You think?
New commenter androgenous says, “I think we are getting a little ahead of ourselves by dismissing Calleja. Rehearsals have been long at the MET and I would presume that if Calleja was found to be inadequate they would have thrown him out or at least had a better replacement.”
La Cieca realizes she is trampling on the God-given right of anonymous internet tough guys to authoritatively predict the trajectory of an entire career based on hearsay about one act of a rehearsal sung by a sick man, but she’s taking androgenous’s side here. If you axe-grinders must grind your axes (despite the lack of any solid evidence), maybe you should grind them elsewhere. The “dogpile on the tenor” game here is, frankly, making La Cieca nauseous.
THANK YOU!!!! Finally, a voice of reason.
Agree!
I second this. Or third it. Well, wherever I am in line, I heartily agree.
well I heard Zampieri many, many times from 1981 to
the early 90’s in different venues. Minnie at La Scala, Tosca in Stuttgart and Zuerich, La Wally in Bregenz, Salome and Odabella in Wien and countless Verdi roles in Muenchen. The voice was large and carried quite well. She was one of my favorite singers at the time along with Popp and Varady. I recall the first time I heard her was on Allerheiligen (1.11.81) as Amelia in Ballo and from the moment I heard her entrance in the first act I loved the sound of the voice. She needed a full orchestra and the piano wasn’t good to do her big voice justice. She had an easy top and very good middle and low notes. She could vary the dynamics from a mere whisper to full forte oversinging the whole chorus and orchestra of Aida. She had a good trill and could start a note softly and gradually swell the note. I heard many of the Verdi roles and here her voice was great. She did an amazing Manon Lescaut as well and she managed to make you believe she was this young girl in the beginning. She was a great actress on stage and NEVER phoned in a performance. She always gave 150%. She was not a generic soprano like so many of them are today. She was very much loved in Wien, Muenchen, Zuerich and Berlin but also sang in Spain, Portugal, London and Italy. I wouldn’t know which role to call her best since I dind’t find any of them mistakes but she did best in active roles. I personally loved the Ballo, Salome and Odabella but of course also the Minnie and Lady and Aida were quite special. The voice was larger than Varady’s and carried a bit better IMO. Also what I thought was very unique was her pronounciation of the Italian language. She is from Padua and I love to here her way with the words.
thank you, there’s a MYTO recording of Donizetti’s Belisario from Buenos Aires in which Zampieri is absolutely phenomenal. She’s a more genuine and complete artist than, say, Scotto who could only really be satisfactory in the lyric rep.
Good lord, I’ve missed all the dramz. What the hell are you people yammering on about?
I’ll say this about the situation (and be uncharacteristically generous in the process) and I haven’t seen the dress, and I don’t particularly care for Calleja:
It. Was. A. Dress. Rehearsal.
A ton of singers I know right now (including myself) have colds. It’s going around. It’s that time of year. People are allowed to mark in dress rehearsals, even if they are at the Met. Granted, he probably wanted to get through it, especially as it’s a new production and the role is new and Hoffmann is punishing and difficult, and one would like to have that extremely limited time on stage to figure out pacing, dealing with the orchestra, the no doubt ridiculous staging, costumes and wigs.
Let’s wait to hear the production before making sweeping declarations about his epitaph.
You bitches try singing Hoffmann at 11:00 am with a cold (or even slightly under the weather, for that matter.) I’d love to see you try.
Eloquent. Especially the last paragraph.
I try.
I’m sure Calleja knows a lot is riding on his Thursday performance. He likely came to the conclusion that singing the rest of the opera on Monday while somewhat ill would a) set off y’all saying he can’t do it (not that he entirely avoided this by not singing the whole thing) and b) compromise his performance on Thursday, when the stakes are much higher. Seems like a smart move.
The voice has a very fast beat to it and somewhat airy. I’m hoping he’s better when I see him on Decebmer 30th. Speaking of singer check out Elinor Ross’ YouTube clips. Never hear of her until the other day and boy what a voice.
Allright, I admit, i was a bit hasty to judge his voice based on an hour of music. I guess it was easy to do given that I was so unexcited to hear him in this role. I still have my tickets for a later date… in the hopes the production is salvageable, i will hold off on giving them away. Maybe a whole performance of Calleja will alter my pre-conceived notion of him in this role.
At least, i really hope so.
I’ll join Pelleas, Casssandra, and Zerbinetta (what a kinky menage-a-trois that would be!)in supporting our doyenne’s reasonable directive to give it a rest, girls. Calleja’s a great talent facing a major challenge in a big international house. And, though I realize that some minds are made up long before the event, at least let him get through the prima before the vultures start circling.
Some minds around here are made up about twenty years before the event. For what it’s worth, he sounded radiant until the hoarseness crept in at the end of the Olympia act. I wondered if he might be singing too hard and am relieved it is a cold.
nauseated.
That too.
I love that everyone feels comfortable enough to share their opinions – and why not, it’s pretty much anonymous. But, I get the sense that some of those commenting are more concerned with saying something “controversial” (read: bitchy) and less concerned with giving an educated opinion on the matter at hand. Let’s take our cue from La Cieca: she is not afraid to express, but she checks herself before she wrecks herself.
Now, as far as yesterday’s rehearsal is concerned – I thought it was a very dreamy Hoffmann. If you wanted to see the heroines as if they were true-to-life characters, this was not your production. If you were able to step back and see that these were intoxication-induced interpretations of Hoffmann’s ideals of love, you left satisfied. The production is visually stimulating when there is less dramatic meat in the score and is discernibly sparse when the drama is sizzling away… and by drama, I certainly mean histrionics. After all, Antonia is sung by Netrebko.
So many times, directors see the three tales as three operas within one opera wrapped up loosely in the epilogue. These tales of Hoffmann are brought together into a single cohesive story – all the while gracefully amplifying the differences between the heroines and thus, between Hoffmann’s ideals of love.
Calleja? Eh… he may or may not have made the choice on his own. Management may have made the decision for him. Regardless, I thought he was turning into a fine Hoffmann!
As one who is sometimes less than charitable, I have to say to Cassandra and La Cieca: Amen. If he’s sick, then one should not judge his performance too harshly in a rehearsal (if at all). Let’s all wait until later in the run to hear him sing it at his best.