Opera has its goose game

On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, the Bleu Nuit publishing house returns to its origins with a reference discotheque, today dedicated to opera, and enhanced with a game around this lyrical art, an original initiative which may interest more than one person this holiday season.

The purchaser of this hybrid object is quickly reassured by discovering the traditional goose game board. Nothing has been changed: 63 spiral squares, six traditional pawns, two red and gold dice; a series of traps, here titled according to the operatic world (the “prison” box thus becomes, for example, “blocked in a box”); identical playing rules; a winner when one of the players is on the last square…

In its simplest version, the main thread of the opera could completely go by the wayside, the squares referring to a lyrical work from the great repertoire simply serving to move the pawns forward in the fewest possible turns without any other stake. However, the author and publisher Jean-Philippe Biojout suggests making the game more complex by identifying the composer and/or the period of composition to validate each box: a sheet summarizing all these elements is thus offered to the players.

It is a shame that there is no need for any musical note to play, in the same way only works from the great repertoire appear on the boxes, evoked here by emblematic visuals of the History of art and not of opera productions, or as one might have imagined, photographs of great performers, lyrical theaters…

The reference disc indicated for each opera can only be of interest to the “budding” lyricomaniac, as it refers to the great classical recordings (for example that of EMI at La Scala with Maria Callas as Norma under the direction of Tullio Serafin, or again Natalie Dessay in Lucie de Lammermoor under the direction of Evelino Pidò in Lyon, EMI) these associated with a brief text presenting the work, accompanied by its argument and a photo staging.

Finally, to help the player, a 216-page color book, The reference discotheque on CDis included in the box set, presenting in two pages one lyrical work out of just over a hundred in total.

(Visited 3 times, 1 visits today)