Headshot of La Cieca

Cher Public

  • Nerva Nelli: Delunsch is out of her mind to do this; but then again the queens at Bordeaux egged her on to do Elsa... 8:25 PM
  • MontyNostry: Je vous en prie, APT. And a Belgian friend of mine told me that the restaurants in Liege are some of... 8:21 PM
  • Nerva Nelli: That looks like a press photo of Sheila Smith in the National Company of MAME. 8:16 PM
  • A. Poggia Turra: Monty, my abject apology – you’re right – my saying “disagree 221; was... 8:14 PM
  • MontyNostry: My comment wasn’t intended to be patronising, APT. I think Belgium is a very underrated country... 8:07 PM
  • Signor Bruschino: speaking of La Bartoli- what is the story on her personal life? has she gotten married ( i... 8:04 PM
  • A. Poggia Turra: Monty, I beg to gently disagree. From my (albeit limited) exposure to smaller Belgian houses such... 7:58 PM
  • operalover9001: Eva-Maria Westbroek is also singing Fanciulla next season in Frankfurt. So excited to see it. 7:55 PM

filth a deux

Nothing could illustrate better the “strange intercourse” between artist and public than the following clip. Chris Merritt‘s 2008 performance of the rarely-heard cabaletta to “Rachel quand du Seigneur” is not much worse than you might expect, but it is the “ovation” at the end that elevates the entire experience to the highest summit of Filth.

33 comments

  • Tenorguy says:

    Stages of singing: bel canto > can belto > can’t belto > can’t canto

    Obvious that Mr Merrit has entered fully into the last stage. Where oh where is his self-respect?

  • ……and we thought Stefan Zucker was a joke!!!!!!!!!….I heard that already 768 Jews converted (even without plastic surgery on their….) because of this horrrrrrendous singing…

  • Hans Lick says:

    It’s a fine cabaletta, and dramatically necessary – Eleazar thinks of sparing Rachel in the aria, then hears a Christian mob exulting at the deaths of Jews and changes his mind, represented by the cabaletta. Too bad Shicoff could not manage it at the Met. (I forget whether Casanova sang it for Queler.)

    As for Merritt … what a falling off was here. I remember his first Puritani at NYCO in … well, must be 78 or 82 or so … anyway, he had a lovely lyric tenor and easy E (did not attempt the F) trapped in a body the size of a brownstone with less stream lines. June Anderson was a spectacular Elvira too. Them was the days. This is … just awful … just … oh dear. Was he substituting for somebody sick in Vienna? couldn’t they get Rockwell Blake or Aquiles Machado?

    Ann Drummond-Grant – not a Turandot, but one HELL of a Dame Carruthers! And Queen of the Fairies! And Katisha! Them was the days. I’d have paid to hear Nilsson as Katisha. She HAD the costume.