parterre box

91 comments

• poisonivy says:

  I’ve seen Fleming in most of her roles, and the one where I enjoyed without reservation was Rusalka.

  So here goes. Happy Birthday Renee!

  on February 14, 2011 at 8:41 PM
• The WARE says:

  The current picture on this post is why I heart this website.

  on February 14, 2011 at 9:15 PM
  • ianw2 says:

    I take just ONE photo of myself in a cowboy hat…

    on February 14, 2011 at 9:34 PM
  • OpinionatedNeophyte says:

    Ditto

    on February 14, 2011 at 10:17 PM
  • grimoaldo says:

    I agree, that picture is hilarious, a true masterpiece, I do hope Renee sees it!

    on February 15, 2011 at 9:58 AM
• Clita del Toro says:

  I don’t give a hairy rat’s ass!

  on February 14, 2011 at 9:54 PM
• Bill says:

  Fleming is scheduled to do Ariadne in Baden-Baden, then Elsa in Vienna in the Spring of 2014 and Christine in Strauss’ “Intermezzo” at Salzburg in
  2015 together with Hampson as reported at various times in the German/Austrian/English press. Her Countess in “Capriccio” (seen several times in Vienna) is currently one of her best roles (along with Rusalka though Benackova was far better). I was not as fond of her Armida (or the opera) or Violetta or Thais. Fleming does not seem very spontaneous on stage – both vocally or dramatically. She has the right type of
  voice for Strauss’ “Four Last Songs” but her
  interpretation more recently has become so mannered
  vocally that it wrecks the simple vocal lines of the
  music (in my opinion Schwarzkopf could get away with her mannerisms which developed mid-career in part as she hit notes dead-on whereas Fleming does alot of
  scooping – do not know why).

  Regarding Mozart, most of the great Mozartean sopranos of the last 60 years stayed with Mozart most of their careers though switching roles (Susanna to the Countess in Figaro for example) as their voices and personalities matured. And these were big stars,
  Schwarzkopf, Seefried, Jurinac, Gueden, della Casa,
  Gruemmer, Steber, Watson, Popp, Janowitz, Margaret Price, Isokoski, Lorengar, and it did not seem to bother them to sing in ensemble operas – Mozart generally requires a certain agility in all registers and a very fine legato – vocal flaws are easily exposed in Mozart. I have not found Fleming’s Legato in the last decade to be as limpid as it should be – and that may be the reason she no longer does Donna Anna, the Figaro Countess, Fiordiligi (I cannot recall her doing Pamina – the extreme test of Legato but surely she essayed the role earlier in her career). Probably I enjoyed Fleming the most in Floyd’s Susanna –

  It must be said though that many of the greatest of the Mozart sopranos retired completely from opera (though not lieder) at the ages of 50-55 Gruemmer and Jurinac being somewhat the exceptions.

  Fleming has had a remarkable career in the USA and of course is heavily promoted. She rather began in Europe and now seems to be returning more to Europe for her latest new roles and important engagements. She is a star (like her or not) and therefore is in a position to do what she wishes – I imagine she works very hard – she always seems prepared. She takes risks, but is very cautious and does not seem to sing more than 2 -4 operatic roles in any given season unlike the aforementioned ladies, most of whom were brought up and stayed in repertory houses and might sing 5 or more different and varied roles within a single month even after they had gained considerable fame. Still, there are not so many sopranos who have taken on such roles as Ariadne or Elsa for the first time so late in their careers and Fleming will be 55 when she tackles Elsa.

  on February 14, 2011 at 10:59 PM
  • Arianna a Nasso says:

    Unless Ariadne and Elsa go the way of Norma.

    on February 14, 2011 at 11:10 PM
  • Bosah says:

    I read an older article from 1999 where Fleming said she would begin doing more concerts and fewer operas in order to be home more. I believe this was right after her divorce. She said she couldn’t (or wouldn’t) relocate for 1-3 months at a time. Perhaps that’s the real reason, or perhaps she just wanted to do fewer operas and more concerts. Certainly, that’s her clear preference now.

