Cher Public
- oedipe: Pauvre Berlioz! 5:13 AM
- oedipe: A present for you, Bobs’: Happy Memorial Day! http://upload.wiki media.org/wikipedi a/commons/thum... 4:52 AM
- Nerva Nelli: “In Paris ist Revolution ausgebrochen!̶ 1; 4:26 AM
- Marcello: Jonas Kaufmann has cancelled “Les Troyens” in London. 4:11 AM
- MontyNostry: Like some kind of soul-diva boa constrictor, is La Holliday about the swallow that girl whole? 3:45 AM
- Nerva Nelli: Aren’t you forgetting Jochen Kowalski as Nireno? http://s3.static69 .com/m/image-of... 3:34 AM
- Nerva Nelli: Have not read an obit. No activity listed lately here http://www.filmref erence.com/film... 3:26 AM
- bobsnsane: This B a uncommon crotch rocket, out among-st us men folk… 3:26 AM
colleagues
- A Liberal's Libretto
- AndrewAndJoshua
- Barihunks
- Cafeteria Rusticana
- Capital New York
- Civic Center
- Counter Critic
- Daniel Stephen Johnson
- Family Circle
- Handelmania
- Hugo Alvarez Domínguez
- Intermezzo
- ionarts
- Iron Tongue of Midnight
- Jumping Clapping Man
- Likely Impossibilites
- Mass Culture Mozart
- My Favorite Intermissions
- New York Post
- Opera Arts
- Opera Bouffe
- Opera Cake
- Opera Fresh
- Opera Rocks
- Opera Tales
- Opera Teen
- Operacast
- Operavision
- Out West Arts
- pArts
- Poison Ivy's Wall of Text
- Sandow
- SFCV
- Superconductor
- The Classical Beat
- The Classical Review
- The Opera Tattler
- Una butaca en el paraiso
- Vilane fille
- Wenarto
- Willy or Won’t He?
- Wo bleibt Elektra?
- WQX-Aria
- Yankeediva
- Zachary Woolfe
Today's Events
Chats
- May 27 at 2:45 PM: Giulio Cesare (webcast from Salzburg)
La Casa della Cieca →
Topics
- anna anna anna
- barihunk
- bel canto
- blind item
- blog bloggity blog
- broadcast
- camp
- cancellation
- chat
- cher public
- contest
- critic
- diva
- dvd
- filth
- gala
- gay gay gay gay gay
- happy birthday
- hd
- jj
- l'evasiva
- la cieca ci guarda
- la scoopenda
- maestro levine
- man of steel
- mp3
- need you ask?
- new york post
- new york times
- nyco
- our own
- our own jj
- peter gelb is...
- regie
- review
- sad
- the met
- unnatural acts of opera
- wagner
- youtube
My favorite (in person) Lady Macbeth was Rysanek at the time of her debut.
Her coloratura work at times was a little muddy, but her intensity and size of the voice were overwhelming and exciting. Her weird timbre was also a plus.
I saw Verrett’s in the 70′s in DC and liked it, but the highlight of her performance for me for me was her Vieni t’affretta and Or tutti sorgete.
Irene Dalis was pretty good in the role as well.
Ghoulagina’s Lady is a gross disaster! And, btw, Ghoula’s “coloratura” made Rysanek’s sound like Callas’.
I was doing some work with La Scala when it visited the Kennedy Center in 1976 and was lucky enough to see all of the performances. Verrett was terrific – and I mean TERRIFIC – at the dress rehearsal of Macbeth. She was almost – but not quite – as good on opening night. (The final d flat clipped a bit short.) She was unhappy with herself during the second performance. Very tense backstage. She cracked on the d flat after which she sat in a corner with her head down apparently dealing with some internal demons. During the third and final performance we were expecting her to cancel at any time. She got through it on sheer determination.
Looking back that seems to have been a turning point in her career. Earlier in the year she was in top form for Adalgisa at the Met. Then she did Norma on tour and was very happy with herself. After the Macbeths she opened the Met season as Azucena, again in top form. Later that that season she was a disappointing Mme Lidoine at the Met. The Favoritas the following season were not particularly good. Nor were the Fidelios and Lady Macbeths in future seasons at the Met.
Hard not to think that the soprano / mezzo see-saw did not hurt her voice. A pity. When she was good, she sure was GOOD.