opera tarot

Owl Song

Fun idea, Firemaiden...

1. Norma

2. Les pecheurs de perles (Leila has lovely music)

3. Erda

4. La forza del destino


I don't want to steal all of the fun so I'll leave the rest. I do like your ideas very much here.

Bean Feasa, I think Figaro as the Knight of Wands is an excellent idea. He has that frenetic energy that Rossini captures so well in his music.
 

firemaiden

Yay Starlily! Good so far. Except for number 4. }) Want to have another go?
 

Owl Song

Ooops, it's "Un ballo in maschera," isn't it? I think her name is Ulrica. Great trivia!!

I don't know "La forza" that well but perhaps something in it would work well for the Wheel.

I was thinking about some other ideas today...for Judgment, maybe Strauss' Daphne would be a powerful and rather beautiful fit. Or the scene in "Parsifal" of Kundry's absolution and death.

5 of Pentacles - the poverty of our beloved bohemians in Puccini's beloved opera.
 

firemaiden

Exactly!

You know this whole thread is getting me fired up about the opera tarot. You know there is a lot of opera art that must be in the public domaine now, there are posters, there are scenic paintings, some famous old images of stars. Part of me (but only a small part) thinks it would be fun to use photographs of famous singers in their signature roles - you know the old photographs I mean - they have become icons - that famous one of Ponselle as Norma, and the photo of Chaliapin as Mephistopheles, etc.

I wonder how much of a deck could be compiled just from existing public domaine images.
 

Owl Song

firemaiden, that's a great idea. I would love to see this come to fruition. There's such a rich reservoir of material and it integrates music into the art of Tarot. It would be wonderful to include some musical samples (if that's possible...might be a bit costly.) Or maybe add some recording recommendations.

I'm going to pull out some opera books to jar my memory; I know there are many operas and scenes I haven't even thought of.
 

madmoiselle

I think, but I'm not sure:
6. Nibelung Dwarf in Das Rheingold
7. Siegfried
8. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
9. Rusalka
I am suprised at the interest in an opera Tarot as well. I did not expect to see so many replies.
 

firemaiden

Yay!! Mademoiselle and Star Lily aced the opera quiz!

I'm really enjoying exploring these ideas with you :D
 

Roger the Lemur

The first things that popped to mind were:

Osmin from Die Entführung aus dem Serail for the Devil.
Figaro for the Magician

Just musing. Fun topic.
 

firemaiden

Welcome Roger the Lemur!

(What a great name, bye the way :D)

I think Figaro as the Magician would be delightful. :)
 

Bean Feasa

Oh yes, Figaro as the Magician - perfect!

Starlily and mademoiselle thanks for filling in the quiz blanks for me. I did of course know all the answers, I was just ahem, er, unavoidably detained on my way to posting them })
Nah, I'm a complete dunce, I'm afraid.
Firemaiden, there's something you need to know about me - I just don't know ANY Wagner. My father loved Italian opera so I was kind of reared on that. He was getting into Wagner at one point, but my mother said it was too noisy and forbade him to play any of his records. I think what was really bothering her was that somebody had brought up that old cherry about W being a certain German leader's favourite composer and so she took a set against him. And sadly for us, (in many more ways than this one), my mother's word was law in our house.

But back on topic, I do think an opera tarot would work so well. The visual impact of set and costume, the archetypal energy of some of the characters, yes, definitely a winner!