    Interesting point regarding the requirements of Mozart. You’re likely on to something. As I mentioned in an earlier post, she called Mozart “torture” and asked why she should go on torturing herself with it after 10 years of doing so…..

    on February 14, 2011 at 11:50 PM
    • ianw2 says:

      Aye. I’m currently re-reading Cinderella and Company (96/97?) and Fleming moves to suburban CT and talks about family life a lot.

      on February 15, 2011 at 8:00 AM
• Lindoro Almaviva says:

  You know? I think it is time that we put to rest that whole fallacy that Fleming was never good for belcanto and that she should stick to Strauss, mostly because, well, it is a fallacy that crumbles in the face of the evidence.

  For those who claim that she never had what it took to be a decent Armida either were born after the 90′s or are deliberately ignoring the fact that she took on the role early on and demostrated that she was a force to be reckon with. Yes, she returning to the role last year made as much sense as Caballe singing Lucia, but let’s get real, back at the beginning, it was fabulous; and here is the evidence:

  1. D’amore al dolce impero from the 1993 Italian performances:
  http://canbelto.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/08-act-2-damore-al-dolce-impero.mp3

  and from the 1996 performance in NYC:
  

  and here is the final scene from the same NYC performance:

  And if you thgink this was a flike, well it wasn’t early on she had delivered quite good performances of belcanto operas and pieces that clearly demonstrated that she had the ability and the temperament for them.

  Back in 1991 she was covering June Anderson in Sonnambulanonetheless (it doesn’t get any more belcanto than that) and she aquites herself quite well in the cover run through. Thankfully we can not sample it ourselves:

  Even earlier than that she had dempnstrated an afinity for belcanto, as seen in this Puritani duet with Giordanni:

  Eve Queller must’ve thought her good in belcanto because after having her cover the Sonnambula she cast her in La Straniera and here is the final scene for all the world to hear what was it like:

  I am sure the people at Opera Rara must’ve liked what they heard when she sang Il viaggio a Rheims in 1992 at Covent Garden because not long after that she was in their studios recording Rossmonda d’Inglaterra:

  And finally, say what you may about her taste (and it is all true) but there is no denying that the woman had the temperament and the tecnique to sing a fierce Borgia at la Scala

  So the fact is that however she might be singing today it does not reflect on what she already did, and most of what she did in the genre is impressive as anything that has been done by other singers.

  The fact is that Fleming had what it took to become a belcanto specialist. Had she chosen that route, it would have been her and not Nebby the one announced for those Bolenas and those would have been worth hearing. The only reason why she didn’t choose that path has been explained to us: she didn’t feel like doing it.

  She didn’t feel like becoming a Mozart specialist either and now we are stuck with this woman who will never sing a role with the stylistic expertise that they deserve mostly because she prefers to scratch at the surface and move on.

  on February 14, 2011 at 11:08 PM
  • Evenhanded says:

    Well.

    Nicely done, Lindoro. I was thinking the same thing – thank you for taking the time to share the thoughts AND the clips. I saw many of these performances and certainly have them all in my collection. I have all but stopped defending Fleming in the bel canto repertoire because it became so fashionable for most listeners to offer up the boilerplate spew of negative comments. I figured: “It’s not worth it!”

    But then, she did rather let herself down in the recent Borgias: slack in rhythm, self-indulgent phrasing, shortened range of both pitch and color. In any case, we’ll see how the SF Borgias turn out, but I don’t have high hopes for clean, precise, stylish singing.

    But 15 and 20 years ago when she had a lot to prove to the world? Hell, yes. She was GREAT in this repertoire. I wish she had been able to retain that drive and focus on succeeding “against the odds”.

    on February 15, 2011 at 7:49 AM
    • richard says:

      Well, yes and no. Fleming used to be a pretty good match for the bel canto rep but even as a young singer she could be rather uneven.

