parterre box

59 comments

• miss kitty litter says:

  “….And if they still hate what we’re doing, I’m going to be trying my hardest to continue to do what I am doing, because I believe it’s the only way to go.”

  One wishes he might have done a better job of veiling his indifference.

  on November 12, 2009 at 7:52 AM
• calaf47 says:

  His indifference…or his stupidity.

  on November 12, 2009 at 8:10 AM
• Lalala says:

  So what were his feelings on the long intermissions?

  on November 12, 2009 at 8:25 AM
  • whatever says:

    Seriously. The intervals have become interminable … any justification proffered?

    on November 12, 2009 at 11:26 AM
    • Buster says:

      Already Flaubert heard this complaint so often he included it in his dictionary of received ideas:

      ENTRACTE : Toujours trop long

      on November 12, 2009 at 3:54 PM
• Will says:

  Would that J.J. were given longer column length in the Post, allowing him to dig a little deeper.

  Personally, I don’t believe Mr. Gelb to be either indifferent or stupid. I believe that the hugely media and demographics-savvy Mr. Gelb was brought in by the MET’s Board of Directors specifically to do what he’s been doing. Whether they think he’s doing it well or not remains to be seen.

  His one big vulnerability in my opinion is inconsistent casting, but even there I think one can discern that it’s part and parcel of an overall vision of where the MET needs to go to survive. And Gelb is fighting the outright lack of an entire fach of singers–the big dramatic voices in virtually every vocal range and in every national style of singing, if such even exist any more–along with every other general manager or artistic director on the planet.

  I would disagree with our J.J. slightly in that I don’t think Gelb has had only one grand slam. The MET’s publicity has been revolutionized and there have been several productions–Madama Butterfly doesn’t stand in splendid isolation–that have worked well. If nothing else, he broke the “Trovatore Curse.”

  Like it or not, the cher publique is not the only audience the MET has or needs to have. On some level, Gelb IS reaching the andience–it just may not be this one.

  on November 12, 2009 at 9:27 AM
  • louannd says:

    Will I would be interested to know who has had these big dramatic voices in the past, in your opinion. And, could you elaborate on an example national style of singing. Thanks.

    on November 12, 2009 at 10:06 AM
    • Indiana Loiterer III says:

      Will’s point is that there simply aren’t enough big voices nowadays–we’re talking Nilsson-, Cossotto-, Corelli-, Milnes-type voices–to meet the demand for them. If louanned knows of a source for such voices, we’d all be glad to hear it.

      on November 12, 2009 at 10:16 AM
      • louannd says:

        I don’t know. That’s why I was asking.

        on November 12, 2009 at 10:19 AM
      • louannd says:

        Thank you for elaborating. I heard some potentially big voices but not too many, now I know why.

        on November 12, 2009 at 10:21 AM
      • Will says:

        Since others have covered the big dramatic voice issue, let me speak of the national style issue.

        Back in the nineteenth and lasting through until just after the Second world War, there were differing styles of singing in different cultures. While there were cross-overs (Caruso, Schumann-Heink for Example), the MET had distinct French, Italian and German wings for those repertories.

        French singers, no matter what their voice size, cultivated a clear vocal sound with the words very forwardly placed and seeming to float ON the voice. Clarity of the word was paramount along with subtle coloration and an elegance of line. Once you hear it, you don’t forget it.

        Russian singers were famed for their dark rolling sound among basses, baritones and contraltos. The tenors had a high, clear, sometimes reedy upper register, very distinctive and often quite brilliant. During the Soviet era as Russia became isolated from the West and singers were kept from traveling outside the USSR, time stood still for production styles and vocal training. For a while during the 1980s and 90s it looked as if Russians MIGHT be the solution for the dramatic voice crisis because their voice teachers seemed to be able to deal with such voices in the development phase. And there are still one or two who could come through. What also happened during the Soviet era was the development of sopranos and mezzos with powerful, brilliant, often hard and glaring upper registers with very little vibrato. This became a uniquely Russian thing, sometimes unbearable, sometimes thrilling depending on the singer.

        English singing featured some deep contraltos and a lot of thin voiced, curdled tenor voices, some of whom are still being produced.

