Bijoux
Peter Gelb's motto for the week: "Those Swarovski crystals are going on with or without you." Maria Guleghina sings the first Tosca of the season tomorrow night, jumping in for Andrea Gruber who is under the weather. A report from the dress rehearsal notes that "Gruber had nothing above about an A, Cura was rushing the conductor the entire time, and they both ended the opera by marking the 3rd act down an octave." Gruber was wheezing and sneezing all over Margaret Juntwait last night during the broadcast intermission, too. She's supposed to go on for the next performances November 1 and 4. Aprile Millo dons the tiara beginning on the 25th.Oh, and if you're wondering what the proper term is for the matched set of tiara, necklace, earrings and whatever other sparkly baubles the well-dressed Floria flaunts, it's called a "garniture."
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2:36 PM
155 Comments:
My mommie never looked better!!
It's true Callasorphan. I hope you got her eyes.
I'm surpirsed that anything that had been worn by Callas hasn't been pinched. Things like this must be kept in guarded reliquaries in secret vaults along with those that hold Steber's Donna Anna wig and Nilsson's Turandot nails.
Julienned, I did get her eyes with the help, of course, of a little black Magic marker.
Since La Divina Maria is the sweeping transitive verb of discussion, is there a chance for a discussion of the other MC, Caniglia. I know of her, but have heard little of her singing beyond the Sophia Loren Aida. Tell me about the talents of Caniglia.
Pardon my probable misspelling of Caniglia's name.
That Gruber interview last night was HIGH CAMP!
I was roaring at everything she said. These girls need to go to Interview/101 at DivaUniverstiy. Racette was tippy-toeing around every answer, lest she almost insult anyone, and La Gruber sounded like a Queens housewife talking with the grocer down the avenue.
For a seventeen year old gal, Miss Tosca sure does have some nice baubles - I wonder what she had to do to get those?? I'd be willing to try it!! :)
ljc: Maria Caniglia was, as far as I'm concerned, a singer who had so much vocal potential (I can't speak about her acting because I've never seen videos and certainly wasn't alive when she was singing) but was really lacking when it came to singing in tune and in the upper register. She recorded very frequently with B. Gigli. Some of her more famous recordings include a Tosca and a Ballo which I personally vote as two of the most disappointing recordings of both operas. They've got great conductors and a would-be fantastic cast and all the singers fall short (by short, I mean FLAT) and overly lacking in musical integrity. Caniglia has a voice that when you listen to it, you just WANT it to be so fantastic as to blow your mind...and then when the most dramatic moments arrive, and the moments with the high notes, she just does NOT deliver. It's a damn shame.
itdcs is right about Caniglia's vocal shortcomings, but I think you should check out the Ballo and the Chenier anyway -- the performances have style and excitement. Avoid the Aida. I don't know the Tosca. The Caniglia Stignani Gigli Pinza Serafin Verdi Req is pretty fine, too, esp Pinza.
Gruber looks like Fanny Brice, or maybe even Joe E. Brown.
I think Caniglia's best recorded performance is Forza, which also has Stignani in the cast.
YES, the forza is probably my favorite recording of it, along with the 1958 tebaldi, corelli. Caniglia may not have the most technically solid voice. In fact, most of her recordings are quite disappointing, but NOT the forza, which is really excellent.
I alway thought the "matched set of tiara, necklace, earrings and whatever other sparkly baubles" were known a a "Parure"
I did not know that Floria is supposed to be 17. Even Bernhardt was not that young. How is Floria the kid supposed to get from her outdoor concert to police hq wearing all those googaws without getting mugged in the streets of Rome? I don't remember a Harry Winston bodyguard being in the libretto.
OK, maybe the thought of getting Callas into a rage would scare off any mugger coming at her. She does look formidible in the online photo.
Yes, I vote with Just Another Tenor that a matched set is called a "parure."
And have y'all caught the Met Sirius archive line-up for next week? Wow!
going with rysanekfreak and JAT - garniture would be if you were setting the Act II supper table with candelabra, vases and perhaps even an epergne (my dear!)
Oh God I've probably given some Eurotrash director an idea - Scarpia wishes to feed off Tosca so she becomes the adornment for the enormous supper table the whole damned opera will be set on. The finger bowl will be the font in the church, Cavaladorsi will be painting a Madona on a china plate, the Castel angel will be the centrepiece... oh God I can just see it all now. I'm sorry.
