parterre box

49 comments

• Orlando Furioso says:

  Regina, it was indeed Arroyo in that Trovatore in 1973 (complete with “Tu vedrai”).

  PirateJenny, I believe there’s a great deal in what you say. It isn’t automatically true that big voices need more time to get in order (though it can work out that way in individual cases, of course). And (with respect to Arianna), I’m not sure the “no more daily lessons” idea really applies; don’t we have to look back to pre-20th century times for that kind of daily attention? Many of the mid-20th century singers launched themselves with very miscellaneous sorts of training, and figured it out as they went along.

  Two things that do make a difference in our time, I think (always reserving the right to keep thinking about it): (1) Classical music has nowhere near the place in our culture that it did 30 or 50 years ago. This means that many who might have the vocal and musical gifts for it never feel the inclination to seek it out at all. And those that do are likely to encounter it late, and never start thinking about it till their late teen years, or later. I think that’s a big part of the reason why almost nobody is ready for a career at 20 now, unlike earlier eras: even if actual vocal training doesn’t start till physical maturity, it helps if the mind has been focused in that direction from an earlier age, and that’s unlikely to happen now. One recent case where it did start at an early age is Cecilia Bartoli, and she did indeed grow up with music in the home and singers for parents.

  (2) At least in the US, vocal training these days almost universally happens in the college or conservatory environment, where regular testing and juries make it unwise to really build vocal technique in a painstaking way — suitable literature has to be presented to the juries on a regular schedule, and proper “progress” demonstrated. So upon graduation they’re probably not ready to go on to anything but graduate school, where the process may continue. Once they finally leave school, they generally have to find another private teacher in whatever city they move to, because the process still isn’t complete. Therefore the late career starts are almost inevitable now. And it may indeed be true that we’re losing prime singing years from a lot of these people, while they continue going to class and doing workshop productions.

  on April 23, 2010 at 8:28 PM
• Constantine A. Papas says:

  Happy Birthday Diva Cossotto! The best dramatic mezzo of her time. I have the DVD of Verdi’s Requiem Mass with La Scala’s orchestra under Karajan (1967?). She in top form and equals Leontyne Price in evey aspect. The rest of the cast was the young Pavarotti and Ghaurov.

  on April 23, 2010 at 11:44 PM
• Krunoslav says:

  Dr. Papas emitted:

  “Happy Birthday Diva Cossotto! The best dramatic mezzo of her time”

  Two words; IRINA ARKHIPOVA

  on April 24, 2010 at 1:29 AM
• Nerva Nelli says:

  “has there ever been at the Met a stand-alone Antonia significantly heavier than Netrebko?”

  Lucine Amara
  Pilar Lorengar
  Patricia Racette

  on April 24, 2010 at 12:07 PM
• Byrnham Woode says:

  Nilsson sang SALOME at the MET in just one season, when the production was new around 1965. She did about 8 or 9 performances. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn she sang the part at Chicago and/or San Francisco.

  Neither she nor many of the others mentioned in this discussion are what I would call “obese” to the point that they wouldn’t be allowed their careers today. Particularly those who sang extremely demanding repertory in which there was less competition for engagements.

  I fail to see why Talvela, for example, was mentioned. A giant of a man, he used his size to enormous (sorry) effect in every role he did, from Fasolt to the Grand Inquisitor to Boris.

  on April 24, 2010 at 12:27 PM
• La Cieca says:

  Nerva: you and I have different ideas of what “significantly” means. And by the same token, there have been Olympias slimmer than Netrebko at the Met: Lucrezia Bori, Eidé Norena, Jarmila Novotna.

  Maybe this discussion would make more sense if we could try to find singers who seem to have been excluded from the Gelb-era Met due to avoirdupois?

  on April 24, 2010 at 12:46 PM
• mrmyster says:

  Nerva, in the 1940s, during the war, Thomas Beecham
  was for a few seasons the “French” conductor of the Met,
  and he had Steber sing Antonia – not the other two, tho’
  she may have done a walk-on as Muse or such. Only
  one or two seasons, and I am not sure it was a very
  great success. It was the right kind of voice; in my time,
  Amara ‘owned’ the role of Antonia — that and Nedda
  were her very best in that part of her career.

  on April 24, 2010 at 12:57 PM
• Arianna a Nasso says:

  La Cieca writes @ 46 “Maybe this discussion would make more sense if we could try to find singers who seem to have been excluded from the Gelb-era Met due to avoirdupois?”

  I agree this is the more relevant question, but I would add that those singers should be appearing at other major houses while not appearing at the Met. Saying that Gelb is not hiring, say, Aprile Millo [ducking for cover...] because of her weight is not a reasonable answer when no international theater is engaging her in a regular basis.

  on April 24, 2010 at 1:00 PM
• WindyCityOperaman says:

  Hope it’s not too late to wish Madame C a happy birthday.

  Andy Karzas’ played a live “Don Fatale” with Karajan in the mid-60s . . far more passionate than what she did in the studio. Saw her do Amneris, Ulrica and Favorita. Great, balsy singer and they don’t make them like that anymore. She said she never held high notes longer than Callas (rather Callas was too ill to sing the high note at all). Kind of surprised she and Ivo split.

  on April 25, 2010 at 10:11 PM