Sgombra è la sacra selva
As La Cieca's clever public guessed six weeks ago, Renée Fleming is not going to sing Norma. "The part just didn't fit as she had hoped it would after living with it," Fleming publicist Mary Lou Falcone said Thursday to the Associated Press. La Fleming, 48 (though she doesn't look a day over 20, does she?), will perform Eugene Onegin under the baton of James Levine next summer at Tanglewood instead of the Bellini work.
Labels: bel canto, fleming, la cieca ci guarda la cieca ci vede
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88 Comments:
Wherever he is, Bellini is breathing much easier.
Look, I know it's very cool to bash Fleming on this site, but how about giving her credit for having a capacious interest in exploring new roles for herself while also being intelligent enough to acknowledge when specific aspirations are inappropriate for her? As Browning wrote somewhere or other, "Man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what's a heaven for?" And I can just imagine the torches being lit to flame my post, but truly I doh't give a shit--I think she deserves credit for both reaching and knowning what she can actually grasp.
Lest we forget:
"Renée Fleming is not just one of opera’s most celebrated sopranos, but perhaps [!!!] its most convincing actress. A consummate artist, her one and only role when she stands in the spotlight is to breathe so much life into the opera’s main character that audiences lose themselves in her unforgettable performances. That is the passion of Renée Fleming."
Having just listen to her Rosmonda recording, I think that she has all it takes to be a great Norma. With a severe coaching on both side, I would run to here ( and see) a Fleming-Norma opposite to a Netrebko-Adalgisa. And, since it's only day-dreaming, why not a Cura-Pollione? Give them Bonynge as a coach and time to learn the part of course...
Ok, i was that anonymous.
Alex
and its hear, not here
How about Aprile Millo as Norma in 2013? I've always thought she had the role in her (she has ALL roles in her plus hoagies, subs, heros, etc.) I'd cast Charles Anthony as her Pollione. Barbara Cook as Adalgisa? Roberta Peters as the Clotilde?
It's hilarious to read here that Fleming is 'intelligent enough to acknowledge when specific aspirations are inappropriate for her' when just weeks ago we had her butcher Violetta for the umpteenth time! lololol
Oh, I hate to hate, really. It would have been interesting, and sometimes interesting is even better than good. They would just have been performances of a piece of theatre after all.
You could fit all the great King Lears in a phone booth, but actors still got to get out there and do it all the same. Bellini and Shakespeare are dead and don't care if Norma is sub par and Kevin Klein is trying Lear.
Now if only I could hear LuPone as Norma in the special edition Bellini did for Merman. Or was that Viardot? Have to look that up.
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Yes indeed, what ever happened to that Merman version of Norma? I hear that Lansbury was considering it for a while but decided against it. A shame, really...
Jokes aside, I think Renee is behaving more sensibly lately. I've heard that she's even cleaned up the odd bits of her Violetta. Her Tatiana was fabulous and now, she's wisely put Norma aside. Years from now, people will refer to those five years in her career where she almost went off the rails. Hopefully, she'll continue to make smart decisions.
A terrible thought just crossed my mind. Fleming is dropping Norma, but is the Met dropping the planned Wilson production too? Contract obligations may force the Met to mount the Wilson Norma with a different soprano... Guleghina perhaps? Or Netrebko?
Or they could keep Wilson, but assign him a different work, such as Boheme or Tosca...
I'm all for Lupone as Norma. Audra McDonald would be her Adalgisa, no? Michael Cerveris or Raul Esparza for Pollione? I'm THERE.
Her success in Norma would have been largely contingent on which Renee showed up...if it was the one of yore, and the one in those Traviatas a few weeks back, it could be lovely; if it was devil-Renee with the swooping and the mannerisms and the mushy carrot diction, it could be epicly unpleasant. Let's just be clear that she deserves her lumps because she is capable of sounding great but chooses to indulge her demons and seems to expect her public not to notice, not because her fame is fundamentally unwarranted.
I think Bea Arthur is free.
I still think Fleming will tackle the role sometime in the future. As long as she doesn't suffer some sort of total vocal burnout, I imagine her legion fans will practically "demand" that she take it on (much as has happened with Gruberova, and may also be happening with Devia). Time will tell. I agree with those who think Fleming has excellent raw material for the role, but again, those mannerisms... Hmmm.
