parterre box

57 comments

• TheInterpolator says:

  Oh — Il Tenore di Grazia: your posts have such an elegant, refined tone to them. The Interpolator LOVES them. Please publish whenever you can. The Interpolator very much enjoys your e-company.

  And Just Another Tenor, where are you?

  And finally, Dear Cieca: Have we highjacked your board to your harrumph or displeasure? I know that we would never want to incur the wrath of La Cieca, EVER. Yet the Interpolator’s promise of back-stage tix to the Met, the Bastille, or Houston Grand next season is on the table if Madame Cieca would deign to dine with the Interpolator after a performance in said house.

  And who knows…The Interpolator may be ready to make the same offer to Tenore di Grazia…but we need some more posts from you first. And.

  …the Interpolator is still so sad that NO ONE has commented following the long, thought-out post the Interpolator published under La Cieca’s “Renate Behle-s out NYCO” post. There are only 3 comments there! Does no one have an opinion to share on those words? The Interpolator thought CERTAINLY talk of Vaness’s lack of…(oh, go read it)…would generate some talk, or flak, or something.

  Well, the Interpolator MUST go to bed at this obscene hour. But must he sleep?

  Baises et baci,
  The Interpolator

  on September 1, 2005 at 4:46 AM
• Il Tenore di Coloratura Superba says:

  To The Interpolator…
  first, I must admit, I must give you credit for such an inventive nickname. I myself am a tenor in the bel canto repertoire and find that I enjoy interpolating high notes wherever possible, but of course, only when I feel that it helps to heighten the musical or dramatic experience – especially since I adore singing high notes. Perhaps you will agree with me that too often, singers are so ‘uncomfortable’ with their high registers because they are so afraid of them…they are so wound up worrying about ‘getting up there’…’hitting that note’…’getting off that note’…etc. I find that it is absolutely thrilling to throw a good solid high note (or several) in a performance…and I find that the more I love it, the more comfortable I feel and sound. What are your thoughts about the subject?

  I truly enjoy reading your entries, and I will say that I am burning with curiosity as to your identity, although I think I have a strong idea of whom you might be…because I believe I was in the house the evening that you debuted your bel canto repertoire at the Met. Hopefully I do not misdirect this compliment, but if you should be that gentleman who did sing that evening, then I wish to tell you that it was a wonderful performance and I enjoyed it immensely. However, I will agree with our other commentators that you have good reason to wish to remain anonymous.

  I am, however, intrigued to know what opera you were performing that included this high D. There are many that I can think of…most where the D’s are ‘interpolated’…and quite a few where they are written, but sadly many of them are more obscure (esp in the US) but absolute wonderful parts of the bel canto and French repertory.

  And as for Carol Vaness…she is one of my most FAVORITE singers…when she is singing things in her fach. She is a supreme Mozartian soprano. But I must be honest, I was simply heartbroken when I heard her attempt at Verdi’s Aroldo. One really must have a voice much like Caballe’s, Leontyne’s, Callas’, or Guleghina’s to get through that role. I am sadly not familiar with Dukas opera, but I am very well acquainted with the majority of his instrumental music (since I am also an instrumentalist and have been one much longer than I’ve been a singer). He is a truly underrated composer, but I do not doubt the heaftiness of that role. I personally would like to give Mme Vaness the benefit of the doubt and feel that aside from the Aroldo recording, she is fairly wise in her selections of house repertoire…the possiblity still exists that perhaps she discovered that she can’t get through it…but I think I will opine to believe that something else has happened in her life that is preventing her from staying on with the performances.

  I will say, that for everyone who reads this, if you have not heard Carol Vaness sing Elettra’s final aria in Idomeneo (D’Oreste, d’Ajace) you OWE IT TO YOURSELF to hear it. I personally feel that this is one of Wolfy’s most stunning vocal works – the orchestration is so descriptive and rather Romantic in many ways – extremely ahead of the times…especially when one considers that he wrote it at a relatively young age and long before he embarked on his partnership with Da Ponte. The only other recordings of that aria that I have heard do it complete justice are the ones of Barbara Frittoli (who sings the role magnificently) and Gruberova. I must also admit that Leontyne Price has very good recordings of it (one studio with orch and one live with piano when she was like 65 yrs old at Carnegie Hall)…it’s rather an anomoly for her voice…but Lord knows that woman could sing ANYTHING and sing the MESS out of it!! You should hear her Caro nome and her Sempre libera – stunning. But back to Mozart, I also have a rather rare live recording of Idomeneo with Joan Sutherland as Elettra. She interpolates a high C at the end of the aria, which I must say, I only wish Carol and Barbara and Edita had done – something about it just sits right…certainly when you consider that it is a tiny mad-scene.

