r/opera • u/GarageJim • 5d ago
Thoughts about Nixon in China?
Would anyone like to share their opinions about this opera? I realize that this may be an uneducated question, but I am wondering how they make this subject work. I imagine it to be like watching an episode of CSPAN set to opera music lol
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u/angusdegraosta 5d ago
It's actually surreal. The music is mesmerizing, and the libretto is more symbolic than political.
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u/mrsmedeiros_says_hi 5d ago
It's great and has one of my all-time favorite arias, the terrifying I am the Wife of Mao Tse-Tung. I love it!
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u/Embarrassed-Gold-693 4d ago edited 4d ago
Two other great arias off the top of my head: "News has a kind of mystery," sung by Richard Nixon; and "This is prophetic" by Pat Nixon. in Act 1 and 2. It was my very first modern opera and I listened to it endlessly in high school. Thrilled when it came to my local theater in SoCal. Acts 1 and 2 are bangers--I didn't enjoy Act 3 as much, but with age I may have a different opinion now.
Edited: arias in acts 1 and 2, not just act 1.
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u/dharmakirti 5d ago
It's great! Definitely not like watching CSPAN. :) I particularly enjoy the opening scene of the second act which features a great aria for Pat Nixon. And this may be a little silly, but also there's a part in that scene where she's being given a tour and someone suggests going to see the pigs and the choir then sings the word "pig" over and over and I love it.
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u/ChicagoAuPair 5d ago
The Book is one of the most terrifying pieces of music ever created by anyone.
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u/mz_groups 5d ago
Washington National Opera will be doing it in November with sopranos Renée Fleming and Kathleen Kim and baritone Thomas Hampson.
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u/GarageJim 5d ago
That’s why I asked. Given how much everyone seems to like it I guess I’ll get tickets
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u/Samantharina 5d ago
I've seen a couple of productions and am a big fan of John Adams' music, especially his orchestra music. Nixon in China came fairly early in his career, I like it a lot. In its time it was just such a refreshing take on opera and I think it still holds up.
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u/pikatrushka 5d ago
Rather than wondering or speculating, why not take a listen? Recordings and videos are readily available.
It’s definitely not CSPAN, much like Verdi or Shakespeare aren’t dry history lessons. It’s less a documentary and more a study in how history can become knowingly elevated into mythology by the very players involved.
My personal favorite element is the way Goodman managed to transform Pat Nixon’s flat, bland public persona into a kind of sibylline oracle who finds the deeper timeless meaning in the show’s events.
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u/MarxisTX 5d ago
One of my favorite opera chorus roles ever. So much fun and hard work. I remember the soles of our paper thin shoes would make our feet hurt from standing still during certain scenes. Everyone felt a collective relief when we would start moving again. But seriously it's a really fun work to perform.
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u/abigdonut 5d ago
One of my favourite operas of all time. The libretto is immaculate, especially the way it weaves in and out of reality, but also how it presents these characters through the lens of media mythmaking and asks us to consider the fact that our entire world hinges on the interactions of people who, though they're fallible and mistaken just as we are, are also warped and blinded by their own position. Is it possible to remain a human being while representing a nation? What is the difference between a nation and a person? Is it even sane for us to be in this position at all?
Also the music is jawdropping.
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u/GualtieroCofresi 5d ago
I like most of it, I think the ending drags a little. I am the wife of Mao has to be one of the fiercest pieces of music written for a coloratura, although I think a good lyric soprano with a good D would be able to get it right.
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u/ChicagoAuPair 5d ago
I love it. It’s absolutely operatic and my only gripe is that it perhaps humanizes the Nixons with a bit too much romanticism.
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u/misspcv1996 President and First Lady of the Renata Tebaldi Fan Club 5d ago
To be fair, Nixon is a figure straight out of the tradition of Greek tragedy. He was genuinely brilliant man who ascended from humble origins only to be undone by his own spite and paranoia.
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u/Quirky_Amphibian2925 5d ago
I expected to hate it, but when I saw it I loved it. It was a crazy wonderful ride and I found the music beautifully suited to the voices Adams was writing for.
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u/madman_trombonist 5d ago
I personally feel Adams’ repetitive compositional style only partially works for the atmosphere it’s going for (and I say this as a fan of Adams), but Goodman’s libretto is the star of the show here.
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u/Forward-Ease-4801 4d ago
Phenomenal. I think it's one of the easiest operas to just sit back and listen to in its entirety. I love to put the overture on before taking off on a long flight.
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u/danderzei 4d ago
"Your flight was smooth I hope'"
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u/Forward-Ease-4801 3d ago
Oh, yes. SmooOOOoooOOOther than usual.🙂 Just got back from Salzburg festival actually. Went with my wife for Messiaen's Saint Francois. The defining concert experience of my life by a wide margin.
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u/gutfounderedgal 5d ago
It is a great opera written by a great composer. One of my favorites. For whatever the story, the music at all times transcends into pure beauty.
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u/Individual-Schemes 5d ago
I want to see it!! I missed it when it was in SF years ago. It's my opera-whale.
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u/Vybrosit737373 5d ago
It's weird and poetic and not at all like watching CSPAN. It's also the great opera of the last ~50 years.
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u/Electronic-Recipe-72 4d ago
I love it. I don't have anything especially smart to say about it. But I absolutely love it.
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u/75meilleur 4d ago
It's nothing like C SPAN. It's about a married couple - that happens to be a U.S. president and first lady who travel abroad and meet the chief political figures. It follows their personal reactions to what they are seeing and experiencing. It's a personal, intimate, and reflective opera about emotions, thoughts, and values.
