The Decider
So the drama continues. After the first act, the conductor summons the Decider to his dressing room to complain that the prima donna has made an unmusical mess of the opera thus far.
When the Decider finally arrives, the maestro announces that if the P.D. continues this performance, he’ll refuse to conduct the next one. Of course, this one is a bit of a puzzler for the Decider. He can’t really make a call on how messy or unmusical the first act was, or, for that matter, if the act was performed at all — because he was at a dinner party at the time.
Keep watching this space for more melodrama.
Bergonzi might not be acceptable today because he was no actor and, in later years, his circumferance was equal to his height. He wouldn’t be hired for the DVDs and HD broadcasts.
Regina- I doubt that Bergonzi would/could ever be deemed “not acceptable” – despite the circumference and lack of acting abilities. Fact is, his voice was seldom less than glorious- and he was always a singer who took the risks but always sounded secure. He was truly one of those singers where it was all in the music if it wasn’t anywhere else. He was a God.
I hope you’re right – for me he was the most stylish Verdi tenor of all. I only heard him four times Cavaradossi in Verona, Manrico, Nemorino and Edgardo at Covent Garden and every one remains a vivid memory. I suppose you’re right – if Johan Botha gets lots of work, so would Bergonzi. It’s only women who aren’t allowed to be porkers.
Licitra’s circumfrence-to-height ratio ain’t much different and he can’t even sing. If Botha and Blythe can get HD broadcasts today, then I’m sure so could Bergonzi.
I have tremendous respect for Bergonzi, as well as most of his recordings. That said, I think his stylistic excellences are overstated. Yes, he had the good taste the excesses that marred the work of some of his contemporaries, Corelli and MDM come to mind. But, like so many Italian singers of his era, I felt that he was not nearly so scrupulous in his legato as he could have been. Too often I hear the same intrusive aitches that mar Tebaldi’s singers. Another example that tasteful does not necessarily equate to technical excellence.
Technically speaking, I find Vickers and Domingo to be far more musically scrupulous singers whatever you think of their respective taste.
I simply must stop abusing crack.
“Yes, he had the good taste to avoid. . .” “the same intrusive aitches that mar Tebaldi’s singing.”
Yes, it’s true Bergonzi’s legato was occasionally marred by aspirates. But really other than that I can’t think of any other stylistic flaws in his singing. This is a flaw
but I hate to hold it against him in light of all the other wonderful qualities he brings to his singing.
Unfortunately the use of aspirates (in legato singing, I’m not talking about aspirated coloratura) was very, very common in Italians in the mid 20th Century. I think it must be an outgrowth of Verismo singing which then settled as a filter on almost anything Italian (or Italian style) singers did.
Fortunately this kind of aspirate is heard much less seldom today (aspirated coloratura is another matter…..) But I was sort of startled to hear Villazon open the aria from Serse “Om-bra mai-hee fu” on the youtube clip from a recent concert. It’s not really something I would have expected to hear from a singer that had come through any kind of a reputable singing curiculum. Oh well, maybe I answered my own question.
Cieca –
I will gladly yield to your greater erudition in such matters, but I can’t recall seeing an extended stage apron in any of the MANY depictions I have studied of 18th- and 19th-century opera houses. More frequently, I have seen pictures where there was no orchestra pit, and the orchestra played on level with the audience. That would have made them tough to cover.
Nor, in the many Old Met productions that I saw at the New Met, did I notice any particular reliance on the front of the stage. If anything, that has been far more a feature of recent stagings than of the previous generation, where singers often sang from the middle or rear of the stage. Now singers seem to prefer being at the very edge of the stage, and directors seem happy to accommodate this desire. This leads, for example, to such nadirs of stagecraft as this season’s Tosca and Attila, where the director and designers seemed so intent on the verticality of the stage that they ignored the necessity of presenting actable scenes in any depth at all.
Too, I don’t find Florez more appealing on the (IMHO) unnecessary passarelle than he was in, say, Fille du Regiment or Sonnambula. I grant you he sounded better in the new Barbiere than in the (perfect) old staging, but that is because his voice has improved in quality, as he’d be the first to point out. I think we’d have torn the house down for him had he sung Rinaldo instead of the good but second-rate Lawrence Brownlee.
I agree with Richard about Kathy Battle: On her debut in Tannhauser, she sounded glorious and easily filled the Met. Even a dozen years later, her Pamina was superb, in the finest all-around Zauberflote I’ve ever heard (Moll was Sarastro). Upshaw has indeed lost power over the years, and wisely switched to singing with a microphone, but is the Met to blame? She never sang anything very heavy there. Some singers do not know how to work with the Met acoustics, and some do – the basic size of the voice is not the qualifier. Hei-kyung Hong was ravishing the night of her debut, and she still is, almost thirty years later. It’s called knowing how to sing.
(But yes, if I had my druthers, we’d have a Vienna- or Zurich-sized opera house instead of the Met. We don’t. I don’t have $150,000,000 lying around handy to build one. Since the man of Steele seems to show little interest in throwing a bone to the opera-loving portion of the NYCO audience, the Met is what we’ve got.)
You might not like him, I get it and you are entitled to your opinion, but 2nd rate my ass. The man has the voice, the technical and stylistic command to make any performance shine.
The fact that Larry is equally adept in Rossini, Mozart (saw him do Tamino), Bellini and XXth century music (as shown in 1984) makes him quite versatile and actually more so than Florez. Brilliant as Florez is, his Mozart has left me cold (at that, he has yet to perform a full Mozart role to my knowledge) and he dropped Rinuccio and Fenton as soon as he could. He has not strayed from Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini in several years. The guy might be brilliant, and he is, but versatile he is not, at least not that much.
Dislike him, hate him, criticize him for whatever faults he might have on your eyes and ears, but do not insult Larry with this bull because his performances are there for the world to see and they are not 2nd rate. They might not be to your taste, but 2nd rate? Please…
Neither Florea nor Brownlee ( NOT one gathers a close relative of the immortal Glyndebourne Don) can hold a candle to Heddle Nash or Ryland Davies.
Brownlee is certainly not second rate! But to my non-professional ears he is better served by some roles than others, as is every singer.
He “nailed” Rinaldo but perhaps a more “robust” sounding voice would have been more convincing ( the role does take some convincing) – such as for example Bruce Ford.
I would love to hear Brownlee and Florez in some of Rossini’s duets( Otello comes to mind) If it weren’t such a sensitive matter to some, I would even suggest that Brownlee would be terrific as Rodrigo in Otello, whereas I can see Florez as Otello in a number of years.
We are so lucky to have such great voices and artists performing in our time – that goes without saying, but should perhaps be said more often!
Actually, in pretty much every musical sense, overall I prefer Brownlees to Florez. I find his sound MUCH sweeter at the top, where it really counts , and the complete absence of the dreaded “bleat” gives him a pretty big edge in my book.
if anything needs to have a more robust sounding voice to be convincing in a Rossini opera, it’s the Otello. those two can both just play Rodrigo.
Meanwhile, back to the presumed thread of this posting,
WHO is conducting Tosca tomorrow night and who is
singing the title role?
I’ve heard nothing further, so should we assume Auguin
conducts Dessi?
Best that will be friendly!