  Also of highest merit (esp. for all you tenors), Rockwell Blake’s recording of Idomeneo’s aria (in it’s original version, not the later one Mozart composed for a tenor who had a heavier voice and couldn’t negotiate the runs) “Fuor del mar” is simply breathtaking (LITERALLY…the man NEVER breathes!!!!). I met Rocky and told him about this and how amazed I am at his consistancy and his endurance!! The whole album is truly a gem…some amazing things on there…and he’s like the ONLY person who has recorded the “Ich baue Ganz” from Seraglio at an appropriate tempo! It may say Andante, but it IS still in cut-time (Alla breve) – Mozart is VERY specific with his tempi and so many people just blatently ignore them. It just upsets me.

  I highly recommend to anyone who desires to discover a more intimate relationship with Mozart’s tempi to read the following: “The Tempo Indications of Mozart” by Jean-Pierre Marty (dry, but highly informative and extensive) and, most important of ALL = Mozart’s Letters and documents by people who worked closely with Mozart either as performers or observers. I am still trying to get my hands on a document published only in the Czech Republic written by a man who knew Mozart very well and attended the premiere of Don Giovanni and claimed to have such a perfectly photographic memory that he wrote down each and every tempo that was performed that evening. Granted, the metronome was not invented at that point…or if it was, it was very archaic…but people had many ways of determining tempo before metronomes – read publications by Quantz or by Leopold Mozart. I would be very interested to see what tempos this man claims to have heard.

  Well seeing as it’s late where I am and that I’ve just practically written a dissertation about nothing, I will retire. Interpolator, thank you for sharing your tales with us!!

  Buona sera, mio signore!

  (I have a High D of my own to sing tomorrow – along with two High Eb’s – rest is needed)

  on September 1, 2005 at 5:35 AM
• TheInterpolator says:

  Tenore di coloratura:

  Wonderful post. The Interpolator must reponsd in-depth tomorrow. Best of luck on your high E-flats.

  The Interpolator wishes to remind ALL you high-note queens out there (and not just the queens, but all high-note royalty, no matter what rank) that Edgardo in Lucia actually has a WRITTEN high E-flat toward the end of the “Verranno a te” duet in Act I. Yes, that’s Edgardo’s line, not Lucia’s, and he shoots up to a WRITTEN E-flat on the phrase “questo pegno allor” while Lucia tops out at a high C on that run.

  Can you name the tenors you’ve heard do that E-flat LIVE in the theatre? Here’s one: The Interpolator. How ’bout you?

  on September 1, 2005 at 7:06 AM
• Il Tenore di Coloratura Superba says:

  The Interpolator…

  Good point about Edgardo’s High E-flat…I myself have actually never heard a tenor (besides myself) sing that as it is notated…I’m glad to know that there is someone else out there who isn’t afraid to do what Donizetti asked. I will say that the only recording of Lucia that I have ever heard where anyone takes the E-flat (and I have over a dozen recordings myself) is my personal diva, Edita Gruberova in her recording with Alfredo Kraus. It’s a spectacular moment on record. Sadly, it’s only a studio recording, but Lord knows that Grubby can sing the mess out of ANY high notes – studio, live, or in the shower.
  I look foward to your full response to my previous entry. Ciao!

  on September 1, 2005 at 3:51 PM
• Dumbjock says:

  Wow … I just wasted half my afternoon at work reading through all this and then made a half-hearted attempt at figuring out who you doods are … finally gave up.

  Any of you singing at COC this year?

  Nobody good ever comes to Toronto

  on September 1, 2005 at 8:17 PM
• Trey Graham says:

  Hmmm. I believe the Interpolator’s first initial is Y.

  on September 1, 2005 at 11:24 PM
• Just Another Tenor says:

  My apologies, Oh interpolator, for having deserted the conversation – I was off at my sister’s wedding, and was thus detained for a few days.
  I have been enjoying the whole thread, the taking of sides as to whether or not the identity should be revealed, and the thrown-in comments about music!
  I think I may know the identity. If I am correct I shall never reveal it, even under torture. By all means, keep your identity hidden! We delight in your comments.
  I also, as a fellow singer, particularly appreciate the incredible generosity of the interpolator. Never have I witnessed such kindness towards colleagues, such eloquent praises towards fellow singers from a tenor (or from any voice type for that matter.)
  I only wish I knew how you keep so positive when faced with Filth as sometimes you must – I am sure the dementia moments must be worth every moment of horror. One great performance is worth a thousand bad ones, eh?
  Speaking of (what i think was a ) great performance,oOne last question, just to tease us a little more…
  Were you not too long ago directed by MK while singing alonsgside AD?

