Flame on
Tending the sacro fuoco this week at Unnatural Acts of Opera will be that priestess of the primo ottocento Leyla Gencer. The diva sings the title role in Spontini’s La Vestale in a performance from Teatro Massino di Palermo, December 4, 1969. Ferando Previtali conducts, and the young Renato Bruson is heard as Cinna. Also in the company: Robleto Merolla (Licinio), Agostino Ferrin (Il Sommo Sacerdote), Franca Mattiucci (La Gran Vestale), Enrico Campi (Un Console) and Sergio Sisti (Un Aruspice).
For those of you in a more contemporary mood, Unnatural Acts of Video presents Denise Duval in one of her Poulenc specialties.
Fabulous. La vestale is an opera that Berlioz admired and it has been on my list for a while. I”ve only heard Callas sing a couple of arias from it.
La Cieca,
THANK YOU! It’s been on my list forever as well.
Sorry to interrupt a thread but there is a very good article in todays Sydney Morning Herald under the title Divas Battle Booze, Drugs, Depression.
It is about the heavy and often unrealistic demands placed on singers today and refers to the recent loss of Jerry Hadley and mentions Anna Netrebko, Villazon and Voigt among others. Worth a look: http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/divas-battle-booze-drugs-depression/2007/08/24/1187462491987.html
Thank you for bringing this up on this site, Daniel.
This is, TRULY, a huge problem for opera singers. It is something I see every day, and I am so sad to see so many colleagues falling to these demands. What is it going to take? Who is going to have the guts to stand up to these demands and say no? There are singers who are getting shot up with cortisone for rather meaningless performances because they are terrified of getting labeled as a canceler. I mean, COME ON – people DO get colds sometimes!! I think it is important for the viewing public to have sympathy for these singers as well – singers HATE canceling.
I think, personally, that the real answer is that in “the old days” (whatever THAT means) many of these singers were SO GOOD that they didn’t NEED to sing 4 nights a week, EVERY WEEK OF THE YEAR in order to stay famous. They were famous because of the magic that they created when they performed and people were willing to wait for them.
We also live in such a I-want-it-I-need-it-I-have-to-have-it-RIGHT-NOW culture that people are unwilling to be patient. They get bored and move on to the next person of interest, and unfortunately, there are so many people running opera houses now that really have no understanding of great singing, they only know how to make money, and so THEY get bored when someone isn’t a star and aren’t interested in them – “becoming” is something that so many singers feel they HAVE to do to have a steady paycheck
I suppose at the end of the day it is up to singers to decide – do you want to be a “star” or do you want to be a great musician? If you are good enough, there will be enough work for you to pay your bills. If you want to be a rich star, get skinny, sing every night, OD on cortisone, make a few shitty recordings, and make sure you have a good financial planner so that the BANK you make while you are destroying yourself will continue to support you in your old age (your 50′s) while you sit around and listen to old recordings of yourself in your drawn and curtained apartment. Alone. (Anita Cerquetti, anyone???)
In terms of the Deb Voigt reference, I’m not sure that was entirely accurate – she, apparently, was planning on having this surgery before the whole LBD thing happened, as a health matter. And she is not a drug user. There ARE some prominent singers who are destroying themselves with drugs (illicit and otherwise) and alcohol, but DV is not one of them, as far as I know.
Tragic. It’s all part of the devastation of our beloved art. The destruction is coming from within, and if something doesn’t change, it will be complete. It took a lot of guts for Adrienne P. to talk about this. (And by the way – 2 weeks isn’t a very long vacation – take 2 months honey!!)
Your reference to Anita Cerquetti is strange and revisionist. She had PLENTY of voice left, but (according to her, at least, as written in Last Prima Donnas) took time off to care for the passing of her father, had a daughter, and chose not to get back into the business, which had changed in her years off and she didn’t like what she saw. Of course what someone says is from their point of view, but she was hardly “alone listening to her old records”–she actually left the business with a great legacy and led a lusty life afterward (check out Stefan Zucker’s video with her for a sample).
I had the bizarre experience of spending time in Italy with Cerquetti, and she told me that she had left because of “nervous problems”. You ARE correct however, on the point that it wasn’t vocal burnout – my feeling at the time was that her career simply passed her by while she was dealing with the pressures involved with being the next “big thing”. She said she didn’t like the singers of today, and that she preferred to be at her home listening to recordings of herself to hear really great singing.
The IMAGE that this gave me was of this strange person who had been consumed by the pressure to succeed. It was quite extraordinary.
Singers sitting alone with their recordings brings up the shots Sarah Scuderi in Casa Verde listening to her records in the Tosca’s Kiss documentary. And there was Fremstad living alone in upstate NY for 30 years. And Phraedie Wells lived all alone in an old house in Kirksville Missouri with her memories.
I mean, there’s nothing really WRONG with it, I just think it’s sad to think that these young people (come on folks, Anya is REALLY YOUNG) are living these EXTRAORDINARY lives, and they can’t really appreciate it now, because, well, often they really AREN’T having fun. The pressure to perform under duress is immense, the money can be huge, and the potential for criticism and losing jobs in the future by getting labeled “difficult” or “demanding” or “sensitive”, mostly because they are trying to protect their health, can be deadly to their careers. It’s so sad. I would love to hear someone say – WOW!! I can’t believe the incredible life I am living right now – how lucky I am that I am making music, traveling all over the world, working with people I love and admire, and GETTING PAID for it!! I am SO LUCKY!!! But some people can’t even see any of that, because one false step, and it’s all over. What a shame, and WHAT a bummer. The 20′s and 30′s should be the best years of life – doing what you love with people you love doing it with, with passion and devotion. I feel sad for people who are so lucky to be doing what they love, but who can’t enjoy it because of the immense pressure.
Got to thinking of the article a few years ago in Opera News about all the post-WW2 opera stars whose voices all gave out during the 1966 season. Siepi, Evil Blackhead, Viki of the Angels, Zinka and several others who had been at the Top all over the world.
Callas’ voice problems are famous, but has anyone examined the state of Birgit’s voice by the time she retired?
It articles like this that SCAReE the SHIT out of me. I’m just getting started in this buisness, I don’t even have my BFA yet! What am I getting into?