Comments on: Domestic diva

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:23:40 +0000

if inspiration were easy to pin down, then it would lose its mysterious and magical qualities

not only that, but if inspiration were easy to pin down, people could follow formulas to access it, no aspect of opera would be boring, and we’d have to find new ways to say “I love it!l

By: kashania

kashania — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:54:52 +0000

That’s terribly sensible, Cocky and I agree. Inspiration is by nature intangible. I would go so far as to say that if inspiration were easy to pin down, then it would lose its mysterious and magical qualities. While a lot of great artists draw in inspiration from the turmoil/tragedy of their personal lives, there are also artists out there who get inspirtation from joy and the sheer love of live. And there are all kinds of degrees in between.

By: Cocky Kurwenal

Cocky Kurwenal — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:30:26 +0000

Some great singers have normal happy stable personal lives with little or no drama, some have terribly difficult temptestuous lives, and some have a bit of both. What this tells us is that no real correlation can be drawn between the art as presented to the public and the personal life.

By: Krunoslav

Krunoslav — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:50:56 +0000

“a place, no matter how small, in the history of opera.”

…Maria Nache, Anna Netrebko, Maralin Niska, Aase Nordmo-Loevborg…

By: soubrettino

soubrettino — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:09:59 +0000

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.

By: MontyNostry

MontyNostry — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:32:34 +0000

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?

By: ellerveira

ellerveira — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:36:28 +0000

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.

By: ilpenedelmiocor

ilpenedelmiocor — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:35:55 +0000

I thought the exact same thing when I read that she thinks Bolena is a good fit: can’t wait to hear [the ascending trills in] ‘Coppia iniqua’….

By: Constantine A. Papas

Constantine A. Papas — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:32:12 +0000

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.

By: Krunoslav

Krunoslav — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:54:40 +0000

“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?

By: mrmyster

mrmyster — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:51:46 +0000

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

By: Constantine A. Papas

Constantine A. Papas — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:27:14 +0000

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.

By: poisonivy

poisonivy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:06:31 +0000

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.

By: Meimei

Meimei — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:38:59 +0000

One can only wonder how she intends to manage the trills in the last scene? As has been stated many times on this site, the woman simply doesn’t have the technique to sing bel canto roles. For her to even mention Roberto Devereux is a travesty.

By: Lindoro Almaviva

Lindoro Almaviva — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:08:54 +0000

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…

By: Cocky Kurwenal

Cocky Kurwenal — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:41:12 +0000

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.

By: Alto

Alto — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:19:35 +0000

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.

By: dorion

dorion — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:40:49 +0000

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.

By: dorion

dorion — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:30:24 +0000

Callas had NO personal life. She married old fart Meneghini, a man she was never in love with, for security only. She then fell in love with another old fart, but a billionaire this time. Zeffirelli was correct when he said that had Callas fallen in love with a young stud and lived an exciting LIFE she would’ve never become Maria Callas.

Great art comes from repression, not expansion. You don’t need a full, exciting, complete life to become a great artist, you need a great brain combined with a great soul.

By: Quanto Painy Fakor

Quanto Painy Fakor — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:21:49 +0000

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.

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:25:10 +0000

I must admit to being intrigued by the idea that Callas spent an afternoon watching cartoons before going on stage.

By: Alto

Alto — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:23:54 +0000

To argue for certain artists that you and I deem uninteresting is of course not the same as arguing in general for uninteresting artists.

But I admire La Cieca for not letting the distinction, which our Doyenne knows at least as well as I do, get in the way of a mot that is pretty bon.

By: rapt

rapt — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:16:04 +0000

Though my comment was sparked by yours, CruzSF, I didn’t mean it as disagreement. I do think, though, that boring person and boring life aren’t the same–adventurers can be terrible bores, while the settled, the single-focused, and/or the hermit can be interesting people and, if they work at it, interesting artists. Callas’s life, from what I’ve read, does sound boring; and I don’t know that de los Angeles (during her greatest period), Scotto, Kraus had particularly unusual personal experiences (though, to tell the truth, I don’t really know that they didn’t, either). There–I’ve fulfilled your prediction!

By: kashania

kashania — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:11:00 +0000

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

By: Ruxton

Ruxton — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:05:48 +0000

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)

By: La Cieca

La Cieca — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:55:48 +0000

Who has argued for uninteresting artists?

Jonathan Friend?

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:51:53 +0000

Ooops. I meant to rub your shoulders, not trample them.

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:49:57 +0000

only to say that no adventure will make an interesting person or interesting artist out of a boring one (which I’d define as one who doesn’t have that emotional access)

I agree with you here and don’t think that contradicts what I wrote.

About no interesting person will make an interesting artist without that fanatic dedication to developing technique: I hesitate to agree completely because 1. “interesting” artist doesn’t mean “talented” artist — I think someone can be interesting but bad or inappropriate to the role, and 2. I suspect that a commenter here will soon name an interesting artist who led a completely boring life.

By: kashania

kashania — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:47:42 +0000

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.

By: MontyNostry

MontyNostry — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:38:04 +0000

Yes, only shoulders! I was going to pre-empt comments of that kind, but I thought I’d give the Parterriens the benefit of the doubt. Always a mistake.