Comments on: So etwas geht selten gut aus

By: MontyNostry

MontyNostry — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:39:29 +0000

Buster: note that no sources are quoted for all those nice things that are said about Frau Gruseck, or maybe that should be Frau Gruesomeck.

By: Baltsamic Vinaigrette

Baltsamic Vinaigrette — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:18:01 +0000

Cieca [re #5], given that the husband was a fish farmer perhaps she should be called Waltraute…?

By: Buster

Buster — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:13:56 +0000

Waltraud Gruseck, Eine dynamische und zugleich in sich ruhende Persönlichkeit voller bezaubender Anmut und Charisma

http://www.waltraud-gruseck.de/

By: thesuze

thesuze — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:19:08 +0000

I meant to reply to your Renee Fleming post – oops! Sorry.

By: thesuze

thesuze — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:17:09 +0000

Thanks for posting this – the website is beautiful!

By: Harry

Harry — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:54:59 +0000

Might I add it looks a bit like the ‘doubles’ crux of Hitchcock’s Vertigo plot, gender reversed.

By: Harry

Harry — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:49:30 +0000

The name of the Opera is right there in front of you..’Lady Macbeth of Freiburg’.

By: BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK

BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:25:09 +0000

My God, CF, I’d never noticed it before, but you’re right. It’s absolutely uncanny.

By: CerquettiFarrell

CerquettiFarrell — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:02:00 +0000

This is TOTALLY off topic, but am I the only one to notice a most striking resemblance between Diana Damrau and the German goddess of the silent screen, Brigitte Helm?

By: Regina delle fate

Regina delle fate — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 01:38:08 +0000

I’ve never heard of any German with the name Hill – maybe Hille. Maybe she is the German Katherine Jenkins and doesn’t actually sing in opera houses.

By: Alto

Alto — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:22:00 +0000

“… which I assume is just as dreary as pretty much everything else Hindemith composed.”

That THERE is pure idiocy. At last.

By: rysanekfreak

rysanekfreak — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:01:13 +0000

When I first saw her picture, I thought it was Meryl Streep. So this has to be a Streep film before it becomes an opera. (Andre Previn will write it for Renee Fleming to star in.)

And speaking of movies, have y’all read the news that actor Dustin Hoffmann is probably going to direct a film about retired opera singers?—starring Maggie Smith, Albert Finney, and Tom Courtney. It’s to be called “Quartet,” although that is going to be confusing because Dame Maggie has already starred in the Merchant Ivory “Quartet.”

By: StageLefty

StageLefty — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:28:07 +0000

Gott in Himmel… sopranos on trial…das ist ein slippery slope! How many consecutive life terms would be handed down to Gwyneth Jones for her career-long spree murdering the score of Turandot??
(I kid the Dame – I worked w/ her on a great FROSCH and totally got why she was a huge star, but also did her FANCIULLA which was consistantly wrong…)

The Hill case would make a great dark comedy a la Freres Coen. Does Frances McDormand have a decent B?

By: m. croche

m. croche — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:34:36 +0000

Where’s a Tarnhelm when you need one?

By: BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK

BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:06:21 +0000

Eureka !

LA SONNAMBULA !

The husband is that creepy guy who sleeps anywhere he wants. All the angry townspeople . . . it all fits.

Quick. Call Mary Zimmerman !

By: yappy

yappy — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:55:11 +0000

Oh no, shocked German, I’m shocked! How could I forget to check BILD… and now a bunch of tabloids and feeds have picked it up too. I’d never thought Google News Search would be so sophisticated as to leave them out.

“Waltraud G.eht über Leichen”?

By: BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK

BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:44:58 +0000

Mignon ! But of course, Mignon Dunn as Elvira in the Baby Jane opera. She’d deserve having another scene composed just for her ! ! ! ! I’ll set right to work as soon as I sharpen my quills.

By: BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK

BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:41:05 +0000

Mignon.

By: Noel Dahling

Noel Dahling — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:40:21 +0000

“55? I”LL SUE!”

By: La Valkyrietta

La Valkyrietta — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:33:44 +0000

I would not make this a Verdi opera or Mozart or Wagner. Puccini maybe, something like ‘Il Tabarro’ with many Luigis for hire. Shostakovich yes, or Janacek. In Hollywood, would Sandra do? Meryl, of course, can do anything. Joan Crawford would be perfect. There are still many loose ends. Did she really kill him? When and how? Where did she hide or dump the corpse? What method did she use? There is a possibility he is not dead, but somewhere lost with amnesia, now that is many movies. Hm, an opera with an amnesia theme, I can’t think of one, that would be fascinating in the treatment of the different musical themes.

By: manou

manou — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:26:02 +0000

Die frau ohne Köpfchen

By: MontyNostry

MontyNostry — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:03:40 +0000

… which I assume is just as dreary as pretty much everything else Hindemith composed.

By: MontyNostry

MontyNostry — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:02:52 +0000

Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen

By: Shocked German

Shocked German — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:59:47 +0000

yappy, there is of course extensive coverage on this from the BILD “Zeitung”, for instance here: http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/2010/03/12/opernsaengerin/unter-mordverdacht.html

In the German version she is a Waltraud G..

By: kashania

kashania — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:51:04 +0000

I blame Peter Gelb.

By: yappy

yappy — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:35:35 +0000

Weird! I’ve heard nothing at all about that case on German radio, also there are no German-language google (ordinary and news) results on the case or the lady involved. You do get results in Slovenian and Chinese though.
Maybe our media are too slow, or some writer accidentally posted their synopsys on the net.

By: BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK

BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:29:52 +0000

The whole thing shrieks “Shostakovich” to me, but why would it need to be newly composed? I suggest tailoring the libretto to fit some existent opera with great music but really stupid plots. Some likely candidates? TROVATORE, obviously. FORZA DEL DESTINO, yup with a few adjustments. Definitely CLEMENZA DI TITO would benefit. Or rescue something from undeserved oblivion — DINORAH maybe, and we could get rid of that stupid goat. Or a Weber pastiche with the good parts of OBERON, FREISCHUTZ, ABU HASSAN, EURYANTHE, DIE DREI PINTOS. There are lots of possibilities depending on how it all plays out. And Lordy, what a part for Karita Mattila.

By: La Cieca

La Cieca — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:27:38 +0000

I’m thinking that for an opera the name of the femme fatale would have to be changed to something more portentous, such as “Waltraud Überhügel.”

Or else this would make a great premise for a Charles Busch play.

By: La Valkyrietta

La Valkyrietta — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:24:23 +0000

It seems to me modern times are tawdry and decadent. An opera singer murdering for money? Imagine! Adelina Patti used to make $5,000.00 a performance in the nineteenth century. If she ever thought of murder it would be, I would hope, for artistic purposes.

By: LittleMasterMiles

LittleMasterMiles — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:09:12 +0000

This sounds like a good Richard Strauss opera to me, but I can’t think who’s doing that sort of thing today. How about Waltraud Meier as Waltraud Hill?

BTW, are we no longer doing threaded comments?