      The first bel canto piece I heard Fleming in was LA Staniera. She was indeed lovely in the Alaide’s entrance music . And she sang music of the subsequent music very well. She didn’t pull the tempos apart quite so much back then and the scooping and cooing wasn’t so prominent.

      But she had stamina issues earlier in career that sometimes marred her work. By the finale of Straniera, she was completely out of gas and was almost hoarse for the final cabaletta. Although not really bel canto, she also ran out of voice in performances in a performance I saw of Cosi and Faust. And also a Don Giovanni she mostly coasted through.

      This is an issue that she seems to have worked on and mostly resolved, all credit to her for this.

      On the other hand, I think her early Armida’s were quite good and I think the recordings from Pesaro and Carnegie Hall support this.

      I would have loved to have heard her Sonnambula 20 years ago too. I saw Anderson in the OONY performance but I almost wish she had cancelled.

      But then there is her Pirata which was better at the Met than it was in Paris but even at the MEt was plagued by mannerisms. The finale was completely pulled out of shape .

      So my take on this subject is that bel canto sometimes well suited to the younger Fleming but has become increasingly a rep that she should stay away from.

      on February 15, 2011 at 10:03 AM
      • Evenhanded says:

        Well.

        I agree with most of what you say, Richard, though some qualifications are in order.

        First, I think it’s quite obvious to everyone that Fleming’s ‘mannerisms’ have become more pronounced over the years and were fairly minimal early in her career. This is VERY common. It would be tough to think of a singer for whom this general trajectory wasn’t true. Fleming’s particular mannerisms are quite irritating to many listeners (including me), and perhaps offend more than those of other singers, but most singers in their 50′s are mannered to some extent.

        Second, in terms of stamina, you may be correct, but the examples you have chosen don’t illustrate your point very well. Any well-trained soprano should be able to get through Cosi and Don Giovanni without running out of gas, and I never heard evidence of this problem in Fleming’s performances. Maybe you simply caught her in these roles on bad nights? But Straniera and Faust are exceedingly demanding roles (in very different ways) and her fatigue is 100% understandable. Straniera is a killer, and ALL who undertake the role seem to tire by the finale, including the very great and youthful Caballé. In addition, most benefit from substantial cuts, for example, Caballé never sang the role anywhere near to the completeness that Fleming undertook with Queler. Yes, Fleming was clearly exhausted by the finale – no doubt – but it is a HUGE sing. Faust is also very demanding – particularly in the last act which really requires a spinto soprano. I believe this is why Fleming dropped the role quite quickly.

        I don’t honestly think stamina was much of an issue overall. But the mannerisms – well. I could deal with them for a number of years, but you are quite correct that they stretched her bel canto in ways that disfigured both the genre and the overall beauty of her assumptions. She seems more intelligent than that, but the evidence remains, and I would think her best bel canto efforts are well behind her, sadly.

        on February 15, 2011 at 11:21 AM
  • Bosah says:

    Thanks so much for all this. Interesting and a bit surprising in places.

    The only thing I’d say is that I don’t necessarily think it’s a given that singing a diverse repertoire is negative. You say “scratching the surface,” she says experiencing diverse styles, taking risks and trying new things.

    I think you’re correct that she’s chosen not to specialize in anything in particular. But, that doesn’t seem an easier or necessarily more shallow path. Intellectual and musical curiosity are positive values, I believe. We may not agree with her choices(and there are a number of roles I wish she hadn’t insisted on doing – in particular Armida), but they’re clearly very conscious and well-planned.

    She’s an experimenter who has spent considerable time searching out obscure and unique projects that peak her curiosity. I wouldn’t automatically cast that in a negative light.

    on February 15, 2011 at 9:28 AM
• Bosah says:

  OT: Fleming, Netrebko and Graham posing at Fashion Week, thanks to Intermezzo.

  BTW, Fleming got the front row…. Poor Trebs and Susie sat somewhere behind….