Holy Shit Guleghina sounds GREAT!
Hasn't she sung Tosca before at the met?
"Parure" is correct, but I have also heard "garniture" used especially when discussing estate jewelry. I will admit that "parure" does sound awfully classy, so I will use it in future.
Guleghina sounds TERRIFIC!! Good for her. I couldn't tell Plishka from Cura in the beginning. Totally forgetable...and the voice is so covered and back-placed. But BRAVA for Geleghina!!
what's going on with gruber? years ago, she sang a great abigaille at the met and also looked terrific. then last year she sucked majorly as aida and looked emaciated. it was so awful, she should have cancelled and let her cover (angela williams) go on. at least we would have had a SINGER as aida, flaws and all. is she back on drugs or something?
I am not liking this. Not at all. I looked up at about 10:45 and realized "shit! I'm missing Tosca", but If I had known that the third act love duet would have murdered my ears, I would have continued watching Monty Python and be done with it.
Among other opera sacred reliques to be guarded to the death;Melchior and Sutherland's corsets, Blanche Thebom's hair, and Emmy Distin's cobra tattoo(see A. Rubenstein's memoirs).
Distin=Destin
operaguyny: Guleghina had sung Tosca for more than ten years at the house. In 1994 and 2005 she sang in the Broadcasts
I agree it was a fine night for Guleghina...but whassup with Cura? That was not just a baritenor, that was a baritone with a short top!
Last night's TOSCA seemed more like an evening of PARSIFAL. Tempi were regrettfully funereal. I have NEVER heard "Vissi d'arte" so dragged out. THe whole performance gave me a case of the giggles. Guleghina, as usual, blew her voice out in Act 2, and the aria was a real struggle for her. Her pitch throughtout the evening was questionable. The little a capella moment for her and Cura in Act 3 was also interesting, since they were singing in different keys. Somehow, Maria managed to get him back to the right key by the time the orchestra came in. WHo's this conductor anyway? I can only imagine the faces of the orchestra members as they progressed with the performance. They were probably planning to blow at spit balls at him.
I'll wait for the Millo broadcasts, thank you very much.
Destinn
I've seen Luisotti twice: A seriously dragging Carmen and A Pag sans Cav that was so slow they took an intermission.
i guess there's no way to change/edit your old posts? when i said angela williams, i meant angela brown, of course.
Caniglia did not sing the Aida in the Sophia Loren film. Renata Tebaldi and Ebe Stignani were joined by Giuseppe Campora, Caniglia did supply the singing in the film version of Tosca with a young Franco Corelli, I have seen a clip of her Casta Diva on video. I think the question of her singing flat might have something to do with the fact that most orchestras in Italy were not tuned to A=440 at the time. Most were down at about 432 or slightly lower. In some cases it was almost a semitone lower. It was only in the past forty years that A=440 became standard in Italy as it was more so in Germany and Austria.
the question of orchestra tuning was discussed in some detail by Gina Cigna in an interview in the Last Prima Donnas
I looked in allmovie.com and found that Tebaldi Did do the singing for Loren in Aida--not Caniglia, so whup me, but the writeup says that Gina Lolobrigida supposed to do the Aida. Now, there was a movie version of Pagliacci in '48 in which Gina and Gobbi starred, but allmovie had no mention of who sang for her. And the artsvideo channel had a clip of the sextet scene from Lucia, with-Gina acting Lucia--and no mention of who sang for her, and allmovie does not list Lucia in Gina's filmography. Sorry about the mistake on Caniglia and Aida.
The voice for Gina Lollobrigida in the "Pagliacci" is Onelia Fineschi who later Maddelena in "Chenier" with Di Stefano. She was considered THE up and coming spinto back then. Lollobrigida looks young and gorgeous as Nedda but isn't very committed. I have seen more realistic fear in the final commedia scene from Diana Soviero at the Met.
I think the old "Lucia" movie had Nelly Corradi singing and acting.
Sophia Loren is lots of fun and quite convincing in the "Aida" movie - Lois Maxwell is campy and ridiculous as Amneris.
Was that Caniglia herself in the Tosca film - or an actress?