  In any event, you seem to be rather alone where you are, complainging about being lost in your scores. Next time you are in Paris, le tme know and I would be delighted to take you out to dinner!

  on September 2, 2005 at 12:33 AM
• Il Tenore di Grazia says:

  I am quite flattered by The Interpolator’s comments.

  I should say that when I first joined this blog, I was not expecting to be in the company of so many tenors. Real tenors, that is, because you must now know that Il Tenore di Grazia is no tenor indeed. At best a tenore disgraziato!

  No, ITDG grew up in a society where boys – real boys at least – were not trained in musical matters. Or at least that is his excuse. If the truth must be known (povero me!) he has no musical talent at all….

  ITDG is in the business of handling numbers, for which he does have some talent. Specifically, he is an engineer.

  So there you have it. The Interpolator has wonderful things to share with us but would not be wise to reveal his identity; while ITDG has no problem being known but has not gossip either.

  ITDG, however untalented he may be, does enjoy music very much and became an opera fan in his teen years. He resides in Washington and travels now and then to catch performances here and there. He does grace the Met with his patronage a few times every season.

  Even more, ITDG has actually performed with some of the greatest opera companies… as a super. In his youth he was thrilled to appear with the Met, La Scala, the Paris Opera, and a couple of local companies. He even did a bel canto opera: the Ponnelle-Abado production of La Cenerentola. But rest assured that he did not interpolate anything.

  Now that you know all this, I suppose ITDG should shut up and just listen to all that you, real musicians, have to say. He’ll try anyway.

  Of course, ITDG would love to know when and where he could hear The Interpolator or Il Tenore di Coloratura Superba perform. And if they ever come to Washington, dinner will be on me.

  Buona sera.

  on September 2, 2005 at 12:48 AM
• Dumbjock says:

  is still waiting to hear if any GOOD Tenors/actually singers in general are coming to Toronto.

  on September 2, 2005 at 1:36 PM
• TheInterpolator says:

  The Interpolator has finally returned to these shores, to the Land of the Free (interpolate High-C here, tacky and WONERFUL though it is), and the Home of the Brave (insert wild applause here, in appreciation of the High-C in the penultimate phrase of the National Anthem). I have been abroad in The Old Country doing some oh-so-serious Rossini opera-seria, complete with High D’s I’ve been whining about in these pages.

  Before getting down to bid’ness re: MG and I Vespri, the Interpolator would first like to report, for those interested, that the arias in both acts went well each night, and that one of them may well become a staple in the Interpolator’s concert repertoire. Although there are written high D’s in this version of the score, the second aria is in G-major and does NOT have a written high D — yet it literally screams for one.

  So, “Regnava”-style, the Interpolator bullied the conductor (who was actually very sweet about it — and just sweet in general, but never mind) into allowing the Interpolator to insert the high-D to conclude the aria, complete with a glorious portamento down to the G for the final vocal release.

  Now, the Interpolator DOES NOT mean to say that HIS high-D or portamento are glorious (that is for the fans, and house managament, to decide). Rather, the Interpolator means that the mere ACT of sitting on a high-D, holding and holding, growing in throbbing full voice, then using a portamento down from the dominant D to the tonic G is ITSELF a glorious act, one that the Interpolator dreamed about as a teeneager listening to Joan Sutherland and Beverly Sills do repeatedly on his well-worn cassette tapes.

  So please understand. The Interpolator hopes that the audience enjoyed the panache of it, the sound of it, and the musico-drammatico effect of it serving to propel the drama. BUT…

  BUT…. Dare say it? Do I?

  Yes, the Interpolator shall say it, as he thinks that, perhaps, Il Tenore di Grazia and Il Tenore di Coloratura Superba are likely to appreciate it — agree or disagree — but appreciate it, nonetheless. So here it is:

  Holding a penultimate dominant chord-tone before final harmonic resolution to the tonic in Rossini can be — well — tacky. But here’s the thing:

  The audience LOVES it.

  The house management thinks the Interpolator became a god — for that one instant — during the D, he was a god.

  It makes a huge emotional impact on the listener, moving the drama forward and underlining the libretto words “Per sempre!” Forever! That is, “Per” on high-A, “Sem” on the high-D with fermata – hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it — then portamento down to the G on “pre” after signalling to the chef-d’orchestre that the Interpolator is about to leave the god-note and portamento down to the close.

  Now. Let’s talk a minute.

