Separated at death?
In related macabre news, (reportedly) gay tenor Sergej Larin died this weekend, and La Cieca has just heard an unconfirmed report that another gay tenor, Giuliano Ciannella, has also passed away.
Labels: gay, obit, sad, this diva looks like that diva
POSTED at
12:57 PM
27 Comments:
R.I.P. Sergej Larin.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JqPZuuuD8Sk
Anyone happen to know Larin's cause of death? He was (relatively) young (54)
A Spanish language blog gave the cause of death as "SIDA" or AIDs. Here is the link:
http://ximo.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/han-mort-sergei-larin-i-giuliano-ciannella/
However, this has not been given out by any of the official spokespeople though rumors have been circulating for years. There was even a posting on Opera-l in February 2006 that Larin had actually died of AIDS that was debunked. The official word was "blood diseases". Larin had a liver transplant and supposedly had fallen seriously ill in New York City in mid-2007.
Ciannella supposedly died after fighting a "long illness" which is equally vague. No official obituary for him either.
Seems he passed on at the very time we were watching Hansel & Gretel here- spooky!!
I'm sorry, but someone really has to explain the context of this photo to me. I don't quite understand who is who (except that these two old dudes/ladies look quite similar in a grotesque way).
Oh, Honey!!!! Where have you been?
The one on the right is the witch in Hansel & Gretel
...and the one on the left is Joan Ingpen. As Dame Edna would say, "Spooky!"
I know that the one on the right is Philip Langridge, and I still have no idea who the one on the left is, but what I was actually asking is: what does this have to do with Sergei Larin and Giuliano Ciannelli? In what context is this photo related, that's what I wanted to ask. Oh well, I guess I finally got the answer I wanted.
Tristan
I see your point. I was confused too. I also thought that Cianella past away some time ago. Am I wrong?
deviafan: thank you for the S. Larin "flower song". Quite beautiful.
I'm jealous of never getting asked to be guest critic, so I may vanish amidst curses.
But Larin was gay and went through a coming out saga, where at one point he was flirting with talking to a writer about gay males in opera (there are tons of gay females). And he is in that movie with Moedl and Cerquetti and Gail Gilmore, as I recall making out with another male! He decided against talking about it. He was a sweet man, and I knew he had HIV at least a decade ago; whether it became full blown AIDS, or he simply developed a complication that couldn't be treated effectively I don't know. He was a very good singer, with at one point a lot of promise. I seem to remember him being an excellent Don Alvaro and of course Grigory/Dimitri.
Another AIDS Death was Emil Tchakarov, a wonderful conductor, who was actually dying when he came to the Met (in Boris) but fulfilled his contract through will power.
Ciannella gave some of the worst performances I saw back in the 80's -- there was an especially horrible Don Carlos, where he simply collapsed in act four, but they pushed him on for act five, where he croaked and broke so much it was amazing they didn't get someone else out there (unless there was no-one). He seriously frightened Montserrat who wasn't doing so well herself. He was a friendly man who like Larin loved opera and knew a lot about historical singers. He was consumed by a hatred of "Signor Sunday" as he called Placido. But Placido did manage to secure his voice as far as it went, and to grow it, and Ciannella had problems.
I wonder what happened to Raffanti, who had the most beautiful voice of those who were not 'the three'. Raffanti would get so nervous he would crack the top, but he really had the notes and quite a sound. There were other good people around too -- Giacomini and Cossuta for example, real Italian/Latin (Cossuta was Argentine I think) spinto tenors. And there was that big queen Matteuzzi -- who was shoved on for his debut with a horrible, crippling sinusitis ('there is no one else') and bombed big time, but who was capable of being very good (though not having a really pretty sound).
Sad about Larin -- who I don't think had a vocal crisis but lost stamina generally.
If Larin had a liver transplant, he couldn't have AIDS prior to surgery. Patient with AIDS are excluded from tranplants. He might have contracted AIDS around the time he had surgery due to contaminated blood tranfusion, like tennis great Arthur Ashe.
Mrs. JC, again you puzzle and astound me -- not once but twice in your article we are sublimely in agreement.
I loved Larin's Don Alvaro and always wondered why neither the Met nor anyplace else I knew of picked him up as a regular Verdi tenor -- AND I thought Raffanti's voice prettier than Pav's, and deplored his apparently unconquerable stagefright.
I don't remember ever hearing Ciannella, which means I probably did and probably didn't want to. I mean, I remember Lima and Moldeauvanu and even Ion Buzea, who was the worst Don Alvaro of my experience. (I walked out before Act III and came back to hear Arroyo's Pace pace.)
Dear Mrs John Claggart- I'm sure there are many of us who would be delighted to see you review anything. On their behalf please consider yourself thoroughly asked. ;0)
I'm sure Madame la Cieca doesn't mind me saying this..
With respect to the picture, I wish La Cieca had given Sergej Larin an item all of his own. I find it mildly disrespectful to the memory of a really good singer.
