.

He hadn't expected anything to come of it, so was surprised when De Lange responded positively. They ended up kissing and it nearly turned sexual (with De Lange going so far as to rid Wylan of most of his clothing and lifting him against one of the shelves) but then he realized what he was doing and pulled away. Wylan responded with confusion: what was the problem if it was a mutual thing? But De Lange was too guilty to continue and quickly took his leave. He remained Wylan's tutor for about a week longer before handing in his resignation. He didn't state a reason other than having important family business he needed to attend to. One of the maids ended up gossiping about how she was certain there had been a possible affair between them, which ended up spreading around certain circles. This is what Inej overheard while searching for information on Wylan:

“The servants at the Van Eck house are paid well enough that they’re hard to bribe. The information I got didn’t add up to much. There were rumours Wylan had been caught in a sweaty romp with one of his tutors.” - Chapter 17, Six of Crows.

Wylan was upset for a time, but not because of the romantic aspect of it — his feelings had been nothing more than a crush that he soon got over. He thought himself foolish to believe that De Lange might've finally been the one to help him achieve what he needed in order to become an heir his father could be proud of. Wylan felt abandoned and useless, deciding that he was beyond hope and that the last several years of tutoring had been a waste of time for everyone involved.

Age 19: Nobody - Jan gave up on hiring tutors because Alys was now in his life and he knew he could raise another heir to replace Wylan. This was when he began to plan ways to dispose of him.

Age 20: Wylan arrived in the Barrel.

[pfalztexter]

Der Tonkunst alte Meister

Soldat und Tod, 1917, von Hans Larwin

1917 war auch die überaus erfolgreiche Uraufführung von Hans Pfitzners Oper Palestrina. Richard Strauss, der ansonsten keine großen Sympathien für Pfitzner hegte, hielt dieses Werk für so gelungen und bedeutend, dass er es aufnehmen wollte, in ein noch zu erbauendes "Opernmuseum".

Pfitzner, Palestrina [Kubelik] Gedda, Fassbaender, Fischer-Dieskau, Prey:

Libretto hier, wobei ich im Sinne dieses Blogs vor allem auf die fünfte Szene im ersten Akt verweisen möchte. Da unterhält sich Palestrina mit verstorbenen und vergangenen Meistern der Tonkunst, die bis ins 13. Jahrhundert zurückreichen.

[garadinervi]

Angela Y. Davis, January 26, 1944 / 2022

(image: Hans Gedda (photograph), Angela Davis, ca. 1972. Cecilia Heisser/Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. © Hans Gedda)

[fragrantblossoms]

Hans Gedda.  Polaroid Portfolio Nr 2, 1990.

[joeinct]

Stilleben, Photo by Hans Gedda

[higherentity]

... prima girls

[lepoingleve]

Hans Gedda - Le poing de Nelson Mandela.

[sirtosmadness]

at home

[princesssarisa]

Opera on YouTube

I've shared links to complete opera performances before, but I love to share them, so I thought I'd make a few masterposts.

These list are by no means the only complete filmed performances of these operas on YouTube, but I decided that ten links for each opera was enough for now.

By the way, some of the subtitles are just a part of the video, while others require you to click CC to see them.

Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)

Hamburg Philharmonic State Opera, 1971 (Nicolai Gedda, Edith Mathis, William Workman, Christina Deutekom, Hans Sotin; conducted by Horst Stein; English subtitles)

Ingmar Bergman film, 1975 (Josef Köstlinger, Irma Urrila, Håkan Hagegård, Birgit Nordin, Ulrik Cold; conducted by Eric Ericson; sung in Swedish; English subtitles)

Salzburg Festival, 1982 (Peter Schreier, Ileana Cotrubas, Christian Bösch, Edita Gruberova, Martti Talvela; conducted by James Levine; Japanese subtitles)

Bavarian State Opera, 1983 (Francisco Araiza, Lucia Popp, Wolfgang Brendel, Edita Gruberova, Kurt Moll; conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch; English subtitles)

Metropolitan Opera, 1991 (Francisco Araiza, Kathleen Battle, Manfred Hemm, Luciana Serra, Kurt Moll; conducted by James Levine; English subtitles)

Paris Opera, 2001 (Piotr Beczala, Dorothea Röschmann, Detlef Roth, Desirée Rancatore, Matti Salminen; conducted by Ivan Fischer; no subtitles)

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 2003 (Will Hartman, Dorothea Röschmann, Simon Keenlyside, Diana Damrau, Franz Josef Selig; conducted by Colin Davis; no subtitles) – Act I, Act II

La Monnaie, Brussels, 2005 (Topi Lehtipuu, Sophie Karthäuser, Stephan Loger, Ana Camelia Stefanescu, Harry Peeters; conducted by René Jacobs; French subtitles)

