Comments on: Worlds collide

By: Graciella Scusi

Graciella Scusi — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:01:58 +0000

Thanks, Richard, don’t know if my reply is going to end up in the right place, but I hadn’t remembered that Carolli sang the final performance with Freni; that might have contributed to my letdown. I liked Carolli (he was an excellent Ezio to Ghiarov’s Attila in Chicago) but I’m sorry you missed Cappuccilli, at his best with Abbado and especially in Boccanegra, capping the Council Chamber concertato with noble golden age vocalism. I was in DC for several days, primarily to see the Boccanegra and Macbeth. I skipped the Boheme (was it Cotrubas?), but remember seeing Valentini-Terrani in a Cenerentola rehearsal (did she alternate the role?) And yes, the Va Pensiero with that peerless Scala chorus. I’m terrible with timelines, but the Vienna State Opera came at some point too, bringing Salome with Rysanek, Figaro with Janowitz, Popp and Berry, and Ariadne with Janowitz, Gruberova, and Baltsa. Heady days! Plenty material for our anecdotage..lol.

By: richard

richard — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:12:24 +0000

Graciella, I heard the final Boccanegra. I went down to DC for the weekend and heard Macbeth, Cenerantola, Boheme, and the stunning
Boccanegra. Cappuccilli sang Macbeth Friday evening, so on the final matinee of Boccanegra, Silvano Carolli sang Simone. That production was very striking, one of the most beautiful I’ve seen.

After the perfomance, as a kind of encore/addio/tribute(the visit celebrated the US Bicentennial) the Scala chorus sang Va Pensiero acappella. It was a lovely moment.

By: Graciella Scusi

Graciella Scusi — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:04:36 +0000

I believe that the only reason Kabaivanska was singing in the Boccanegra in DC was because Freni, who was the original Amelia in that marvelous Strehler production, was at the same time singing Marguerite in Faust and Susanna in Figaro with the Paris Opera at the Met. (a cornucopia of bi-centenial gifts from the continent). Freni did fly down to sing in the final Boccanegra, but I preferred Kabaivanska, who was not at her best, but was far more involved and expressive than Mirella. But the circumstances were not ideal for either diva to be at her best. In the event, it didn’t matter, the opera belonged to Abbado, Cappuccilli and Ghiarov who were in their prime and magnificent, in a production that generously supported their greatness.

By: Ruxton

Ruxton — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:43:28 +0000

Or attending them

By: amlirco

amlirco — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:35:02 +0000

One should take into account that Amelia was practically not in her repertoire. I actually think this was the only performance. So you should consider yourself lucky.
Than, every singer had his periods of vocal uncertainties, no one is for ever “perfect”.
Another thing, La Kabaivanska acts with her voice, hence, modulation of certain type are by definition a device for interpretation of states of mind and soul.

Famous is her phrase that she rather would sacrifice the beauty of voice and perhaps the lenght of a tone than to sing inconsistantly with the state of the character. The philosphy behind the character, that’s what is the leading line with a interpreter like La Kabaivanska… and in the art in general.

Harry is very right speaking about the presented excerpt in terms of a cinematographic approach. The voice here expresses perplexity and torments of characters under cover of a conventional soiree’… the so called contrast. Seeking a “beautiful” singing is a superficial manner of deciphering the art with all my respect (I’m not refering to your comment though).

Finally, ~10 out of 50 years hardly could be considered mid-career but you’re absolutely right, such kind of sincerity and modesty is a rare behaviour…

By: Sanford

Sanford — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:09:33 +0000

I didn’t realize Florence Foster Jenkins was still giving CHristmas parties

By: quoth the maven

quoth the maven — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:53:33 +0000

And what an artist! His mid-80s Falstaff at the Met was one of the greatest things I ever saw.