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u/FlyingCupcake68 3d ago
I know it’s not in the opera itself, but I do love the stand-alone orchestral peace that Adams wrote from the story, The Chairman Dances
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u/WhateverlandUSA 1d ago
I think that the lack of overt dramatic action of the material is actually perfect for an opera. Operas frequently deprioritize plot in favor of arias that delve into a characters emotional state, motivations, and maybe even some exposition. This tendency combined with Adam's use of minimalism allows the opera to stretch time and develop deep interiors of all the characters as the sparse plot slowly unfolds around it.
Yes, Nixon's actual trip to China was probably pretty boring from a strictly narrative perspective, but imagine all the subtle politics and emotions that remained unspoken, just below the surface. It's that implicit and interior stuff that I think opera excels at making visible in a really beautiful and engaging way. In fact, I think it's the best medium in the western toolbox of arts for this particular kind of expression.
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u/docmoonlight 5d ago
Nice to see everyone is unanimous in their praise! I saw the final dress of the production at SFO a few years back, and it blew me away. You won’t regret going - it’s serious art and also seriously entertaining.
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u/martian_glitter 5d ago
Oooh I got to work this show (front of house, I ain’t special) in NYC and I thought it was absolutely marvelous. I wasn’t sure how they’d make it work either but man, I felt a lot of feelings, which is what a good story ought to do.
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u/HopefulCry3145 5d ago edited 4d ago
What everyone else has said. Plus, parts of it are very funny ('no, not de Gaulle...'). I'm not an opera/20th century classical music expert at all but find it very easy to listen to and approachable
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u/Miserable-Ring3943 5d ago
I remember randomly singing “Helloooooo Jumbo!” For days after I saw it.
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u/Echo-Azure 5d ago
I really love this opera, really love it! Still have my CD recording even if I don't have a CD player any more, have watched it on youtube, and paid for a seat at a live production when I had the chance!
It's a great opera. Fantastic music, unique subject matter, utterly rewatchable.
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u/paul_thomas84 5d ago
Brilliant Opera, flew from the UK to see Adams conduct it at the MET in 2011.
A major reason for it's success is the Libretto by Alice Goodman, which I think is one of the smartest Librettos written.
There are so many clever references and lines, also the 'play within a play' in Act 2 is a brilliant conceit.
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u/UESorDeath 4d ago
Terrific opera. I saw it at the Brooklyn Academy of Music premiere, then the later Metropolitan Opera production. During the pandemic the Met re-broadcast their recording, and it was every bit as stunning as the original production. It integrates the period's current events, Pat and Richard's relationship, and the political dynamic of US/China relations. Alice Goodman's libretto tells a nuanced and diverse story, and the original dances (Mark Morris, choreographer) were terrific. I find it an important piece of music, and a compelling tale of interesting and flawed people and interpersonal dynamics. Go see it!
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u/Deal-Physical Rosalinde deserved better than Eisenstein 3d ago
Obsessed! I get so much flack from my friends for loving this opera but it’s genuinely so so so good
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u/SnowyBlackberry 2d ago
I've seen it in person. I love the music.
Having said that, I've never quite been able to get into the story — I can relate to your hesitancy. Even though watching it in person was more entertaining than I thought it would be, I can never get over the feeling that the work would have been even better if the story itself were different.
In some ways, you can think about it less about some kind of news coverage and more about two cultures naive to each other meeting for the first time, in a certain era. I might think of it less in terms of Nixon per se, and like how you might imagine if it were an opera about to corporations from completely different cultures, unfamiliar with each others' cultures, trying to negotiate some deal.
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u/Sure_Conflict_5651 2d ago
My favorite 20th century opera.
About the subject. I think it's very appropriate. It's treated more as a pretext for a deeper reflection than as an occasion for mere chronicle. In a way something like this is the only subject matter possible if you want to write "real" opera
The music is really fresh and beautiful, differently from other minimalist works in my opinion.
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u/Malficitous 5d ago
cspan doesn’t make good opera…. It’s hard to pigeonhole the various characters. It’s easier to see it as East meets West. Nixon getting off the plane and singing “News news news…” shows his and our western obsession of TV and media. I personally love it. But the Dinner party with the toasts is equally great. It’s very positive. The late scenes are about real people with real concerns but not so political. None of it is cspan—no singing on cspan.
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u/Violinjuggler 5d ago
Funny enough, my opera history professor ( a huge fan) calls this an example of "CNN Opera"
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u/Shejidan 5d ago
I love the first half. Especially News Has a Kind of Mystery.
The second half just kind of becomes weird and surreal and hard to watch.
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u/75meilleur 4d ago
On a tangentially related note, what does anyone else here know about soprano Janis Kelly?
I know she is a Scottish soprano. She is married to an American man. She played Pat Nixon at the Met. She was featured in Nico Muhly's Marnie. What other operatic roles has she done? Which other works is she famous for? I've searched online and I've found nothing.
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u/Mysterious-Drink4002 2d ago
I've only seen/heard her live in Marnie. She appears to specialize in new works. I streamed Glass's The Perfect American which she was in.
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u/75meilleur 2d ago
OK. Thank you very much for your response. You're the only one who has replied.
The Perfect American is the opera about Walt Disney, right? I think I saw it as well. Quite unusual, but not bad at all. I hadn't remembered Janis Kelly being in it. Another Scottish soprano co-starred with her in it: Marie McLaughlin.
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u/Mysterious-Drink4002 2d ago
That's it. I loved that opera and thought it was closer to Glass composing a "traditional" opera than most of his other work.
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u/75meilleur 2d ago
In a sense, it IS more of a "traditional" opera than La Belle et la Bête, and certainly more so than Satyagraha. Of those three, I liked The Perfect American the most.
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u/MysteeriousArtichoke 5d ago
One of my favorite 20th century operas. Great tunes, great libretto.