parterre box

Comments, requests, complaints… or other reactions to the Tristan podcasts? And for those of you listening “at home” (as opposed to on the Ipod), here’s a wonderful resource: a complete libretto of the opera with hypertext leading to an English translation and illustrations of the Leitmotiven.

First he lost his Grand Tier, then his Floral Hall, and now, it appears, beleaguered benefactor Alberto W. “Albert” Vilar is about to lose his UN Plaza duplex. The newly-listed apartment boasts 20 rooms, including 6 bedrooms, 10 full bathrooms, 3 powder rooms, a sun-drenched eat-in kitchen, and sweeping views of the East River, the New York City skyline, and the Trump World Towers. The decor may be described as either “lavish” or “garish” depending whether or not you’re Franco Zeffirelli.

My dear, all you need is a powdered wig and a fan, and, poof, you’re the Principessa di Bouillon! The posh pad is listed for $14,500,000 by Brown Harris Stevens.

“As I have never in life felt the real bliss of love, I must erect a monument to the most beautiful of all my dreams, in which, from beginning to end, that love shall thoroughly satiated. I have in my head ‘Tristan and Isolde,’ the simplest, but most full-blooded musical conception. With the black flag which floats at the end of it I shall cover myself to die.” — Richard Wagner, in a letter to Liszt. La Cieca is proud and delighted to present as our next “Unnatural Act of Opera” one of the most full-blooded Tristans ever recorded, the 1952 Bayreuth Festival broadcast starring Ramon Vinay and Martha Moedl as the death-devoted pair. Herbert von Karajan conducts. Beginning tonight on Unnatural Acts of Opera.

Rodgers and Hammerstein is as far as Aprile Millo is willing to cross over at Carnegie Hall, and that’s what led to the rift between her and promoter Ron Delsener — and to the cancellation of the October 14 event. La Millo tells her side of the story: NYT.

Sister Sieglinde summarizes the roiling controversy so far in her Diary, and the most recent whisper La Cieca has heard is, “if that rock promoter wanted Avril Lavigne, he should have hired Avril Lavigne; Aprile is an opera singer.”

Among the rumors La Cieca doesn’t believe:

• Millo is afraid to sing high notes. [Duh, she just did Fanciulla!]

• The concert wasn’t selling. [Well, everybody La Cieca knows was planning to be there, and a month before the date practically nothing is already sold out. Note, for example, that a Met performance of Manon starring Renee Fleming only a week from today still has seats available at all price levels. ]
• Millo was being capricious/difficult/herself. [Again, anyone who shows up to sing Fanciulla -- and off book at that! -- is not going to be panicked at the thought of a recital with piano.]

Now, La Cieca knows she would be a hypocrite to lecture other people on the perils of Schadenfreude; she recalls, for example, practically peeing herself with delight when she heard about the dogs yapping at Cours-la-Reine in Renaaay’s previous Met Manon. However, she will say she just doesn’t quite grasp the glee with which some of those online greet the news that an admired and important artists is not going to sing.

La Cieca just heard this on opera-l just now, and checked the Ron Delsener Presents web site, which states, yes, “this show has been canceled.” No idea why, but La Cieca will ask around.

Update: a source close to the Delsener organization has told La Cieca that the promoter and the artist had “artistic differences,” which could mean just about anything, but LC’s educated guess is that the sticking point was repertoire. What La Cieca does know is that this all happened very suddenly; as of Sunday Millo was discussing the upcoming recital with great anticipation without so much as a hint of a cloud on the horizon. Well, whatever the reason, it’s a pity to miss La Millo in a rare New York area recital performance, but we do still have Zaza to look forward to.

Starting tonight on “Unnatural Acts of Opera,” something of a departure, in more ways that one. To begin with, it’s La Cieca’s first snippet show, featuring individual scenes and arias instead of the more familiar whole acts. The other strange part about this show is that it features the type of singer La Cieca doesn’t rant about all that much, i.e., the “Stimmdiva.” So it’s a whole show of voluptuous vocalism, featuring sopranos Ghena Dimitrova and Alessandra Marc in selections from Verdi, Puccini, Strauss, Ponchielli, Barber and more! Unnatural Acts of Opera.