The best Caniglia story comes from Gobbi's autobiography. There's a story about a Tosca which was scheduled in Rome while Italy was fascist. Tito and Maria were informed that they had to do the show for the Wehrmacht. Gobbi came in through stage door and was accosted by a wizened, gibbering old lady on her way out the other way. Only later did he realise that this was la Caniglia making her escape via stage door.
Monday,9:16 pm
My God, what are they doing to Farina ?!! Someone holding him by the b--s? Strangling him? Is he sick?
After last summer's great discussion on the Frau blackhead Nazi matter, we have come to opera singers in Benito's Italy. Which ones may have done things verging on criminal collaberation, and which ones may be forgiven for their doings during the era?
Tenore di grazia,
I couldn't agree more! I have listened to this live CAV 3 times now, and Farina just gets worse!! Racette is singing a splendid Nedda again, thankfully.
Farina gets worse, but Lictra is ON FIRE tonight! I am so glad I didn't have rehersal tonight or I would have missed this.
Cagnilia supplied the singing in the 1956 Tosca movie to an actress named Franca Duval. The main men in the movie were Franco Corelli, and a guy named Afro Poli as Louie Scarpia.
Ah right thanks ljc. I was so young when I saw it I can only remember she was a striking redhead- he was Corelli wonderful and when she stabbed Scarpia she pinned a red scarf to his chest with the knife that was extremely effective.
Am I the only one who thinks Afro Poli is really underrated?
I never heard him, but Afro Poli was a well-known and appreciated Italian baritone I guess back in the 1940's.
Going back to a previous comment, did Gobbi do a Tosca performance for the Wehrmacht because They Made Me Do It. It probably did not make much dent in the course of the war going on, but did the Germans in the audience get the political undertones of the plot?
So it is Wednesday, who is singing Tosca tonight, Guleghina or Gruber???? gossip says Guleghina, Met still posts Gruber.
Is she getting high?
what's up with gruber? does anyone remember her abigailles a few years ago (2001 or 2002), she was quite good, but then everything's been downhill since...
It's better that Guleghina's though. But that's not saying much.
Well, we're in mid-Act 2 and I think Gruber sounds steadier and more secure than she's sounded since the unfortunate recent Aidas. I think she is singing & acting the hell out of Tosca. Cura also sounds better tonight. The chemistry is palpable. Not a Tosca for the ages, but surely a night of redemption for Gruber.
I have the same opinion. Gruber is more steady and acts a lot better that Guleghina. But Cura always is bad in "Recondita armonia". Tonight, Luisotti seems to be taking the performance not so slow as last Saturday!
I wish to some degree that these broadcasts were live streams, that we could view....is that our next possibility? Funny that the last two opinions push Gruber ahead of Guleghina, because I own 2 DVD's of them both doing Abagaille.....and Guleghina BLAZED in her portrayal, where I felt Gruber quite wasn't connecting to her evil side....What happened with Cura...? How many snatched notes did I hear tonight? Clearly past his prime.
I was there last night and kept wondering what bad Hollywood performance Gruber reminded me of. Finally in the middle of the first act it hit me. She looked and acted like Ann Baxter in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. She was better than I expected BUT the Vissi D'arte was one of the ugliest I have heard in years. And while she seemed to have the money notes elsewhere, the performance was hard edged and calculated. Her interplay with Cura was wonderful and he sounds much better in the house than he did on the radio though he does phrase E lucevan le stelle in a rather strange way and is definitely listening to the conductor in his head. and for all of you who bitch Guleghina, for my money I will take her Tosca over Gruber's any day. the tepid reception at the end of the performance should speak for itself.
I love Sirius, but they just played a Chrysothemis excerpt from "Elektra" and identified it as being by Wagner.
Cura was very sexy onstage last night - a little beefier than I remember but extremely appealing - lots of chemistry with Gruber who looked great, sounded rough. Unfortunately, Millo will be singing with Fraccarro - the November Bristish Opera magazine reported that the La Scala audience applauded when he got shot in the 3rd Act when he recently sang Tosca with Dessi
Video streams may be a ways off, but the Met did announce that about 10 performances this season would be telecast to movie theatres around the world, and then shown on PBS in HD about a month later. Does anyone know more about that?