Was he gay? Well he did flirt with me once after an opera performance in Italy in which we were both in the audience ...
AFAIK Dano Raffanti retired because of stage fright.
Larin was an excellent singer in the right role, and Dmitri was certainly one of those roles. He looked and sounded ideal. Rest in peace.
Raffanti did himself in by moving beyond Rossini and bel canto roles "so that no one will think I'm a finocchio". Well, turns out no one thought he could keep the top together as a Rodolfo, either. Sad and stupid- a lovely voice.
Totally Unrelated to the story, but related to the pic:
That picture of Joan Igpen was published in an issue of OperaNews about 2 1/2 years ago with a coverphoto of Ben Heppner. I remember finding that issue on the train on the way to work one day. I read the whole magazine, cover to cover and was deeply intrigued. In that same issue was a Columbia House Opera Music club deal-thingy that I sent in and recieved my very first opera albums. A Puccini compilation album, Renee Fleming: By Request, and "Passion of Maria Callas". That found issue of OperaNews changed my life. And that picture of Joan Igpen brought it all back. I remember her telling the interviewer she never did like Callas' singing, but not much else of the article.
Thanks for bringing back fond memories of my start in the opera-listening world, La Cieca.
why does the obituary on larin mention that he leaves behind a wife?
Ruxton, you are very sweet but as she would be first to tell you, this is La Cieca's site and she will decide. She probably has axes to grind against poor Mrs. John, in the olden days I had many axes myself, but aware of an Ingpen like dignity (I resemble her, though more so the witch) I tend to retire without a fight.
It was interesting Hans Lick to see the tenors you mention, Buzea was one for the books. But Lima was another of those tenors with a beautiful lyric voice, which he wrecked by forcing and Moldoveanu wasn't the worst. I thought his wife was fun, wonder what happened to her? But there were also Nicolescu(o) and Mauti-Nunziata both of whom had lots of ability. In fact I seem to remember a Mauti Traviata that was actually a very good, axillary hair on a female style look in at the role and of course she drove Jon Vickers to wreck the set within the set of Pagliacci, throwing furniture into the orchestra pit because she fought him back so hard.
Ciannella's death is confirmed. There is an obit of whom posted at Opera News Online (as well as one of Larin):
http://www.metoperafamily.org/operanews/news/pressrelease.aspx?id=1488
There is also a tribute to Larin at his website, sergejlarin.com
Cianella saved many a performance at the Lyric in Chicago when good ol' Luciano didn't show up. I always thought he was a sturdy singer, and very nice looking too.
That documentary that sexy Sergej Larin was in was called "Love's Debris". He wasn't making out with a cute Italian - he lay on a bed and Larin sat nearby, reading him a poem. Larin was wearing a wedding ring (the homoeroticism of that scene wasn't lost on anyone!). In the same documentary he sang Florestan's aria from Fidelio. There was also a pseudo-lesbo duet with the Ciesinski sisters, and tenor Laurence Dale who was also very cute.
Hi James!
I do like your comments, read you almost daily, but find your post
about the death of Larin & Ciannella very offensive. It has nothing to do with the pics of Ingpen and they both deserved at least when dead more respect; especially knowing how tragic and unecessary the death of Larin at this age and knowledge about AIDS was.
Making your usual and witty fun and comments about the living is fine, but this time even if it is your web page you crossed the line.
Giuliano gay?! As someone who knew him VERY well, I can assure this is nonsense. Not only was he quite 'charming' with the ladies-he was also successful. As a matter of fact, he was married to lovely Korean soprano with he has two young sons. Hopefully they won't be reading these nasty old queeny post as they search the web for memories about their sadly departed father.
As for his singing, he was blessed with a beautiful full lyric tenor instrument of the first caliber. Unfortunately he was also cursed with horrible allergies, which caused him to finally throw his hands up in the air with performing and devote himself to teaching.
A good man, a good friend...Arrivederla, Giuliano.
You are right, Ciannella was not gay and is surived by his wife
as well as Larin, who despite being a gay man truly adored his wife Lilia (they sung together many times as Elisabetta-Carlo, Riccardo-Amelia etc.) and I just hope that they will never come across this blog of James showing no decency to a tragic death of a
great artist.
The matter is not what Sergej died of, but is that we lost a great generous kind and joyful person.
His illness was NOT aids, but he started several years ago in Houston where he was hospitalized and discovered he had an hepatitis C. He dealed with this for around 2 years and the they decided to transplant Sergej. He overcame this situation even restarting his carreer. This last June/July during a cruise he got an infection that made him again being hospitalized this time in NYC where he remained for several days being then transfered to Bratislava, where he lived. He tried hard to overcome this with dialisis 2/week, but it seems his organism didn't want to keep on fighting. I knew him personally and had the fortune of sharing vacations with him and his partner. He loved his wife as his most close friend. He was 51 almost 52.
May he rest in peace.
A rivederti Serjogino (as he was known).
re love's dust (love's debris, poussières d'amour): time has not been particularly kind to laurence dale's appearance since that film
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