Teneste la chat
The Traviata chat will begin at 12:45 beginning in preparation for the 1:00 start time of tonight’s performance.
Listeners should note that this afternoon’s broadcast will include the following intermission features: during the first interval, Loren Toolajian will interview Angela Gheorghiu, James Valenti and Thomas Hampson.
During the second intermission, quiz contestants will include Fred Plotkin, Robert Marx and Cage Ames. The moderator will be Keith Miller, in whose honor the panel will perform a trio version of a song from The Creation: “With spandex clad the bass appears.”
The real-time chat, as always, is at La Casa della Cieca.
Hey, that would be a cool contest — “What line in what aria is Scooby singing in the picture?” I nominate “Celeste A- eeeeeeeeeeeeeee”
#49:
“come on guys…get out one of your dozen or more REAL Traviatas and refresh your memory about how this opera is supposed to sound…this was dreadful from start to finish. I can’t believe this is being presented as this season’s Metropolitan Opera La Traviata…”
Obviously we were not listening to the same broadcast! I thought it was quite enjoyable. And what in your estimation are the dozen “REAL” traviatas that should be gotten out? I’d be curious to see how many of them are still alive/singing today.
I heard Protti’s Rigoletto in the mid 80s. The worst baritonal voice I ever heard, like MaCracken’s Prophete, the worst tenor voice I ever heard. These two performances have remained the paradigm of inept, off-key poor singing for the rest of my life.
” His approach is quite different from that of Kathryn Day”
http://tinyurl.com/yznppet
Constantine- I could be wrong but if you heard Protti in the mid eighties, you were hearing an old man way past his best.
almavivante @ 58: I saw Valenti three times, including the opening night and this Sat afternoon. I’m afraid the broadcast was his worst. I, too, think it was (at least in part) nerves. It’s unfortunate he decided to take the high C (again); on this particular occasion, I think it affected his singing even before the fatal moment. No need for this; he can skip it in the future. Fortunately AG has taken him under her wing and he has a lot of performances ahead of him, so he has time to get over it.
I confess I’m surprised you like what he does with the “quasi” in “io vivo quasi in ciel.” This happens to be the one thing that made me cringe on every occasion. It seems to me that calling attention to “quasi” rather than to “ciel” in “quasi in ciel” is like calling attention to “faux” rather than to “pearls” in “faux pearls.” In most languages, one says one is in heaven (rather than “almost” in heaven) when one is very happy. My guess is that “quasi” is there for metric rather than semantic reasons, so it doesn’t quite make sense to stress it.
Thank you, Musetta (#67), for the observations on Valenti in the house. Very helpful information. Let’s agree to disagree on “quasi”–it’s not a deal-breaker–as I think your reaction to his choice of coloring that word is as valid as mine. Your reasoning is sound; it’s just that if I put myself in Alfredo’s place at that moment, I really can imagine myself thinking, I feel as if I’m almost in heaven.
Someone asked during the broadcast chat about what happened to Annina after Violetta dies. Actually, there’s quite a bit of anecdotal information regarding many of the Traviata characters.
In particular, we know quite a bit about the Germont family. M. Germont lost most of his social standing and small fortune after Alfredo’s duel. He, his wife and youngest daughter (Louise) moved to Paris, where he remained to the end a bitter and outspoken critic of Parisian society. His heart gave up soon after Louise left the home without the blessing of a marriage.
Alfredo never changed his impulsive and romantic ways. He became a poet (under the nom-de-plume Rodolfo) and is known to have shared quarters for some time in the Left Bank with the painter Marcello. He was never fortunate in love. Violetta was only the first of his loves to die of TB. Some say that he came across Baron Douphol at some cafe one Christmas Eve but don’t know whether they recognized each other. Some say that he may have even stuck the Baron with the bill. But this is all hearsay.
The entire family appears to have been afflicted by the curses of uninhibited romanticism. A grand-uncle of M. Germont is said to have ruined himself over a loose woman ending up his days somewhere in Louisiana. And one of Alfredo’s cousins or brothers – also a poet – is rumored to have committed suicide in Germany over the love of a married woman.
We understand that Flora also crossed the ocean and became a business woman in Atlanta, where she was known as Belle Watson.
As for Annina herself, she lived a long life along the Seine under the soubriquette of La Frugola. I think that she married the servant that says La cenna e pronta at Flora’s party but I can’t swear to it.
Valenti seems to always go for the high C, which is odd considering that his high notes are not the glory of the voice. And that’s his problem. He’s lyric tenor whose stregth isn’t in his upper register. He did some nice, stylish things in his aria, but ulitimately, how far can he go with a so-so upper register?