Event horizon
No, the above image is not from Sunday’s upcoming First Ever East Coast Parterre Meet and Greet, but rather dear Mr. Hogarth’s take on “The Rake’s Progress.” A more modern treatment of theme of the dissolute punished (the Stravinsky opera, La Cieca means) will be yours to enjoy via the magic of webcasting tomorrow night (Friday) starting at 8:00 pm, live from Toledo Opera. Those of you who feel the need to chat know where to go.
OT: anyone chatting for Verrett’s Tosca on Sirius tonight?
I’ll join you.
What did you think of the Tosca, phoenix?
Did you have a spat with NN? You know, she is quite the diva, and, as such, she gets a little tetchy at times. That is her prerogative, though, as such she is.
Complaints or kudos about Tosca?
— Re: NN Camille honey, why do you think i come on this site? If there wasn’t any NN to rile me up, there would be no point for me to be here. I depend on NN, ALTO, & all the university-bred twinks to piss me off, reignite my fires & rise up out of the ashes again.
— Re: Tosca broadcast last nite… I should have checked the Met “archive” beforehand. I wasn’t sure whether that broadcast last nite was the same one as the telecast they just put out on DVD, but it turned out that it was not. The telecast/DVD was done in mid December 1978; this broadcast last nite was from later on — the first week of January 1979. Not that it should make any difference, but that old saying “what a difference a day makes” has a startlingly applicable ring of truth to it with regard to opera performances.
— Well, let’s put it this way. The dear Clitadeltoro & I were the only ones in the chat room & we both agreed that the performance last nite was clearly an example of “what makes Tosca so difficult to perform.”
— Details? Well, first of all the sound came in kind of bizarre over here at my place during at the beginning, but it settled down to a listenable level very quickly.
— Pav sounded boxed-in… perfect phrasing, but no thrust…
— The great diva Verrett, as we both noted, was remarkable for her ability to place the emotional situation at hand directly into her vocal tone (like another famous diva mentioned in TitTorture’s NYT dedication tribute to Verrett), a skill that seems to elude many singers nowadays.
— Correct me if your memory is better than mine… but if my memory serves me right, it was NOT a common custom in the early days of Verrett at the Met to make such an announcement as “indisposed, but will sing anyways”… IMM, it was very rare to hear that proclamation at the Met until the 1980′s when I noticed it occurring with annoying frequency.
But on this Saturday matinee, alas, Verrett authetically sounded like she was suffering from a cold. Clitadeltoro thought it was just warming-up process at first, but later on i think he also could hear her struggling to get through it. She came on in Act 1 practically bottomless & when she went down for a low note all I heard was a scratchy sound. But you know, when you hear a great singer indisposed, straining this way & that to overcome defect, the barebones of their technical & artistic skills suddenly become clearly exposed & jump to the forefront as their physical voice fails them. At such times of distress, as with Verrett in that broadcast last night, one is amazed at their artistry (and i was amazed at Verrett, particuarly in Act 2). Verrett actually “sang” the entire Act 2 without resorting to raggin, wretching, etc.
— But the star of the performance from Sirius last nite & the only one of the 3 major principals who was having a red-letter day of it was Cornell MacNeil as Scarpia. I had forgotten what an incredibly beautiful sensuous tone he had on a good day … some of the smoothest legato I’ve ever heard as Scarpia.
— I heard Conlon’s ominously slow tempi for Pav’s aria at the beginning of act 3, continuing at that same slow pace through the love duet & i realized why he had to conduct it that way. I’d rather remember Verrett and Pav from better days. At first i was angry & i wanted to dash off a condemnation to Sirius for broadcasting such a non-representative performance in tribute to Verrett, but then i realized how much i learned about the skills of her technique from hearing this performance.
Even though i didn’t keep a recording of it, the way Verrett compensated for indisposition is something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
My first time at the Met was in December 1963 and it was announced that Merrill was indisposed but would sing nevertheless. (Il Trovatore)
It happened in other occasions after that including some broadcasts. Not as often as now I would think, though.
Thank you, phoenix. I was listening as well, and was thinking of you both.
As I tuned in just as Pavarotti was finishing “Tosca, sei tu!”, so I missed, I reason, any announcement of illness on Ms. Verrett’s part.