  Are any of you (particularly you two, Il Tenore di Grazia and Il Tenore di Coloratura Superba) familiar with the Joan Sutherland recording of “Come tacer…Vorreri spiegarvi” from Rossini’s “Il Cambiale di Matrimonio?” To conclude the cabaletta, she interpolates a high-E dominant chord-tone, then holds it, then she portamentos down to the vocal release note of the high-A.

  This is precisely the same thing that the Interpolator does in HIS recent Rossini outing, though in the key of G-major (thus the high-D) instead of A-major (giving us Joanie’s high-E).

  Well, if Ricky Bonynge can sanction such an interpolation, then why can’t we? After all, it was frankly Ricky Bonynge and Joan Sutherland who COMPLETE fashioned the Interpolator’s view and vision of bel-canto. I can’t help it. It is “in here” to stay. Say what you will about Ricky and Joan (and it’s ALL been said, hasn’t it!!), but nevertheless those two Aussies changed my perception of Bellini, Rossini, and Donizetti forever.

  Again, like it or not, disagree or not, we must remember this: The Interpolator is a singer working in A-houses, doing almost exclusively bel-canto rep (though I include Mozart and some Meyerbeer here, if you’ll forgive that slight indiscretion, because vocally, the things that make the Interpolator a good “Cosi” Ferrando also make him a good “Fille” Tonio, a good “Lucia” Edgardo, and a good “Puritani” Arturo.

  These roles (really, the milieu of Mozart/Rossini/Donizetti/Meyerbeer/Bellini) are the one the Interpolator has been singing at the Met, Covent Garden, and of course the Bastille, and all over. The Interpolator says this not to brag (because it is NOT a braggart speaking, it is a singer who feels lukcy to get out of bed every day and be “forced” to go to work singing the Italian Tenor to Madame Fleming’s Marschallin, or Andrea Rost’s Lucia. The Interpolator is blessed, and is honored, and he will continue to hold up his end of the bargain until his vocal cords simply no longer allow it.

  And from this platform, allow the Interpolator the slight liberty to say this: I have never, EVER, given “DEMENTED” performances when forced to sing ABSOLUTELY “come scritto,” or “as-written-only.” Instead, the Interpolator’s truly demented performaces (and I suppose there have only been a few, really, but God KNOWS I try…I try, I try, I try)…

  …well, those few truly demented performances have arisen when the Interpolator has thrown caution to the wind, abandoning all decorum, and decided to not only sing but HOLD TILL CURTAIN-DOWN a final high-D to conclude Edgardo’s Act III cavatina. After all, after Lucia’s E-flat madscene, why the fuck can’t the Interpolator finalize that FAB D-major aria with a high-D to send the audience home? And, while he’s up there anyway, why can’t the Interpolator just hold that fucker until the curtain rings down, the lights go to all-black, and the chef throws his final release? THAT, my fiend, is the proper way to interpolate a high-D.

  Just ask Ricky Bonynge. Yep, he’s the one that taught me THAT little trick; it certainly was not the shitty, pissant house stage “unter-direcktor” asisstants at the Garden. Puh-leze.

  When the Interpolator was doing major, extensive study of I Puritani with Maestro Bonynge in preparation for his first professional-level performaces of the role (as opposed to the Interpolator’s first outing in conservatory with that piece), he was a revelation of dementia to the Interpolator. Yes, it’s true. Dementia through TEAHCING, COACHING from Ricky Bonynge. Thank you, Ric, for preparing me to sing Puritani, Lucia, and Rossini seria in ways I never thought I would.

  Now harken back. When the Interpolator was a teenaged singer-wannabe, he often listened to the Sutherland/Pavarotti recording of Puritani, as well as the Sutherland/Pavarotti recordings of La Fille and Lucia. One can well imagine the feelings that Interpolator had, wondering whether he would ever be able to sing that type of florid, near-impossible music.

  …and then to actually learn at this man’s FEET? At his piano in Switzerland and in Sydney? Allow the Interpolator another liberty: the Bonynge bashers should know that Bonynge himself truly prepared the Interpolator for engagements, RETURN engagements, and many future contracts singing the standard bel-canto repertoire, and the Interpolator will forever be grateful to him for that.

  What so MANY people do not understand — even people that seem to admire the Interpolator’s singing! — is that my “career” is still economically driven! I pay rent on an apartment in the States, I own a flat in a major European capital minutes from the opera house — and these things cost money. Flying around the world twice per month is expensive, too, and this cost is not always directly reimbursed. (OFten, it is built into the fees — but it just depends.)

