Love and Other Drugs: Gounod's Roméo et Juliette

Aria Code

WQXR & The Metropolitan Opera

Music Interviews, Music Commentary, Aria, Music, Arts, Metropolitan, Performing Arts, Code, Wqxr, Opera, Wnyc, Studios

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 January 2024

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Gounod’s “poison aria” is so difficult, it’s often cut from productions. But it’s a pivotal moment in the opera — and a testament to Juliette’s courage.

Transcript

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0:00.0	For both of them love is a trapdoor it opens beneath their feet. They don't fly
0:08.7	upwards. They plunge downwards into an unknown country.
0:13.0	From WQXR in the Metropolitan Opera,
0:17.0	this is Ariacode.
0:18.0	I'm Rianna Givens.
0:20.0	This speech flips the language of the play from the world of the living to the world of the dead and that of course is a major
0:31.1	Tonal shift towards tragedy.
0:34.4	Every episode we dig deep into a single Aria
0:37.5	to see what treasure there is hiding inside.
0:40.4	Today it's Amour Raniememem-Courage, the Poison Aria from Romeo and Juliet by Charles Guno.
0:47.0	Gune's music is so deep and an immense specter of feelings are given to us, they hit us, right direct in the soul.
0:57.4	The music takes you.
1:02.4	Guys, I'm super excited about today's Aria, because Juliet was the first main role I ever sang back
1:11.0	when I was sitting opera at Oberlin Conservatory.
1:13.2	And it was a revelatory experience for me.
1:16.4	The romance, the emotions, the gorgeous music.
1:20.7	If I hadn't been hooked on opera already already I certainly would have been after that.
1:25.0	Romeo and Juliet has been adapted every way imaginable, including versions that tell the story through
1:31.0	martial arts, zombies,
1:33.5	and garden gnomes.
1:35.6	Seriously, people, this is one versatile tragedy.
1:39.2	The opera version by Charles Guno
	...

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