  And BTW2, LOVE Susan’s outfit. Must admit that Renee looks like she’s being eaten by a strange combination of animals…..

  http://intermezzo.typepad.com/intermezzo/2011/02/anna-susan-and-renee-celebrate-new-york-fashion-week.html

  on February 14, 2011 at 11:56 PM
  • Nerva Nelli says:

    Further OTT:

    May i suggest a three word correction to the NY TIMES piece on the NYCO today, as such:

    “The company got strong reviews ***FROM THIS NEWSPAPER*** for its two productions in the fall, Christopher Alden’s staging of Leonard Bernstein’s neglected opera “A Quiet Place,” and Strauss’s “Intermezzo.” ”

    Of course in TIMES-world that’s all that matters, even in referring back to past decades when they had *absolutely* unqualified critics (Howard Taubman, anyone? Edward Rothstein?) issuing judgments.

    on February 15, 2011 at 5:38 AM
  • OpinionatedNeophyte says:

    I love Anna’s hat, she has mastered that effortless casual chic, brava.

    on February 15, 2011 at 9:21 AM
    • oedipe says:

      She STOLE that hat! And changed the ribbon to hide the traces…

      http://static2.dmcdn.net/static/video/932/502/22205239:jpeg_preview_medium.jpg?20100805104533

      on February 15, 2011 at 10:08 AM
• Nerva Nelli says:

  Niza de Castro-Tank is not just one of opera’s most celebrated sopranos, but perhaps its most convincing actress. A consummate artist, her one and only role when she stands in the spotlight is to breathe so much life into the opera’s main character that audiences lose themselves in her unforgettable performances. That is the passion of Niza de Castro-Tank.

  on February 15, 2011 at 12:15 AM
• operalover9001 says:

  It’s funny how 30 years today everyone’s gonna be like “Renee Fleming? Oh, singers today aren’t like what they were 30 years ago. I remember a DREAM CAST of ________ from that golden age, with Fleming, De Niese, and Bocelli…Singers today just aren’t what they were…”

  on February 15, 2011 at 12:30 AM
  • CruzSF says:

    We might as well laugh now, because we’ll be crying in 30 years.

    on February 15, 2011 at 12:42 AM
    • Bluessweet says:

      Not me! I don’t have to worry about 30 years hence, because I’ll be pushing daisies.

      Frankly, I think I’ve seen better than you younger folks ever will. Sorry about that.

      That is not to say that our great schools are not pushing out great talent, talent that is very well trained. I just don’t think that society, as it is now headed, will permit such wonders as we have seen in the last 110 years.

      There is always the “Dark Hope” of an improvement, now isn’t there?

      on February 15, 2011 at 8:43 AM
      • Bosah says:

        LOL. I think you just made operalover9001′s and CwbyLA’s points.

        It’s all relative…..

        on February 15, 2011 at 9:12 AM
      • OpinionatedNeophyte says:

        Frankly, I think I’ve seen better than you younger folks ever will. Sorry about that.

        As much as I love opera, there’s alot about being born 50 years ago that doesn’t appeal to me…

        on February 15, 2011 at 9:24 AM
        • richard says:

          A lot of very young people think getting old is an awful prospect. That’s certainly an arguable point but consider the option.

          I’m certainly in the “older” rather than “younger” category myself but I don’t really buy the blanket statement of “it used to be better” in terms of operatic performances.

          Some repertory was performed more confidently in decades past but there is a lot of repertory where today’s performances tend to be great improvements on those from decades ago.

          So it’s all a bit relative. But I can see for the person who’s life revolves around the late 19th century Italian repertory might be discouraged.

          For myself, I’d rather enjoy what today’s performers do well, which is quite a bit.

          A little more perspective. When I was a very young, very green, opera goer, me and my friends used to listen to the recollections of what seemed like a really ancient lady( she was maybe 60 but then that seemed ancient to a teenager). She would talk about Ponselle or Flagstad or Melchior or Pinza and we would listen and despairingly moan that she had seen everything worth seeing and all the good performances were over. this was ca 1970

          Her reply was that that was nonsense and that we would all have our share of wonderful experiences in opera after she was dead and gone.

