Moondai Furkids Sing Opera

Opera is a very challenging medium for us, either because of the complexity of the lyrics (such as stream of consciousness where one thought follows another willy-nilly) or the difficulty in illustrating the drama (such as an impassioned daughter threatening to throw herself in the nearest river if father won’t permit her to marry the love of her life). But it is worth the effort because the music is so glorious! 

For our first aria, the furkids chose the barcarolle Belle Nuit, ô Nuit d’Amour  (Beautiful Night, Oh Night of Love) from “The Tales of Hoffman” by Jacques Offenbach. The Italian barcarola (from barca meaning 'boat') is originally a traditional folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers but later came also to mean a piece of music composed in that style.

Offenbach’s Barcarolle is a duet which, in this recording, is sung by Russian operatic soprano Anna Netrebko and Latvian operatic lyric mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča. 

The orchestral introduction is almost a minute long so I recommend watching the video while they play. When Elīna begins to sing, that will be your queue to begin scrolling through the illustrated lyrics as you sing along in the furkids’ best English translation. Enjoy!

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