parterre box

62 comments

• ellerveira says:

  What about Ponselle? Did she have an exciting life while she was singing at the Met? She later said she “sacrificed everything” to her career. That didn’t seem to damage her singing. It was when she stopped singing in public and got married that her troubles began.

  on December 2, 2009 at 2:56 PM
• javier says:

  I think Anna will make a good Bolena as well. There is no real coloratura in the role, except for in the final cabaletta. The high point of the opera is a duet between soprano and mezzo; Netrebko and Garanca whose voices blend amazingly very well. It’s not hard to imagine how they’re currently on top when they sing together.

  Unlike Lucia, there are no “traditions” that dictate how the mad scene should be sung (which completely re-write Donizetti’s score with needless coloratura and cadenzas) so Bolena’s mad scene should be more suited for her.

  As for the interview, Netrebko isn’t the only soprano at the height of her career who contemplated walking away from it all. If she left now it would be for a good reason (family). The only downside is that no matter how much you love your family, you get sick of staying at home and you have to do something. So for that reason she was just shooting her mouth off. She’s not actually going to give it all up.

  on December 2, 2009 at 3:19 PM
• Avantialouie says:

  Perhaps we need to make a distinction between “inner lives” and “outer lives.” Neither Franz Schubert nor Richard Strauss impress me, for example, as having been “particularly interesting people” to have known casually as friends. But look at the fabulous wealth of “inner life” both these composers had, which, fortunately, they were able to communicate through music. The same principle works for singers, too; although in this age of hype and gloss, we often know more about singers’ lives–both inner and outer–than we really want to.

  on December 2, 2009 at 3:36 PM
• kashania says:

  I hope Anna is working on Bolena right now. When in comes to bel canto roles, the more time she has spent in prep, the better the results. Both her Elvira and Lucia improved markedly between the opening night and the HD broadcast. If she really achieves complete command of the role, her opening night Bolena could be a sensation.

  As for her personal life, different priorities (the stage vs family) might complement each other very well, with one providing a refreshing break from the other.

  on December 2, 2009 at 3:47 PM
  • dorion says:

    why she’s not working with Richard Bonynge RIGHT NOW before he drops dead mystifies me. He’s a great coach and trained the most accomplished coloratura of the last century, his wife.

    on December 2, 2009 at 5:40 PM
    • Alto says:

      You may be right. But there were inevitably pluses and minuses in many of La Stupenda’s performances. Very often he got credit for the former and the latter were attributed to her. It’s impossible to untangle these things thoroughly, but what if the actual situation was the reverse?

      I would never question the value of their great partnership that was so much to the benefit of humankind, but his work with, say, Ruth Ann Swenson has hardly borne comparable fruit. I’m not aware that any of his extra-domestic efforts have done so. I’m in a good place, here at the Box to be corrected if I’m wrong, and admit that I have not exactly followed his career obsessively.

      on December 2, 2009 at 6:19 PM
      • Cocky Kurwenal says:

        I think the general consensus here is that both Dame Joan and Richard did their best work when not working with each other. For Netrebko to coach with Bonynge is, I think, a great idea – having worked with him recently, I can attest to the fact (as if it were needed) that he is a total master of Donizetti, and knows how to get the best from the score and make it live as beautiful music and great drama.

        I think Netrebko has the material and talent to be a good Bolena, it’s just a question of her putting the work in.

        on December 2, 2009 at 6:41 PM
• Ruxton says:

  Knowing what La Nebs has got at home I probably wouldn’t want to leave the house too much either! (God I hope this doesn’t make me appear cheap)

  on December 2, 2009 at 4:05 PM
  • kashania says:

    Nah, I’d be lying in bed, ready for whenever the mood should strike dear Erwin.

    on December 2, 2009 at 4:11 PM
    • Quanto Painy Fakor says:

      But Erwin is miles away in Milano preparing to open the season at La Scala. So for the time being, there’s gonna be a lot of Skype between them.

      on December 2, 2009 at 5:21 PM
• Lindoro Almaviva says:

  Have you guys forgotten about Scotto? She probably had quite a boring personal life: Married and for the looks of it had a happy marriage and kids. By the looks of it, she led a very balanced life, yet as an artist, she left her skin on the stage and bared it all…

  on December 2, 2009 at 8:08 PM
  • mrmyster says:

    Lindoro! Do you not know of Scotto and James Morris — a
    long standing affair? It is acknowledged in the “official”
    biography of her.
    

    on December 2, 2009 at 9:51 PM
    • MontyNostry says:

      Really? In that deathless tome, ‘More than a Diva’ (I nearly typed ‘More than a Devia’) the sole reference to JM is this: “Sometimes my Met buddies Charles Anthony and James Morris will take me fishing.” Who was the bait?

      on December 3, 2009 at 9:32 AM
• poisonivy says:

  Well first of all we can’t presume to that just because a singer APPEARS not to have much of a personal life the singer doesn’t have one, period. For example, when Renata Tebaldi was singing article after article about her was about her serenity, how religious she was, how devoted she was to her mother and her fans, and basically made her sound like a cloistered nun who also had the voice of an angel. After she retired she opened up a lot about her life, and turns out, she had several affairs with prominent conductors and singers, although none worked out. When she spoke about them it was clear that years later, these affairs affected her deeply.
  On another note, it’s also possible to have a drama-filled life and be a quite boring singer. Angie is my prime example of this. Offstage its drama, drama, drama, but onstage she’s a careful, calculated, artist who takes few risks and IMO hasn’t shown much depth of feeling every time I’ve seen her.

  on December 2, 2009 at 9:06 PM
• Constantine A. Papas says:

  Callas had a tragic personal life. Onasis’ dumping her for JK terminated her career for good. Personal and balanced happiness can lead to a more productive artistic life, and Netrebko has set her priorities right and she can do both, being a mother and an opera singer. And if she stops singing tomorrow it wouldn’t make any difference at all, for she has made her mark.

  on December 2, 2009 at 9:27 PM
  • ellerveira says:

    Actually Callas’ best singing years were before she met Onassis in 1957. Her voice began to decline about the time she met him and was in terminal decline by the early 60s. I would suspect it was a case of wanting to be married to a rich man when her career was coming to a close. Ponselle also wanted “out” and got married. Quite a few female singers, I would think, get tired to the strain of being on stage all the time and would prefer to become housewives to suitably affluent husbands.

    on December 3, 2009 at 6:36 AM
• Krunoslav says:

  “And if she stops singing tomorrow it wouldn’t make any difference at all, for she has made her mark.”

  And history will rank her up there with Pasta, Malibran and Suzanne Sarocca, won’t it, Dr. Papas?

  on December 2, 2009 at 10:54 PM
• Constantine A. Papas says:

  Krunoslav,

  Absolutely not! Nobody believes in that, and even Netrebko will laugh at it. Netrebko is what it is on her own, and her lovers and haters alike have given her a place, no matter how small, in the history of opera.

  on December 3, 2009 at 12:32 AM
  • soubrettino says:

    Amen to that. Maybe by that time they will call La Neb “the Diva who Got Away” rather than the expletives some people around here love to label her with.

    on December 3, 2009 at 11:09 AM