Hi, everyone and welcome back to Happy Hour. 歡迎回來(lái)酒館.

Hi, 安瀾.

Hi Lulu, hi everyone.

So安瀾, what are we going to talk about today?

Today, I've got a very cultured topic for you all.

超有文化的話題. It's not gonna be something that's really, really obscure and highbrow, is this it?

Well, it's gonna be highbrow, but if it's gonna be obscure, we're gonna be talking about opera.

I knew it. Do you guys know that 安瀾 can't even sing, but he tries to sing opera in the office sometimes.

I love opera. I really, really enjoy opera. And even though opera has this reputation of being very highbrow and cultured...

It is very highbrow.

Well, originally it wasn't, and also there were so many phrases that come from opera and we use every day in English.

That is actually true. There are idioms as well.

Yes.

So let's talk about歌劇opera.

Yeah.

First things of first, I think a lot of people get a bit confused about opera and musical. They're both on stage performance. They're both singing, well, contains a lot of singing.

Yes. So the main difference is that opera is purely singing. So it has singing, it has orchestral music, acting and also sometimes dance. Musicals do also have spoken dialogue.

That's true. And also musical is just much much more light-hearted, much more fun. And it can actually be in English instead of foreign languages.

Well, exactly. Most of the operas’ song are in Italian, German, or French.

Are there any English operas?

There are English operettas(輕歌劇（operetta）是一種輕松幽默的歌劇形式，通常包含一些對(duì)白和音樂表演，情節(jié)較為簡(jiǎn)單，風(fēng)格詼諧).

Operettas like light operas.

Yeah.

輕歌劇有, 但是大部分傳統(tǒng)的歌劇都是德文, 意大利文.

Yeah. So the reason why is mostly Italian is because opera originally comes from Italy. So lots of the phrases, lots of the words that are used in opera are actually Italian.

Opera is a form of what we would call musical theater. Yes. The same as musical is a form of musical theater.

Exactly. And there are a few other differences as well. So for example, singers perform in a classical style. So they don't use microphones.

Really?

Yeah.

I did not know that.

They have to use their voice. So a good opera singer, generally they wouldn't use microphones, they would rely on their voice and the acoustics of where they're performing.

Okay. So the opera, obviously the opera house, they would have special sort of setting the acoustic setting, 就聲學(xué)上面要安排, 要那種布置, 就是讓他們的聲音可以傳出去.

Yeah.

Wow.

And then you have the full orchestra which plays the music to support the singers.

Ah, the full orchestra, full band, lots of people, lots of different instruments. Okay.

So after the brief introduction to opera, let's talk about some of the really really common concepts. For example, you know I hear like tenors ,男高音, 原來(lái) three tenors.

Yeah.

So Pavarotti帕瓦羅蒂（意大利男高音歌唱家） was a tenor. Now a tenor is the high male voice. And that's usually the romantic lead. Many operas are romantic in nature, and you have the tenor, and then you have the soprano.

Soprano, I know, soprano is the highest female voice, often the main female character.

Yeah.

Do you know how I noticed? I noticed because I used to have a student who was going to Europe for study and she’s a properly trained soprano.

Wow.

And she used to perform without any like microphone during the break and her voice really really like penetrates and travels.

Exactly, that is the highest female voice. And then supporting the tenor and soprano you have the baritone.

Baritone is the medium male voice, 就是男中音叫baritone.

Yeah, and they're often a noble or a villain.

Kind of like a supporting role.

Yeah. And you have the bass.

Bass, let me guess that's the lowest .

Yes, the lowest male voice and that's often used for powerful or almost comic roles.

男低音

Yeah.

So tenor, baritone and bass.

Now they are obviously other types in opera, but those are the main ones that most people would know.

And there are also other words that are, even for people like me who really are not ....who really isn't into opera per se, but I know things like aria叫詠嘆調(diào).

Yeah. So an aria is a solo song, and it's used to express deep emotions whether it's love, hate, anger —and the arias are essentially the show-stopping songs (“Show-stopping songs”或“show-stoppers”用來(lái)形容那些在表演（如歌劇、音樂劇或演唱會(huì)）中特別引人注目、令人印象深刻的歌曲。這些歌曲通常因?yàn)槠湫伞⒏柙~、演唱難度或情感表達(dá)而成為整個(gè)表演的亮點(diǎn)。).

So when you listen to opera or when you listen to CDS or music that comes from opera, it's usually the aria.

The arias that people, especially the outsiders, would remember the most.

Exactly.

For example in MADAME BUTTERFLY， 蝴蝶夫人里邊那個(gè)詠嘆調(diào)，叫《美好的一天》吧。

One fine day.

One fine day,exactly. And also I think in Turandot.

Yeah, Nessun dorma.（一首著名的意大利歌劇《圖蘭朵》中的詠嘆調(diào)，由普契尼創(chuàng)作，歌詞意為“無(wú)人入睡”。）

今夜無(wú)人入睡.

Yeah, Nessun dorma aaaaaaaaa..............

Yeah, you can’t sing oepera.

Yeah, I can’t.

There's also... was it Rigoletto?(《弄臣》)

“La donna è mobile, qual piuma al vento, muta d'accento e di pensiero”（女人善變，像羽毛般輕飄，轉(zhuǎn)瞬變腔調(diào)，轉(zhuǎn)瞬變思想），這是一首著名的歌劇詠嘆調(diào)，出自意大利作曲家朱塞佩·威爾第（Giuseppe Verdi）的經(jīng)典歌劇《弄臣》（Rigoletto）

Okay, okay, that's fine, that is fine before we turn away more people, that's Italian.

