[PW] Any such creature?

[Nina Gilbert]

Donna, I've been trying to answer the question of what you call these characters for a few years now.  I like "referenced"!  Can we get everyone to call them that?  Wikipedia calls them "Unseen characters."  But in opera they're also unheard.

The son of Amelia and Renato/Anckarstrom in _Un ballo in maschera_ -- she sings an aria about wanting to kiss him goodbye before her husband kills her (and then he doesn't kill her), and Renato/Anckarstrom tells the assassins in the next scene that if he fails them, they may kill his son.

Alfredo's sister in _La traviata_ -- the one whose marriage might be ruined if Violetta doesn't renounce him.  (Bonus:  In the Zeffirelli movie, she appears.)

How about gods who are invoked but never appear?  Departed parents?

How about Jesus in _Amahl and the Night Visitors_?

Does it need to be a character who has some effect, or could it just be someone who gets mentioned?

Heck, in _The Marriage of Figaro_, Barbarina tells the count that she will love him like her little kitten.  We never see the kitten.

How about the wrong baby who got thrown into the fire before the action of _Il trovatore_?

Miss Othmar, Charlie Brown's teacher.  Wait, that's not an opera.  And her voice is a trombone.

Donna, if you collect these and send me a list, I'll forward it to my new buddies on OPERA America's Opera Educators list.

Enjoy,

Nina Gilbert
Education and Community Programs Director, Boston Lyric Opera
 
------------------------------------------------
Nina Gilbert
ninagilbert at yahoo.com



----- Original Message ----
From: DONNA D HESSON <dhesson at jhmi.edu>
To: list at project-wombat.org
Sent: Monday, April 2, 2007 7:02:08 PM
Subject: Re: [PW] Any such creature?

Wow, Dennis, this will be great for my friend.  I will sort them all out and then forward them on.

If you and or anyone else can think of these imaginary characters, just pass them on.

:-)
Donna

----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis Lien <Dennis.K.Lien-1 at tc.umn.edu>
Date: Monday, April 2, 2007 6:59 pm
Subject: Re: [PW] Any such creature?
To: list at project-wombat.org


> At 05:20 PM 4/2/2007, you wrote:
> >At 01:25 PM 4/2/2007, you wrote:
> > >Hello Fellow Womb at s!
> > >     I received this question from a friend and I tried to google 
> but I am
> > >not sure how to pose the question so I was wondering if anyone can 
> point me
> > >in the right direction.  The question is:
> > >
> > >"I know that there is a list of what I can only refer to as "referenced"
> > >operatic roles out there some place.  These are names of 
> individuals that
> > >are referenced in an opera but are never seen and of course, never 
> heard.
> > >(It's like talking about Mrs. Santa Claus.  Nobody ever sees or 
> hears her.)
> > >Have you ever seen it?  I think I saw it in reference to someone's 
> fake
> > >resume'  He listed all of these roles as his great performances to 
> see if
> > >anyone actually read or knew these things."
> > >
> > >If anyone knows the answer to this question I will be very grateful 
> and my
> > >friend will be quite impressed!
> > >
> > >Many thanks!
> > >Donna Hesson
> > >dhesson at jhmi.edu
> >
> >
> >I couldn't imagine that the TEXACO OPERA QUIZ wouldn't have used such 
> a
> >question at some point or other, and it appears they did on 11 April 
> 1999:
> >
> >
> >
> >Only three examples given in the question, however:
> >
> >
> >What do the following three have in common:
> >Bianca in _Otello_
> >Rosaline in _Romeo et Juliette_
> >Maria in _Simon Boccanegra_
> >
> >
> >For what it's worth as a start...
> >
> >Dennis Lien (basso notveryprofundo) / U of Minnesota Libraries //
> >d-lien at umn.edu
> 
> 
> A few more I've winkled out:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Tsar in Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The falconer in LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The doctor in Ullman's EMPEROR OF ATLANTIS
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gretchen's mother in FAUST
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Duc de Crakentorp in DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT
> 
> 
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> 
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