The old lady thanks you all
You’ve done it again, cher public: that is, you’ve set a new record here at parterre.com. The busy activity yesterday including the discussion of the Met’s 2010-2011 season led to the highest number of visits on a single day in parterre.com history: 5,857!
That’s more than the seating capacity at the MET.
Bravo Parterroists and Parterrians. Evivva La Cieca.
Just when was this recorde? I don’t hear much if any of the familiar Callas sound in this selection — something recorded in her teens, perhaps? Very strange.
I agree, it’s very strange and un-Callas-like.
I think the poster’s idea was to provide an “ave” to this “Maria,” not to present a Callas recording, which this couldn’t possible be. The voice sounds vaguely familiar, but I can’t identify it.
That’s “possibly,” not “possible.”
It’s identified as Callas on YouTube but without any documentation. I don’t hear anything of Callas in it.
This would make a great vocal identification piece! My comment about the poster’s intentions was just a guess. Looking around on Youtube, I found another poster on Youtube who presents this explicitly as a false recording of Callas’s that has been circulating along with a number of other alleged Callas recordings (including “Summertime”!)–says it comes from “Emule,” an entity outside my ken (Google says it’s a file-sharing thing–but I’m already out of my depth!).
Of course it’s not Callas. First of all, it’s state of the art stereo (and probably digital, to judge by the metallic quality of the voice), second, it’s a germanic voice, not bad, though not terribly well controlled and a bit shallow. Something in the brightness reminds me of Studer but of course it’s not her, much more shallow. In a way, it sounds like one of the more agreeable crossover singers.
Doesn’t sound like any ‘voice’ I know and recognize. But not very interesting either.
Well, thanks La Cieca, for having such interesting topics such as the new season at the Met, the photos of coming productions, and of the Odabella hairdo and make up. We must be thankful for the Met too for not having a fake “Ghosts of Versailles” with Callas for next season.
Perhaps the MET will recognize the strength of their knowledgeable fan-base and bring back design-your-own subscription plans. What ever happened to those?
Of course, I suppose they still exist: it’s called the buy-single-tickets-after-the-best-seats-are-gone plan.
I LOVED the design your own subscriptions. As an out of towner, I could cluster performances when I could schedule trips into New York very easily. And there was none of the idiotic mass substitution and exchange business that has led to getting screwed several times. I would think that it would also save the Ticket Service enormous amounts of time and money.
Today the MET GUILD announced their “Opera Boot Camp: Basic Training” in which they equate opera with boredom and fat women!
Description: “In this special encore offering, the Metropolitan Opera Guild’s resident experts reveal secrets of listening that maximize enjoyment and minimize boredom; recount the history of the operatic art form, from its Renaissance roots to its place in contemporary culture; and examine operatic mysteries and myths – such as, who is that fat lady after all?”
No, it is we who should thank you. “She’s done it,” to use a line from somewhere or other, sets and costumes by Cecil Beaton.
Hang on… there’s a film of The Visit?
*dashes off to Amazon*
Different ending. Better ending.