Opera on the couch

Carmen

2011-09-08T09:49:00.001-07:00

Opera on the Couch Carmen

Bizet's sexy thriller about a soldier's ill-fated obsession with the
ultimate femme fatale

Saturday - October 1, 2011

9am-Noon

Introduction: N. Lynn Buell, MSSW, Certified Psychoanalyst, Faculty of SPSI
and Private Practice on Capitol Hill in Seattle

Presenters: Robert Bergman, MD, Supervising and Training Analyst, SPSI
and private practice in Seattle

Ernesto Alorda, Community and Artist Relations
Manager, Seattle Opera

Program: 9:00am to 9:30am Registration and Refreshments
9:30am to Noon Informal presentations, followed by
discussion & questions

Location: At the home of Dr. and Mrs. David Spain on Seattle's
Capitol Hill

Registration: Complimentary. However, a donation of $5.00 is
requested to cover the cost of refreshments. Space is limited to the first
25 who register. Please RSVP to N. Lynn Buell at nlynnb@msn.com or 206 860
2962. The address and directions will be provided when you RSVP.

Upcoming Sessions

2009-09-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

Friends,

Hope you enjoyed the Ring session. Please block December 20th, 2009 and February 20th, 2010 on your calendars for the upcoming Opera on the Couch sessions. See details below:

Verde's Il Trovatore
Sunday, December 20 from 10-1
Introduction: N. Lynn Buell, LICSW, Certified psychoanalyst in private practice in Seattle
Presenter: Nina Schorr, MD, Faculty SPSI and psychoanalyst private practice in Seattle

Verde's Falstaff
Saturday, February 20, from 9-Noon
Introduction: N. Lynn Buell, LICSW, Certified psychoanalyst in private practice in Seattle
Presenter: Robert Bergman, MD, Faculty SPSI, Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst in private practice in Seattle and Jon Dean, Education Department, Seattle, Opera

For additional information, contact N. Lynn Buell, LICSW at 206 860 2962

Next Session on August 16th: The RIng Cycle

2009-07-14T16:16:00.000-07:00

Have you been to the Ring Cycle? Did you know that the Seattle Opera is known and respected for its production of the Ring Cycle?

What is behind the four Wagner Operas that make the Ring Cycle? Come and join us to learn about the psychology behind the Ring Cycle. Following are the program details:

Sunday, August 16th Wagner’s @10:00AM

“Ring”

Introduction: N. LYNN BUELL, MSSW, Certified Psychoanalyst in

private practice in Seattle

Presentations: MORRY TOLMACH, MSW, Psychotherapist in

practice in Seattle and JOHN LOUIS DIGAETANI, PhD, English

Professor at Hofstra University. He wrote Wagner and Suicide and

Penetrating Wagner’s “Ring”

The location of the program will be provided after you RSVP. Attendance

is limited to the first 35 people who sign-up. A donation to help defray the

cost of refreshments is requested.

The program usually lasts 2.5 hours.

Please RSVP Lynn Buell, at nlynnb@msn.com or 206-860-296

Next Session: Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle on SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH - 9 AM-Noon

2009-02-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

Join us in a journey inside the human mind with Hungarian music. Our next session is to psychoanalyze Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle. Our special guests will be:

1. DR. NINA SCHORR M.D., PSYCHOANALYST IN PRIVATE PRACTICE AND ON THE FACULTY OF SPSI AND UW
2. LARRY UHLMAN, EDUCATOR

We will start at 9AM with refreshments and visiting and begin the presentations at 9:30AM, followed by plenty of time for discussion. To attend, please RSVP to Lynn Buell at
nlynnb@msn.com or 206 860 2962. The location of the program will be made available to the ones who RSVP. Usually, the location is a nice private home around downtown Seattle.

The following information provided by Larry Uhlman may help you in enjoying the session to its fullest extent:

Maria Tatar's Secret's beyond the Door which is extremely helpful with a whole host of background information to the story of Bluebeard. In terms of Erwartung, which I will also be talking about because of its relevancy to Bartok's piece, there is an excellent chapter in Allen Shawn's Arnold Schoenberg's Journey. I got both books very easily through Amazon. Those who are planning to attend might also want to revisit "The Case of Anna O." in Breuer and Freud's Studies on Hysteria (1895). I am also likely to refer a bit to Freud's Beyond the Pleasure Principle. It is not particularly easy for me to scan anything, so hopefully these recommendations will suffice.

Listening to the operas ahead of time is also very beneficial. Here are the recordings I am using that should be readily available (again Amazon):

Bluebeard's Castle - Decca's 1999 remastered version of original 1996 recording featuring the husband/wife duo of Walter Berry and Christa Ludwig and conducted by Istvan Kertesz.
Erwartung - on EMI Classics 2 CD set entitled Schoenberg: Orchestral Works which has several other pieces by the composer worth hearing including the stunning chamber work Verklarte Nacht. An added benefit of this recording is its discount price. However, the Philips 2005 recording conducted by James Levine and featuring Jessye Norman is the standard recommendation.

To learn more about Bluebeard's Castle, please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebeard%27s_Castle

Elektra: A tragedy psychoanalyzed on October 4th

2008-08-30T15:59:00.000-07:00

Dear Opera lovers,

Elektra by Richard Strauss is an opera based upon the great Greek tragedy of the same name by the tragedian Sophocles. It is an opera of raw and startling emotions. Strauss was reluctant to compose it so soon after the disturbing Salome. But Hugo von Hofmannsthal, initiating their legendary collaboration, encouraged him to set the libretto. Primeval desires for wrongs to be righted propel the unforgiving action of the dissonant opera, as shocking today as it was in 1909.

