parterre box

78 comments

• Drew says:

  Ellerveira, I would go through the Sills performance annals if I were you. They are available online. The fact that Sills’s management obtained a Vienna engagement for her for 1967 does not signify that she was well-known in Vienna at the time. Sills was not well-known ANYWHERE in Europe in 1967, and Sills and her management wanted to change that fact, which was the very purpose of those 1967 European engagements.

  Alto, you are so hilarious. That Sills TIME magazine cover had not yet occurred in 1967. It was three years in the future. In any case, I very much doubt that the Viennese read TIME (or any other American publication) in 1967. The Viennese certainly do not read the American press today.

  Browser, singers WERE traveling constantly in the late 1960’s, and Sills made several serious attempts to develop a European career.

  on July 8, 2009 at 9:19 AM
• browser says:

  Drew – the reference was to Austrians travelling to the US for holidays and seeing performances there, not singers travelling for work.

  Alto – bearing in mind that the Allied occupation of Vienna was very present in Austrians minds in 1967 – I doubt they were paying much attention to TIME magazine…

  on July 8, 2009 at 11:31 AM
• Harry says:

  Well browser (comment 70#)believe what you want about ‘a decipherable operational f..k tree’ discernible at any time in Opera circles. Having attended in the past,such things as funerals (an example) where some unfortunate artist did not die of what was ‘acceptably’ reported and then being sworn to confidence to keep from the deceased ‘s family -the real truth- I would tend to disagree. Then there was the case of having the private phone numbers of various artist sharing the same abode. Being privy to other on going information……..and you don’t have to be Einstein to work out what ‘was going on’. It was just a fact of life, people are human and ambitious – opera singers too, even in their private behavior.

  On the totally unrelated subject of Sills and her non popularity in Europe, part of which was shaded by the vested interests of the main players in European recording companies at that time. They had the ‘coloraturas’ they needed for their recordings already – under long term contracts. Why help a new found rival to appear on the scene and threaten ‘their stars’ or more important their heavy investments. If anyone wants to really hear what Sills was really capable of..just go to the recording of ‘Sills & Horne at the Hollywood Bowl’.Who could ever come close to this amazing display? I suggest nobody!

  The tie-ins with live appearances at La Scala , Vienna or London etc. to garner sales and promotional clout from their newly released opera releases was immense. The same went with the musical press and magazines, with the financial tentacles reaching far. I know of a then illustrious ‘impartial Music Bible ‘ magazine sending one record company a direct blunt letter to advertise wit it or its reviewers would ignore its releases.
  Over the decades, notice the unmistakable ‘piss in each others’ pockets’ mentality with European record companies and its fellow magazines…Praise! Praise!……for material that is too many time second or third rate or bargain bin remainder quality. Diction-less singing that only excited a speaker’s tweeter but nothing else. Leading to their present local non entities, the British just don’t give up. Such continual damp weather and lack of sun is not climatic-genetic conducive to an evolutionary developed big healthy set of lungs, in most cases.

  How did the British cover this bias? Always by criticizing ‘the dry texture of U.S recordings’….’the acoustic’,,,,’the balance’….’the recording venue’… ‘ the cost of US recording (due to exchange money rates etc) nit picking ‘throwing shit’ wherever possible in a way that they certainly did not do ‘to home grown product’.
  Sit down , browse a big collection of the output from the recording venues from the ‘heady days’ and you realize the ‘short changing’ of not only US recordings but its artists as well, stares you in the face.

  Today the European Record companies are ‘in amalgamation’, disappeared or in a pathetic state as a result. The opera tie in cash-cow is dead, short of a few DVDs. All that is mainly left is to churn out umpteen tired re-releases of the same previous material in bargain priced shoe boxes. Much of which, going through the selections – on reflection – should never have seen the light of day in the first place.

  on July 8, 2009 at 12:21 PM
• tenoreprimo says:

  It’s interesting to note, apropos of the original subject, that the NYTimes reviewer, unlike the raves of many of the European reviewers, made little mention of Faith Sherman (or for that matter the other singers). How can one review an opera and barely mention the singers? Good or bad, they are a significant part of the end result, and they deserve at least as much attention as the other often incoherent ramblings of the review.

  on July 9, 2009 at 1:35 AM
• Marchesa del Poggio says:

  tenoreprimo, in regard to #74, it should be noted that the NY Times reviewer is more apt to dwell on barihunk adjectives rather than actual assessments of performances…this is nothing new to the parterre readers, of course.

  on July 9, 2009 at 1:46 AM
• Buster says:

  Valerie Masterson will be guest of honor at the yearly Sylvia Sass campfest in Pézenas. A truly fascinating program:

  http://www.pezenasenchantee.fr/

  on July 10, 2009 at 7:50 AM
• Sanford says:

  I would really love to see that film of Sass as Violetta.

  on July 10, 2009 at 8:26 AM
• imelda says:

  Typical. Back in the early 90′s Dame Janet Baker wrote a letter to the London Times complaining that ENO had been “reduced” to hiring an American soprano to sing Mimi in the new Boheme. There ensued a war of words in the Times between management, (who defended their position of hiring whomever they pleased) The New York Times, (who were outraged) and Dame Janet’s secretary (who defended her position, stating that surely there were British singers of similar stature who could be hired.) So, nearly 20 years later? SSDD.

  on July 12, 2009 at 3:54 AM