Despite TeeKayLogan's vicious comments about Millo - she in fact probably WOULD have grown into a decent Norma had she stayed the course of her natural voice (lyric coloratura) rather than trying to be the next Tebaldi. Chacko was right on with the comments on Lear: I am very sure both Shakespeare and Bellini would be much happier to know their works are ATTEMPTED at least - rather than collecting dust on a shelf somewhere.
So Fleming doesn't feel comfortable with Norma YET. We'll see what the future brings...
Fleming is a very deditated and honest artist, and strives for perfection. By her own admission, it took her ten years of preparation before she sang her first Violetta in her mid 40s. Knowing one's vocal boundaries and acting upon is intellectually honorable.
Guleghina or Netrebko for the next production Norma? I don't know. I'll take my chances with Netrebko. She's younger, has several years to prepare, and if she commits herself, like Fleming did, she may pull it off. It's a gamble anyway, if Pete and Anna want to take a chance, and if there are no other creditable Normas around. Netrebko's Norma may be either a disater or a triumph, and nothing in between.
Evenhanded: Yes, but she's also put aside the concert version of the opera at Tanglewood. It's more than just saying no to one production (though I certainly wouldn't want to be doing my first staged Norma at the Met in a Wilson production). The concert performance would have been a less risky environment.
As for the Met sticking with a Bob Wilson production, I suppose he could do some interesting things with the work but he just sounds all wrong to me for the Italian rep. For me, the ultimate opera for Wilson limited but fascinating vision is Tristan und Isolde.
I think that Fleming started out as the successor to Moffo (the good parts, not the bad) and then became the successor to Moffo (the bad parts, not the good). Secondly, she recorded Rosmonda in 1998, back when she was still Moffo, the Good. And NETREBKO AS NORMA?!?!?! She's barely a Norina. The most overhyped singer since, I don't know, Fleming.
Bette Davis - Norma
Anne Baxter - Adalgisa
Carol Burnett - Norma (Desmond)
Julie Andrews - Adalgisa
Patti Lupone - Norma (Don't Cry For Me, Adalgisa)
Bernadette Peters - Adalgisa
Ethel Merman - Norma
Mary Martin - Adalgisa
Lypsinka - Norma
Charles Busch - Adalgisa
Wilson's thing works best for works where conventional stage action seems to fall short of the music. I.e. Lohengrin is a much better opera than suggested by people swooning all over doofy castle sets. Butterfly is more sincere than standard Oriental kitsch productions could ever appear to modern audiences. Which bodes well for Norma: the music is sublime, but the staging can come off as soap opera: "Aldagisa, what are you doing in Trent's bedroom?"
As for Boheme or Tosca, tho, god forbid. Those operas are ideally suited to realistic period or slightly updated stage productions and should not be f'd with. The only other Puccini that might be a candidate is Turandot for the aforementioned kitsch reasons, but the mythic setting kind of neutralizes those issues.
Okay, I'm ready for the flaming, but has anyone considered Christine Brewer as Norma?
As her Farberin at Lyric Opera proves, the voice is warm and gorgeous, top to bottom. She certainly has the range and the breakless technique ideal for Bellini. Can I go back to those top notes? Effortless as all get out... Even better, you get that rare sense that, though spot on pitch, they could keep on going higher up the scale.
In a recent WFMT interview, she admitted to using the Queen of the Night - the entire role - as a vocalise. (I'll bet Birgit is smiling... Voigt commented: "I'd pay a LOT of money to see that.")While preparing Haydn's Armida, she realized that the tessitura was quite similar to the Konigen - ever since she's worked on the Mozart. Also, Donna Anna has been a mainstay in her repertoire so clearly the voice can move. Side note: Voigt rhapsodized over the glory of Brewer's "marking" voice. Where most singers drop the octave, Brewer always remains exactly on the written note but sings it all pianissimo. I'd pay a lot of money to hear THAT!!! Voigt was clearly blown away with awe.
Sure, she's obese, but who cares? Something tells me that, if she chose to accept the role, she'd be the finest living exponent.
Okay, fellas, bring it on!!!
Okay - I am certainly no Fleming fan, but I think her statement shows that she recognizes the limits of her voice and considering that she has maybe 5 more years left as DIVA ASSOLUTA (and another 10 years after that being Dame Kiri). She seems smart enough to realize that she should be taking on roles that will ehnace and burnish the "legacy". BTW when is she trotting out her Marschallin again? A role that fit her to a T.
On a completely different note. Was there anyone at the Marilyn Horne tribute las night? It was truly a special evening and MS. HORNE was GLAM-OR-OUS!!! The clips were eclectic and brilliant and left no doubt in anybody's mind why we were honoring her.