          I’ve always remembered the perspective Madelyn put the past in and it’s one I’ve always tried to use.

          on February 15, 2011 at 9:47 AM
        • manou says:

          “getting old is an awful prospect”…but surely better than not getting old?

          on February 15, 2011 at 10:21 AM
        • grimoaldo says:

          manou says:
          February 15, 2011 at 10:21 AM
          “getting old is an awful prospect”…but surely better than not getting old?

          _________

          Very very true manou and I imagine I am not the only parterrian who lives with daily grief for the many precious people in my life who did not get old.

          on February 15, 2011 at 10:26 AM
        • Bluessweet says:

          More for Richard than ON:

          I’m certainly NOT saying, or, to put it more exactly, I’m not trying to say that singing was better or opera was better “back in the day,” what I am trying to say is that 30 years hence I fear that society will have devolved into something lesser than in my generation and that opera and other artistic endeavors will be more niche diversions than they are today.

          Just one example: NYCO was a great place to see an awful lot of opera 20 years ago. Where have we gotten to now?

          Let’s hope that we will see more Oklahomas and less rock musicals whose songs do not penitrate the general music market. Even the Broadway venue is not what it was. Richard, you certainly remember “Oh What a beautiful Morning” and how it was what a family taking a day at the shore would hear in the car on a popular music station, back in the day. That is one of my great memories from when I was a kid.

          For ON: Even my kids were born more than fifty years ago.

          on February 15, 2011 at 10:39 AM
        • CruzSF says:

          richard: 3 cheers for Madelyn!

          grimoaldo: Not much at Parterre brings me to tears, but your true words have touched me.

          on February 15, 2011 at 12:12 PM
        • Gualtier M says:

          One thing that people tend to forget when old timers reminisce about performances from their past. They are not only remembering the voices and performers back then but also their impressionable younger selves. Fresh, eager with ears open to new things. More easily able to be excited and moved.

          I experience this when I see something like “Nozze” or “Turandot” today which I have seen many times with many great singers. I see a current performance at the Met with say Danielle de Niese and Annette Dasch and I am like: ho-hum I saw Te Kanawa, Fleming, Von Stade, Ramey, Raimondi, Donath etc. in this opera.

          But I am going with someone or speaking to someone whose first “Nozze” this is. They have never seen the opera or the production before – it is hitting them for the first time. I never say to them “You don’t know what you’re talking about, this is mediocre” I just encourage their interest and say things like – the Solti recording on London has a wonderful cast. Or there is a wonderful video with Kiri Te Kanawa from Glyndebourne with Flicka Von Stade on Kultur. Push along their interest.

          on February 15, 2011 at 1:17 PM
        • manou says:

          Gualtier – you hit the nail on the head. The constant disparagement of some contemporaneous performances would be enough to deter any neophytes (maybe not the opinionated ones).

          Bravissimo!

          on February 15, 2011 at 1:43 PM
        • peter says:

          I agree with Gaultier as well. I caught the tail end of the mini-golden age, having started as a teenager in the 70′s, but I imagine I could be just as excited about discovering opera in 2011, golden age voices or not. It’s all about the personal experience one has with a particular work or an individual performance. Last year I “discovered” the Makropolous Case and this year I “discovered” Nixon in China. Both were new experiences for me and both brought back memories of my early opera going days. I generally stay away from a lot of standard repertory, not necessarily from the lack of great voices out there but more because I want to hear new things that will get me excited again. I also have to remind myself that in the 70′s at the Met, there were a lot of sour nights with mediocre casts. It wasn’t all brilliance.

          on February 15, 2011 at 2:14 PM
        • richard says:

          I’m in with GM on this too. First exposure to an opera, even a frequently done one, usually inlvolves very open ears and eyes and very little personal baggage. And the attendees focus on the positives.

          The first time I saw Marriage of Figaro, the cast included Siepi, Zylis-Gara, Stratas, Elias, and Krause (the Finnish baritone). I thought it was wonderful but other standing room denizens turned up their noses, they had heard better. And so it goes.

