''Parterre Box'' (often stylized as ''parterre box'') is an

online magazine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to an online only magazine was the comput ...

devoted to

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

, which cultivates an attitude that may be deemed to be campy, critical and opinionated with explicitly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

overtones. The publication was founded by the New Yorker

James Jorden James Glenn Jorden (August 6, 1954 – October 2, 2023) was an American blogger, journalist and music critic who wrote about opera. He was known for founding and editing the zine '' Parterre Box''. Background James Glenn Jorden was born on Au ...

in 1993 during a period of under-employment as an opera director. It appeared bi-monthly from 1993 to 2001 in print form. It is now solely published on the Web, where it is considered an influential opera

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

. In May 2005, Jorden introduced the first regular opera

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

entitled ''Unnatural Acts of Opera''. For this show, Jorden took on the drag persona of " La Cieca", a gossip commentator. La Cieca introduced a single act of what she called "demented" opera, concentrating on live vocal performances from around 1950 to the time the acts started. A highlight of the 2006 season of ''Unnatural Acts of Opera'' was the first ever podcast of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's four-opera cycle ''

Der Ring des Nibelungen (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the . The compo ...

'', an event Jorden termed "''Götterdämmerung''". Jorden has also contributed a number of opera video clips to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, concentrating on his favorite divas, including

Renata Scotto Renata Scotto (24 February 1934 – 16 August 2023) was an Italian soprano, opera director, and voice teacher. Recognised for her sense of style, her musicality, and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered to have been one of the pr ...

Leonie Rysanek Leopoldine Rysanek (14 November 1926 – 7 March 1998), known professionally as Leonie Rysanek, was an Austrian dramatic soprano. Life Rysanek was born in Vienna as one of six children of a Czech father and an Austrian mother. She entered t ...

and

Dame Gwyneth Jones Dame Gwyneth Jones (born 7 November 1936) is a Welsh dramatic soprano, widely regarded as one of the greatest Wagnerian sopranos of the second half of the 20th century. The possessor of a large-scaled, powerful dramatic soprano voice, joined ...

. The podcasts appear to have ended in 2009 and are known to be available in various services, including

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

and in streaming form on the parterre.com website. From 2009 to 2013, Jorden contributed opera reviews to the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

''.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Opera Magazines about opera Music blogs Magazines published in New York City Online magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1993 1993 establishments in New York City

References

Further reading

External links