parterre box

78 comments

• Londonqueen says:

  I was at the first night of L’Amour de Loin on Friday and want to say bravo to Faith Sherman – she was great.
  Rupert Christiansen (who wrote this review of her) is a provincial idiot. Please do not assume that all Londoners think like him! In fact, many of ENO’s greatest recent casting successes have been Americans, not least the spectacular Catherine Malfitano and Michaela Martens, who both excelled as Kostelnicka in London.

  on July 7, 2009 at 5:39 PM
• Marchesa del Poggio says:

  Londonqueen: It should probably be noted that Rupert Christiansen said that she made a “strking debut” (which to me is an EXCELLENT thing). I think he was more chastizing ENO for their lack of patriotic casting…

  on July 7, 2009 at 5:43 PM
• ellerveira says:

  Drew: sounds to me you are saying Sills was a liar. Is that what you really mean? If her name meant “absolutely nothing” why did they engage her when Queens of the Night were a dime a dozen? Doesn’t make much sense.

  on July 7, 2009 at 7:41 PM
• ellerveira says:

  Yes MissJohnson, it was Melba, not Teyte. My error. Sorry.

  on July 7, 2009 at 7:43 PM
• Drew says:

  In 1967, after her late-1966 success as Cleopatra at the New York State Theater, Sills’s agent and publicist were attempting to capitalize on Sills’s new notoriety and create a European career for her. They succeeded in lining up a couple of European engagements for Sills for 1967, including the Vienna engagement, but none of those engagements worked out for Sills (the contemporaneous Lausanne engagement did not work out for her, either).

  Vienna certainly did not engage Sills because Vienna thought that she was a star! Sills was totally unknown in Vienna at the time–and she remained unknown in Vienna after her single performance there.

  If you visit Sills’s own website, you can see for yourself that Sills had no European career to speak of, even though she and her agent and publicist made three valient attempts to create a European career for her: 1967, 1969-1970, and 1971.

  Sills simply was never in demand in Europe, not even at the smaller houses.

  on July 7, 2009 at 8:05 PM
• mrmyster says:

  Miss Elle, #63 – the beatification of Sills has been amazing to behold. Yes, Sills would embroider the truth and revise facts and stab her best friends in the back. I was always amazed by the down side of her personality, for she could be much fun and charming in person — but, then, that could all change and become very unattractive. She was a quite complex human being, who had a lot of tragedy and disappointment in her life — mixed with moments of wonderful success.
  Her betrayal of Julius Rudel was unforgivable; I can understand a lot of her diva needs and self-preoccupation; but after what Rudel did for her, to treat him as she did was the pits. And she came to know that. She wound up badly, and I was sorry to see it. I just want to remember her on stage as Manon and Cleopatra; forget the rest.

  on July 7, 2009 at 11:24 PM
• ellerveira says:

  Drew:

  I gather you have all the info to support what you say? I still don’t get the logic of Vienna’s engaging her if she was totally unknown when, as you say, there were many other “better” coloraturas available. Do you have a more convincing explanation? Are you going to tell us that she paid Vienna to sing there? LOL I might add that Rosa Ponselle sang only three seasons in London and once in Italy. Was this because she wasn’t “in demand” or was “totally uniknown” and her European career basically a failure?

  on July 7, 2009 at 11:49 PM
• Alto says:

  “Vienna certainly did not engage Sills because Vienna thought that she was a star! Sills was totally unknown in Vienna at the time–and she remained unknown in Vienna after her single performance there.”

  It had been a while since the Soviets had marched out of Vienna. Had the suffering populace no access to the international press? The cover of TIME magazine was embargoed? They had never heard of “The Beatles of Opera,” as she had been dubbed?

  Just what is your agenda?

  on July 8, 2009 at 12:00 AM
• Alto says:

  Mrmyster: You have changed the subject.

  As a person, I fear that Sills was a somewhat vicious, insecure person whose only loyalty was to herself and a select few whom she associated with herself.

  We had thitherto been discussing operatic artistry. In this she made a unique contribution.

  on July 8, 2009 at 12:07 AM
• browser says:

  This thread is f**ked up.

  The vitriolic bigotry; the portraits of Britain that wouldn’t be recognised by anyone who had spent a significant amount of time there, but would by someone whose only knowledge of British culture was from books and films; the belief that there is an opera f**k tree…and then a concentrated discussion on why Sills and Ponselle didn’t have European careers.

  Ponselle did come to Europe; but at the time she sang there, singers didn’t travel; unless they had been engaged for a substantial amount of time (usually around 6-9 months). Ponselle had great success in London; but her life was in the US, so she stayed in the US. Much the same with Sills. Europe wasn’t her priority. People didn’t travel as much, so it does not surprise me that she was not known in Austria. And they would not have been paying a great deal of attention to US media…

  on July 8, 2009 at 7:22 AM