Rufus Is a Slyboots

Posted at 5:00 PM on May 1, 2008 by Rex Levang (2 Comments)

I see that Rufus Wainwright's new project (see Gillian Martin's post below) even gets a mentions on the Current's blog -- nothing like a new opera to light up the blogosphere.

According to the New York Times article that Gillian links to, Wainwright's "Greek Song" makes a sly reference to the opera Der Freischutz.

But I'm not so sure; I wonder if there was a slip somewhere along the way. To me, it sounds like a different opera, Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz. Here's a clip of each, so see what you think; go about 1:10 into the opera scene to get the Big Tune.

Comments (2)

Yep, i can definitely hear the similarities. Like alot actually, but very subtle.

Posted by Linda | May 1, 2008 6:32 PM

It's definitely a few seconds from L'amico Fritz's famous aria, melody, harmony, and even rhythm.

Good catch!

-Erik

Posted by Erik Bruchez | May 3, 2008 3:10 PM