Join us for a stimulating morning on October 4th at 9:00AM with two of the best brains in Seattle.

1. Robert Bergman, M.D., Psychoanalyst in Private Practice

2. Perry Lorenzo, Director of Education at Seattle Opera

We will explore what Elektra tells us about the human nature. You will have an opportunity to ask a lot of questions.

Please RSVP to Lynn at nlynnb@msn.com to get the exact program location (a nice private home in Seattle downtown area). Space is limited. Email Lynn at your earliest convenience!

Coffee and refreshments will be served at the location. A small donation is suggested to cover the cost of food. The program will last approximately three hours.

To learn more about Elektra, please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektra_(opera).

Upcoming TOSCA session: Preview II from the speaker

2008-01-25T19:31:00.000-08:00

In Puccini's TOSCA, the two main characters, Tosca and Scarpia are the
two ends of the spectrum as far as morality and human character are
concerned. Tosca is the vulnerable beauty who devotes herself to her
art, religion and her love, Cavadarossi. Scarpia is the evil incarnate
for whom any means is legitimate in the service of satisfying his
selfish passion. However, seen through the analytic lense, Tosca and
Scarpia are a lot more similar than initially meets the eye. They both
split off and deny unacceptable parts of themselves, the unconscious act
that leads both to destruction. Tosca denies her aggression and anger
and Scarpia, his vulnerability and yearning to be loved. Tosca's
shrewdness as a negotiator when she is trying to save her lover is a
glimpse into the not-so-naive aspects of her internal world. Her killer
instinct literally takes over when she stabs Scarpia. To Scarpia, what
is repulsive is his vulnerability which he rejects and denies, taking on
the outward mask of a villain. His naivete which he tries so hard to
disavow, comes back to haunt him when he fails to recognize Tosca's plan
to kill him. Cavadorossi is the character who comes the closest to being
a "pure soul"- he is dedicated to his art, paints the Madonna, tries to
save his friend and is devoted to Tosca. His human nature flares up very
briefly when he thinks about the Contessa's beauty and appears to
fantasize about (lust over?) her. But he quickly clamps down on his
corporal passion and announces his devotion to Tosca, even when she is
not there to demand it. He can only experience uncontrollable passion
vicariously through Tosca: he tells her that he loves her rage.
The plot of TOSCA is quite apparent from the opening scene. The audiance
is well aware that the food basket is what will give Angelotti away and
the fan will be used by Scarpia in his evil scheme. There is no real
suspense in the story. What makes the plot compelling is the
psychological complexity of the characters. As the audiance, we feel our
own internal conflicts and the ebb and flow of our own passions as we
identify with each of the characters. The sophisticattion of the score
as it rises and falls with these passions and their denial is another
aspect of what makes Puccini a virtuoso of Realism. His depiction of the
internal dynamics of human nature is /verismo,/ indeed.

Thanks to Piyale Comert, our speaker at the next session on February 23 for providing the above preview and preparing us for a stimulating discussion. Piyale Comert, Ph.D. is a psychoanalyst and neuropsychologist in private practice in Seattle. She is on the faculty of Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (SPSI) and adjunct faculty at the University of Washington, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Please share your thoughts with us on this blog.

Get an introduction to Tosca at Tosca on Wiki

Preview from the upcoming TOSCA session

2008-01-20T18:02:00.000-08:00

During the first half of the 19th century the flame of Romanticism burned brightly. With the failure of several Romantic plays in Vienna in 1850 we see a dramatic change in the artistic sentiments of Western Europe. This is partially due to the failure of the Revolutions of 1848, 49, when much of the Romantic aspirations were smothered. They were replaced by Realism, the art of observation, incarnate in the novels of Gustave Flaubert and the art of Gustave Courbet. In Italian opera this found its expression in verismo, of which Puccini's masterpiece, Tosca, is a marvelous example. In Realism, the crowd triumphs over the individual, the herd over the hero. In Tosca, the romantic characters, Tosca, Cavaradossi, and Scarpia, are gone, replaced by the herdmen Sacristan and the sycophant, Spoletto. Another aspect of verismo is demonstrated by Puccini's complete faithfulness to the scene. The beginning of the third act simply shows anonymous soldiers in their morning routine. Like all great artists, the composer and librettist mediate truths about their own time through an artifice, in this case Napoleon's surprising victory at the Battle of Marengo in 1800. From a psychological point of view, one of the great tradgedies in the opera is Floria's failure to know herself, a failure which sets into motion the deaths of the main characters.

Thanks to Eric Hanson, our speaker at the next session on February 23 for providing the above preview and preparing us for a stimulating discussion. Please share your thoughts with us on this blog.

Get an introduction to Tosca at Tosca on Wiki

Next Session: TOSCA on February 23, 2008

2008-01-20T17:52:00.000-08:00

Please join us for the wonderful marriage of opera and psychoanalysis. We start at 9AM with refreshments and visiting and begin the presentations at 9:30AM, followed by plenty of time for discussion. Although the program is free, we ask you to RSVP to Lynn Buell, at nlynnb@msn.com or 206 860 2962. We hold the salons/study circles in private homes.

Program:

INTRODUCTION: LYNN BUELL, MSSW

PRESENTATIONS:

1) PIYALE COMERT, PHD, PSYCHOANALYST IN PRIVATE PRACTICE AND ON THE FACULTY OF SPSI;

2) ERIC HANSON, DMA, DIRECTOR OF INSTURMENTAL MUSIC AT SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY

The location of the program will be shared after you RSVP - two weeks prior to the program. Attendance is limited to the first 35 people who sign-up.

Get an introduction to Tosca at Tosca on Wiki