parterre box

57 comments

• Il Tenore di Grazia says:

  Ah, Interpolator, you’ve turned me into a blogger. If only our chat could have been in front of a fire and with a bottle of wine !

  Anyway, why do you sound so defensive? You can sing high notes for me anytime.

  Your last posting had me thinking about how the audience (I ?) reacts to singers.

  There are the truly gifted singers who can go onstage and just enjoy doing a beautiful job. They know they can do it, and they do it. (Sutherland, Graham, Terfel come to mind.) We in the audience can sit back and just enjoy.

  There are also singers who are just as happy to be on that stage singing for us, but are not as prodigiously gifted. Their “work” can be sensed by audience at least at times. It may be hard work but they’d rather be there than anywhere else. That joy communicates to the audience and your effort is appreciated and actually can add to the intensity of the performance. Yes, we sit at the edge of our seats waiting for that difficult note and then breathe out in contentment when it comes out loud and clear. Just like watching a trapeze act. We love it.

  A special class of singer is the good singer having a bad night or no longer able to cope with all the challenges of the role. They may be there because that’s their life, they need the work, or are oblivious to their shortcomings. (The ill singer or the one having a bad night may not realize the problem until he/she is already onstage and it’s too late to do anything about it.) More often than not we root for these, hope that this night proves special. Sometimes we just imagine that we’re hearing the young or healthy singer. We applaud the pleasure they’ve given us in the past.

  And then, of course, are the simply inadequate singers, who have no business being onstage or at least performing the evening’s role. No, we don’t enjoy those and I’ve never felt that they were enjoying themselves either. Sometimes the singer’s effort and suffering are pathetic. Our money and time was wasted and we resent it.

  So, what kind of singer would you like to be? From your comments I see you definitely in one of the first two categories. (Excepting the occasional bad night that puts you in the third category.) You want to apologize for that?

  Trust me, the more you enjoy yourself, the more we enjoy ourselves. The singer’s pleasure for singing never fails to communicate loud and clear across the foolights.

  on September 7, 2005 at 11:01 PM
• Il Tenore di Grazia says:

  Incidentally, Mr. Interpolator, just so that you know it, I have the strong suspicion that you’ve thrown us one or two red herrings with regard to your identity.

  I’m also disappointed that Il Tenore di Coloratura Superba has not given us any hints about his identity. I’m not suggesting that he reveal it, but come on, make us think about it!

  We also have a lyric baritone and “just another” tenor in our midst….

  on September 7, 2005 at 11:10 PM
• TheInterpolator says:

  Important message from the Interpolator to the wonderful and appreciated Il Tenore di Grazia: No! No! The Interpolator has not thrown any red herrings into the posts. Clearly, the Interpolator may not always deliver a full range of facts, or he may leave out specific dates, or a specific city, or a specific cast member…but any fact actually put forth is true.

  In reading the posts, the Interpolator realizes that, given enough time and resourcefulness, an enterprising opera historian with access to the big houses’s cast lists and repertoire postings could likely string all the facts together and pinpoint precisely the Interpolator’s identity.

  The Interpolator also has the sickening feeling that someone is doing precisely that, and soon all the Interpolator’s posts will be reprinted in Opera News along with my current black-and-white headshot that appears in the Met season books and the Covent Garden flyers and the Bastille’s abonnement formulaires!

  To wit, the Interpolator feels he may well have said too much about his identity by identifying quite specific repertoire and houses — though he has avoided TOO many disclosures of specific dates — which is the exact OPPOSITE problem of throwing red herrings.

  Au contraire, Tenore di Grazia! The Interpolator wonders now whether he SHOULD, infact, pop some misleading facts into the posts to throw you amazingly gifted bloodhounds off the track!

  But no. The Interpolator will not do that. He has stated that he feels his integrity and the truth of his posts in this “Forum Fabuleux” are more important than lobbing out fake facts. The Interpolator senses that fake facts would be sniffed out IMMEDIATELY by this crowd, if not by La Cieca herself, and the Interpolator would then be given the boot, quite rightfully.