By: Harry

Harry — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:34:52 +0000

operaddict; you must realize that Kabaivanska when appearing in that movie, is no longer under any pretense her voice is now well and truly beyond what she was once famous for. Notice though her ‘professional technique’ is still there in spades. Her presence is a dramatic device for the film scene in question – A musical social / soiree’.

God each year I go to a early December Christmas party. The host, a woman over 60 who had very late vocal lessons and they remained ‘just lessions’.. (get it!) likes to put on her own personal recital for the guests. Perhaps that is the sacrificial ‘given’ for attending. You get massacred soprano versions of everything from Traviata, Faust, Carmen, Lehar -whatever. Wentaro has nothing on her!!! She is what one would call a somewhat mezzo with tortured soprano chords coming out of nowhere – or they just delightfully vanish as she runs out of vocal steam – and the piano just continues on. We smile, and give polite respectful claps for such enthusiasm. One must ‘be gracious’ in someone else’s house.

By: Regina delle fate

Regina delle fate — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:04:14 +0000

Haha! Unkind, but possibly true.

By: operaddict

operaddict — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:05:43 +0000

Sounds like an old lady who used to sing in my church choir…

By: Camille

Camille — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:09:29 +0000

Re paragraph 2. and speaking of Taddei —
I must say this: in ’86, once again in Rome, I saw Giuseppe Taddei, at age 69, come out of retirement to sing in Demofoonte. The story at the time was that he did so “because he was bored”!!!!

His singing at that time would have been the envy of any of the current crop of barihunks. What a sound.

By: Camille

Camille — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:02:46 +0000

Cieca augusta —
you mean someone said it IN ENGLISH?

What a PUTZ!

By: Camille

Camille — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:31:14 +0000

GEE, Mr. Tamerlano, mille e mille grazie!

Live, with chorus, it was actually even more thrilling.

Un dolcissimo ricordo.
Ancora, GRAZIE!

By: Tamerlano

Tamerlano — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:11:32 +0000

Harry, in all due respect, I am not sure anyone would long for the days of William Matteuzzi. In this day of excellent Rossini tenors, I have a feeling Matteuzzi would not have much of a career.

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:20:13 +0000

Rommie, I sincerely agree with you that fans can make a career outlandishly successful, or just middling and professional. It’s in singers’ best interests to be nice when their fans await them.

The second point was a little joke at my own expense. Please disregard.

By: rommie

rommie — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:14:20 +0000

whatya mean CruzSF?

By: squirrel

squirrel — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:05:15 +0000

this is fabulous
same guy as “viva puccini”, perhaps?

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:31:02 +0000

if you’re not a big star and youre still relatively unknown its best to be as bright and approachable as possible.

I agree with you, rommie. I learned that lesson the hard way.

By: La Marchesa Attavanti

La Marchesa Attavanti — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:25:58 +0000

It was definitely a Voice voice as well as being a Kunst voice. I saw her in San Francisco as Desdemona in 1970 and then as the “Forza” Leonora in 1976. Fast vibrato that I didn’t hear as a defect (in fact, I’d say a lot of “spin” in the sound) and register break that almost sounded like a soprano version of Giulietta Simionato; big voice, wide range, lots of color in the sound.

By: rommie

rommie — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:25:11 +0000

CRUZSF

no she was actually splendid,though a bit dark as Liu.

it wasn’t the performance… it was afterwards. i mean i can understand if she had a rough night but as I was waiting to get to say something to ms. linddstrom, she came out and when people were asking her for autographs and the like, she seemed like she did not want to be there at all, even responding a little coldly to some of the [possible] fans.

just my opinion… if you’re not a big star and youre still relatively unknown its best to be as bright and approachable as possible.

By: La marquise de Merteuil

La marquise de Merteuil — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:37:07 +0000

well … the fans make the career. too bad for her then.

