oony, meeny, miney…
In news that La Cieca is pretty sure has fallen far below Jeffrey Vanderveen‘s radar screen, a further casting rumor for next season’s Rienzi at Opera Orchestra of New York has emerged. As if Lauren Flanigan (Irene) were not superstar enough to supply name recognition for the company’s 47th production of the Wagner opus, the role of Adriano, written for the 19th century’s foremost singing actress Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, will be sung here in New York by none other than … Eva Urbanová?
Oh, what fun Mmes. Flanigan and Urbanová should have backstage, swapping stories about their triumphant Met performances as the Foreign Princess in Rusalka! And how much more enjoyment will we, the public, take in recalling a time when OONY presented operas people actually wanted to hear featuring singers people actually had heard of!
UPDATE: On the other hand, La Cieca hears that we just may get Sam Ramey as Creonte in Medea, which would certainly be luxury casting. Though, again, it doesn’t help that Rienzi any.
Glanville would be tops as Glauce!
Schroder-Devrient had a massive influence on Wagner. He wrote extensively and effusively about her after seeing her as Fidelio, and it helped him crystallise a few ideas he was having about music drama. By all accounts, she was vocally ropey (as was Pasta – certainly intonation problems were cited re Pasta) but very compelling. We’d probably all have loved her, on this site.
IMHO Urbanova’s MET debut as Ortrud was impressive
(with the previous equally good Santuzza in the parks), but she got signed by Lombardo, who sent her to re-study her voice with Renata Scotto and since than Urbanova suffered a disastrous Tosca (as an opener subbing for Dessi) and her voice lost power, shine and the middle is not secure, except the loud and laser like top in Turandots or Kostelnicka outbursts (remember please, that except two short spots in act two; it is more a Sprechgesang part who serves well older sopranos and mezzos in their twiglight years (Varnay, Schlemm, Rysanek, Silja or Czech Krasova, Slovak Kittnarova). The only three Czech singers performing the role in their forties were Eva Randova, Nadezda Kniplova and Eva Urbanova). The MET casting abandoned the idea of casting her in the verismo parts fast.
These days you can hardly claim Urbanova a star, the Fanciulla mounted in Prague was a major miss, the second cast Rumanian soprano Anda Luise Bogza is much more successful in the part), similar situation happened in Adriana Lecouvreur, La Gioconda and Suor Angelica. The only parts Urbanova shines these days are Turandot (short and loud), Kostelnicka and the Foreign Princess (her Rusalka is not fragile water nymph). Her fame is more on paper than on stage. As Andrea Gruber, she had a major weight loss which helped her visual appearance, but may negatively effected her voice.
As Adriano it would be much smarter to consider Wagner skilled current of former mezzo’s as Michelle Breedt (Bayreuths Fricka & Brangene) Mohiko Fujimura (Bayreuths Kundry, Brangene, Erda, Fricka etc), Janice Baird or Michelle De Young. But on the other hand, why bother if you don’t have them on the Lombardo’s roster and you are planning a Rienzi without a Rienzi.
PS. Sorry I forgot to mention in the “not-over-the hill” Kostelnicka’s No.4; the great Ludmila Dvorakova who sung the role very rarely (even if extremely early ), but who lost her newborn illegimate child under very questionable circumstances in her twenties and the psychological pressure of the part must been to much for her. Their are more deatails to this which was the reason of her sudden departure from Czech Republic during communism into a permanent “artistic exile” to the communistic East Berlin.
LA’s Jenufa is streaming live right now at http://www.kusc.org/new/Programming/listen.php
LA’s Jenufa with Urbanova is streaming right now at http://www.kusc.org/new/Programming/listen.php