In the aforementioned tale of my meeting with her, she did NOT employ that verb, much to my relief. Knowing she had that tendency toward this word made me keep the dialogue within rather tame.parameters.

Come to think of it, she did curse out the Staten Island ferry, though.

No blarney stone for Eileen!

SO do we go back now and expect all those other ‘foreign divas’ that ever arrived on some shore…. to speak the most ‘Perfect English’ with no asides to cross terms / ‘quick short cuts with colloquialisms /phrases from their own native language’. Gee some people are f##king hypocrites here, it is like watching someone enjoying tearing the wings off a bird! It is SICK!

Then they want to accuse Renee’ Fleming ‘of creating the girl next door’ diva. Just exactly HOW did she personally achieve THAT? If anyone is familiar with opera training, study and a career – they do not have the time to go around personally ‘creating such images’.

Some may say they ‘see nothing’ in her voice: well I am sorry to inform: that there are others like myself that hear and feel a great deal more of what she conveys in singing. Yes genuine human emotion – far more than some of the other current divas, they may care and rave about, to mention.
I will let those that don’t know… into a simple childish fact. It is the detractors that snark and ridicule singers,that reinforce some ‘particular image idea’ to grow ;and for it to be then used – against them. Renee’ does not have a weight problem , her voice (regrettably to some posters) is standing up extremely well to the rigors of being a 50 year old singer!), she does not ‘have a news press’ of anything but graciousness to the public, she doesn’t fly into fits of rage and walk out and cancel…..now then- I would like to know ‘what’s the ‘bug’ down their strides, making those detractors frustrated and so irritable’?

Fleming is also criticized with ‘appearing with the likes of ‘downmarket Reed’….A person like some many other geriatric rockers of the protest days who gave ‘their last performance’ the day they started. Now they belatedly have to earn their retirement home fees ; hand to mouth with ‘every gig’ they get. Well opera singers are sometimes for all sorts of diplomatic reasons asked ‘via polite invitations’ to help out and appear at functions that are normally not ‘their bag’……..or some music charity event mixing with ‘extremely less talented people’. Do you expect them to ‘stack on a temper turn, and scream that they will not mix or be associated being on the same stage as ‘that musical filth’?
It is part and parcel of ‘steady as it goes’ not just an operatic artist or someone who is a crack violinist or conductor, or pianist BUT in any career you care to mention.

I>E ‘Strange associations’? Let’s think back….: Take the classic case of George London when he was appearing in Boris Godounov in Russia at the time of the October Missiles crisis………… Bet you are all glad now that he was willing to do more, than ‘just sing on the stage’. Look it up… if you are too young to remember.

Now who’s being disingenuous?

People who “feel obliged” to do something usually don’t pounce with a knife and fork and a napkin around the neck to catch the drool.

Pass the relish, right?

I think she deserves credit for that interview in French – sure, the accent comes in and out of focus, and she makes mistakes, but she is perfectly understandable and it’s nicer to watch than it would be if she spoke in English and they have subtitles or a voiceover.

I don’t really understand this ‘Diva next door’ thing people accuse her of trying to be – most of the time, she seems to be wearing couture and is plastered in jewels that must cost something into 6 figures, and she speaks intelligently about her art, rather than reducing it to the lowest common denominator.

Love that Farrell clip – like Kashania, I’ve read a lot of times how great she was at this repertoire, but that’s the first time I’ve ever heard it. Wonderful.

As I’ve said on here before, I saw her do a recital in London in 1995 and no-one was really that interested (apart from her agent, who was in the audience and tried to contrive a standing ovation for her — without success). She did make a beautiful sound, that’s for sure, but she didn’t have that extra magic. I still don’t think she does, though the voice and technique can be extraordinary, when she’s not messing about with the line and notes.

Farrell and Corelli in Gioconda at the old Met…unforgetable.

I love all the remarks about Fleming. If she is as bad as some of you say, why are you always talking about her on this site?

I spoke to her in the Met opera shop one time, and she was such a genuine, square kind of gal, absolutely delighted to autograph my score of Tristan. a role she desperately wanted to sing at the Met and didn’t.

She was one of a kind. A friend of mine made a tape of her singing Rossini’s Desdemona in “Otello”, sometime back in the 1950′s. Beautiful! It comes to mind upon hearing this clip, ’cause how in the hell could any one human voice do all THAT?

What a phenomenal example of true greatness.

Grazie.

antidote to renee