Kenneth Branagh film, 2006 (Joseph Kaiser, Amy Carson, Benjamin Jay Davis, Lyubov Petrova, René Pape; conducted by James Conlon; sung in English)

San Francisco Opera, 2010 (Piotr Beczala, Dina Kuznetsoca, Christopher Maltman, Erika Miklósa, Georg Zeppenfeld; conducted by Donald Runnicles; English subtitles)

La Traviata

Mario Lanfrachi studio film, 1968 (Anna Moffo, Franco Bonisolli, Gino Bechi; conducted by Giuseppe Patané; English subtitles)

Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1987 (Marie McLaughlin, Walter MacNeil, Brent Ellis; conducted by Bernard Haitink; Italian and Portuguese subtitles)

Teatro alla Scala, 1992 (Tiziana Fabbricini, Roberto Alagna, Paolo Coni; conducted by Riccardo Muti; English subtitles)

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 1994 (Angela Gheorghiu, Frank Lopardo, Leo Nucci; conducted by Georg Solti; Spanish subtitles)

Teatro Giuseppe Verdi, 2003 (Stefania Bonfadelli, Scott Piper, Renato Bruson; conducted by Plácido Domingo; Spanish subtitles)

Salzburg Festival, 2005 (Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón, Thomas Hampson; conducted by Carlo Rizzi; no subtitles)

Los Angeles Opera, 2006 (Renée Fleming, Rolando Villazón, Renato Bruson; conducted by James Conlon; English subtitles)

Opera Festival St. Margarethen, 2008 (Kristiane Kaiser, Jean-Francois Borras, Georg Tichy; conducted by Ernst Märzendorfer; English subtitles)

Teatro Real di Madrid, 2015 (Ermonela Jaho, Francesco Demuro, Juan Jesús Rodríguez; conducted by Renato Palumbo; English subtitles)

Teatro Massimo, 2023 (Nino Machiadze, Saimir Pirgu, Roberto Frontali; conducted by Carlo Goldstein; no subtitles)

Carmen

Herbert von Karajan studio film, 1967 (Grace Bumbry, Jon Vickers; conducted by Herbert von Karajan; English subtitles)

Vienna State Opera, 1978 (Elena Obraztsova, Plácido Domingo; conducted by Carlos Kleiber; English Subtitles)

Francisco Rosi film, 1982 (Julia Migenes, Plácido Domingo; conducted by Lorin Maazel; English subtitles)

Metropolitan Opera, 1987 (Agnes Baltsa, José Carreras; conducted by James Levine; English subtitles)

London Earls Court Arena, 1989 (Maria Ewing, Jacque Trussel; conducted by Jaques Delacote; English subtitles)

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 1991 (Maria Ewing, Luis Lima; conducted by Zubin Mehta; English subtitles) – Acts I and II, Acts III and IV

Arena di Verona, 2003 (Marina Domashenko, Marco Berti; conducted by Alain Lombard; Italian subtitles)

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 2006 (Anna Caterina Antonacci, Jonas Kaufmann; conducted by Antonio Pappano; English subtitles) – Acts I and II, Acts III and IV

Metropolitan Opera, 2010 (Elina Garanca, Roberto Alagna; conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; English subtitles) – Acts I and II, Acts III and IV

Opéra-Comique, 2023 (Gaëlle Arquez, Frédéric Antoun; conducted by Louis Langrée; English subtitles)

La Bohéme

Franco Zeffirelli studio film, 1965 (Mirella Freni, Gianni Raimondi; conducted by Herbert von Karajan; English subtitles)

Metropolitan Opera, 1977 (Renata Scotto, Luciano Pavarotti; conducted by James Levine; no subtitles)

Teatro alla Scala, 1979 (Ileana Cotrubas, Luciano Pavarotti; conducted by Carlos Kleiber; no subtitles)

Opera Australia, 1993 (Cheryl Barker, David Hobson; conducted by Julian Smith; Brazilian Portuguese subtitles)

Teatro Regio di Torino, 1996 (Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti; conducted by Daniel Oren; Italian subtitles)

Teatro alla Scala, 2003 (Cristina Gallardo-Domâs, Marcelo Alvarez; conducted by Bruno Bartoletti; Spanish subtitles)

Zürich Opera House, 2005 (Cristina Gallardo-Domâs, Marcello Giordani; conducted by Franz Welser-Möst; no subtitles)

Robert Dornhelm film, 2009 (Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón; conducted by Bertrand de Billy; no subtitles)

Opera Australia, 2011 (Takesha Meshé Kizart, Ji-Min Park; Shao-Chia Lü; no subtitles)

Sigulda Opera Festival, 2022 (Maija Kovalevska, Mihail Mihaylov; conducted by Vladimir Kiradjiev; English subtitles)

[letzternachtzug]

Andy Warhol by Hans Gedda; 1976