The boy friend
Parterre fave Joyce DiDonato headlines an all-star performance of Le nozze di Figaro broadcast this afternoon from Lyric Opera of Chicago. [WFMT] The broadcast begins at 1:45 Central time (2:45 here in New York) and La Casa della Cieca will be open for the event. (Photo: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera)
i missed that. what did heppner and guleghina sing?
la cieca, do you mean gloria scalchi?
No La Cieca means Sofia – an even more venerable Cherubino than Ludwig, Seefried or Jurinac. I take his point, they were wonderful, but they aren’t around today and the lovely Ms DiDonato is probably the best around right now. And I bet she is a better Rosina/Cenerentola than Mme Ludwig used to be.
The two Scalchi are related. Sofia Scalchi was Gloria’s great-aunt.
Heppner sang the Olympic Hymn in a macaronic English/French setting. Guleghina sang ?????? ??????? ??????? whilst riding atop a cross between a troika and a gyroscope.
There was also an opera singer “of Greek descent” whose name I didn’t catch singing the Greek national anthem, and a typically sturdy-sounding Russian chorus singing an overlong a cappella rendition of the Russian (formerly Soviet) anthem and a bevy of pas de deuxes in various mismatched costumes. (The Russian emphasis, if you didn’t know, was in honor of the 2014 Winter Olympics, to be held in Sochi.)
I didn’t realize we couldn’t do Cyrillic here. Guleghina sang Plyaska dyevooshyek plavnaya.
Got technique? Lily had plenty to spare even in her 70′s
If she had omitted the interpolations of her youth, it would have been okay. As it is, I hear dogs howling in the street, and my cat got up and left the room. The voice is very aged sounding but fine up to about an A, maybe B-flat sometimes. And she can still move it around too. She also still looks quite nice. Very dignified.
Actually, this sounds, to my ears, remarkably like some of her recordings. The voice is amazingly well preserved, with all its virtues and flaws. I guess it helps to have one of the most limited repertoires in operatic history. That Bachelet piece is such a nice bon bon. I used to be really crazy about Pons, until I knew better. However, she will always be part of my discovering opera and I will always love her, no matter how much she aspirates the coloratura and goes oh so endearingly off pitch.
Starting the Fanciulla celebrations early here, I applaud Jason Stearns for the remarkable growth he has made as singer over the years. Here he is hampered by a lame interpretation by director designer of whatever production this is.
httpv://www.youtube.com/user/MusicalArtists#p/u/2/ggsXDwoQdgI
Anyone want to start enumerating the flaws in the scenography? I hope that Nick wears a big fur hat in the cold California mountains. Skinhead is a bad idea for Nick.
Oops, sorry. Never take the URL from the users page. Must be from separate display by clicking the title under the video to open it in another window.
Nick? Don’t you mean Jack?
Interesting fact (and English) from a Norwegian site reporting on that production of Fanciulla in Oslo:
“But it is not for the first time in Norway. Allready in 1921 Kirsten Flagstad was singing Minnie in a production of The Girl from the Golden West at Opera Comique, conducted by Piero Coppola, who Puccini him self choosed to conduct the opera many places, also in Oslo.”
What’s the Norwegian for “Tre assi e un paio”?
I am sorry that Schwanewilms didn’t sing well last night. I missed her Dove sono, but heard her first aria, Porgi, which was not bad.
At least now I don’t have to buy a ticket for that production–especially as I am not a fan of the opera–and Didonato was not spectacular either.
I’ll keep my memories of della Casa, Siepi, London and Tozzi, thank you!
‘I’ll keep my memories of della Casa, Siepi, London and Tozzi, thank you!’
Interesting casting. Which one of them was the Susanna?
As much as I admire Joyce DiDonato (greatly), the singer cast as Cherubino is rarely if ever the one that could be considered the “headliner”. And for her this must be a super easy role. That she is considered that, over and above Schwanewilms as the Countess, and all of the rest of them, seems to indicate that LOC’s Le Nozze di Figaro perhaps wasn’t so great in the vocal department.
amerjacquino–Siepi was Susanna!
I saw more than one performance of the opera!LOL
Figaro with London, Tozzi, and della Casa is about to start on Sirius. From January, 1958!
Cruz–I am listening–have always liked Hilde Güden–she was wonderful in Arabella with LdC.
I’m surprised that they’re taking the whole opera at quite a good clip. It didn’t seem this fast yesterday from Chicago.
In a review of Figaro in the Chicago Sun-Times, the reviewer noted that Schwanewilms had a cold and that DiDonato was distrcted by an ankle injury:
“Soprano Anne Schwanewilms, known especially for her early-20th century German repertoire, valiantly performed despite a cold or other bronchial infection. When she is back in full health, hers should be a characterization to hear and see. Similarly, as Cherubino, the popular American mezzo Joyce DiDonato seemed distracted by a recent ankle injury (surely not helped by playing a character who is constantly jumping out of windows or hiding under bedspreads!). But both made real contributions Sunday to the balance and unity of ensembles.”
Talking about the Countess Almaviva, who would you want to hear do it today? I can’t think of many sopranos who seem to be currently singing it who I would run to see. Veronique Gens. That’s about it…
In recent years I have seen Ruth Ann Swenson, Dorothea Roeschmann, Susanna Phillips and Anja Harteros. RAS did not do it for me at all. I think Roeschmann is an interesting singer, but she seemed completely miscast as the Countess. I enjoyed Phillips (at Santa Fe) but she is a bit immature for the part. Harteros is a singer I have heard in a bunch of Mozart and Verdi roles and I do not get her at all.
This fall we will hear Ellie Dehn sing it in San Francisco. I have heard bad things about her. Hope they are all lies. We shall see.
I know it’s boring to carp about singers of today vs. singers of the past (zzzzzz…) but here is an example of the Countess done right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbEMitq_aVM
Oh, I forgot I also would love to hear Krassimira Stoyanova sing it. I believe she will be singing it in Washington DC soon. She is fantastic! Haven’t heard her in Mozart though…
I adore Gens, but as with Roschmann and despite her success in the part I think it’s not really for her. I’d like to hear Schwanewilms, despite her failure to impress in Chicago. Frittoli was surprisingly good at CG the summer before last. Persson will be a wonderful Countess, too, but not for a few years. And I’ll get torn to pieces for this, but I loved Hong in the last-but-one Met broadcast of Figaro.
The singer I’d most like to hear and see in the role, of course, hasn’t touched Mozart for years…
I would buy a ticket to hear Anna Samuil’s Countess. She was a lovely Mimi last december:
http://www.annasamuil.de/home.php?load=gallery
I have heard Ellie Dehn sing an excellent Donna Elvira and Anne Trulove, so I would expect good things.
One of our Central European correspondents was putting about that she had been booed in Munich — if so, doubtless by partisans of those few singers of whom our “Resi” approves.