Volpone (L) and Mosca hatch their scheme in Act 1 Scene 1.
I love Josh Winograde’s translation of Volpone’s name. (And Josh should know because he premiered the role.) “Volpe” means “fox” in Italian, and when the Italians put “…one” (pronounced oh-nay) at the end of a word, it means BIG. Josh says that Volpone means “Big Daddy Fox.” And sure enough, that’s apt.
This description of the title character from the libretto: Volpone is a voluptuary; he delights in all things sensual, be it gold or sex. He also has a quick sense of humor and genuinely enjoys exposing the hypocrites around him.
This week it’s all Volpone all the time – a small window of pure concentration before Carmen intrudes. As of 6:30pm tonight, we’ve staged the entire thing. The first time around. That gives us a week to loop back and fix things that seemed like a good idea at the time. (I don’t think PK reads the blog, so I’m safe.)
Seriously, after an entire opera gets “on its feet,” it would be delusional to think that all of the first round of decisions were to hold. You learn a lot in those first 10 days of staging, and it makes sense to push rewind and see if all of those initial instincts were sound. And now we have a few days to do just that.
I got to have some fun today – went to rehearsal with my computer, intending to sit in the corner and attack my InBox while listening. Turns out there wasn’t a pianist assigned to the ZauberKlavier. (The keyboard that magically shadows the singers so that their confidence level with the score continues to grow.) So I got to play the piano keyboard instead of the Dell keyboard!But the most exciting thing about this photo is the truck in back of me – beginning to load in the set to the theatre!
Looks like fun. I’m sorry to be missing it. I’m thinking about you all while I’m here in Cardiff. Hope you’re well.
OperaDaddy
We miss you, too, OperaDaddy! I was just ready your Cardiff #5 post when this came in. We’re rooting for you. Have a blast!