In class we watched a brief excerpt from this opera, an abstract depiction of a community of nuns going to their deaths in the Reign of Terror. Poulenc’s score has a surprising non-gimicky gimick: an actual guillotine sound for each woman. Several strong female roles with beautiful, naturalistic vocal writing. Throughout the opera, Robert Carsen’s abstract direction utilizes people as scenery and chooses a gentle but effective interpretive dance to take the place of a harsh guillotine scene. A director who proves that less can, indeed, be more.

In class we watched Pavarotti sing the famous “Vesti la giubba” scene. Overall, it’s a superb Met double bill of Puccini’s “Il Tabaro” (usually performed as the first leg of his “Il Trittico”) starring Placido Domingo, and this Pagliacci. Juan Pons and Teresa Strattas appear in both operas. But these one-act operas belong together because both are verismo tales of husband’s revenge.

In the final scene we saw Wotan kiss away Brunhilde’s immortality and lay her down to sleep behind a magic fire. Two DVDs are available — the Deutsche Grammaphone is the most recent and has better color and sound. Each print is also available in a complete Ring cycle.

A French production of Verdi’s Don Carlos - in class we viewed Waltraud Meier’s performance of the great aria “O don fatale” (fatal gift).