#opera carmen toreador song

[lucygold95]

POTO China Phantom 何亮辰[He Liang-chen] and POTO Korea Phantom 김주택[Kim/Gim Joo/Ju-taek].

(* Both phantoms are opera baritons.)

何亮辰 also watched other musicals.

[robot-roadtrip-rants]

@ghostinthegallery I was in the mood for the Carmen liberetto for some mysterious reason so I looked up the Toreador song and stumbled on to this extremely bisexual performance:

and sharing that with you felt like the right thing to do

[aporeticelenchus]

While struck down by Covid (alas, alack, etc), I’ve been watching operas on my mom’s Met Opera account. So far we’ve gotten through:

Barber of Seville (2007, Peter Mattei and Joyce DiDonato):

Charming! A delight! I want to spend more time with the music later to get a better sense of individual movements. Largo Al Factotum looms large and is as good as promised. I enjoyed Peter Mattei as Figaro and Joyce DiDonato as Rosina a lot too! Bartolo’s patter songs are fun. Looking forward to hearing those again.

Marriage of Figaro (1998; Bryn Terfel and Cecilia Bartoli as Figaro and Susanna; Renee Fleming and Dwayne Croft as Countess and Count):

Finally watched a Figaro production after listening to it a million times! Also a delight! For some reason they switched out Susanna’s two solo arias, which threw me. I saw some reviewers thought Cecilia Bartoli did a little too much physical comedy, but I really liked her. Renee Fleming was a great countess; Porgi Amor is still a dead bore to me but that’s not her fault. Cherubino was adorable, but seemed to struggle a bit with Non So Piu.

This continues to be my favorite opera, and I enjoyed this as a production. I plan to watch the other two productions available on the Met on Demand later.

Don Giovanni (2000; Bryn Terfel, Renee Fleming, Solveig Kringelborn, Hei-Kyung Hong):

I’ve now spent enough time with Don Giovanni to have an opinion: it’s good, but I don’t like it nearly as much as Figaro. The plot flow and pacing frustrate me. There are some standout musical moments, but also some parts that drag (hi act 2 Donna Anna). I do love La Ci Darem and Hei-Kyung Hong’s Zerlina was charming. Finch’Han Dal Vino and Deh Vieni A La Finestra are songs I enjoy from Don G, and of course Lepprello’s little list is fun. Donna Elivra generally has good music behind her, as does Act 1 Donna Anna.

Does Don Ottavio need to be in this opera? I’m just…not sure he does….

Every time I hear the Statue sing “Don Giovaaaaaaaannnnniiii” at the end, my brain fills in “from thy dark exile thou art suuuuuuumoned”, and it took me a bit to realize I was pulling that from Iolanthe. I like to think it’s a deliberate musical homage by Sullivan.

I definitely want to watch some more stagings of Don Giovanni; overall I enjoy the opera and I can imagine it changing a lot with different directorial choices.

Die Fledermaus (1986, Kiri Te Kanawa, Judith Blegan, Tatiana Troyanos, and some men probably)

I love an operatta. I love a dumb musical comedy. I love a catchy waltz I can’t get out of my head. Two thumbs up; great use of my time listening, bad use of my time trying to follow the details of the plot because it did not really matter. Special shout out to the Overture for being a jam. It almost renders the rest of the operetta superfluous.

A+ joke having an opera singer character who won’t stop singing during the talky bits. Love that the prince is a trouser role; that helped me through some of the dumb gender stuff elsewhere.

Total blast. I plan to listen to some more recording, including two English-language adaptations. (The POP Opera project did their English-language adaptation set in 1920s Hollywood; that’s on my short list to watch) I think I like J Strauss II!

Carmen (2014; Anita Rachvelishvili and Aleksanders Antonenko)

I’ve seen Carmen before, but it’s been awhile. My mom loves Carmen; I…struggle with it. Maybe it’s just my pro-comedy bias.

The music is very good, of course; the Habañera and Toreador song are some of the most recognizable music today for a reason. The Act 1 overture is great! Short and punchy! I think the opera might be growing on me musically as I listen to it more; I’ve found the group numbers initially overwhelming, but with a little more time i can better parse the music and find parts I really like.

But anyway, I liked most of this production! I thought the Carmen was compelling, and Don Jose was a good singer (I just hate his character a lot). The set deign (1930s Spain vibes) worked for me, which was a pleasant surprise.

Going to see La Boheme tonight! Wish me luck.