It is great that the Met is putting its performances on the air, and now the screen--but who is paying for all this? Not so long ago the Met was having begathons to get Satmatt listeners to help pay for a sponsor after Texaco jumped the ship. Just curious about angles of Met money matters.
I forget if it's mentioned above, but in the Tosca movie, Denise Duval acts Tosca (she was also a soprano) and Caniglia sings. Poli was a very experienced baritone with a long career behind him (he is the Marcello on the Gigli Boheme); he was probably 'secondary' in not being a star but he was obviously a fine actor as was Corelli when he wasn't worried about producing a tone.
Again I'm not sure if it's cleared up, Tebaldi is the voice for Loren, and that is a candidate for maybe the most genuinely campy movie ever made (John Waters for example knew what he was after, the Iteys did not).
Caniglia was famous for two things among conoscenti -- no high notes and singing out of tune. The fame seems deserved to a large degree. But she can surprise one. Her Desdemona with Martinelli live from the Met, is in tune and gorgeous, also she has more rapport with him than Rethberg and Roman and I think that's the Martinelli Otello to have.
Also in a late Fedora (with Prandelli on Warner Calssics), she sings with massive tone, still glorious, and nails every high note dead on, including a massive and easy high C in the act two duo.
I also love her late Francesca da Rimini; the long bits of a 1950 or so Fanciulla I've heard and her 48 or 49 Adrianna from Buenos Aires --NO ONE does 'Giusto Cielo che feci in tal momento" like she does not even Magda!!!!
Cura is a nasty piece of work who does not have a big dick (stockings), isn't nearly as musical as he says and is a pig with women. He voice was always throaty and he never had a secure ringing top. Maybe there was some promise but it was gone years ago.
I can't get excited about Gruber or the Ghoul. The Ghoul did have a magnificent voice when she started (I saw her Met debut as Maddalena, and her Lisa in Pique Dame with the Kirov about five times). Oddly she was dull then. She lost weight had plastic surgery, emerged as glamorous and an 'actress' and screamed a lot. She is usually out of tune.
Gruber had a lot of promise eighteen years ago, I saw a lot of her early performances (including a genuinely impressive Aida in Houstan), but she has lost IMHO.
We need spintos -- if only Casolla was twenty seven, two inches taller -- we'd have somebody (and I always defend the youngish Zampieri).
Mrs. John Claggart
mrsjohnclaggart@hotmail.com
(It is Laura Bush's 60th birthday). Thank you Mrs. John for finding that Caniglia once sang at the Met. I should try to find my way thru the Metdatabase to find out when. Did anyone ever get Afro Poli confused with Aldo Protti, a 50s baritone who sang Iago to Del Monico's Otello?
OK, Caniglia was at the Met from opening night 1938 to January '39, and did a matinee of Otello with Marinelli, and sang Aida, Falstaff, and Tosca, and was in Warren's first Simone (her last performance).
Afro Poli must have had a very long career as I have a live recording of him as Alfio in Cav. from the Hague in 38 conducted by Mascagni, and I would also recommend the live Il Piccolo Marat with him from 62 with the neglected and very beautiful Virginia Zeani.
Like mrsjohnglaggart I have long treasured the Caniglia recordings of Fedora and Francesca, although Prandelli is a lightweight partner. Those Cetra recordings from the 40s and 50s are a real treasure house of good Italian singers, not always with star names. Corelli made his early appearances on that label.
Yniold hab recht!!! That Cav with Mascagni conducting is thrilling - he DENANDED Lina Bruna Rasa be his Santuzza, so she was gotten out of the nuthouse, her mother and a nurse accompanied her on her own small car on the train with the windows locked down (for fear she would throw herself out). Lina was a jumper, she is documented as jumping into the pit at least twice during performances, hitting players. Beside Lina I also love Melandri, the tenor who had I've been told a HUGE voice, and has plenty of passione.
The Warner sets were originally on Cetra and they had wonderful singers like Maria Vitale (you haven't lived until you've heard her in Due Foscari) and my face Carla Gavazzzi, still the great Minnie IMHO in a thrilling Fanciullla. She also did a very good Adrianna. Then there is the Cetra diva Clara Petrella, called 'the cleaning lady' by Tebaldi and Stella because she usually got the last two performances in a run.
