parterre box

44 comments

• Operalala says:

  In defense of Bonisolli, when I heard this De Grieux I promptly uploaded it to YouTube:
  http://youtube.com/watch?v=yyi0OAAKb1g
  As for Pazzo? Oh I think life would be dull without a bit of pazzo, especially Corelli’s pazzo.

  on April 23, 2008 at 6:11 PM
• harry says:

  Ms Creant: I think I have every right to believe it to be true. The person Ms Dimitova encountered , also happens be my partner of some 20 years!
  Ms. Creant screeched:
  harry, your anecdote tells us nothing about the lady. we don’t know what the context or circumstances of that incident are, or even if it’s true.

  on April 24, 2008 at 2:28 PM
• Figliaimpura says:

  What a vulgarian. He can hardly keep in time with the orchestra. A terrible musician.
  I remember seeing him on a trip to London once in Trovatore where he cut off the mezzo’s applause after her aria. The audience did not let him away with it with much booing after his vulgar display in “Di quella pira”. I simply don’t understand such a singer – like operatic porn………… and not in a good way!

  on April 24, 2008 at 4:42 PM
• Ginevra says:

  I saw Bonisolli twice, once in London as Calaf, with Gwynneth Hones as Turandot…yes he was a scene-stealer, but a crowd-pleaser. The other time was in Verona as Radames….he sounded wonderful, but hard to comment on his musicianship there, with the vague acoustics.

  I really like his singing on the recording of Leoncavallo’s La Boheme, with Lucia Popp.

  on April 24, 2008 at 7:17 PM
• armerjacquino says:

  Harry- this is the internet. We still don’t know if it’s true.

  on April 24, 2008 at 7:50 PM
• Regina delle fate says:

  Bonisolli is also the Alfredo on Freni’s underappreciated Berlin Traviata conducted by Gardelli with Bruscantini as Giorgio. He sang a lot at Covent Garden. As well as Manrico, Calaf and Vasco da Gama, I think he sang a run of Toscas – also with Dame Gwyn – Sure he was vulgar, but he was fearless, too. We could do with a Calaf like him now. I remember his leather boots and open shirt in L’Africaine and the hair was hilarious. He also looked as he was wearing a merkin on his chest.

  on April 24, 2008 at 8:20 PM
• Santuzza Credimi says:

  Ironically, 1 chorus of Di quella pira with a bis is what the uncut score calls for Manrico to sing – allowing a couple of lines from Leonora between the 2 parts, which contributes to the excitement of the piece. And the interpolated high C only occurring in the repeat makes more sense. Disappointingly, the 2nd chorus and of course Leonora’s interjection are usually cut.

  on April 24, 2008 at 9:12 PM
• WindyCityOperaman says:

  Does anyone remember the late Michele Molese? He was an American-born tenor who sang a lot with NYCO and other companies and was Hoffman in a BBC opera television production (with Geraint Evans and Elizabeth Harwood as nemises and heroine). All the pazzo stuff associated with Bonisolli reminds me of the weird antics Molese did, including yelling stuff back at the audience. Always wondered if Molese had a screw loose.

  on April 25, 2008 at 9:15 AM
• harry says:

  armerjacquino, using your Comment #35 criteria:’Are you stating that everything stated by the contributors ….is perhaps untruthful or pure contrived fiction ….is that your contention?
  One could therefore in response ask ..’Are you then also, but a manifested figment of some electronic gilch; that happens from time to time on the internet highway’? Do you actually exist?

  armerjacquino retorted:
  “Harry- this is the internet. We still don’t know if it’s true.”

  on April 25, 2008 at 12:10 PM
• Stella Barbare says:

  harry, i’m not saying the incident you describe didn’t happen. what i’m saying is that it says nothing about who ghena was. so once, backstage, some stranger tried to say hi to her, and she brushed him off, saying she didn’t speak english. so what? that means nothing in terms of who she was. not one incident.

  i went backstage to meet barbara hendricks once. she seemed to have a cold. she signed my program but declined to chitchat with me. so what? i’m not going to conclude from this one incident that she’s the devil incarnate, she’s haughty, unfriendly or whatever. who knows what was going on in her mind that day?

  i don’t know dimitrova. i’m not saying she’s a nice person or she’s not. just saying that one incident that you describe doesn’t prove anything.

  and btw, i remember a story in opera news in the 90′s, in which the write did say she did not speak english, just bulgarian, spanish and italian.

  on April 25, 2008 at 3:31 PM