| Page Views: 2,337 Last Visit to Edinburgh: June, 2005 | Opera and Graduation in Edinburgh by Nemorino - last update: Aug 18, 2009 |
Scottish Opera is actually based in Glasgow, but they also perform regularly at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh. When I was here last week they were doing the opera Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1857). |
| Festival Theatre Edinburgh |
Leonore, the heroine of this opera, suspects that her husband has been locked away without charge in the dungeon of a large Spanish prison. Disguising herself as a young man, she gets a job in the prison, and after several months is finally allowed to go down into the dungeon, just in time to save her husband from being murdered by the evil prison governor Don Pizarro.
This is Beethoven's only opera. It was performed by Scottish Opera in the original German, with English surtitles. I was particularly impressed with the chorus -- there are strong choral scenes as the prisoners are released from their cells and come out into the light, Unfortunately the full-time professional chorus of Scottish Opera is being disbanded for financial reasons, so they may well have trouble putting on this sort of opera in future seasons.
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| The Palace of Holyroodhouse |
The Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is at the bottom end of the Royal Mile, was once the residence of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587), better known to opera-goers as "Maria Stuarda" ever since Donizetti wrote his fabulous opera about her in 1834. I have seen this opera in Wiesbaden and Zürich, but not in Edinburgh, although it was performed here by Scottish Opera in the 1990s, if I remember correctly. (I've also seen the play at the Castle Festival in Bad Vilbel.)
Even though this was my third visit to Edinburgh, I still haven't managed to take a tour of the Palace of Holyroodhouse. It is always closed to the public when the Queen or a member of the Royal Family is staying there, and this time it was closed for security reasons, because of planned demonstrations about the upcoming G8 Summit Meeting.
I took this photo of the Palace of Holyroodhouse by sticking my camera between the bars of the locked gate.
Update: Check out this new (well, new to me) website about cycling in Edinburgh.
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 Comments for Nemorino about Edinburgh | | | | |
Joseph69 Tue Aug 18, 2009 04:40 UTC
Great tip regarding the aiport bus! Thank You. :) | LoriPori Mon Aug 17, 2009 22:43 UTC
Quite impressive buildings here in Edinburgh such as Edinburgh Castle, Canon Gate Tolbooth and Palace of Holyrood. I really like Jenners, with the wonderful skylights - would love to shop & snoop here. | CALSF Sat Aug 1, 2009 17:11 UTC
Thank you for all of the helpful Edinburgh tips. They'll come in handy as we plan to visit soon from Newcastle. | cjg1 Tue Jun 23, 2009 17:52 UTC
I enjoyed Edinburgh as well. I actually spent a birthday here.......not as fun as my Budapest trip but pretty damn good. |
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