Ella Fitzgerald sings Summertime in Berlin 1968: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkOuLZ2zcY0>.James Standifer lists the mixture of musical elements in Porgy and Bess: folk (blues, spirituals, gospel); popular (blues, jazz, Tin Pan Alley); classical (the recitatives, the use of the academic fugue and canonic techniques, the aria, the leitmotif). Post comments here about your experiences listening to Porgy and Bess--include difficulties, simple observations, questions, and the things you think you're hearing.
17 comments:
I actually didn't enjoy watching Porgy and Bess too much, but for the sake of optimism and positive enlightenment, this opera was was a visually stunning, and musical treat to the ears, in comparison to Lady Macbeth of the Red Light District.
The song we were talking about in class, Summertime, captures the fragility and disillusionment of dreams, and hopes. When Clara is singing the line, "...baby, don't you cry." This could be literally meant as trying to hush or quite down a baby. However, on a larger scale, "don't you cry" reaches out to all the members in Catfish Row. The message is sung in hopes of happy times, but the song is not entirely sung in a happy, major key, and dark minor undertones are present in the musical score. This dark undertone can foreshadow a bad event, even though the song has good intentions. Clara sings, 'baby, dont you cry." but she cries herself when she views her husbands wrecked boat.
A song that really inspired me was the "I got plenty 'o nuthin." This song really opened how I viewed my life. The more items we possess, the more attached we grow onto them. Having a lot of stuff does not truly make a person happier, as these prized posssessions have to be and "doors locked shut" as sung in the sung. Do I really need all the material things i have in life? I should just live a simple manageable life, with no car, and just dorm instead of commuting.
<3
The music in Porgy and Bess was intersesting, i happened to really enjoy listening to the blues and jazz. The only difficulty came with the lyrics of the songs, without the subtitles i would have been lost half of the time. Thanks to the music this opera was way more interesting than Lady Macbeth of the Mtensk District, i suppose the more modern feel of the music is what caused this. I liked how the music went with the seasons and how each season gave the music a different vibe and overall feel. My only question would be why Summertime is given such an ominous tone, i understand the forshadowing but, i thought fall would be more fitting.
I feel like Porgy and Bess was enjoyable only because of the music and drama. It wasn't all intense like Lady Macbeth, but it wasn't too happy either. It was just right with the mix of folk, popular, and classical music.
I thought the hurricane scene was interesting, because they were singing about "Doctor Jesus." And this was also the scene where Clara runs out to find her husband, and leaves her baby with Bess. This scene was emotional and spiritual through not only the music, but also the action.
Another scene that portrayed a different type of rhythm was in the beginning where the men were gambling, playing a game called Craps(I think)? But this scene wasn't depressing or emotional, it was filled with drama and fun. I think it fit into the Jazz category.
The original song that was sung three times throughout the opera was "Summertime." This song would fit into the classical category of musical elements because of the rhymes, lyrics, and tone. This song was sung during different scenes with contrasting actions. In the beginning, Clara sings the song in a happy state, waiting for her husband to come home. She sings it again when there is trouble, and everyone is worried about the hurricane. Towards the end Bess sings this song when Clara is gone, but this scene initiates Bess into the community.
I found it really interesting how they played the same song in different scenes because it shows how powerful music can be and how it can be interpreted in different ways.
Understanding the opera without subtitles was tough, but I'm sure there are people who can listen to it and know what the actors are singing.
While I was watching, I wondered why is this all sung in slang terms and not in proper English?
Personally i feel that this opera doesn't even need the subtitles as far as music goes. The music is able to convey any feeling that the lyrics intends... Now as far as a story goes obviously having subtitles would greatly improve on the understanding of a tale. I personally liked this one more than Lady Macbeth simply because of the way the music made me feel. I really enjoied the urban, mellow, music and the back and forth play that the singer and the instruments had. I feel that there is also a general undertone of sadness throughout this whole play. Any of the lyrics could be taken almost any way but it is in the sound that i felt this sadness. As we mentioned in class with "Summertime" there was a depressed view of something that most people associate with happieness...
