And I am telling you I am not belting
“Since the 1918 premiere of Puccini’s Il Trittico, only two divas at the Met dared to sing the leading roles in all three of its one-act operas: Renata Scotto, a supreme vocal stylist, and Teresa Stratas, a magnetic singing actress. On Friday, Patricia Racette, who is not quite either of these things, took the plunge.” [NY Post]
It sounds like Blythe was having an off-night and making up for it by belting. I read similar comments in the chat. That’s a shame because her Principessa was sublime in the HD broadcast last year:
One observation I can make from seeing the same show as La Cieca did is that Racette was a very retiring, rather undersung Angelica until the final “Senza Mamma” and death scene. She registered as recessive and underpowered vocally. Blythe just sang with her usual power. However, I remember from the premiere season with Frittoli that Blythe was more nuanced as the Zia Principessa. She was directed to play it as cold but with an underlay of sadness and suppressed feelings of compassion for Angelica at times. Last Friday she was just a brutal mean emotional bully.
It’s precisely that combination of coldness and the unerlying sadness and supressed compassion which I liked so much. I thought she balanced those qualities beautifully. And she didn’t belt once.
help! as with the earlier Trittico comments I can only access the first page. This only started happening in the last few days and it’s maddeningly frustrating. Am I doing something wrong???
At the top it says “26 comments” and I count 26 comments on this page. Replies get put under the number of the comment they are replying to.
Thank you! I’m dumb about computers and always think there’s something I’m not getting.
One thing I notice about Racette’s singing is that she has trouble keeping the voice focused on high notes. It sounds as if she is forcing the voice. I suspect that she is really somewhere between a lyric and a spinto and is often overparted. Also, has anyone else noticed that she sings at a basically consistant forte? It certainly ruins her Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes. I following the Trittico performance with scores and she ignored almost all the dynamic markings in Tabarro. It just makes for a boring performances!
exactly. All one dynamics. Has anyone ever heard Racette float a piano? If you only sing one way it gets very boring. A singer needs to have the whole arsenal. Nothing against singing over the whole orchestra and chorus but be able to float a piano ON THE BREATH as well. Mezza voce etc all needs to be applied. It is all in the score one just needs to look
Heard it floated. SF.
Perfection.
Truly perfection Tamerlano. It is amazing how much divas drag this poor little ditty. What an artist. I wish Battle had taken her career as a blueprint for hers. Maybe she wouldn’t have been so neurastenic.
Absolutely lovely. I like this aria approached in a conversational way, without lingering on high notes and streching and pulling the melody. VdL also takes the same approach to the aria.
Sayao was a great heroine of my youth and in my early learning about opera; in person she was ravishing. Many years later I was invited by a friend to escort Bidu to a gala at the Met – what an experience! She retained her vivacity and humor and sparkle into very old age. Some people just have it.
She was a stylistic paragon, and I love the anecdote that when taken to the studio of Jean de Reszke, he said, “her vocal emission is so perfect I have nothing to teach her!” To hear Bidu and Steber sing together the Letter Duet from Marriage of Figaro was one of life’s great experiences!
What always gets me about this clip is how insanely MUSICAL she is…People always talk about how Callas was the epitome of musicality, but I dare say Sayao trumps her. She truly phrases like a great violinist, and her breath control is astonishing. I am not sure I have ever heard this aria sung with such a sense of the music’s delicate architecture. Add to that the lovely silvery tone and personal charm and you have a remarkably potent package.
When I heard the reference to Dreamgirls a tingle ran up my spine. Belt baby belt!
To be fair to Scotto, there’s a BIG difference between singing O Mio Babino Caro in a recital and after getting through Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica. Giorgetta and Angelica may be one-act roles but they are tough. I went over the Angelica score recently and was reminded of what heavy singing it calls for. Can’t imagine how Sills could handle it.
Didn’t Sills only tackle it once? In the recording I have what she lacks in weight, she more than makes up for in poignancy. That, I think, was Sills’ secret weapon when tackling the repertory that was traditionally “too heavy” for her voice. She was a master at projecting vulnerability.
No Expert! How was the Romeo et Juliette on Sunday?
My understanding is that Sills only sang it once because she had the night before the opening discovered that her son was irrecoverably retarded and would need to be institutionalized and that, during the performance of SUOR ANGELICA, she became emotionally overwhelmed. She was therefore unwilling to sing it again. I really dont think she used the excuse of it beeing too heavy for her. BTW listen to the tape, she does sound out of control at the end of Suor Angelica. . .alas so does the chorus (in a different way).
I’m with #6(Baritenor). Patricia Racette is a breath of fresh air in the opera world. Her voice is lovely, her commitment to her roles is superb, and the lady herself is a charmer. I give thanks for her.
I am struck by how similar the voices of Stephanie Blythe and Marilyn Horne are. Uncanny!
Of course the SCHICCHI ditty is best heard from the lips of its creatrix, Yorkshire lass Florence Easton.
And in English, of course, eh Vic?
Keep ‘em coming!