Camille was never a Pavarotti partisan, but since his death, she has re-listened to him and come to a better understanding of the great merit of his singing. What she, and everyone else, would give to hear a voice like his in the house todaay! Instead we get all these “weenie tenors”. Go Grigolo! Shirley Verrett’s middle voice was very blanched out and dry, I suppose due to illness, but o my god, she knocked those high C’s out of the park. The notorious trap in the climactic “Signor” of Vissi d’arte (which Mattila and Voigt mucked up) came through wonderfully. It seemed that by the third act her voice had recovered enough, even in the mid-voice. It didn’t seem that the musical part of Tosca was the most congenial part for her voice (high notes certainly NO problem!) But I am sure she would have made a great personaggio on stage. I love Cornell MacNeill, period. It was nice to hear him in an earlier assumption of the part, as I had the VHS of him in what I called “The Hildy Tosca”, but he was even stronger, fresher here.
I am glad you pointed out this is not the Tosca of the current release as I would hope Mme. Verrett would not be ill in that release.
I am grateful to have heard it and hope that many others may have as well and that somewhere, wherever Mme. Verrett’s soul may abide, she may know of our gratitude for and love for her wondrous talents.
Sorry to interrupt this thread, but I just saw For Colored Girls, and I want someone to tell me WHAT WAS THAT BIZARRE OPERA SEGMENT Janet Jackson and her down-low hubby were watching?
“La donna in viola”, I remember it being called a few days ago in the thread entitled “There ought to be a new word for camp”, appropriately enough.
Was it dreadful?
“La Donna in Viola”
Written by Aaron Zigman
Performed by Karen Slack, Andrea Jones-Sojola & The Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra
Thanks, everyone. I now remember seeing that thread but thinking I shouldn’t read it until after I saw the movie, but once I saw the movie, I had completely forgotten about the thread.
I went back and read the thread just now.
The movie itself is too serious (tears, fights, death, rape) to be camp, but that opera scene is just too bizarre to be believed, including the standing ovation it elicits. What opera house is that supposed to be?
One of my favorite operas, and Toledo did such a nice job with Ariadne auf Naxos. I’ll be there, and I hope all the roaring boys turn out for it too!
Thanks for the invite & i plan to attend this evening.
Off Topic, possibly even Off Topic for this website, but Henryk Gorecki died today at the age of 76. There may be some (both audience members and performers) who didn’t care for his music, but what he didn’t wasn’t easy. He was a disciplined, painfully self-critical composer and along the way created many beautiful things. He will be missed.
well croche, ironically i give you thanks for this news announcing the loss of yet another great one from the musical life of late 20th century … who doesn’t remember Gorecki’s Symphony #3 (“of sorrowful songs”)??? May he have eternal peace & contentment with no more sorrows.
I’m with you, Phoenix.
a bunch of pedants on Twitter were bitching it up this morning because people were “only” talking about the 3rd.
maybe thats because its A PHENOMENAL COMPOSITION??
BTW, the leads are really wonderful in the Stravinsky production – I hope everyone likes it. (I saw 2 dress rehearsals)
I used to listen to all the live broadcasts of Gorecki’s 3rd Symphony many years ago before internet radio streaming came around… like you say, the work deserves it’s great following.
– Re: Stravinsky’s Rake: I only sat through one complete Rake’s Progress, but then i finally liked it. I found that I had to listen to it all the way through complete in order to enjoy & appreciate it… excerpts don’t cut it.
we’re live, BTW. 8:05 curtain.
and i’m off at 8:25 pm … this “dissolute punished” by constant interruptions on my webbrowser of commecials for music stands with no clothespin clips on them, leaping toscas, everything except a steady stream of what they promised.
I only just found out about the issue!
its fixed.
i…we… do appreciate your consideration, but it’s a little late.
Rake’s Progress is a serial type work that, well, maybe it’s just me… IMO… i feel has to be experienced all in one piece from beginning to end. But thanks for the effort you put into it. How can you tell if these problems exist? Isn’t there anyone in Toledo or wherever you are following up receiving the webcast to monitor it for you on the receiving end?
Thanks, web team, for your efforts. Still some problems with the Rake for me–frequent re-loading (I’m sure that’s not the technical term, which would be beyond me). I didn’t have these troubles with the Ariadne, and watching that did seem like a modern miracle, up there with penicillin!
thanks guys for your consideration and understanding.
we have really had some tech issues with the monitoring system that did not happen during Ariadne.
I got a call at 5:30 p.m. E.S.T. that the screening of “Carmen” was canceled this evening. The “Tosca” showing was canceled earlier in the day. The server at Symphony Space had crashed and that is the feed for the HD signal.