That is Italian, yeah.

Ah, I see. That's why all of these are performers. They need to learn Italian. If they're not Italian speakers already, they need to learn Italian especially how to pronounce how to pronounce these Italian words while singing.

Exactly, it takes a lot , lot of work.

Yeah.

Now we talked about the aria. You also have the overture.

Overture is just the lead in to the opera.

Yeah,

序曲。

So an overture is normally about 10 minutes or so, roughly. And it's purely instrumental. So there's no singing. It's just almost like a way of starting the opera. So some overtures can be very, very very famous as well. And you'll notice that there's never any singing. It's almost like a way of just starting the opera, I guess, like for people to start coming into the theater.

By the way, in a field of music, when you hear the word instrumental that means there's no vocal, there's no singing, no singers, it's just musical instruments.

Yeah, then you have the libretto.

What's libretto?

That's the text or the script of the opera.

就歌劇腳本.

Yeah.

I know one, is diva a word from opera?

Yeah. It is.

So a diva is a famous female opera singer.

So originally it was a famous female opera singer, 一個(gè)著名的歌劇女歌唱家, but nowadays we also called like in pop music field, you also say someone is a diva.

You can also say in real life.

So for example, if someone is a really, really dramatic person who's really kind of over the top, a little bit excessive, you can say she's a real diva.

Okay, yeah. So diva has two meanings now apart from its original meaning which refers to a famous female opera singer, in buzzword I actually talked about this. So diva now can mean just a famous female singer可以把它翻譯成什么名伶, 什么絕世名伶/紅伶，人字旁一個(gè)令那個(gè)詞.

Yeah.

So this is the positive side of the word, but you can also say Lulu stop being a diva. Yeah. It means someone who's really dramatic and really hard to please.

Exactly.

Okay.

So on that note, we can actually take a look at some common expressions we use in everyday English, they come from up.

Exactly.

So the first one is one that I quite like. It ain't over till the fat lady sings.

It ain't over till the fat lady sings. 就是胖女士唱歌之前都不算完.

Is that a reference to, you know opera singers because they need big lungs, they're usually quite on the plump side.

There is a stereotype that opera singers are quite plump. That's actually not true. Many opera singers are quite skinny, but this is used to describe a situation that's not finished until the very, very, very end.

And that's an opera reference. I mean I've heard this expression before. I never really thought about it.

Yeah, so it literally means that nothing can be decided, nothing is come to an end until it really comes to an end.

Because the fat lady singing is usually the end of the opera.

I guess so .

So talking about the end of the opera, after the official ending, sometimes people go bravo, bravo, and then they say encore .

Yeah, encore just means, again, repeat.

這就中文里有一個(gè)概念叫返場(chǎng).

比如說(shuō)像什么曲藝?yán)锩娑加蟹祱?chǎng), 可能就是這個(gè)意思, asking the performers come out and do a little bit more extra performance.

Yeah. For example, I go for concerts in Beijing and if it's a really good performance, you would shout out Bravo(對(duì)男性喝彩) or Brava(對(duì)女性喝彩) or encore.

So even when it's not opera performance, you still can say encore.

Encore, enclore.

返場(chǎng)或者就直譯叫安可. It's when people find the performance really good and they want... they are requesting for like a second helping.

Exactly. So we talked about diva. Now a very similar term to diva is a prima donna.

A prima donna.

Prima donna simply is the most important or the main lady singer, a main female singer, but it also has like a...now it has an extended meaning, right? Yeah. Someone is a prima donna meaning this person is a diva. Yeah, really demanding really self-important.

Exactly. So you can say diva or prima donna.

So to wrap up this episode, let's have a look at some facts about opera.

Okay.

So you remember, I said about an opera singer generally doesn't sing with a microphone.

Hmm.

They can actually sing louder than a rock band.

What? than an entire rock band, with a microphone?

Without. Their voices can reach over 100 decibels.

100分貝.

Yeah, which is about the same as a chainsaw.

Wow. I mean I only heard it up close once as I just told you that it was my student. Yeah, that was pretty impressive, exactly. My voice travels, but I can't imagine what that's like.

Exactly that. The voices are so so loud, and they have such perfect control of their voice as well. This is why I actually love opera because it's the power of the music. But also you have to think that they are acting as well, true. while also doing this, it's incredibly difficult.

It is. I mean you gotta have true talent, right?

Yes.

The other thing that I want to mention is you know that a famous of musical called The Phantom of the Opera.

Yeah.

就是《歌劇魅影》.

So a lot of people think that's an opera, but that's not , that’s a musical, 那個(gè)是個(gè)音樂劇. Yeah. It's just within the musical, there is an opera.

Yeah. And the Paris Opera House actually does have an underground lake and the falling chandelier.

Just like in the story.

Just like in the story.

So it was actually based on a real story.

Well, there wasn't a phantom in the Paris opera house, but those sort of facts are actually based in.

I see. So they take bits from reality. Exactly. Okay. I think we're gonna wrap up this very cultured, very highbrow episode.

If there are also fellow opera fans or wanna be fans, you can leave us a comment in the comment section and share with us your love of musical, theater, such as opera; or musical, please do like musical, I like musicals. This is much more light-hearted.

And also, if you want to hear me sing more opera, leave a comment in the comment section.

Please don't.

All right, thank you, 安瀾, for coming to the show.

Thanks, Lulu. Thanks, everyone.

We'll see you next time.

Bye.

Bye.