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Curse word heard during a opera broadcast

If the Metropolitan Opera wanted to protect the artistic integrity of the performance, it should not be aired on the radio. FCC laws trump artistic integrity.
 
Don C said:
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but does that word really belong in an opera?
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It's called "NIXON in China"! There are numerous tapes from the Oval Office to demonstrate that he used salty language.
 
Laurence Glavin said:
It's called "NIXON in China"! There are numerous tapes from the Oval Office to demonstrate that he used salty language.
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Don't get me wrong, I'm no prude when it comes to swear words. I use the word from time to time. But it just seems out of place in an opera.

And this isn't the History Channel, either. The whole thing reeks of being a publicity stunt.
 
<<maybe KYW should go back to all opera>>

well, yeah...you give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the Libretto.
 
Right or wrong, the Metropolitan Opera Broadcast is a live over the air radio broadcast and as such, the stations can be fined by the FCC for violations. The opera company should have been told by the radio syndicator, NPR, etc, NO to that particular word. Surly other "salty" words that aren't banned by the FCC could have been used. Heck, they could even gotten away with singing frikin as that does get used on TV all the time now and apparently is OK.

Who's have thought that a station like WRTI and WQXR, both classical music stations, would have to worry about their opera's being too salty for radio. Who wrote the opera, Howard Stern? That would be sad, if the next begathon at both WQXR and WRTI were to pay the FCC fine. So does this mean that in the future the Met Opera Broadcasts would be on a time delay so a board op at NPR or each station can sit there ready to bleep out any offending word? Hey, maybe with this sort of language, the opera's will appeal to a younger demo. We already have rock operas (Jesus Christ Superstar, Tommy, etc), so it won't be long before some creative person will write a Rap Opera. Of course that would only be able to be aired on XM/Sirus radio that isn't regulated like broadcast radio. So maybe on this week's Met Opera broadcast, we'll get to hear the fat lady sing, frikin. And here Click and Clack the Tap-it brothers on NPR's Car Talk thought their show was the "low rent" show for NPR. I think they've been bested by the Met. And you guys thought NPR was a boring network.
 
There's also too much violence and animal cruelty in opera. I mean some dweeb who looks like Dick Cheney in his hunting attire singing, "I'll kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit."
 
I actually listened to this as broadcast on WRTI. Considering the performance of "Nixon in China" was being conducted by the original composer, John Adams, I'd say there is a valid point to keep the artistic integrity of the piece intact. Even the announcer herself did state beforehand that there was a phrase of "strong language" to be spoken by the character of "Mrs. Mao" in the third act , but even still one use of the "F word" in a long-form classical piece shouldn't be a reflection of the whole. Yes, it is opera (art), but it's based on historic events from less than a half century ago. Any other depiction of recent history would seem like a sham especially on the Metropolitan Opera's part.
 
"Nixon in china" has entered the international repertory, so people will have to get used to hearing this phrase uttered in future performances here in the USA and other English-speaking countries. There is ANOTHER opera that uses the forbideen phrase: "The Ice Break" by Sir Michael Tippett, an Englishman. It was performed in Boston a couple of decades ago by Sarah Caldwell's company there and broadcast at the time by WGBH-FM. Nobody complained as far as I can recall. Later a recording of the piece was issued and played by Harvard University-owned WHRB-FM...again no ruckus. But "The Ice Break" turned out to have no staying power like "Nixon in China", and in the future, nobody will have to be subjected to its naughty language. (This is not to claim that Tippett is an unsuccessful composer; I have a CD of his "A Child of Our Time", which is a fine work and is still being performed somewhere I'm sure).
 
I've heard F and S-bombs left uncensored on PBS before, so this is nothing new. One example I remember (and there were others) is the 10th anniversary concert of Les Miserables (the musical), which had the line "Comforter, philospher, and lifelong s**t" from the song "Master of the House" intact. When the concert was broadcast on Bravo, the line was censored.
 
Nick said:
If the Metropolitan Opera wanted to protect the artistic integrity of the performance, it should not be aired on the radio. FCC laws trump artistic integrity.
Click to expand...
That wasn't the case when they gave Bono a pass when he dropped the F-Bomb a couple years ago, saying that he did it to make a point. The content needs to be prurient to be a violation. The George Carlin routine was just that, there's no proscribed list of words per se.
 
More Cursing Yet to Come

An article in today's LA Times describes the London opening on the new opera, Anna Nichole. Based on the life of Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith, the Times says the libretto includes "wisecracks, sexual references and four letter words." The librettist earlier wrote Jerry Springer: The Opera.

Can't wait for these to make it to the Met's Saturday afternoon radio broadcast.
 
I like Classical Music, but am not a fan of Opera, so I don't listen to the Met Opera show. Are most of the operas aired in English or in one of the usual romance languages that seem to be favored in opera? If not in English, there shouldn't be an issue as far as the FCC and complaints of obscenity. Of course then the audience also doesn't know what is being said which might take away from the experience. Apparently, they are making modern day Operas and those seem to be in English.

This discussion is making me think that this sort of sounds like "R" rated material being wrapped up in Classical Music with screechy fat lady solos to make it more "presentable" to the public. If this were a "rock opera" there might be more complaint about the bad language used, but because it is done in a classical style that makes it OK?

One problem with this entire discussion is live theatre vs radio. Just like reading a book. Both the book and theatre are gutsier language and topic wise than radio or TV. So there's naturally going to be a conflict or issue when trying to air an audio book or some sort of theatre production be it a play, comedy routine, or opera due to the language restrictions of OTA radio or TV. I believe that is really the issue here. So how does the FCC deal with that? So far, it seems if they get a complaint they act. What makes this discussion unique is most of use don't think of Opera as being too racy as it's old vs a Chris Rock routine being aired on the radio which would have definite issues with language.

So I guess one question is, do we have a double standard where we'd generally look the other way for Opera, because it is "cultural" and say no to Chris Rock, because his act is not considered to be a refined cultural experience? If that is the case, then maybe the FCC needs to clean up its act. If the "N" word is wrong and shouldn't be used, then rappers shouldn't be using on air anymore than Dr. Laura. Maybe that's what this discussion really is trying to say. The FCC needs some consistency.
 
"They say that cat Macbeth's a bad mother --"
"Shut yo mouth!"
"But I'm talkin' 'bout Macbeth!"
 
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