  Much more to say, especially to ITDCS and ITDG, but it cannot happen this evening. The Interpolator is fighting a quite rare case of jetlag in returning from the Old Country after the Rossini outing these past weeks, and that bed-calling MUST be obeyed immediately. The question is: shall I enter it alone?

  And the next question is: Should Cieca give us our own forum so that we don’t crowd hers? The Interpolator is mindful that La Cieca is quite patient with our ravings, though she refrains from commenting.

  More soon,
  The Interpolator

  on September 8, 2005 at 4:20 AM
• Il Tenore di Grazia says:

  My Dear Interpolator, I can assure you that I meant no offense when I said that I suspected you may have thrown a red herring at us. First, it’s only an assumption. Second, I believe it would have been a perfectably appropriate, and certainly quite within the rules of the game, to do so. And third, it just goes to show how succesful you’ve been at confusing me.

  You say that you suspect someone is doing some serious research trying to find your identity. That hasn’t come across to me from the different postings, and I’m certainly not doing it myself. That would be no fun. The fun is in the game, eliminating this or that suspect artist… Just like a good mystery book. What’s the point if we’re going to look at the last pages first? No, no, no, I will not deny myself the exhilaration of discovery.

  In any case, you can rest assured that if or when I figure out who you are, I certainly would not divulge it. Nor would I give hints to help others figure it out. I have much enjoyed reading your postings and the last thing I would want is for them to end. And by no means would I knowingly jeopardize anyone’s career.

  With regard to the rest of your latest posting, welcome back! I hope you are re-invigorating yourself and getting ready to go on to please more audiences. You did say sometime ago that you like to please…

  As to your choices for bed entering, well, I suspect that it’s strictly your choice. I imagine that an artist’s errant life must bring loneliness at times. So, when the opportunity to please arrives, it should not be declined.

  I’m sure I’m not the only one anxiously awaiting your next posting. And I bet that even Mme La Cieca, who has been withholding her commentaries so far, looks forward to them.

  ITDG

  on September 13, 2005 at 1:18 AM
• Tutto Pazzo says:

  I too look forward to the Interpolator’s next post, and suggest that perhaps La Cieca’s silence has more to do with her attending rehearsals of JJ’s (her esteemed editor’s)production of Il Pipistrello aka Die Fledermaus, or as it was called in the never-officially-produced NYC Fringe Festival production, Die! Fledermaus! Kill! Kill! Kill! .

  on September 13, 2005 at 7:33 AM
• Dumbjock says:

  Sheesh – I keep logging back on – i have no idea why – to see if anything has actually moved forward on this stream. For crying out loud – can we get on another topic.

  And NO ONE has even attempted to answer my question about Toronto.

  on September 16, 2005 at 7:45 PM
• Il Tenore di Grazia says:

  Well, well, well, it looks like I have been left solo, perdutto and abbandonato in questo popoloso deserto che appellano La Cieca’s forum. I surely hope I get to hear from the other bloggers again. In particular, I’d love to know how Il Tenore di Coloratura Superba’s auditions went last week. I thought about him that day. And how are The Interpolator’s concerts coming along?

  Going back to the original subject of this blog, according to The New York Times and The Washington Post, Ms. Guleghina did sing in Verdi’s “I Vespri Siciliani” last Saturday at the Kennedy Center. I gather the rumors of her demise were somewhat premature.

  Of course, we don’t know how well she sang or whether she interpolated any high notes. No, no, no, it would not be reasonable for us to expect the music critics to provide such information. We all well know that those details are not related to the visual aspects of the production and are, therefore, of no significance whatsoever.

  You guys (and gals?) got me into a bel canto frenzy for the last few weeks. For a change, my first opera outings of the new season next week will be for Manon and Falstaff. Not bel canto but both have beautiful beautiful music for lyric tenors. In particular, I find Fenton’s lines ravishing.

  As I said above, I hope this forum remains alive. If not, well, thanks for your contributions. I have much enjoyed reading all the different comments and opinions. I even felt I was making new friends. So, until the next time, buona ventura !!

  on September 20, 2005 at 6:07 PM