Celtic Goddess: I think Brewer is a superb singer. And if she can handle the coloratura demands of Armida and Donna Anna, then why not Norma? I'd love to hear it. Unfortunately, at the Met, I think Gelb will only use her in roles that absolutely has to (like Brünnhilde). In the rest of the repertoire, he's going to pick the singers with the better figures.
I thought of another Norma possibility, but back in the day, not now. I remember very clearly hearing Susan Dunn at Grant Park in the 80s. She burned quite brightly as the next great soprano for about a week and then was never heard from again. She was terrific while she was around.
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I think the dream Norma at the Met would be Susannah Glanville. Maybe coax Jo Veasey and Stafford Dean out of retirement for Adalgisa and Oroveso. But then I would say that, I'm British.
Now if you'll excuse me, my university pals and I have some US opera houses to run.
"Aldagisa, what are you doing in Trent's bedroom?"
(For The Win!!)
All other considerations aside, because if we know one thing it's that Fleming's sense of style inflames some to love and some to hate, the decision seems absolutely inevitable on the basis of her Traviata and issues of audibility. To my ear, it's also self evident in terms of temperament, but YMMV. RF has certain things she plays well, at her best: pathos, poise, but I can't really see her as the object of fear and reverence.
idk maury....did you hear those D-flats in the first act of traviata? if that's not scary idk what is!
i'm so utterly jealous of you ppl who get to see brewer and voigt in frau. i'm sure we'll get that production at the met in 10-15 years.
Guys, for Pete'sakes, I was joking. A terrible joke if you ask me. Guleghina back as Norma? Netrebko as Norma? No way.
As for Brewer and Voigt, IMHO Norma requires more than being able to sing the notes. It requires a special temperament and feeling for XIX Century Italian opera. Callas, Caballe, Scotto, Geyncer, Cerquetti, Ponselle had it. Sutherland also understood the bel canto traditions.
As for Zajick, she's a mezzo, a great mezzo and not a soprano. Let's have her in the operas she was born to sing such as La Favorita, the two Iphigenies, Orfeo, Mignon, Jean d'Arc, Samson et Dalila, Le Prophete, L'Africaine... and why not L'Italiana?
I also suggested Wilson for Tosca and Boheme, precisely because they would be such a terrible pairing. Come on, a Tosca that stands around not moving? Might as well have him stage the Barber or Pagliacci !
I hate also to be so far off topic, but as far as LuPone goes, the one operatic-ish role I wish she could do would be Mrs. Maurant in Street Scene. At this stage of life I think she could inhabit it like no other. So maybe they have to transpose the aria - or not. I would kill to see it, even if she had to play her own tuba.
OK back to topic everyone.
I am in complete agreement about the Voigt/Brewer Norma comments. And I luv luv luv these two women. I have been having wet dreams about the Frosch since I bought my ticket back in August. BUT neither of these women excel in the Italianate style.
Let me just throw this out there. Just a thought. I bet Pat Racette could sing a decent Norma. I remember her Traviatas and that girl has some agilita in her voice. Her technique is fabulous and she is serious enough singer to have it pulled together vocally and stylistically before she would even dare step on stage.
armerjaquino said...
"I think the dream Norma at the Met would be Susannah Glanville. Maybe coax Jo Veasey and Stafford Dean out of retirement for Adalgisa and Oroveso. But then I would say that, I'm British."
If Marzelline lets you have some days off, be sure to hop across the pond for some really ghastly shouting by William Shimell in the Met's IPHIGENIE. Truly in the Stafford Dean class. Of course, no "horrid American" would have the sense of style...
I am off to NORMA and I intend to call out, "Scandalous! Where is Shuard?" at regular intervals.
Before we all get carried away by the celestial wisdom of "her statement," let's note that it was not her statement but that of one of the leading publicists in the business, speaking to the Associated Press.
This in-my-opinion-most-desirable dénoument has all been carefully laid out and executed, and what role Fleming played in it and what role others did we are unlikely ever to know.
P.S. I promise you there are people in her train who study online insights, like those of our own dear Cieca, as the signs and portents that they are. And it doesn't take a Druid priestess to see the outcry at another ill-begotten Norma at the Met.
Neither Brewster nor Voigt will do justice to Norma. Everybody talks of "the bel canto" demands of Norma. Italianate timbre alone will do for a lirico/spinto, but for a bel canto is not enough, where embelishment and fluidity take over. For a mainly dramatic soprano to sing bel canto is quite a leap. Does anybody know if Nilsson ever sang Norma?
