House of Cards: The Opera Music in Episode 1
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Introduction
The first episode of House of Cards features a wide range of opera music, from early examples of the genre to more modern pieces. Here is a guide to the opera music featured in the show.
Opera has been around for centuries, and it was only in the last hundred years or so that it began to be performed with regularity in public. Opera music is characterized by its grandiose, emotive style, and often tells a dramatic story through song. It is this dramatic element that has made opera one of the most popular and enduring forms of classical music.
The first piece of opera music featured in House of Cards is an aria from Giuseppe Verdi’s “Rigoletto.” This aria, “Questa o quella,” is sung by the character of Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) as he contemplates which woman he will pursue next. The aria is a good example of Verdi’s operatic style, which emphasizes grandiose melodies and expressive vocal performances.
The next piece of opera music comes from Richard Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.” This opera, which is about a group of medieval German singers, is one of Wagner’s most famous works. The excerpt featured in House of Cards is the famous “Prelude” to the opera, which is known for its grandiose opening fanfare.
The final piece of opera music featured in House of Cards is from Giacomo Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly.” This opera tells the tragic story of a young Japanese woman who falls in love with an American sailor. The excerpt featured in the show is the emotional duet between Madama Butterfly and her child, which ends with Madama Butterfly committing suicide. This duet showcases Puccini’s ability to write moving and expressive melodies, which helped make him one of the most popular operatic composers of all time.
The Opera Music in Episode 1
In episode one of House of Cards, the opera music that can be heard in the background is Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata. The opera is about a courtesan named Violetta who falls in love with a young man named Alfredo. The music in the episode helps to set the tone of the scene and foreshadows the tragedy that will unfold.
The Opening Scene
The opening scene of the first episode of House of Cards is set at an opera house, and features the aria “Tu che le vanita” from Giacomo Puccini’s opera Tosca. The aria is sung by the character Margaret Tilden (played by Alison Pill), an opera singer who is in a relationship with the show’s protagonist, Francis Underwood (played by Kevin Spacey).
The aria is significant for a few reasons. First, it establishes Margaret as a character with a passion for music, and sets up her relationship with Francis as one based on shared interests. Second, it introduces the theme of power and control that will be central to the series. In the aria, Margaret sings about how love makes her feel like she is “drowning in honey,” and how she would do anything for her lover. This provides a contrast to Francis’ more calculating and manipulative personality, which will be developed over the course of the series.
Finally, the choice of music reflects the high-stakes world of politics that House of Cards is set in. Tosca is an opera about betrayal and murder, and features one of the most famous scenes in all of opera: Tosca throws herself off a parapet after stabs her lover, Scarpia, to death. This scene is alluded to in the show’s opening credits sequence, which features a close-up shot of Spacey’s eye as he stares down at Washington D.C. from atop the Capitol building. The use of operatic music in this scene foreshadows the dark events to come in House of Cards.
The Final Scene
The final scene of episode one in the first season of House of Cards is perhaps one of the most memorable in the entire series. In it, Frank Underwood (played by Kevin Spacey) commits a cold-blooded murder, pushing his longtime friend and mentor Congressman Peter Russo down a flight of stairs to his death. The music that plays over this scene is an aria from the opera La Wally by Alfredo Catalani. The piece, which is entitled “Ebben? Ne Andrò Lontana” (“Will I Ever Leave?”), is sung by the character Wally, who is distraught over the loss of her lover. The lyrics and music perfectly capture the emotional weight of the scene, and the use of opera in such a pivotal moment is one of the many things that makes House of Cards so great.
Conclusion
We can conclude that the opera music in House of Cards: The Opera Music in Episode 1 is light, ethereal, and dreamlike.