        After WWII, the great French style was captured for the last time pretty much unadulterated when EMI put out a series of recordings of core French repertory (Carmen, Faust, Pearl Fishers, Tales of Hoffmann, Samson et Dalila, Manon, Le Roi d’Ys and a some others) sung by the Opera Comique in Paris.

        As the years went on a kind of international sound began to spread everywhere as singers jetted back and forth, casts became polyglot, and cultural traditions began to break down.

        on November 12, 2009 at 12:56 PM
      • Sanford says:

        The French sound is so distinctive and forward because that’s also how the language is spoken. So many vowels are nasal (not in a bad way, just in terms of placement) that they put the voice forward anyway. Unless French is sung like Italian, which I hate.

        on November 12, 2009 at 1:32 PM
      • Will says:

        Sanford–thank you very much for adding that–I realized after I posted that I should have said something of the sort. It’s not just in French, of course–vocal production and tone color are heavily connected to how a language is spoken with French, Slavic and various Asian singing traditions connected to where in the mouth and throat spoken sound is produced.

        on November 12, 2009 at 1:40 PM
      • louannd says:

        Thank you all for educating me. What you have said really explains a lot about voices that I haven’t understood in the past. I do appreciate your expertise.

        on November 12, 2009 at 5:20 PM
  • quoth the maven says:

    What’s worth noting, though, is that the successes of the Gelb era have been largely imports: the ENO Butterfly, the Trovatore (from Chicago), the Lepage Faust and (assuming it’s a success), From the House of the Dead. The from-scratch productions—the ones where presumably he had some supervisory control—have been duds or worse: the Bundy Tosca, Zimmerman’s Lucia and her thoroughly shitty Sonnambula. Thus far, Gelb has had success as a presenter, but not as an impresario.

    on November 12, 2009 at 10:42 AM
    • maddalenadicoigny says:

      4.2- I agree with you that so far Gelb has only had success ( if that ) with imports. Tosca, Lucia and Sonnambula are his, not the previous administration. Of course Gelb hired Zimmerman and his own comments in the press support this.
      But let’s face it, so far the productions have been duds, “the lady doth protest too much”.
      Went to Damnation, lotsa empty seats.
      Before anyone starts calling anyone a savior, they should let time tell.
      La Cieca- please, oh please take it easy. You demean your talents when you allow your prejudcies get the best of you.

      on November 12, 2009 at 7:47 PM
  • squirrel says:

    Very well put!

    on November 12, 2009 at 11:21 AM
• Sanford says:

  I would bet that the Sonnambula and Lucia were arranged prior to Mr Gelb taking over, in whole or in part. This is, after all, only his 4th season and his first with complete control. And as in politics, being a leader in art sometimes means doing things that are initially unpopular and bringing the audience along with you. Nothing stays the same. Leaders in all fields go through this. New regimes come in, shake up the old way of doing things, and are initially met with resistance from the old guard. In 10 years, if he’s still met with resistance, he might be in trouble; at the moment, he seems to at the very least, reinvigorated interest in The Met.

  on November 12, 2009 at 10:55 AM
  • quoth the maven says:

    Well, even if Volpe did initially hire Zimmerman (which I don’t think was the case), it was Gelb who signed off on the execrable final results.

    on November 12, 2009 at 11:30 AM
    • Arianna a Nasso says:

      Lucia and Sonnambula casting was planned by the Volpe administration. Gelb was the one who decided to engage Mary Zimmerman for new productions of these titles; I think the former was to be a revial of the old Joel production, the latter a rental of a production from Vienna (at least according to the Met Futures site at the time).

      on November 12, 2009 at 5:22 PM
• iltenoredigrazia says:

  Six weeks rehearsing Death but the first cover for Turandot went on without a single rehearsal or having been onstage….

  on November 12, 2009 at 11:14 AM
  • Indiana Loiterer III says:

    I won’t say “it’s always been thus” since I don’t know how new productions went a century ago, but big repertory houses like the Met have a history of throwing on revivals like the one of Turandot with relatively little preparation. That’s the problem of being a repertory house like the Met; something’s got to give, and it’s generally revivals of standard-repertory operas. You’d need a different system for things to be different.

    on November 12, 2009 at 11:27 AM
  • quoth the maven says:

    Covers have always gotten short shrift at the Met. I heard about a new production where they were barred from rehearsals. And the fact that there’s more rehearsal for the house premiere of a difficult new piece—helmed by a celebrated director and a star conductor—than for the umpteenth revival of a repertory standard: you find this problematic?

    on November 12, 2009 at 11:28 AM
    • Alto says:

      “I heard about a new production where they were barred from rehearsals.”