Is it just me or is this a damned if she does... damned if she doesn't scenario?
Brewer would not be ideal as Norma but I think that she would be well worth hearing in the role.
I'm disappointed, but I can understand her decision. There's really nowhere for her to test this role without intense media scrutiny, so I guess it's better to leave it alone.
Dirk, the day singers allow internet pundits to influence or dictate their careers is the day they should retire.
Again I say a smart move by Renee, her manager, her publicist or who-the-hell ever. They have her on the Kiri-track and are smart to do it. Wasn't it something 100K a pop the Dame was commanding for concert appearances well after she ceased to perform full roles onstage? Smart girl that Renaaaay. I will never pay another dime to ever hear her sing anything anywhere, BUT one must admire the "career". For those who have forgotten - it's called showBUSINESS. And if she changes her mind down the road. The statement to not perform Norma was made by a publicist not her. Smart girl that Renaaay.
In one of Sir Rudolph's memoirs, he stated that when he suggested Norma to Nilsson, she shot back that here were too many little notes. And talk about an un-Italianate voice!!!
Also, if Trebes were to be in the opera, I would want her to sing Adalgisa, which isn't likely to happen.
I don't suppose reality has a place here in hysterical queenville with its bizarro hatreds -- the ignoramus TKLogan in a hurry to stick his stunted oar in for example.
I know both Mary Lou and Renee very well. I like them both very much. Mary Lou is one of the best -- for her ethics and honesty with clients and customers alike. And Renee would be incapable of the anti-musical mess made by the near-amateur Ghoul.
Whether she'd be a good Norma would be hard to say, I think the Met is too big and the role needs too much of the kind of emotion Renee doesn't always feel comfortable with. She is not a stage creature like Mattila. But, were she to do the role in a middle sized house, one could be sure that she would manage a true legato, clean declamation, clean rhythms, clear vowels and elegantly articulated fiorature. Is that enough? Well it's more than anybody else has done in about a generation.
On the other hand in the Met, I'm sure she would be small scaled and I'm not sure she'd be equal to the emotional outpourings of the final scene (but I doubt the 'jazzy' affectations that sometimes afflict her would be a part of what she did.)
What I find amazing about some of the people here and I'll start with the odious odoriferous TKLogan (he has suggested he works in the house -- as an usher, in rodent control?) -- is that they are completely inferior to Renee (and Curtis educated Mary Lou while we're at it). Here's a vicious bumpkin who has posted only horseshit about music, nonsense that a sane person would be ashamed of, putting down a brilliant woman who is a masterly musician and I mean that, having known some great masters in my life, she is also brighter and more cultured musically.
I don't much care who 'likes' her as a performer, no one is to everyone's taste -- it's the implicit idea of a nobody who has done nothing putting down a high achiever of enormous gifts in the most venomous terms.
Is anyone hearing the "Norma" in Sirius. M.J. just anounced that Guleghina is indisposed so Marina Mescheriakova is going to sing Norma. I haven´t heard her since the 2001 "Il trovatore". Any coments on her current vocal state?
We are about to find out
mrs John Claggart so you finished Ms Fleming's laundry and now have time to embarrass yourself online again? She's "a brilliant woman who is a masterly musician"?? This statement's a sign that you must seek treatment. Fleming's a clown like you, not a musician.
Yes, I do work for Lincoln Center, not the Met itself but I get to see what I want there, including Fleming through the years. She's a fodder for jokes, an endless self-supplying musical embarrassment.
If you don't like her, don't go to see her.
la povera Marina . . .
lol just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.... is anyone listening to Marina Mescheriakova? she got a 10-second applause after Casta diva and couldn't get the correct pitch during the cabaletta. Bring back Jane Eaglen!
OUCH!!!!!!!
holy f*cking sh*t this Marina woman's so bad, I'm begging, Ms Fleming please PLEASE step in.
Mescheriakova is a basket case -- there must have been a voice there at one time -- she cannot sing the role of Norma. The top of the voice is gone -- a high-A is about it. Zajick started well, soon turned flat herself, though in the upper range, with some pressure on the voice, it is in tune, and she sang a decent high-C. The conductor has the whole fuc*in thing in intensive care -- the tempos are impossible. Hell, the whole damn thing is impossible. M.M. has run out of pitch in any register; I don't know if she'll get through the evening - and it's only the end of Act I. Yipes!