  So, we can talk ’till we’re dry about the right rep, artistic maturity, and all those things…but let’s face it. The Interpolator wants to be (1) hired, then (2) hired AGAIN to the same house, (3) healthfully singing good rep, and (4) making good money at it. Why SHOULDN’T the INterpolator be making big money for it?

  Franky, much like a surgeon or a lawyer, the skills I bring to the marketplace are rare ones. Certainly, another tenor can always sing faster, higher, brighter, darker, more impassioned, or more restrained, but the Interpolator knows that he can do SOME things well. To these he will stay true.

  But at times, when I hear the orchestra hit those A-major chords to begin “Un aura amorosa,” or that C-major orchestra hit to open Count Almaviva’s “Ecco ridente” in Barbiere…The Interpolator is standing there on stage thinking “I might have to vomit first, then continue with the aria if possible.”

  Does the average guy realize — no, do gli Tenori di Grazia e di Coloratura Superba, even — TRULY REALIZE how many times the Interpolator has been put through the paces of Cosi or Barbiere? When the orchestra falls onto the lush spread of that D-flat major chord to open “Di rigori” from Rosen-k, do you REALIZE what goes through his head??!! Well fuck. Let him tell you:

  “Mein Gott. Not another ‘Di rigori’ with everyone waiting for that one top C-flat that Puccini singers CAN’T sing right, and that light tenors CAN’T get enough SOUND out, but that standard lyrics don’t have the stamina for, so they have to hire my voice type, but really they can’t afford me for the one aria only, yet it takes a voce/stimmfach of my profile to be able to sing ‘Di Rigori’ at international-A-House standards, but they’ll never book the Interpolator or GHJ or JDF or MH for it, but they DID get the Interpolator because they offered him the rare Mathilde de Shabran of Rossini at the same time, so I guess I’ll just try to sing the shit out of it, then I do sing the shit out of it, then MAYBE, but only MAYBE, do I wait around till the Vorhang of the Erste Act to say Guten Nacht or Bonne Nuit to Debbie Voigt/Renee Fleming/Kiri te Kanawa (at her last Marchallin, thank you very much, and yes I DID wait around that night, and yes the Interpolator even waited till the ending Vorhang of the Dritte Act for HER last Marchalling, and yes the Interpolator cried as Dame Kiri — the beautiful, the iceberg, the untouchable, the perfect, the gifted, the goddess, the stretched-on-an-E-flat in the Trav recording till her cords almost snapped — turned away and sang ‘ja, ja’ then walked off stage-right while the Interpolator wondered just WHAT THE FUCK he was doing singing the Italian Tenor in Dame Kiri’s puported last Marschallin and who the FUCK gave him this job, never mind the pressure) or Renate Behle or Karen Armstrong or Soile Isokoski comes offstage for the First Act after that DREADFULLY long monologue that is ridiculously easy to sing, overrated in the extreme – but hard to memorize, of course, so snaps for the non-deutschen-sprechen sops, right? whatever – but AFTER which monologue, as the sop sweeps off stage to eat fruit and crackers during ALL (yes ALL) of Act II while Sopie and Octavian both sing their fucking tits off, and while Susan Graham actually EARNS that big paycheck she asks for, and deserves, and nails the high B-flat EVERY night, and then the INterpolator shits his pants that someone actually remembered that he was singing this role at the Bastille back in the 90′s along with another tenor, alternating, and yes with Renee and Barbara — and then:

  and then:

  one realizes why Guleghina, despite her flaws, said “Yeah, you betcha friggin life I’ll head to Washington and sing Vespri.” Yep, she said YES, because she could say the SAME things the Interpolator just said above in the long(ish) paragraph regarding what A-house singers often (OK, not always, but…) think when faced with another Giovanni for me, or Nabucco for Maria, or Lucia for me, or Forza for Maria, or Barbiere for me, or Aida for Maria, or La Fille for me, or Tosca for her…

  So, to my friend Maria Guleghina, with whom I’ve had the pleasure of sharing the stage and being BLOWN away into inaudibility by that God-given instrument of yours, the Interpolator says only one thing:

  God speed with Vespri. You show’em what a spirited Russian girl from the Soviet provinces can do. I’ll be thinking of you not on stage, where you will do just fine, but back stage in your loge before the performance, where your mind will set itself for the vocalism and execution ahead. And should they sack you, before or after opening night, then sing the SHIT out of your next Aidas and Toscas and Abigailles, like you always do, and I will cheer you on, note for note for note.

  And perhaps we will meet, someday, for ‘Sulla tomba’ in the gardens of Ravenswood.

  God speed.

  The Interpolator

  on September 6, 2005 at 10:23 PM