Opera lyrics meme

[chickenfeet]

Idea nicked from glitterboy1

Opera lyrics. Guess the opera. Simple really.

1. "With tushes far exceeding those that Venus' huntsman slew"

2. "Malo, malo, in an apple tree"

3. "Wait! Don't touch her yet"

4. "His exercise is not with men but killing boys"

5. "Let us devise torments! He killed his mother"

6. "The world is poor and man's a shit"

7. "There are black birds in the world so why not black men too?"

8. "Show us the way to the next whisky bar"

9. " Tender, lovely leaves of my beloved plane"

10. "Hear me! Hear a tender husband's bitter lament"

Comments

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

8. Oh, don't ask why... Threepenny Opera, innit. (Bowie and the Doors make it too easy.)

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Close but wrong.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, Mahagonny. The spelling of which always annoys me irrationally.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

yyess!

[owlfish]

That explains it. I've heard the piece in concert before, but not seen the opera.

[owlfish]

7. is probably Otello, not that I've seen it.
3. isn't Rigoletto, is it? Probably not.
8. sounds so familiar, and makes me think of La Traviata, but I thought I'd remember if they used the word "whiskey" in that.

This exercise makes me realize how few recordings I know of operas in English translation. Although I love the half-done translation of 2.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

7. no

3. no

8. no

2. the book is in English

I'm surprised you didn't get 1.

[owlfish]

The recent Opera Atelier productions seemed too obvious for some reason. I figured, if those operas referred to well to each other, then surely there are dozens of operas out there which discuss the same subject. Dido and Aeneas then? (Logically, it shouldn't be Acteon, since that was about Venus' huntsman.)

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Dido it is

[owlfish]

When push comes to shove, I'm impressed with how little I really know about - or recognize - operas. I've been going to them all my life, listening to them vaguely on occasion, and never really focusing on them in any particular way.

Off the top of my head...

[oursin.livejournal.com]

1 is Dido and Aeneas, 7 is The Magic Flute

Re: Off the top of my head...

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

correct

Re: Off the top of my head...

[oursin.livejournal.com]

And is 10 Orfeo?

Re: Off the top of my head...

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Yes. Gluck rather than Monteverdi

[coughingbear]

2 is Turn of the Screw, Benjamin Britten.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

It is. I'm impressed. I thought that was one of the harder ones.

[coughingbear]

It's a favourite of mine.

[gnimmel.livejournal.com]

Of those no-one's got yet:
4 is Britten, Peter Grimes.
purplepiano suggests 3 might be La Boheme.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

4 is right, 3 isn't

[gnimmel.livejournal.com]

...oh, and 6. is the Threepenny Opera.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

It is indeed

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

Yikes! Sorry, I've only just seen this - I've been faffing with my own one most of the evening.

Of the ones that no one's got yet, #9 is Serse.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

It is

[damiel.livejournal.com]

I only correctly identified 1, 2 and 8 (and should've guessed 4), but this is no fair: you should've posted them in the original language (as well).