MrM
Kashania, thanks for the support re Brewer. Maybe the tone isn't throbbing Italian but it was plenty warm as the Farberin. In fact, I was expecting Voigt's timbre to be the warmer of the two. Was I wrong! Until the last act - where her voice literally and figuratively soared - I felt that a LOT of metal had crept into Debbie's voice. Not in a bad way, but certainly not as warm as in the past, except in the lower middle of the voice. It's also less Italianate than ever. Except for her upcoming Minnie, she should really rethink all the Italian ladies she wants to sing and concentrate on German.
Oh, how I wish someone would hire Brewer as Brunnhilde! She sang one turn at the end of a line in Act III that made me gasp. I grieved that, post-Eaglen, no one would hire so large a woman as the Valkyrie. Sure, I'd love for her to lose pounds - for health reasons - but the voice!!! Hers would be a tremendously womanly Brunnhilde, closer to Traubel or Varnay than Nilsson. Also would be easily be the most effortlessly sung since Nilsson.
Okay, maybe Brewer wouldn't be definitive as Norma but, if she has the agility, it would probably be the finest in a while. She's certainly more appropriate than Eaglen who made her American debut in the role.
I don't know if either Brewer or Blythe (a beautiful vocal match), would risk a Norma on stage, but the two of them in a recording studio with a fine bel canto conductor, might make a brilliant and vocally memorable Norma recording. I'd love to have it.
Couple of years ago, Robertson of the St Louis Orch. was discussing Norma with those two singers, I have heard; for concert performance in StLouis (not the local opera company). That did not come about, and I see Brewer is on with Fidelio later this season with the SLSO -- so I think that is answer to your question. No Norma from her, unless some record firm wakes up.
MrMyster
I didn´t heard Guleghina´s Norma last monday, but cannot be worse than poor Mescheriakova! She only can sing well the recitatives, but she can´t even sing the high C´s in the terzetto. How would she finish the performance, for God sake?
MadameCelticGoddess: I am very sympathetic with your disire to hear more of Brewer while she's still in prime shape, but I understand she's a slow study and will sing only certain roles. What I do not understand is the MetOpera presenting Voigt as Isolde, which is not likely to sound very authentic, with Brewer on hand to do it. I hear Isolde and also Elsa and Elisabeth in that voice much more than Brunnhilde! Of course with her success as Faeberin, C. B. can make that role the rest of her career, if she wishes. She's off to Paris in Jan. and Feb. to sing it again there at Bastille. Love to hear that! It may be her defining role, and she should record it also -- but who for Frau?
MrMyster
I don't have sirius. Please please please someone tell me what is happening with Norma now?...I am in need of dirt...
Marina Mescheriakova and Cristina Gallardo Domas are both singing Butterfly in Vienna in February. It is a win win situation. How did Vienna manage such a coup de theatre?
myster: I agree! Why oh why does brewer never sing at the met?! could they have not given her at least half the run of the isoldes and or brunnhildes?! i would also love to hear her sing a big voiced elsa, though it would be hard to find an ortrud and lohengrin to match.
From what i'm reading i'm sure as hell glad I didn't see that norma tonight!
my goodness, are you people grasping for straws here. such desperation to find a perfect norma!!!! brewer? nilsson???? racette?
in regards to nilsson, i do recall reading an old book on divas, in which nilsson said she was often offered ridiculous roles (she wouldn't be the only one) and she'd laugh them off ("carmen? can you imagine????" -- which reminds me, in the same book, horne said someone once offered her salome (!!!), and karajan wanted bumbry to do donna anna -- she wisely said no). but i digress.
in this book, nilsson lamented that "casta diva" came so early in the opera. she said if it were later in the opera, and she had warmed up her voice by then, she said she could do perhaps consider it. the book also said she sang the queen of the night's aria often as a warm up in the dressing room. i might be mis-remembering some details, but that's what i recall from this book. various divas were interviewed in it, incl. leo. price, horne, sutherland, scotto, tebaldi, etc.
susan dunn. wow, a blast from the past. she was quite exciting, but her career was so short.
right now i'm listening to an old tape of gorchakova. i loved her voice at one point, quite dark, rich and vulnerable. i heard she sang norma once, but obviously made no big impact; otherwise we'd heard about it. what's she up to these days?
other former normas include sharon sweet and susan neves -- i know sweet is retired, but what's neves up to these days??????
