parterre box

104 comments

• Eddie says:

  Della Jones is wonderful on the Hickox Poppea, and recorded a spectacular Donna Elvira. I’ve seen her live so many times, and she is just a gem! Love her!!!

  on April 6, 2008 at 2:05 PM
• Melzia Toast says:

  Sanford,

  As my grandma always says:

  “Peals before swine.”

  on April 6, 2008 at 2:24 PM
• Evenhanded says:

  Well.

  Eddie – great to hear from you on this topic. I am envious, as I never saw Della Jones live: she didn’t sing much in the US, I don’t think. She was a superb Rossinian – but sadly underrecorded in this area, however. I also enjoy her Elvira very much. She has a Rossini disc that Chandos made on which she is immensely virtuosic. She did have a strangely gravelly sound from time to time, but that never bothered me. Her Vitellia is also wonderful, IMO.

  on April 6, 2008 at 2:46 PM
• hairymusclez says:

  “No one’s even asking you to narrate LINCOLN PORTRAIT!”

  Grace Ann – hilarious!

  on April 6, 2008 at 4:00 PM
• mrsjohnclaggart says:

  Sanford, I have no idea what your comments mean. I didn’t attack you but some baboon yclept Frances Alda. I don’t think I’ve suggested She-Grace was perfection or notably consistent. Nor do I think everyone had to like her. That is different from the fact that she had a magnificent voice that lasted a very long time, and that under some circumstances she was very fine. Neither could be said about Reggie Resnik, I can’t think of any performances where her voice lasted all the way through! And as for the sound she made — Della Jones was Guerrina Fabbri in comparison and far jollier in that way the British have.

  on April 6, 2008 at 4:22 PM
• Regina delle fate says:

  Della Jones was ENO’s resident Rossini diva for many years and sang Rosina, Cenerentola, Isolier, Isabella and Ninetta in The Thieving Magpie – the voice was always a bit breathy and she sometimes aspirated but she was ballsy and gutsy in this repertoire. Yes there is a Chandos disc and an Opera Rara compilation of stuff from its early recordings. I find her Elvira and Vitellia a bit vulgar, but she was always a character. A fine Handel singer, too – Juno in Semele, Sesto in GC, Ariodante and Ruggiero (which she recorded for EMI). Yes Mrs JC – she was a jolly artist and a star in the ENO context.

  on April 6, 2008 at 4:32 PM
• Evenhanded says:

  Well.

  Mrs. JC – I am too ignorant of Guerrina Fabbri (phenomenal name) to know if your comparison of Resnik and Della Jones was meant as a compliment or an insult to Jones. Either way, you get the prize for obsurity in references (please do clue me in). Yes Regina, Jones’s Mozart did err toward the vulgar – never a problem for me. But then again, I also happen to share some of the same fanciful flaws as the dearly departed Alda (at least as told by Mrs. JC) so my leanings toward vulgarity may not be all that surprising. Lucky for me, my Italian is fairly decent and my interpretive insights are, well… legendary.

  on April 6, 2008 at 5:23 PM
• Sanford says:

  MrsJC, I wasn’t accusing you, I was reminding the person who insulted me of his insult. I adore your posts. When I said you were a hoot, I meant it. Didn’t Della Jones sing a lot for Opera Rara? Donizetti and such? Vulgarity is a lot of fun. My best friend, who is a tall, bigbusted African-American amazon, once walked into my office and put one boob on each of my shoulders. I mushed them to my head and said, “Ooh, earmuffs!” The next time she did it, I told her I could hear the ocean.

  on April 6, 2008 at 6:50 PM
• mrsjohnclaggart says:

  Thank you Evenhanded and Stanford — frankly many of us share at least one weakness with Frances Alda, but the others are more damning and she was a mean spiteful bitch (like my attacker). Alda did make some glorious records (the terrible aria, ‘amor celesate ebrezza’ from Lorely — a confession of not being able to compose from Catalani, however it was a temporary aberration since I AM LA WALLY, and her ‘In quelle trine morbide’ is wonderful, she also had a gorgeous trill).

  Guerrina Fabbri must be heard to be believed, she was active from the 1880′s up until the First World War. She sings ENTIRELY IN CHEST, like my late husband, and it’s massive and butch — her ‘se Romeo uccise’ is a MUST HAVE. There is a Symposium of her, and I believe she is on the Marston Eugenia Mantelli collection (an adorable singer, always transferred at the wrong pitch, the genius Marston figured it out and it’s wonderful but only a pal, and yes even Mrs. JC has them, owns it, since I made my own transfers at the correct pitch some years ago, I just don’t reduce the noise as handily as Mr. Marston, but I like hiss and sizzle — my personality!!!).

  on April 6, 2008 at 7:15 PM
• armerjaquino says:

  Late to the conversation, but I have to say I’ve not spotted any particular vulgarity in Della Jones’ Mozart chez Ostman. She goes hell-for-leather, yes, but I kinda like that.

  When it comes to Vitellia, I have spent the best part of 20 years trying to find someone as thrilling in the low section of ‘Non piu di Fiori’ as Carol Vaness. Clue: nobody is.

  on April 6, 2008 at 8:18 PM