My DVD was not working properly so i attempted to watch it without it skipping and from what i got out of it i found it intersting that the first couple minutes of the opera had absolutely no words but rather was music. I dont understand why there was a long introduction with no singing, so i would wonder what the theatrical purposes behind this were? The first song that plays is Summertime which is repeated three times throughout the opera. I enjoyed this much more than Lady Macbeth of the Mstenk District. Though Lady Macbeth was in a different language, I found both equally difficult to understand. Only a very few words could be clearly made out throughout the opera. The beautiful voices make the play much more enjoyable. I feel like subtitles are necesary in order to get the full picture of this opera.
For me, I thought that the overall piece was much better than Lady Macbeth, although it was not my favorite thing to watch. I thought that the plot of the opera was good, yet the fact that the whole work was an opera made the work seem tedious at some parts. In contrast with Lady Macbeth, I thought that Porgy and Bess was much more entertaining and inherently more pleasing to both eyes and ears.
The song "I got plenty o' nuthin'" was my favorite song in the opera personally, I thought that it captured the spirit of the work and showed how happiness is available to anyone who looks for it and anyone can afford happiness in some way, shape, or form. The song also seemed to relate to life in general because with so much emphasis placed on material objects in contemporary society, it made me wonder how happy would people be if they were unable to have all the material objects that society values. Thus this song seemed to mirror society by placing value on what is often desired, but what is also sorely overlooked.
I though that the most powerful elements within this work is what was not spoken. It seemed to me that the sheer use of body language and acting told a far more complex story than any of the songs or conversations. An example would be when Bess and Crown meet on the island. Just from Bess' body language it is clearly evident that she is suffering severely emotionally because she loves two men and can only be with one, and through her body language it is evident that it pains her to be in that situation and that she would almost certainly prefer to be without the stress that that situation causes.
I thought that the hardest aspect of watching this work was putting it into historical context because although it is possible to get a general feel of the time period, it would be more helpful if the exact time of this play was available. I think that if historical context could be better applied the work would be open to much more interpretation and would be much more valuable in terms of a piece of historical fiction.
Overall I found the piece to be entertaining and enriching, and much more enjoyable than Lady Macbeth.
Sacha Morales
I really enjoyed watching Porgy and Bess because I really liked the music. I really enjoyed the harmonies and overlapping parts. When I first started the opera, I had a hard time understanding the words (I forgot to put on the libretto), but afterwards, it became clear. It was very hard to understand because of how the characters speak, is it their dialect? The song Summertime struck me as a peaceful song that made me feel calm, so I was surprised when it was interpreted as a depressing/ ominous song. I also enjoyed the scenes, like the storm, and the dancing. I also liked how happy dust was used to create rifts into the society. I think the characters, like "Sportin' Life" really did a good job of portraying their parts. However, something I noticed was that the voices all sounded the same. In the Lady Macbeth opera, she had a clear and distinct voice, but the voice of Porgy and Bess seemed similar to the other women and men singing with them, like they all had the same talent. I feel like this might be to establish uniformity within the community. I also thought it was interesting how at the beginning of the opera, the people would be nice to Porgy, but whenever he was not there, they always spoke negative things about him and I thought that was sad. I wish the scene when Porgy invites Bess into his house was more dramatic. At the end of the opera, I couldn't get the songs out of my head. So I guess this reinforces Professor's Moeller's notes when he says that Gershwin's songs were easy to pick up on and were stuck in your head!
Along with everyone else who have already posted, I did like Porgy and Bess better than Lady Macbeth. They were two completely different pieces conveying two completely different subject matter. I think the music of Porgy and Bess is more lyrical and easy to remember and sing to, in a regular voice that is, not in the elongated tone of opera singers.
The music of Lady Macbeth, to me at least, is likeable in the sense that it is classical and I like listening to music like that. I also like the music of Porgy and Bess in that it incorporates a deeper message of what's happening to the citizens of Catfish Row and also hints at what was happening during that time period, such as the one about the "boat goin' to New York."