With all this conflab about Norma, I did not find the opus scheduled for any upcoming Sat, broadcasts (Ghul is scheduled for Lady Macbeth). I assume there is a Gelb's Office story on why no matinee Norma this season, with all the talk on who can and can't sing it. On another topic--how many Met seats get filled at performances of War and Peace?
just to clarify what i wrote above, i read about horne being offered salome in the same book in which nilsson talked about norma. the karajan/bumbry donna anna anecdote come from a different source, a bumbry interview.
I went to school with Susan Dunn. She had no coloratura. The year that she won the Met Auditions, every singer before her came out and sang Mozart...then she came out and sang Pace Pace. If you heard Verdi after a whole afternoon of Mozart you would go crazy too.
But there is DVD of her Elena in Vespri Siciliani and she does some beautiful singing especially in quieter moments.
She was also very fat. And as we know now, that would stand in her way nowadays.
Why, thank you Anonymous for putting TK down more than you do me. Of course you lack the wit to even come up with a name (how about Dumbass?) so it's cold comfort.
Brewer is amazing, I saw that Ariadne at the Met and couldn't believe it, not since Jesseye's first run (NOT her second) had I heard such an incredible sound and such line.
The Chicago b'cast is unbelievable, there are parts in act three where one can hear Brewer's voice battering the walls of that enormous place and I've never heard anyone place ALL the notes dead on with such confidence.
I believe the problems are her age -- she's a slow study reportedly, and the big Wagner roles really need routine no matter how gifted the singer is, you need to do them over and over. So I don't know if there's time for her to get to them in big venues; and her figure will do her no favors, alas. But goodness if only Little Petie Gelb wiped the slate clean for a few months next year and gave us whatever she felt like doing, a Brewer festival (she should however improve her German).
Sharon Sweet is no longer retired, I think she has engagements and is actively looking for more. I will say that her debut Trovatore was a very impressive showing, huge voice of very good quality, easy top and good agility. It went down hill fast, but there were a few showings in there (Stifelio -- a killer role, Turandot) where you could see her potential. I think the new Forza was her death knell, but I've always blamed Domingo's insane transpositions for sending her 'round the bend (I mean some people lower Sleale but I swear Domingo was doing phrase to phrase confusing the hell out of Chernov who also had to sing in lower keys than were comfortable for him -- I think that was pretty much the end of him too.)
I first saw Sharon in Berlin where when she entered the audience burst out laughing (but she sang the role gorgeously).
Mrs. John Claggert--
Be very careful about what you say to "Anonymous." I have reason to believe that "Anonymous" is Maria Gugleghina. I can tell by her bad English. But I do like the name "Dumbass." Let's make a pact and refer to "it" as "Dumbass" from now on.
Well, Mrs Claggert, you surely do know your cookies anent C. Brewer. You got it just right; but she DOES know Isolde, finally she's got all the words, and she has the notes and the tones in great abudance, so why the F. does the Met not put her on for a couple of perfs. to spell the not-quite-right D. V.? I have hopes her stunning success at Lyric Chicago may precipitate some better things at the Met than Brunnhilde in '09.
But what the Hell! If there are a couple of Fraus per year somewhere in the World for the next five years, that would do it and she'd make another million. What I regret is that some good audio firm (NOT telarc), is recording this great sound.
MrMyster
I too think Brewer could do exceptionally well by the role.
And there's a new younger artist at the Met to keep your eyes and ears on: Angela Meade. She was a 2007 MetOpera finalist/winner, and is covering Elvira in the Met's ERNANI this spring. It's one hell of a voice.
Celtic Goddess -- Yes, Brewer is glorious in FrOSch (among five leads, not a clinker -- how often does that happen? and SO good to hear Jill Grove live up to all I've believed her capable of -- Jonathan Friend was there at my second and I wanted to kick him in the shins and say, "You HEAR it NOW? why didn't you give her anything DECENT all these years?") but no, she couldn't handle Norma any more than Flagstad could. (She was asked to sing it by Johnson and insisted he listen to her tryout first; he pulled out.)
The soprano who COULD be a fantastic Norma today is Stoyanova, as her Anna Bolena and Lina at Carnegie Hall and Rachel in Vienna demonstrated. She can act angry with coloratura and her technique is flawless.
- Hans Lick
This post has been removed by the author.
Logan, that is really uncalled-for.
Shoplifter? Lesbian, how do you know? And what if it? Do you live in a glass house? If you are just going to call names, why not take your business elsewhere?
MrMyster
On a not totally unrelated topic...
Thank you all !
If any other kind folks out there would, to a few of these useful interesting responses please add any other hints, tips or pointers...