[malusienki]

why does listening to classical music automatically make you “an old soul” “nerdy” “weird” “boring”

more under the cut (it’s long, sorry)

like? is it just me having a different standpoint or do i not get it? why is it that classical music is considered boring? what caused that? what???? im convinced the people saying these things have listened to like. vivaldi’s four seasons. boccherini’s minuet. offenbach’s can-can. and called it a day. these people probably don’t even know that it’s called “minuet” and only refer to the toreador march as the “fnaf song” <- (i don’t have anything against this per se, fnaf is a really cool thing i just never got into it fully and it only irks me just a little but that’s a whole other topic) without knowing what it’s from. now that goes to say i don’t expect everyone who criticizes and doesn’t like it to immediately go listen to the entire library of classical music and be enlightened but it’s a little offputting when you go out of your way to continuously remind someone that they’re weird for listening to and enjoying operas and/or classical music.

that last little bit was taken from what my friend— or i guess ex-friend now but the term still seems unfamiliar— would kind of do to me but to a lower degree i think. they said they found my interest in opera cool and would .. kind of listen to my rants and stuff and i appreciate it but then they’d go and make offhand comments about how weird i was and would use my interest in opera to sort of like.. “you can’t be talking you like OPERA” in a jokey manner i guess? that sort of thing. i thought that was normal and even though it hurt my feelings, it was all jokes, yeah? [i recognize now that thats not how that works and even though occasional jokes are okay your interests should never be the butt of the “joke” if it’s constantly repeated and hurts your feelings] and i think people don’t realize how much of a foundation classical music in itself is. i cannot tell you how many times i’ve recognized a piece to be a fragment from an opera or a mozart composition or like.. jeez i don’t fucking know, beethoven. out in the wild. in pop music, in movies, in shows, etc. even instagram reels/tiktok. if you frequent those you’ll come to find that there are a lot of trending “audios” using like.. lacrimosa or vivaldi’s four seasons or fuckin like prokofiev’s dance of the knights or act II of swan lake. i remember my mom was watching a netflix movie, a fucking cheesy ass romance or something, and there was a moment where the flower duet from lakmé played. the goddamn mario movie has a clip of carmen’s “l’amour est un oiseau rebelle”/the habanera within the first like, what. ten? fifteen minutes? i might be getting needlessly annoyed but it’s really fucking aggravating getting told i’m weird for liking something supposedly no one else under the age of 50 does. thanks guys. i really appreciate your supportiveness— but that’s besides the point.

my main reason that i’m even writing this is because my assumption (of course, this is most likely an incorrect assumption because i’m only 15 and only have so much life experience) is that the same people who often go around saying that classical music is boring and dull are the ones who are constantly wanting to push the arts to be funded. if you’re gonna fund the arts, fund ALL of them. not just “‘“‘“modern”””” stuff. not just musical theatre or plays. i think people forget that? maybe they ignore it. maybe they just don’t know. that’s why education is so important.

now that being said, i know seeing an opera or going to a concert can be expensive— and i wish that wasn’t the case. there’s always free livestreams, there’s always concerts, there’s albums, youtube videos, i know when i was in chicago i listened to the classical radio, etc. nothing beats seeing these things live in the theatre but it’s better than nothing i think?

also, i don’t mean to say classical is better than anything i mentioned above. no. i’m just sick and fucking tired of being told this and that about my interest when all i want to do is to be happy and consume something in peace without being hardcore judged for it and i really appreciate the small little operablr community.

there’s definitely more that i missed to this so if i think of anything more i’ll add on to it but i’m just… hrrrrgggg anger rage frustration. head in hands. so tired.

thank you for your time

[tweeks]

“Eric sit down! Five Nights at Freddy’s is not real!”

“YES IT IS!! THEYRE COMING! GUYS YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME!!”

“Cartman sit down!” “mrph mrph mrph”

“Okay yall were gonna be learning about the American revolu-”

*enter Freddy Fazbear singing to the tune of the toreador song from the opera Carmen* “horph horph horph horph”

“NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!”

[fawncr33k]

As a FNAF player, hearing the Toreador March during Opera in the Outback Caper song made me pause like:

Me, watching Carmen Sandiego

*Toreador March turns on*

[yoshicolonoscopyfootageofficial]

My fun trait is when an older song becomes part of pop culture in some way I will still emphatically refer to it as it's original form.

"Freddy Fazbear's Theme"? No, that's clearly the Toreador Song from hit opera Carmen

Spiderman pizza music? Easy mistake to make. That's Funiculi Funicula, a likely satirical song written about a funicular lift built to go up Mount Vesuvius

[buccaneeering]

For the ask game! :3

3, 14, and 19

Hi hi, friend! Thank you for asking! ☺️💛

3- What would their song to each other be??

Ooohh! I have a few!! This may vary in the future, but as of this VERY moment.

