Apparently Tan traveled through Japan and China for a year or so as part of the process of writing the opera, so clearly he was mixing up the historical time periods and anachronisms knowingly (kind of like Samurai Champloo, come to think of it, though with less considered intent, I'd say). And iirc Zen did start in China, but Zen + tea was very much a medieval thing in Japan, so when the emperor has Seikyo prove his merit by spot-composing a poem on tea I couldn't help but think that Seikyo by rights ought not have known what the crap tea was, except that the libretto later reveals that he spent years traveling around China for some reason. He must have been the Thirteenth Prince or something ridiculously unimportant.
If I understood what the guy was saying in the opera talk correclty the scores were specially printed on gelatin roll (aka, color cells for theatrical lights) so as to produce a more pronounced rattling sound. That and the low strings having to beat their instruments in time was particularly cool to me, as an instrumentalist.
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regna
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Date: 2010-03-03 05:01 (UTC)He must have been the Thirteenth Prince or something ridiculously unimportant.If I understood what the guy was saying in the opera talk correclty the scores were specially printed on gelatin roll (aka, color cells for theatrical lights) so as to produce a more pronounced rattling sound. That and the low strings having to beat their instruments in time was particularly cool to me, as an instrumentalist.
Yeah, I just figured that whole "Spoilers: she dies!" thing out. In my defense, I am still an opera amateur. But yeah, Verdi in particular, though it's endemic...I might go see Orphée and Eurydice in June; oh wait, she dies!
Have not read that story. Who is Ali Smith?