Clara's hurtful relationship with the pitch is a problem on records. But any queen worth the name MUST have her three Mexico city live performances, the Manon Lescaut from 49, with Del Monaco at his very greatest, the Otello with him, and the insane Adrianna with him and Dominguez who has decided to have Iteys for dinner that night.
(The Adrianna is definitely on Opera Share and I think the Manon is too).
Mrs. John Claggart
mrsjohnclaggart@hotmail.com
mrsjohnclaggart- I'm intrigued by the thought of dear Mara ever being young- was it pre- horse or post horse? :)
Daniel, she had a long career before she decked that horse. It takes a small girl lots of time to build up that kind of muscle (though there were those unkind enough to say all she had to do was sing in its ear and she would have killed it!).
Mrs. John Claggart
mrsjohnclaggart@hotmail.com
Maybe this blog could inspire someone to compose an opera of Blazing Saddles. In the Metadatabase is a listing of a dream performance I hope the M. has some photos of in its archives. April 12 49 there was a Benefits special show of Traviata, with Albinese, but the big thing were the guest supers who showed up in the party scenes, and included Joe De Luca, Martinelli, Queena Mario, Frieda Hempel, and Fritzi Scheff (careers going back to 1900.) What a bunch of people standing there to look for.
People say dreadful things Mrs John Claggart. I asked someone what Mara did before she became a Diva and they said she was employed by the Coastguard as a Foghorn. Poor Mara. Do you think there is any truth in it?
daniel, Mara a foghorn? What a hoot!! it's been a day from hell but you gave me agood laugh--THANKS1
(Election Day) In a blogroom above this one the 80th birthday of Joan Sutherland is being commemerated. I looked into a website last night that listed all of Stupenda's roles and recordings, and there is a famous photo of her on a horse in Les Hugenots. I hope Mara Alexkarras Zampieri was not in the cast of that opera.
I'm just now reading Mrs John Claggart and daniel's discussions re Diva Mara, horse, et al. Thank you guys so very much--you'll never know how much I needed some laughter today!
But Daniel, my Mara could NEVER have been a fog horn. They have deep throbbing sounds. Mara COULD have been a champeen hog caller, No ONE could have matched her in a contest. However I must say I HAVE enjoyed Mara live.
Mrs. John Claggart
mrsjohnclaggart@hotmail.com
This blogroom should be saved forever as an example of all the topics that can be talked about in a chatroom. We have come down to divas and animals(aint got yet to tenors and animals). Mara and her assault on a horse, Joan on a horse. Marjorie Lawrence rode Grane onstage, and there is a photo of Geri Farrar as a peasant girl driving a herd of geese across the stage in an opera she was in many decades ago;(The Goose Girl?) I dont't know if Caruso and Destinn rode away on a horse singing Addio California in the first Fanciulla.
Callasorphan - I am sorry to hear you have had a bad day - really am-and while I remain mystified as to what gave you the idea we were being anything less than deadly serious about Diva Mara- if our discourse saved you from taking poison, jumping off something high- or expiring in a coughing fit- I'm sure I speak for Mrs John Claggart when I say we are nothing less than relieved and delighted- because we want the pleasure of your company for a long long time.
It is certainly fascinating when a topic is really opened up one learns so much more about it. At this time, I cannot restrain myself (ah what restrains me??) from asking Mrs John Claggart, what actual performance of Mara's it was, (apart from the equine one) that she actually enjoyed?
I'm dying to know. Was it in a theatre- in a stadium- on ice- or below ice? I'm dying to know.
With Mara the possibilities are endless- all I know is I had a brand new video recorder some time ago and played Mara's and Senor Bruson's "Macbeth" - I only played it through twice- once in anticipation and the second time to make sure I hadn't imagined the whole thing. The video has never worked since!
Believe me daniel I'd never make others happy by doing away with myself. However, Tuesday was indeed a day that I might have considered it, but you (and Mrs John Claggart) saved me. So the world gets to put up with me for a little longer! (I think that I heard load moans and perhaps sobs)
loud NOT load
"Load moans" might actually be heard on this blog. :)
winpal, load moans DOES sound kinda nice. (Callasorphan, slap yourself!)
What is needed in opera is a soprano(like Foghorn Mara).who loses her high notes and keeps going as a Russian bass, or switches to doing Ochs or Basilio or Sarastro. What are some Really low voice roles for gals in opera?
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