johnny come lately
. . . much to our dismay, we caught a glimpse of high-C-flaunting Juan Diego Florez coming out of the Juilliard School’s Meredith Wilson Residence Hall with fiance Julia Trappe in tow at around, oh, 1pm. That’s like 30 minutes before curtain!
Little sister Counter Critic goes to the movies and gets a surprise preview. And read on after the most recent post, because Counter Critic sink their teeth into Bernard Holland and others of his banana-eared ilk.
I found that their voices project well into both the orchestra and dress circle but not the balcony for some reason. Acoustics and the unique characteristics of each voice are truly a mystery!
He really did it again?
Its really losing its novelty….
Losing it’s novelty?????
Tell that to the 4,000 thrilled audience members who were there tonight…utterly magical
by losing its novelty, i simply mean that it is becoming predictable and expected, not losing its appeal inherently…if that makes any sense.
I would agree with you if it were predictable and expected but clearly it’s not an automatic thing since he did not do it for the Saturday matinee
Countercritic strikes me as rather clueless in this piece of La Fille. All singers have their own ways of managing their voices, but very few would see the point in practicing a role they have been rehearsing for weeks, and done in production elsewhere more than once, and rather recently, on the day of a performance. And voices are physical things that depend on muslces – as such they get tired. Most singers will do some sort of warm-up (Mignon Dunn’s advice would appear to be the most popular approach), but it is essential not to tire the instrument. As for the high cs – he had them yesterday, last week, last month, last year – why on earth wouldn’t he have them on the day? What’s the point in belting a few out in the dressing room, thereby tiring the insturment out?
Having read Countercritic’s review of Lucia, I don’t think there is any reason to take that site seriously at all. I do not disagree with the comments about Dessay’s voice and singing. I do not disagree that there are issues with the production, but if they are significant in Countercritic’s opinion, why not say what they are? What I do take serious issue with is the condemnation out of hand of the opera itself. The fact that Countercritic is unable to perceive the work’s virtues does not make it a bad piece. Difficult to see how it would have remained in the repertoire if Countercritic’s objections were actually valid. The argument that it remains as a vehicle for vocal display is spurious – plenty of other operas have disappeared from the roster over the years because they offered an opportunity for vocal display and nothing else.
What’s the big deal about JDF not being in his dressing room warming up 30 minutes before curtain time? He do not appear on stage for at least 35 minutes after the overture begins. I’m sure he checked-in with the opera house earlier in the day. He was only a few minutes from the opera house. He wears a very simple costume which would only take him 5 minutes to put on. He wears no wig and very basic makeup which the pro’s at the MET could apply in about 5 minutes or less. A light voice needs less time to warm up than a big voice. People that sing everyday don’t need much time to warm up. He probably warmed up at home. (I remember Richard Bonynge cautioned young singers not to “sing the gloss off the voice” in their dressing room. JDF’s part is very easy vocally in the first couple of scenes (unlike Otello & Radames) so that’s perfect for warming up the voice. Also, his part is not a dramatically complex role so he doesn’t need to prepare himself emotionally for the performance. My guess is that he was in costume and make up at ready to perform by 1:30.
Geeze, you guys are tough. For realz. I’m impressed, and also a little scared. But I suppose, if I can dish it…
I’ve obviously upset some people around these parts, whether for the unfortunate number of errors in my post (it would figure that I would get such high volume on a post with so many typographical and factual snafus; what can I say other than that I wrote it in haste), or for the mere nature of my opinions (I’m not a fan of bel canto opera, although I did enjoy “La Fille”), or for the fact that I won’t post comments on my own website that I feel are personally mean spirited (please observe that there were comments critical of my opinions that did make it through). Obviously the rules are a little different here, so, I concede, and apologize and what have you.
To clarify something about my criticism of JDF. I understand that a singer generally will not include the big notes in a general warm up. However, I was drawing a line from his comment and seeing him outside the theater so close to curtain to something I detected in his performance on stage, which was a kind of non-commitment to the theatrical. Some will disagree; others have observed the same thing.
I obviously can’t change the minds of those who think my site can’t be taken seriously. I’m confident in the value of what I offer, and welcome anyone to continue reading.
xoxoC.C.
Even had he warmed up, he might still have displayed the non-commitment to the theatrical. First of all, warming up in a dressing room is quite different than singing on stage during a performance. And secondly, everyone has an off night. Try as we might to avoid it, we all bring our personal lives to our jobs occasionally. Who knows what kind of day he had or what he was feeling? And everyone’s perception of what’s theatrical is different also. I’m sure a lot of people thought he was terrific. By their standards, they’re right. By yours, you’re right. The great thing about art is that it’s really hard to get it wrong. (Unless it’s regie, when it becomes really easy)
Well, Countercritic, I guess if you find JDF lacks a commitment to the theatrical, that is entirely fair enough – I personally find his commitment to the singing so complete that questioning his engagement to the whole stage business never enters my mind, but nobody needs to point out that we are all entitled to our own opinions. I simply don’t see the link between his perceived lack of commitment in your opinion and him emerging from the building next door for the half hour call.
But regarding your Lucia review, to me it begs the question – if you hate bel canto opera, why go to see it? And if your answer is because you got press tickets and were obliged, then surely the appropriate stance is that OK, this isn’t my favourite repertoire but I respect the fact that other people like it, the Met has decided to put it on, so I will simply review the performance of the piece, without getting into whether it is a good piece or not. That kind of discussion is appropriate for a new work, or a work dredged up after a long absence from the repertoire. Trashing it is facile, as was your comment about Donizetti not being studied in music schools. All serious Italian opera scholars study Donizetti a great deal – Verdi didn’t come out of nowhere.
I must say though – I appreciate your graciousness a great deal. I quit online reviewing recently because I got sick of random people on the internet taking issue with what I was writing
As for Donizetti supposedly not being studied in music schools, it is true that some “music schools” teach only what their students are going to be singing or playing, but places with any pretense of giving a thorough musical education certainly would not ignore one of the most successful composers of opera. I just did a quick check of the Journal of the American Musicological Society (the gold standard of international musical scholarship, virtually all of the contributors to which teach) and immediately find:
Donizetti in Palermo and “Alahor in Granata”
James Freeman
“Anna Bolena” and the Artistic Maturity of Gaetano Donizetti . Philip Gossett .
Early Romantic Opera: Bellini, Rossini, Meyerbeer, Donizetti, & Grand Opera in Paris .
William Ashbrook
So, no, I don’t think you can use music scholarship as a bolster for your aversion to bel canto operas or as a stick to beat either Donizetti or Flórez with.
Nor do I envisage your convincing me that Flórez is anything but a committed, utterly successful denizen of the stage, or that what he does before or after a performance is any of our business, artistically speaking.