      Would you please elaborate on this astonishing piece of information?

      on November 12, 2009 at 3:56 PM
    • lorenzo.venezia says:

      A friend preparing for a starring role in a new production at Vienna State Opera informs me that for new productions there are seven weeks of rehearsal, but for previously performed productions, only two or three days. This is not unusual.

      on November 13, 2009 at 10:29 AM
• squirrel says:

  Wow, bravo to JJ! That’s quite a coup!

  We’ll have to find out what it was like to be in the presence of the Great One!

  “Now I get to go work on HD lightly levels” was hiliarious!

  on November 12, 2009 at 11:22 AM
  • midispiacemolto says:

    Cieca, ask JJ: Does the Great One read Parterre Box??

    on November 12, 2009 at 11:37 AM
• whatever says:

  Incidentally, off-topic, but: Ariodante at Julliard was an exceptional delight … get thee to the Sharp tomorrow or Sunday!

  on November 12, 2009 at 11:32 AM
  • Alto says:

    I couldn’t agree more.

    on November 12, 2009 at 1:08 PM
• CrewMantle says:

  JJ posted an excellent interview with Mr. Gelb. What I enjoyed most about the piece was the subtle way JJ intimated it was a chore for Mr. Gelb to do an interview intended for the Post audience… among other ‘read between the lines’.

  Brilliantly yet savagely laid out work.

  on November 12, 2009 at 11:58 AM
• Constantine A. Papas says:

  This blog hosts two groups of people: group a) the ptofessionals, the anointed ones, and the astude critics with vast knowledge of opera; and group b) the masses and common folks like me, whose lifes have been affected and enriched by opera. It is us, the common folks, who pay for the high-priced tickets and support oprea. Without us, opera will die. For us, Peter Gelp is an angel of epiphany for opera, who changed our lives for ever. His concept of telecastiong live opera will remain as the most innovative contribution since the first recording of human voice on a cylinder. If it weren’t for Gelp, do you think the Mighty La Scala would telecasst, live, its opening night of Carmen, on December 7, 2009? You, Gelp’s critics, think about it! But what do I know?

  on November 12, 2009 at 12:35 PM
  • Will says:

    Am I mistaken, but I believe La Scala has done telecasts previously, has it not?

    on November 12, 2009 at 12:58 PM
    • Baritenor says:

      La Scala has been doing telecasts since at least 1975.

      on November 12, 2009 at 1:07 PM
      • CruzSF says:

        Wow! Telecasts in the cinema since 1975? That is pretty impressive, actually. I haven’t seen one although they are shown here in San Francisco. Has anyone been to a showing? How do they compare to the Met’s HD endeavor?

        on November 12, 2009 at 1:14 PM
      • Sanford says:

        Baritenor, The Met has been doing telecasts since the early 70s. I believe the first one was Luisa Miller with Renata Scotto (I’m pretty sure that was the first). However, I think the point that Gelb was making was specifically about HD broadcasts to movie theaters. I guarantee that La Scala has not been telecasting in HD since 75, because that technology was not available back then.

        on November 12, 2009 at 1:27 PM
      • kashania says:

        The first Met telecast was Boheme with Scotto/Pavarotti in 1977. The Scotto/Domingo/Milnes Luisa Miller came in 1979.

        on November 12, 2009 at 1:54 PM
      • kashania says:

        And the Met cinema broadcasts have inspired alot of other companies. Yes, La Scala has been doing telecasts for a long time (including the famous Bicentennial Otello with Domingo/Freni/Kleiber) but the Met cinecasts have opened a floodgate. I don’t know about other cities, but here in Toronto, I’m always seeing ads in the paper for cinecasts of performances of the Royal Ballet and Opera from Covent Garden as well as other companies. And the Phaedra cinecast with Hellen Mirren must have also been inspired by the Met series.

        on November 12, 2009 at 1:58 PM