parterre box

59 comments

• kashania says:

  I assumed taht Bing allowed solo bows after certain acts or scenes where solo bows might be expected. Sutherland took a solo bow after the Mad Scene and Nilsson took a solo bow after the first act of Tristan. But at the end of the show, only group bows were allowed.

  on March 16, 2010 at 5:21 PM
• Will says:

  Callas did take a solo bow at the end of her debut Norma. I distinctly remember a Life Magazine photograph of it, and the caption made note of the fact that she got a solo bow which was normally forbidden at the MET.

  on March 16, 2010 at 6:11 PM
• rapt says:

  There are two photos of the solo curtain call, Callas kneeling and standing, on pp. 35 and 36, respectively, of Paul Seligman,’s Debuts and Farewells (Knopf, 1972–and actually, it’s on the title page, too, I’ve just noticed). To think I devote brain-space to this….

  on March 16, 2010 at 6:25 PM
• danpatter says:

  Were Madame Stella singing these days, she could write her own ticket. I have a lingering fondness for a recording which she made of LINDA DI CHAMOUNIX, which was never highly rated, but it was my introduction to the opera and the only version I heard for decades. The voice was a lovely one and she was very musical at all times. Many Happy Returns, Madame Stella!

  on March 16, 2010 at 7:28 PM
• paddypig says:

  pavarotti and Leontyne also sang AIDA together in SF. Leontyne saved the day when the other Price cancelled at the last minute (margaret)

  on March 16, 2010 at 11:00 PM
• Ruxton says:

  I’m so pleased to hear accolades for Antoinetta Stella whom I’ve always loved and admired. I’ve always thought she was underrated but overshadowed by the “other bigguns” around at the time.
  If she was around today she’d have no such problem- if only there were more like her.
  The solo bow thing is ridiculous in “the land of the free”. Because of the “superstar exceptions” that we have seen in photos, I was unaware of it.

  on March 17, 2010 at 4:36 AM
• Baltsamic Vinaigrette says:

  Monty/rapt [##24-8], many thanks for your posts which I enjoyed reading so much I’m going to hunt down both books. [I just love it when Jon Vickers gets angry, for one thing.] And yes, Monty, it seemed pretty clear to me that – even without having seen the German version, far less the original Swedish – the translation did leave something to be desired.

  It makes me wonder if the following line was mistranslated: “There is a rule at the Met that there are no solo bows between acts.” Given in the present tense on Page 9 where she deals with her Met debut as Isolde in December 1959.

  on March 17, 2010 at 9:59 AM
• BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK says:

  Dear Ruxton, Dear Sweet Ruxton, The World of Opera is NOT “The Land of the Free.” The World of Opera is “the Land of You fat Italian Cow, you step on my train one more time and there won’t be enough left of you to stuff a cannoli, now get out of my way, my public is calling.”

  on March 17, 2010 at 10:05 AM
• Ruxton says:

  Dear Sweet Betsy Underscore Ann… put on those bottletop glasses again Pet; I said “IN the land of the free” ? Certainly there are many old queens who think the world starts on the West Coast and ends on the right coast of the USA, but I’m sure you dear Lady, are not one of them?

  on March 17, 2010 at 5:18 PM
• Ruxton says:

  By the way Betsy Darling Underscore Ann, have you noticed how empty the fat Italian Cow paddock has become of late? Narry a moo in sight! There’s one or two wandering around the Russian paddock but I must blythly tell you that there are more in the American paddock than almost anywhere else- sweet!

  on March 17, 2010 at 5:50 PM