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The original Bataclan aria

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norman lebrecht

November 17, 2015

The attacked theatre was named for this.

Just so you should know.

Comments

Olga says:

November 17, 2015 at 7:27 pm

Norman, thank you for letting know about that. Offenbach’s operetta titled “Ba-ta-clan” was his big success. Who could predict what would happen in the theater named after the funny comedy.

Herrera says:

November 18, 2015 at 8:21 am

The title “Ba-ta-clan” refers to the rebel song in the operetta and is a word that is an orientalized version of the word “Ra-ta-plan” in French, which is “an onomatopoetic word suggesting the beating of a drum (like “rat-a-tat” in English), much used in French comic operas with a military theme.”

Opera fans will all recognize the famous “Rataplan” in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s-5uY9yqVo

Herrera says:

November 18, 2015 at 8:51 am

And here is Offenbach’s orientalized version in his operetta:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew-22hdT2sk

Which is awfully funny.

Alas, like The Mikado of Gilbert and Sullivan, the days of chinoiserie and japonaiserie operettas where white singers dress up as Asians are over.

Yes, yes, I know, Ba-ta-clan is actually a sendup of Napoleon III and not the Chinese, but still, the sight of white singers in “black face”, to borrow a term, won’t fly in the 21st century.

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