Yesterday, the radio opera was the one which is part of what is possibly the oldest operatic pun. Let me explain. Richard Wagner managed to get on a friendly basis with the mad King Ludwig of Bavaria – the one who built Neuschwanstein Castle (which is a story in itself.) He also funded the building of Wagner’s new opera house, called the Festspielhaus – a coined word which entered the language to mean any theater built for opera and/or other large musical events. In the early 1900s, one critic started calling the New York Metropolitan Opera House “Das Faustspielhaus” – because it put on Gounod’s “Faust” so often. I think everyone knows the soul-selling-to the devil story, which isn’t pretty, although the music is. I haven’t seen or heard it since CoViD (when the Met was free-streaming and put up a production in which Faust was a nuclear physicist in the 1940s and 50s.) There’s a lot about it to like. I won’t list all the catchy arias, duets, and ensembles, it would take too long. And all the good news stories speak for themselves, so I won’t comment on them
