Rock Opera Discussion

[MusicJunkie]

I’m not really sure how to classify Hair. I love it, but I’m not sure it really qualifies as a rock opera. I think there might be too much dialogue. But then, Carmen has dialogue, too, and I don’t think anyone’s contesting its status as a opera. And The Magic Flute is loaded with dialogue and it’s considered an opera, not an operetta or a musical (according to my college music instructor, anyway). So, I don’t know.

The Magic Flute is a singspiel, which is a tradicional german form of musical. As for Carmen: It’s three hours long and features obcession and murder. People probably just call it an opera because they would feel enbarassed to call it operetta. And if I remenber correctly Bizet tried to make the dialohues into recitative and gave up later. The Tales of Hoffman is the only other opera that I remenber that has spoken dialogue and that’s because Offenbach died before he wrote the recitative.

[Lamia]

@BlackNGold

The bandmates would be Weird and Gilly.

You’re right of course. How silly of me! Although I always did get the feeling that there were more members to the band (“Weird and Gilly AND the Spiders from Mars”), although come to think of it they might literally have been spiders…from Mars.

[JackaRoe]

[QUOTE=BlackNGold]

@Lamia

Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is arguably a rock opera, but damned if I could tell you what actually happens in it (“Uh…the world’s gonna end in five years, and then there’s this alien who joins a rock band, and…um…I dunno, man”) or who any of the characters are except for Ziggy and his nameless bandmates.QUOTE]

The bandmates would be Weird and Gilly. I don’t think of Ziggy as a rock opera, but a series of songs with somewhat of a narrative arc. I’m not sure what exactly that makes it.

Ziggy Stardust was a tribute to Jimi Hendrix. “He played it left hand but took it too far”.

[maggy]

The band Savatage, guitarist Paul Neil (?) also has a side band called Tran-Siberian Orchestra - they do a Christmas Story and also Beethoven’s Last Night - both incredibly awesome stuffone can listen to all year!

[Edward_The_Head]

@Kalhoun

What do you call traditional opera CDs? It’s still an opera. It has to be written before it can be performed. Pete Townsend wrote it, and it was performed later. Sounds like opera to me!

Sorry, I thought we were talking only about rock operas and not operas. Yes you can get operas on CD but they were written for stage. Something like Savatage’s Streets was not, that’s the difference I was talking about. A true opera would have had the stage envisioned while a rock opera would have only had the music.

[lonelocust]

riserus1

Thanks for your post. I was becoming discouraged reading this thread and no mention of Frank Zappa. Thing Fish would have been bitchin’ to see on stage.

Not a 70’s opera, but **Franks Wild Years ** by Tom Waits is by far my favorite of all time.

[lonelocust]

riserius1.

Sorry. Must remember to preview.

[BlackNGold]

@JackaRoe

Ziggy Stardust was a tribute to Jimi Hendrix. “He played it left hand but took it too far”.

I don’t think so. From the Ziggy Stardust Companion

Bowie says that he based the character of Ziggy Stardust on the eccentric rocker
“Vince Taylor” (real name Brian Holden and also known as the “French Presley”)

There’s much more info on the site, none of which mentions Hendrix. If you can dig up some reference,
I’d like to see it. If you noticed, I’m somewhat a fan of the album.