parterre box

28 comments

• Pelleas says:

  I’m laughing myself to tears over that video, as well as Quanto’s description of it…

  on September 4, 2009 at 9:16 AM
• Hans Lick says:

  I thought Humoresque was the one where Joan, hearing John Garfield play Wagner on the violin (on the radio), picks up her drink … staggers out on the sand … clinks glasses with James Mason from A Star is Born … trips over Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr making out in a dune from From Here to Eternity … and as she is about to hurl herself into the bitchin swell, who should come tripping along but Bette Davis … with an ice cream cone!

  on September 4, 2009 at 9:45 AM
• manou says:

  Quanto (9) – I have tried to answer your query about Callas in another thread (“It’s a Return”).

  on September 4, 2009 at 10:06 AM
• Will says:

  #4 Graciella–the myth that Marta Domingo created the Magda suicide in the Mediterranean just will not die. It is totally false–Puccini created that ending, one of two alternates to the ending we most usually see. In a situation odly prophetic of Turnandot, he was unsure of how to end Rondine and wrote three versions of how it should happen. Given that fact, a director and conductor working on the piece are perfectly justified in exploring the alternate possibilities.

  For the record, I think Sna. Domingo is a poor director, but I doubt very strongly that she could have chosen the suicide alternative without the consent of the conductor involved.

  on September 4, 2009 at 11:04 AM
• kashania says:

  I have not seen the suicide ending of La Rondine, but based on the Met broadcast (my only time seeing the opera), I think the ending they used was perfectly appropriate — bittersweet without being maudlin. In fact, I found the final scene to be the strongest of the opera. While I’d be interested to see the alernate suicide ending, I don’t see the opera as needing a different ending.

  on September 4, 2009 at 11:16 AM
• ellerveira says:

  Naive question: #8: is that really Joan singing or is it dubbed? Is someone kidding about her singing with Ponselle? I know Ponselle went to Hollywood to see if she could get into the movies. Is this related to that?

  on September 4, 2009 at 11:18 AM
• Will says:

  For anyone who wants to check out that alternate ending, the D.C. opera production was videoed and released commercially–DVD I’m not so sure of but maybe. Ainhoa Arteta walks into the sea. Marcus Haddock is the Roggiero.

  on September 4, 2009 at 11:21 AM
• Sanford says:

  That is really Joan. For dubbed Joan, see “Torchsong”.

  on September 4, 2009 at 11:51 AM
• armerjacquino says:

  I’m not kidding about the Ponselle/Crawford thing. A friend of mine played me the recording once. If I recall correctly, it’s the ‘Lacrymosa’.

  on September 4, 2009 at 11:59 AM
• operaguy says:

  RE 17 – The Marta Domingo Rondine is available on DVD and Blu-Ray as of last month …

  on September 4, 2009 at 1:23 PM