By: iltenoredigrazia

iltenoredigrazia — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:34:31 +0000

Kabaivanska was always an interesting singer. When I first became interested in opera – early 1960′s – I wondered who this woman was who always got pretty bad reviews on the paper. (Newspapers then were not limited to reviewing only the first performance of an opera in a given season. Cast changes were also reviewed.) I hadn’t heard her but she was sort of a house soprano at the Met often appearing on second and third casts. Then all of a sudden, she started getting very good reviews. Sometime later in an interview she said that she had spent a summer coaching with Rosa Ponselle and had then realized that she had not known how to sing until then. A very humble and not-often-heard comment from a professional singer in mid-career. She seems to have had a solid career after than although she sang very little in the US after 1972 or so.

I saw her when La Scala came to the Kennedy Center in 1976 as Amelia Boccanegra. Without a doubt she was a very beautiful woman. But I must say that her singing that time was very inconsistent. She would produce some beautiful phrases and then fall apart for the next ones, on and on through the performance. Every time you thought she had pulled herself together, she would soon lose it again.

By: iltenoredigrazia

iltenoredigrazia — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:19:37 +0000

Kabaivanska and Domingo were featured in a concert performance of Francesca da Rimini at Carnegie Hall sometime back in the 1960′s. There used to be a recording available.

By: La Cieca

La Cieca — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:19:08 +0000

Thank you, Camille, for cueing one of La Cieca’s favorite Parsifal stories.

The Met, early 1990s. The first act of the music drama is drawing to a close. We hear the following:

EINE STIMME (aus der Höhe):
“Durch Mitleid wissend,
der reine Tor!”

STIMMEN (aus der Höhe verhallend):
Selig im Glauben!

[Scattered applause]

LOUD VOICE (from audience):
Shut up! It’s a consecrational festival play!

[Titters, sighing.]

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:06:14 +0000

rommie, did she have a bad night vocally?

By: rommie

rommie — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:00:33 +0000

i also don’t know Ann Coulter but I know she’s a bitch.

By: rommie

rommie — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:00:09 +0000

eh, she didn’t endear herself to the people who were trying to engage with her last night. she seemed annoyed and cold.

that doesn’t mean she’s not a darling to her intimates…just that she’s not really a darling to her [potential] fans.

By: Harry

Harry — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:50:36 +0000

If anyone wants a different smasher version of the Paulo / Francesca long love duet from Zandonai’s Di Rimini, seek out the Corelli/ Tebaldi version they did together on a Decca CD….I rate it as highly as the Pavarotti /Freni Chery Duet from L’Amico Fritz. The stuff of dreams.

By: Harry

Harry — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:40:16 +0000

Richard (10.1#): I forgot about the Kabaivanska Francesca Di Rimini…..(I have the CD’s. There she was partnered by William Mateuzzi a fine tenor, often overlooked for appreciation.. Just like Kabaivanska , he now is a vocal teacher.. He was another singer of whom it could be said :’if only we have more like THAT, around today’.

What is really becoming apparent, such singers were fully schooled in the ‘true opera tradition’. One also thinks of examples like Simionato, Taddei, Gobbi, Scotto, Stignani and…..etc. They never lost their ‘technique’. It was almost their birthright .It stayed with them as if it was cast in stone.

Such much attention is paid to the ‘latest stars’ but how often do they measure up, even compared to the lesser known, or spoken of – from the past? Just because someone gets a passing gig at the MET or Covent Garden makes them totally memorable in the annals of enduring artistry.

The comparisons are not favorable to many of the present breed of singers. Many of these are creatures with very limited ranges of repertoire, unwilling to progressively ‘learn’ and incapable of personally knowing the safe adjustment of vocal technique to suit new different roles with safe and sensible challenge. What we get is a few roles infinitely hocked in numerous opera houses around the World. The hard knuckle effort ‘to grow’ is beyond them. After all they believe they have ‘made it’. By the time , role change is forced on them by the growing number of new youthful rivals, it is too late. Next we are not surprised to hear their voice ‘is in pieces’.

By: Buster

Buster — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:43:03 +0000

Gabrielle, but I am afraid it has nothing to do with Chanel.