Erik's to Julien:

Julien's to Erik:

14-Where would they go on a 3AM adventure?

The rooftop of the Opera, or if it was a day Julien had off, he'd take Erik to the ocean. I could see them sneaking off into the woods to watch fish in the creek. Maybe a cáfe? Mundane things that Erik hasn't gotten the chance to do.

19-Who's the better dancer?

Julien has two left feet(being poor and not being able to afford lessons/go to dances didn't help his case), so by default, I'd say Erik. Julien just moves a little weird. He does fine enough in shows where the dance is choreographed, but it usually takes him several hours at home to figure that out.

I think Erik, with his attempt at being a proper gentleman, is wonderful at the dances of the time. He'd attempt to teach Julien and end up dumbfounded at the extent of his troubles. He would be constantly looking down at his feet,

"Ah! Nono, that's the worst thing you could do!" They'd briefly pause, "Look up. At me."

He'd never fully get the hang of it, I don't think. Julien never gets over the nerves of looking into Erik's eyes.

[woodsteingirl]

did you guys know that one of the earliest memories of any sort of music i have is the toreador song from carmen… opera for small children or something i was a carmen baby… NOT the show for a baby but. it was one i was aware of at least…

[subajelly]

The Simple Brilliance of Black Butler's Season 2 soundtrack

One of the few good things about that season is the soundtrack, and what makes it stand out is the homage to the opera, Carmen.

For context, Carmen is an opera written by French Composer George's Bizet. It tells the story of a flirty woman named Carmen who falls for a stoic soldier named Jose and chaos ensues. Iconic songs include "Toreador", and the song we're going to discuss, "Habanera."

Habanera is Carmen's introduction song. To summarize, she expresses that just like her, love is a fickle beast that can't be tamed, and she can't be bothered with the men who chase her. She'd rather pursue someone uninterested for the challenge. You can listen to the song here:

Now, listen closely to the bassline. Does it sound familiar? Here's some songs who share:

What's the significance? Think about Alois and Claude's relationship. Alois is flirty and attention seeking (although his behavior is more of a trauma response than being a free spirit like Carmen), and he desires Claude, who is apathetic. In addition, just like the opera, the lead is killed by the object of their affection, due to their fickleness turning the relationship sour (Carmen is stabbed by José for getting with another man, whereas Claude crushes Alois out of fatigue with their contract and to pursue Ciel's soul).

Using the homage of Carmen's Habenera, Kuroshitsuji 2's soundtrack has the leitmotif of unrequited affection and fickleness that leads to self-destruction - the theme of House Trancy.

[an-aura-about-you]

me looking over my old fanfiction and gushing over my choices and symbolism: see in this scene where Martin goes to the Boneturner and asks that he remove and shatter his heart, it is prefaced with a link to Votre Toast/Toreador En Guarde! from Carmen. thanks to its abundant use in popular media (for example being the song for Freddy's music box in the original Five Nights at Freddy's), it is easy to lose its original context. in the opera, this is an aria from the bullfighter Escamillo in which he describes a bullfight in graphic detail. the line for the link, however, is, "A black eye is watching you, and that love is waiting for you," as during the song Escamillo likens the bullfighter to a soldier and that both are yearning for the finish so they can meet their lovers. it's clear the Boneturner is Escamillo and Martin is the bull, but who's to say Martin isn't also Escamillo? never mind that the song choices later liken him to Turandot... me watching the linked video: heeheeheeheehee Teddy looks good in that little jacket

[paladinwife]

Okay, seeing Merlin's ask and your response just made me so excited because Carmen is one of my favorite operas/orchestral suites ever--

The Toreador March is so nostalgic for me, and hearing it referred to as "the FNAF song" is so strange to me asdfghkl

I also like Habanera!! I got to play the second violin part for it once, and just. It's so fun. Whenever I hear it now, I ALWAYS hear that part--it's usually played by woodwinds--and it makes me smile.

This is. So off topic of the ask game. But the orchestra kid inside me gets so excited at the mention of Carmen. Literally some of the most beautiful music on this earth.

I'm sure your f/os--Moira and Binah included-- love hearding you sing!! And, you know ... I feel Gebura would maybe secretly listen. She won't openly admit she likes it, but ... it's you, the woman she loves, so she's always happy when she hears you singing.

~ librarian-lover 📖

@librarian-lover oh I absolutely love Carmen. I really want to see it live someday, and learning Carmen’s vocal parts would be an absolute dream. There’s a reason I picked it as the first opera Libra and Moira ever saw together!

