Has Sondheim ever explained in any detail what exactly he means when he says he has no interest in writing an "opera," or in what way(s) exactly he doesn't consider SWEENEY TODD to be an opera? For those who would argue that the amount of spoken dialogue in SWEENEY makes it a musical rather than an opera, the fact is that several classic operas in French and German (if not so much in Italian) have a quite a lot of spoken dialogue, including CARMEN and THE MAGIC FLUTE, to name only two that come immediately to mind.
Some have argued, and I understand the opinion, that the only way in which SWEENEY TODD is not a 100 percent, full-fledged opera is that the role of Mrs. Lovett is written for a type of voice that is never or almost never heard in operas that were written to be performed in opera houses. So maybe that's it? And/or maybe what Sondheim meant, at least in part, was that some people feel that, in traditional operas, the importance of the text is secondary to that of the music, and I guess it's easy to understand why Sondheim wouldn't want to write any work of which that could be said.
I find it a fascinating and worthwhile discussion, even if I do think sometimes people get too caught up in semantics and the need for labels. |
