addio della traviata: anna
Anna Netrebko will not sing Violetta in New York during the 2010-2011 season, La Cieca has learned. The long-expected La traviata (as discussed on Met Futures and elsewhere) was to be a version of the Willy Decker production the soprano did at Salzburg in 2005.
According to an interview the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Netrebko has decided to pull out for two reasons, a sense of routine in this production she loves so well, and a concern that she might not be as effective in the staging as she was in the well-known DVD release. (That second part at least has the ring of truth.)
The diva goes on to discuss future repertoire for her “new voice” (Anna Bolena and Faust, definitely; Trovatore and Lohengrin, possibly; but not Lulu, even though Barenboim and Decker want her to do it.)
Netrebko’s Violetta death is rather premature, and I may be wrong. With her sold-out perfomances and success in Salzburg, LOH and in SFO, she nay not sing Decker’s production at the Met, but it’s hard to believe that she has written off Violetta for ever.
I don’t claim to be a Traviata expert by any stretch of the imagination (although I do know the opera well, since it is my favorite).
Traviata is in 3 acts, as stated above. Act 2 is in 2 scenes. I will venture a guess that the intermission after II-i was probably inserted to give the Violetta another break. Obviously in the age of saving money at all costs there are all sorts of different ways of doing the intermisions. Doing only 1 at the end of II-i seems to be popular on smaller houses.
All this talk about anyone soaring over the ensemble in II-ii is ludicrous. First of all, it is an ensemble and the sopranos are doubling Violeta’s music (not the text) and it being the Concertato Finale, no one actually should stick out, unless in their solo moments or in the small asides right at the end of the ensemble. The whole idea is to show the strength of the ensemble singing of the soloists and the chorus. Anyone sticking out should be shot.
Furthermore, if you look and listen to the ensemble, it is not Violeta who has the melody in it, the melody is carried by Alfredo, so there’s an even more potent reason for Violeta not to dominate the ensemble.
I’m no fan of Dessay. I have seen her as Lucia (Chicago) and Marie (Met) and I thought her acting hammy and full of Look at ME acting. I was not terribly impressed and since then I have thought she is seeking the label singing actress to compensate for some vocal inadequacies.
For what you may think it is worth, Grove’s New Dictionary of Music and Musicians describes La Traviata as an opera in three acts. Just sayin’…
A single break after II-i makes no sense dramatically. There are time lapses of weeks or months between Acts 1 and 2 and between Acts 2 and 3. Act 2, both scenes happen in a span of little more than 12 hours.
An ideal production would even change the seasons from Spring to Summer to Winter as the three acts proceed. This would also show that the story takes place all within one year.
Talking of lyrics as Elsa, Lucia Popp used to do it. I saw her in Lohengrin in Munich c1990 (with Peter Seiffert and Janis Martin) and it seemed OK to me! But then, her voice had a bit of an edge to it (in a positive sense) — and I am a Popp fan, which maybe helped too!
Constantine A. Papas says:
August 10, 2009 at 12:43 AM
“Netrebko’s Violetta death is rather premature, and I may be wrong. With her sold-out performances and success in Salzburg, LOH and in SFO, she nay not sing Decker’s production at the Met, but it’s hard to believe that she has written off Violetta for ever.”
………………
Maybe it’s hard to believe for those who worship her every move and note , but I for one welcome the timely move to a heavier Fach. I’d like to hear her Suor Angelica and Manon Lescaut too.
Meanwhile, Mlle. Dessay and the Met should drop the idle fantasy that she is going to be an acceptable PURITANI Elvira in a few years and let her sing something better suited to her vocal estate and need to be hip onstage, like perhaps Despina or Perichole.
One horrible (yes, we recall, Dr. Papas, SOLD OUT AND CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED — by fools) PURITANI telecast was enough, surely…
Hopefully the Met will come to it’s senses and cancel the Decker Traviata altogether, if Netrebko has in fact withdrawn from it.
The less Eurotrash at the Met , the better!
As for AN’s future roles, I think that Elsa might be a good choice for her. Maybe Trovatore, too.
However, Lulu is a ridiculous idea!
She simply does not have the right voice for it. The role has written high-F’s!!!
She would be all wrong for it vocally.
But, here is a novel idea:
Why doesn’t she sing some Russian operas?????
Chernier: She just did a run of Iolanthe at Baden Baden, which was supposedly very good (my source: very positive reviews in a number of newspapers plus a number of enthusiastic web postings). But I remember her saying in some interview that she doesn’t do too many Russian operas, because she believes people would stop hiring her for other roles.
P.S. Right now, she is touring with a recital program of Russian songs, first at Mannheim, then in Salzburg (with Barenboim).
Another P.S.: In the interview she states herself that Lulu has too many high notes. She also remarks that her voice has changed after the pregnancy, i.e., she comments that her voice has become “tiefer” (deeper?).
I’ve never been a big fan of Netrebko in coloratura roles but I think that Violetta is quite a good fit for her, even with her more mature voice. The coloratura demands in act one aren’t as hard as Lucia or Elvira. And her voice has the right weight and colour for the heavier writing in acts two and three.