When I first heard that the song "Summertime" was very well accepted and known, I thought it would be a happy go lucky song, with a lot more light and airiness to it. Yet, upon watching the opera, the song doesn't really have that summer feel to it; rather it has a bit of solemnity to it, as if Summertime is leaving. I guess "summertime" itself can signify a new beginning or starting a new life, and maybe that's why Bess sings it, to signify a new life she wants for herself. Yet, like Prof. Moeller said, the song is followed by horrendous violence, showing that maybe her life won't change for the better after all.
I think the music did help move along the plot; at the beginning and end it shows the geneality among the people, having fun with each other and taking care of each other.
I think an interesting point, pointed out in lecture, was that Bess never sung by herself, contrary to Katerina. It's pretty cool how Gershwin did that purposely (at least I think so) to show that she is unable to create her own identity, whereas Katerina has her own identity and creates her own destiny.
I feel that Porgy and Bess, is a opera that would be better if it just contained music with no lyrics. The music makes the movie, with even a different set of music even by a different composer would break the movie. It is one of the only enjoyable aspects to the movie that I enjoyed.
I understand that they have to speak with an accent, but it makes it impossible to understand them without subtitles. This makes it definatly harder to watch, if it were a silent film released, then it would have been a way bigger and more monumental movie. But instead it is a movie that lacks script a crucial part to the play.
No single song stood out to me, but all were very well made, how the song portrays the story, is really well done.
I though Porgy and Bess was interesting to watch. I found it to be a little bit slow and boring at times, but overall it was ok. Some of the songs were really enjoyable to listen to. It had different kinds of music portrayed and different styles to each song. Although, without the subtitles, I would have been completely lost because it was difficult for me to understand what exactly they were singing without them, especially since they used alot of words that they didnt quite enunciate and spoke it old-sytle, if that makes sense. But overall, it was a entertaining for the most part
Strangely, I enjoyed listening to Porgy and Bess rather than watching it. Without the subtitles on the libretto, I wouldn't have been able to understand what the singing was because it was very lyrical. And for the most part, I enjoyed the instrumental the most.
A lot of the musical techniques used made foreshadowing events very obvious, especially with the sudden crescendoes and thematic changes in the music.
Apparently, I'm the only one who did not enjoy Porgy and Bess over Lady Macbeth...Oh well.
I don't know, the opera was sooooo slow....I mean, at least Lady Macbeth was somewhat dramatic...but Porgy and Bess starts out with introducing Bess as someone who "gets around." And then Clara sings about summertime and then the men play that gambling game and so forth...but Crown was SO annoying...I'm just like, kill him already..there was like a dozen guys and they could have just taken him down. grrrr...he needed to die.
Anyways, I felt like the opera was very depressing...was that the attitude the director meant to give it? I don't understand why people thought it was racist? However, I did enjoy the music...the words were difficult to understand, but the subtitles helped.
Porgy and Bess was sooo depressing because it was like those people had no choice but to suffer...there was no alternative..they weren't "free people." It was kind of a claustrophobic feeling...they were trapped in a "hopeless" world.
I mean, the majority of the songs that were sung had an underlying depressing feel to them...but in order to make their lives not so depressing, they could have sung in a happier tone...but everyone always seemed so down. And the gambling game that the men played was quite annoying...especially when the guy (whom Crown killed later) went to gamble against his wife's will... and he ended up dead. And that was unhappiness and misfortune the individual brought upon himself...and the happy dust...so sad. so sad. I don't know, yeah it's human nature.."happy dust" seems like an easy way out of depressing-ness...
And I beg to differ with Vongchaichinsri's comment...he's saying that the musical piece, " I got plenty of nuthin" is about being humble and thankful of what you have...isn't commuting saving money?...
Shannan's post:
It is difficult to hear the lyrics of the singers. I had to get used to hearing the impoverished community sing classical opera. I found this a bit strange. I thought that the music carried the dialect that allowed the audience to understand the characters and the social hierarchy of the film. The singers are very talented and their voices were very round, but they could have articulated more. The movie was released in 1993, but how many blacks in earlier versions had the luxury of opera training. I want to know more about what was going on (historically context) during the time of the original version.