_ _ _ _ _ Loeb Music Library _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Here's the one we found while on the phone
http://opera.suite101.com/
article.cfm/free_opera_scores
I did a google search for library guides - "opera scores library guides" and found a nice Baylor handout with a web section (and you'll find many more)
http://www.baylor.edu/
content/services/document.php/14032.pdf
Here are some links I have saved in my reference bookmarks (some of which you'll already know) Aria Database
http://www.aria-database.com/
Met Database
http://66.187.153.86/archives/frame.htm
Operabase
http://www.operabase.com/
intro.cgi?show=pro&lang=en
Opera Liber (in Italian)
http://193.204.255.27/
operaliber/index.php?page=/operaLiber/home
Libretto Index
http://wwwsys.informatik.fh-wiesbaden.de/
weber1/opera/lib.htm
Best wishes with your project!
Music Reference and Research Services
Loeb Music Library
Music Building, North Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138
http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/#loebmusic
http://hcl.harvard.edu/
libraries/loebmusic/collections/digital.html
617 495-2794
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thank you all !
If any other kind folks out there would, to a few of these useful interesting responses please add any other hints, tips or pointers...
a.
Especially but not necessarily limited to operas on the web how do you systematically look around the web for free scores?...
c.
or free librettos on the web?...
d.
or free arias on the web?...
Boston Public Library Music Department had suggested when using the search engines include a keyword... "online"
It's nifty studying a passage while listening to a recording or the radio.
More braodcasters like at our local
http://whrb.org
or
http://wgbh.org
could via their websites let radio listeners know or point out a resource or two as a part of the introductory material they might go over with listeners before broadcasting the music.
Radio broadcasters could update the radio listening experience for listeners if they arrange their computer by their microphone!
_ _ _ _ _ Trillenium Music Co. http://trillmusic.com _ _ _ _
> Scores, and libretti and arias, are very expensive to produce, at all levels and parameters. You should NOT be such a cheapskate as to expect to find these items for free via the web. Consult your local music dealer. Maybe he or she will get you a fair discount.
_ _ _ Classical Singer Magazine http://www.classicalsinger.com _ _ _
> If you find a good place/places to look would you tell me for Classical Singer Mag? Thanks
Okay, please post this so others will know of your interest too!
> Sorry, but I don't post on Opera L. Too many flamers.
there are features of the list software to deal with that. for example, the list can be read on the web at
http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/opera-l.html
> I'm an opera professional. I can't afford the bad publicity that I can get from being flamed on Opera-l. I do anounce news there once in a while, but not much else.
Herr Lick, you are SO right about Grove! In fact, of the three ladies, Debbie impressed me the least. That's not to take away from her achievement - only a statement on the greatness of those around her. I'd forgotten how much the Amme has to sing - Lord! Grove was tireless and passionate in the role.
As for Isolde, any one know if Mattila is still planning to sing it? Her role debut was supposed to be in London but has been scrapped. Also, any thoughts on Mattila as the Empress? Is the tessitura too high for her now?
Boys, boys, boys... I leave town for one day and you get very very naughty! Now play nice or nobody will get any more blogs!
Celticgoddess: Brewer is supposed to sing the RING at the Met next season, alternating with Gasteen.
La Cieca will have a report on LOC's Frau ohne Schatten tomorrow, including Michaela Martens' jump-in as Die Amme.
Let's face it there is no great Norma currently. And there is no director saavy enough to direct it. So why can't the MET just forget about it until we have a real Norma with the vitality, technique, character and perfect energy for the role. Voigt no longer has the size and certainly doesn't have the color,Netrebko hasn't the age or experince, Stoyanova has the technique not the size, Brewer has the size not the technique, and suggesting Angela Meade is ludicrous she is too young and no more than a lyric who sings sharp and nasally consistently, another obese soprano that is overparted.
Norma should be out of the repertory.
Mattila as Isolde? Boggles the mind! It's not the tessitura, which is not all that high, but the tonal weight and endurance required. I don't think she commands it, do you? She would tire during "Abscheulicher"
a few years ago in the Met's run of Fidelio. I would never think of her as an Isolde; Brewer is a different matter. In fact she shold be singing Isolde this coming spring at the Met.
MrM
i love grove's pungent, strong chest register....it really hits you in the face! Row J in the orchestra during aegiptsche (sp?) helena was almost too close!
TKlogan is cleaning the toliet next to the lesbian klepto? That's how IT knows, freaky little TK. Hmmm.
THIS is the best you can do,? And Claggert, dear leave insults for the singers you like. Nothing you write is in tune. thud.
snap!