I think the Habanera is my favorite song in the entire opera - a lot of that owing to Carmen and the way her personality comes through. Seriously, if you’ve ever seen video of a really talented performer as Carmen, it’s amazing stuff. It is definitely gorgeous as an orchestral piece too, and as a former orchestra kid too I can certainly attest to that.

But oh, the thought of singing to an f/o gets me all soft inside. Especially those too. Sharing something I love with them and getting their admiration for it just really does something to my heart. Even Gebura getting in on it… I knew she had a soft side.

[lerry-hazel]

also by association

I'm not sure I should write fanfiction for a show I'm not technically a fan of in the first place, but since I've gone and done it anyway, here are some things Thomas’ storyline in “Downton Abbey: A New Era” reminds me of.

The first, of course, are “two simple wisdoms” from that Omar Khayyam quote (which is “easy for me to say”, but one does expect things to unfold properly at least in fiction)

The other is this anecdote:

I don't remember where I've read it, and therefore can't vouch for how credible the information is, but, supposedly, one of the most famous parts of “Carmen” originally wasn't meant to be in the opera at all. However, Jacques Bouhy, the first Escamillo, was pretty upset about not having a flashy aria to enter with. Finally, tired of his whining, Bizet said something along the lines of “you want shit, I'll give you shit” – and sat down to write the Toreador Song.

And then they took out the speaking dialogues, thus making Escamillo appear on stage singing « Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre », even though no one offered him a toast at all.

Of course, all that Thomas/Guy nonsense doesn't sound nearly as good out of context.

One other thing, I finally figured out where I have already seen that overoptimistic layout: a scorned character turning her back on hidebound British values and leaving, with head held high, to find better life in America.

It was, strangely enough, in an Oscar Wilde's play; and made me think of “The Scarlet Letter”.

[eyes-of-the-rave]

💓 2. and 8. with ilya please (👁👁)(i know it's not małgorzata but i have to hear about Him)

listen you are so valid, i just said malgorzata because of where i posted that

Are there particular sounds your character is fond of? music. ilya loves music, including and especially opera, which he gained a fondness for after tony happened. he has a particular soft spot for the toreador song (ha) from carmen because he can sing that and sing it fairly well. it's only recently that he's started singing again, and the welcoming nature of the coterie is really the only reason why (and also because he's happy there, with the coterie and especially with cho)

on the other hand, he's not a huge fan of the sound of large crowds, especially protests, since he was there on bloody sunday in 1905

What scents does your character find comforting? the smells of home-cooked food, which, as a vampire, he doesn't get much until he meets the coterie and their enjoyment of blood substitute in cooking. his family had cooks growing up, but the food always smelled incredible. he will follow his nose to the kitchen above the tattoo shop

as for smells he doesn't like, well, that's for me to know and you to speculate on :)

[doomslugthedestroyer1]

Rewrite - Little Einsteins but it actually teaches music theory

So I got to thinking about this show from my childhood. I've actually barely seen it but from the most recent time I saw it I was really bothered by the lack of actual music teaching, especially because it was advertised as a show to teach children about classical music. Here are some ideas I had for a rewrite:

Setup:

-Two main characters; A girl who is a soprano opera singer and a boy who plays violin

-There are four countries: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and modern

Episode format:

-Episode starts with a secret clue; An interval has been stolen from a famous piece and the characters need to track down the famous piece 

-Characters begin traveling through the country to find the piece. They come across objects where the only way to get around is choose the correct interval from multiple intervals.

-Characters also meet people significant to the song across the way, such as instrumentalists or characters from an opera. Musicians explain some if their art and how it works

-Characters might also meet composers who info dump their life story

-Eventually, the characters find the piece and can return the interval to them 

-They sing the piece and the interval multiple times to really pound it into the kids head

Example episode:

The secret message contains a minor 2nd descending interval, and says that the song is located in the romantic country. They travel to the romantic country and meet Toreador while he is singing his song. They ask him where his song is from, and he tells them it is from the opera Carmen, and gives an overview of Carmen. He also dumps some more music facts, like how Toreador is a bass role and how basses are often villains in Opera. Eventually, they meet Carmen crying because she lost the interval to her piece. They sing her a minor 2nd descending and she remembers her piece, 'love's a bird'. All is well

Other show points/ideas:

-There's also an overarching villain called 'The Dissonance King', who's revealed later in the season to be stealing the intervals. At the end of the season they have a chord battle where he throws evil suspended chords at the heros and they have to stop them by throwing resolving chords to counter them

-There could also be some adventures where the characters get a scale (Ex. Lydian), and they have to look throughout the countries to find songs who use those scales

Will children actually remember/absorb all this? I doubt it. But they might as well learn something while watching tv. Let me know anything you would add/change!