I thought that I heard “Summertime,” a song about beautiful, carefree things, sung by Bess in a somber way to show how much she wants to have a better life. Is this true? I noticed that many songs are very religious and mention the “Promise Land.” Does this refer to heaven or the North?
I noticed that Gershwin’s music helped to move the plot along and develop his characters. Overall I liked the opera, but it was a bit long and repetitive.
I enjoyed watching certain parts of Porgy and Bess while I have to admit I found other parts of this opera to be slow and boring. This is because I found it easier to be musically engaged to the opera than visually, because not a lot of action took place in the scenes and some parts were very melodramatic. The musical aspect I liked better because I believe this differed substantially from the visual aspect of the opera which focused less on depicting mood, tone, and deeper meanings of the story through emotional expression. For example, in "summertime" I was able to interpret Clara's agony by the way she sings this song and expresses her voice. This song is sung during various times throughout the opera and usually during times of distress. I was able to interpret the feelings Clara was trying to convey through this song by the fluctuating tones and sound of the song rather than subtitles. This makes it unnecessary I felt to have used them because the opera would have had a stronger emphasis if it was entirely music.
P.S sorry I posted this so late, I had problems with finishing watching the DVD.
Actually, I liked watching Porgy and Bess simply because it’s something I normally wouldn’t watch and it was a good change of pace. In my opinion, the music in Porgy and Bess is much better than Lacy Macbeth. However, I believe the acting in Lady Macbeth far surpasses the acting in Porgy and Bess. I’m not saying that Porgy and Bess seemed unprofessional, if anything they did an impeccable job, but I feel that the acting in Porgy and Bess seemed too artificial, too idealized. Generally I really like two songs off the score. My favorite being Summertime and (I’m not sure the exact name) the song sung in the ‘Oh Doctor Jesus’ Chapter. The two renditions of Summertime were equally amazing – the first one was more hopeful and gleeful, whereas the second rendition is somber and melancholy. These emotions are enhanced by the context of the film and the events that occurred before and during the time the song was sung. Lastly, the second song sung by Bess in the ‘Oh Doctor Jesus’ Chapter was really good in my opinion. I liked the way she sang it and perhaps the reason I like it so much is because it sounds so familiar, something like Feist would sing (sorta).
I also noticed that Bess really didn’t have any solos in the opera. She only sang with someone else, in harmony, which I thought is kind of peculiar. Perhaps her duets with the other actors symbolize her inability to be alone in the opera – notice that she always has someone on her fingertips throughout the entire movie.
Overall, I was really impressed at how the opera turned out. The score, the backdrops, and the acting were all top-notch. Unfortunately I wouldn’t want to sit through another 3 hour play anytime soon, but if given the chance, I’d listen to a rendition of ‘Summertime’ any day.
Alex Wong:
I found Porgy and Bess interesting even though I felt that the conclusion was badly written. In terms of music, I think that Gershwin 's blending of different traditions and styles of music is completely fitting to his project because he is attempting to bring something onto the stage never before seen - the post slavery African-American experience. The hybrid music is part of his breaking away from the traditional and rigid operatic form in order to produce a hybrid of opera and Broadway. Although the genre labels are useful for classifying Gershwin's work, I think Gershwin the composer and writer wasn't interested in fitting within a label at all. He wanted to free himself of the confines of label.
Generally, I dislike it when conversations are being sung. So musicals like "Miss Saigon" and "Porgy and Bess" bother me because they sing their conversations. I'll be honest. I have really bad listening skills. When we do listening for Spanish, I completely bomb it because it takes more time for me to process information when I listen. So for my to analyze the music for Porgy and Bess is extremely difficult. If I were to experience Porgy and Bess with no subtitles, I would think they were singing some foreign language.
From what I listened and understood, the song, Summertime, had a negative undertone each time it was sang. The libretto did not follow suit with the pathos of the song because the lyrics were about happy things while the music sounded sad. It went from a high pitch to a low pitch, fluctuating in a slow tempo.
In general, the story dragged on and it made it hard for me to sit still. However, I felt successful when I endured through the entire opera.
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