Oh...go to bed anonymous...and tomorrow seek a therapist who enjoys a challenge. You are not well. There is something wrong with you in a scary way, not in an amusing way.
Has anyone noticed that RF's eyes seem to move every time the naked Marschellin slides past her in the Amazon ads on the left of the screen?
Oh, l'amour, l'amour, how it can let you down. Hmm. How it can pick you up again. There's more on the castaway divas and their canceled wedding... um, civil union, plus a small, yet poignant photo montage of the future and once happy couple. After all, there is ALWAYS other repertoire just waiting to be done. http://nycoperafanatic.com/blog/2007/12/01/castaway-divas/
So, with constantly reduced coverage of classical music, the Times can still find space to headline what Renée Fleming is NOT going to sing. It tells us that (1) publicity machines still work (and Mary Lou merits real credit here) and that (2) Ms Sills knew just what she was doing when she installed a Times insider as General Manager.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/arts/music/01norm.html?ref=music
NYCOF, love the Norma Shearer pics on your site. Since she and Crawford were such big rivals, how about Joan as Norma and Norma as Adalgisa. And I checked out the Youtube video you mentioned of Carol Vaness and Jennifer Larmore (why isn't she still a Met star?) singing Mira, O Norma. Fabulous.
La Cieca, YOU are La Divina!!! I'm THRILLED that Brewer is singing Brunnhilde at the Met. See, Gelb does understand that a great voice is to be showcased, no matter the package.
Happiest of Holidays!!!
Ms. Brewer sings a fabulous Isolde. I caught the Tristan Project earlier in this past summer. I think the reason she isn't singing at the Met has a lot to do with the past regime. I can't imagine that the Met isn't trying to find something to plug her into before 2009. Also one must remember that she sings the same rep as Debbie and all those big Wagner/Strauss parts at the Met have basically been hers for the past decade.
In addition to her Faberin in Chicago I will be catching her again in Paris in February. I have been a major fan since catching her in the Gurreleider & Elektra at Tanglewood a couple of summers ago. Talk about DEMENTIA Lisa Gasteen/Electra Brewer/Chrysothemis & Felicity Palmer/Klytemnestra. IT WAS F--KING AMAZING!!! Ms. Brewer definitely steps up to the plate when she has another soprano/s to work with. The Met should scrap something in the next couple of seasons and revive the FrOSch. The first run was a mess with Schnaut as the Dyer's wife, but the 3 performances I saw with Polaski the next season were very good. Now to have a person in the role with a voice as big and beautiful as Brewer's in the role is a godsend.
To name a future up-and-comer who has the potential to be a fabulous Norma: Jennifer Check - she sounds like a baby Monserrat in timbre and color and vocal size. I hope young lady works on the technique because her voice would perfect for the role in about 10 years (she's only in her late 20's) I see a lot of the Verdi spinto roles in her future. BUT unfortunately she is a large girl, but the voice is special enough for that not to curtail what could be a major career.
From the comments about last night's Norma. I can't believe that I am actually hoping that Gulag-ghina doesn't cancel next Tuesday 12/4.
I stand corrected on repeats of Norma; there ARE, alas, a few more. But I have an idea: Cancel
Them! Bring the Chicago cast in from FROSH and do excerpts in concert form -- and make everyone
happy!
MrMyster
i think they should bring angela brown to sing norma.
just kidding.
Stoyanova has the size, Gianni. Her high notes may be fading, but (as Joan told Monsterrat) "You don't need them! They're not in the SCORE!"
But as I write this, there's a Norma from Vienna on operacast courtesy of KLARA (a Brussels station) with Gruberova, Garanca, Cura. It's terrific. Better than any live Norma I've heard since ... since ... since .... Gruberova is imperfect but glorious, wonderful phrasing, legato, ire.
I still don't think Brewer can do it, but oh to have heard that Elektra, nycoq!
By "do it," in the post above, I meant Norma, not Elektra of course.
(Proof yer goddam posts, Hansel.)
I loved Jill Grove at first but last season as Cornelia she was having serious trouble with the top. I was wondering how she would manage Amme, and I hope it wasn't a vocal breakdown that gave Martens the opportunity in Chicago. Martens is a very exciting performer, by the way.
It seems to me that Brewer might have problems 'moving' the voice in the fiorature of Norma's music. And also she does not seem particularly Italianate - all the more good reason to stick with what she does best.
Does Fleming's withdrawal mean the Robert Wilson NORMA will be scrapped?