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| Opera Australia's production of Don Giovanni at the Sydney Opera House in 2020 | Photo by Keith Saunders. |
It figures that songs about booze’s myriad effects on our mood dates back almost as far. Folk music worldwide is awash with drinking songs. The blues brims with them. Country music has spawned countless cryin’-into-your-whiskey ballads, and without alcohol, it’s hard to imagine rock ‘n’ roll would have happened at all.
But did you know that opera has a genre of fabulous drinking songs all of its own?
1. La Traviata: Brindisi (The Drinking Song)
Sung in the first act of Verdi’s masterpiece, during a late-night Parisian shindig, La Traviata's Brindisi is a swooning, waltz-time celebration of the pleasures of love, good company and wine:
“Ah, let's enjoy the cup, the cup and the chants,
the embellished night and the laughter;
let the new day find us in this paradise …”
One of the most captivating songs in opera, the Brindisi is the musical equivalent of a glass of the finest Champagne to start a party. Listen to it and you’ll know what it is to throw caution to the wind.
Go to: La Traviata on the Sydney Harbour
2. Don Giovanni: 'Fin ch’han dal vino' (the Champagne aria)
In this rapid-fire aria, the swashbuckling Don Giovanni gets his party head on. He wants dancing! He wants gallons of wine! He wants girls, girls, girls — preferably more than one at a time.
Some say this galloping, two-minute tour de force gets its “Champagne aria” nickname from an old tradition that required the singer to swig a glass of Champagne before launching into the tongue-twisting lyric, and then hurl it away at the end.
Audiences love the Don and they love 'Fin ch’han dal vino'. It often brings them to their feet. This is Mozart’s genius uncorked.
3. Faust: 'Vin ou bière'
Sung by a huge crowd of soldiers, students and pretty girls all high as kites on free vino, this rollicking choral number from Charles Gounod’s opera has the bar-thumping energy of a footy club anthem:
“Wine or beer, beer or wine
A drunk drinks anything!”
Loud, busy and full of colour and character, this is grand opera’s rowdiest happy hour and it’s impossible to resist.
Go to: Faust at the Sydney Opera House
4. Carmen: 'Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre' (The Toreador Song)
You might not recognise the title but you’ll certainly know Bizet’s melody. Sung by the bullfighter Escamillo, this jaunty number is an extended toast to all those crazy-brave enough to pit themselves against the mighty bull in the grisly circus of the ring.
Go to: Carmen at the Sydney Opera House
5. Lucrezia Borgia: 'Il segreto per esser felici'
Donizetti’s giddy aria is one of opera’s great party-starters. The secret to being happy, Orsini sings, is to;
“Drink and laugh at the madmen
Who spare a thought for the future.
Let's not try to solve an uncertain tomorrow
When our today is ready to be enjoyed!”
It’s one of the most ravishingly pretty melodies you’ll ever hear, but there’s a stinger: for these guys, there is no tomorrow. The wine they’re quaffing has been poisoned. Within minutes, they’ll all be dead!
Go to: Lucrezia Borgia in Concert at Sydney Town Hall
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