Wagner takes Lohengrin beyond Star Wars and Gladiator and Indiana Jones

I was watching an NFL game while scrolling through Instagram stories when I came across a clip of the Act Finale from Verdi’s La Traviata. Violetta implores Alfredo to love her as she departs for Paris, leaving him behind. Violetta’s line, “Amami Alfredo”, never fails to stir my cold tiny heart. It is a great moment in opera that isn’t technically an aria, duet, ensemble, or chorus.

It got me thinking about other great moments in opera that fall outside the traditional forms. What better way to end the year and start a new one than to review a few of these moments.

The death of Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen is more than a great moment in opera. It is a great moment in the entirety of Western Civilization. Far from being a simple story about a love triangle gone wrong, Carmen hinges on the conflict between tyranny, Don Jose, and liberty, Carmen. The great moment comes when Carmen flings Jose’s ring at him with the word “tiens”, “take it.” At that point, you know it’s not going to end well for her.

“Tiens” comes at the 8:20 mark.

Act II of Wagner’s Lohengrin is dripping in great moments yet there is one that defies belief at the top of scene five. In the fourth scene, Ortrud, the baddie, has been bullying Elsa and shaking her trust in Lohengrin. It isn’t looking good but then Lohengrin and the King arrive. The music is already at a10 but Wagner takes it to another level at this point. No composer does this better than Wagner. When you think he can’t possibly go any further, he exceeds himself.

This moment is musically more dramatic and powerful than anything that has ever happened in any movie ever made. It eclipses Star Wars and Gladiator and Indiana Jones combined.

The great moment begins at the 2:09:00 mark.

Sometimes a great moment in opera coincides with a great singer of opera. Such is the case with the text “Vittoria!”, in the second act of Puccini’s Tosca. The artist Cavaradossi is being tortured by Scarpia, the head of the police in Rome. During the scene, news of Napoleon’s victory is announced and Cavaradossi brings the point home by singing “Vittoria” on a high B-flat.

It is a great moment no matter who is singing it. When the tenor is Franco Corelli at a live performance in Parma, Italy from 1967, you have what might be the greatest all-time moment of opera.