          What’s the lesson?????

          IT WAS ALWAYS BETTER THIRTY YEARS AGO (Or so some people would have you think!!!)

          on February 15, 2011 at 3:23 PM
  • CwbyLA says:

    I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment and I am probably going to be one of those who will say those things about Fleming in 30 years. In my opinion it is because, for me, Renee Fleming is the one diva I grew up” with as I was starting to love opera. Had I been 70 years old instead of 35, I would have been talking about dream casts that involved Maria Callas. I think it is all contextual.

    on February 15, 2011 at 2:27 AM
    • Bosah says:

      I agree. My first exposure to classical music when I was young was Placido, Kiri and Renee Fleming. That makes a big difference.

      on February 15, 2011 at 2:51 AM
      • oedipe says:

        What would OPERA be without nostalgia?!!

        on February 15, 2011 at 4:58 AM
• grimoaldo says:

  So I am a bit late on this thread but want to say thank you Renee for singing HANDEL. Now she is in a position to do whatever she wants and chooses Rodelinda – a few years back she was Alcina at the Paris Opera. To me this is one of the things that makes me glad to be going to opera now, not 50 years ago, that we have superstars like her and Domingo who know about Handel opera and choose to appear in them and the world’s leading opera houses allow them to do so. Sutherland had success in Handel at the start of her career but then stopped singing Handel opera in live performance, you did not get Callas, Tebaldi, de los Angeles, etc singing Handel opera at the Met or La Scala etc. I think it is a good thing that many different types of singers sing Handel opera now, not just Baroque specialists. Diversity of approach is an excellent thing imo.
  I enjoyed her singing in Alcina and Rodelinda, without her I am sure the Met would not have put Rodelinda on or be reviving it.
  I can understand why people dislike her singing and I have not enjoyed all I have heard either particularly as she has become more mannered in later years. However I have seen her live many times in a variety of roles and in numerous concerts and recitals and have always enjoyed her performances, sometimes tremendously. The Armida I heard on the broadcast was not a success, I agree, and Lucrezia does not seem to be a good match for her talent but I do look forward to hearing her Rodelinda again!

  on February 15, 2011 at 10:14 AM
  • Eduige says:

    Me two can’t wait to see her Rodelinda!! Her duet with Scholl is soo beautiful

    on February 15, 2011 at 12:43 PM
• Bill says:

  Grimoslfo – Believe Tebaldi DID sing Cleopatra in Guilio Cesare though maybe not at La Scala.
  Della Casa sang it in Munich, Seefried sang it in
  Vienna, Gueden sang Rodelinda, Schwarzkopf sang
  in Handel’s “Hercules” in concert all before Sutherland and Sills began essaying Handel roles.
  Handel operas were simply not performed very frequently (as Janacek also was not performed much except for Jenufa in Vienna). Now we rarely hear Meyerbeer and many formerly popular verismo operas have fallen by the wayside. While there is a current dearth of Wagnerian singers of quality or great singers for the more dramatic Verdi operas, Handel singers of worth have sprung forth in prodigious
  quantity. Personally I had never heard anything much of a Handel Opera until DGG came out with arias and a duet from Guilio Cesare conducted by Boehm with Seefried and Fischer-Dieskau. It was recorded in Berlin in 1959 with a full modern orchestra and with little if any ornamention in the arias – but one could fully understand and embrace the scope of emotion which Handel could create just from the arias alone – I listened again and again – no one today would consider this version of the Giulio Cesare arias authentic (though the voices were good and stylish and straight forward) but it was a Handelian eye opener of what was to come – I think a certain amount of Handel was performed in Halle at the time during a special Handel festival week – but that was East Germany and not terribly accessable.

  on February 15, 2011 at 11:48 AM
  • Gualtier M says:

    Elisabeth Schwarzkopf sang Handel’s Cleopatra at Carnegie Hall in 1958 under the auspices of American Opera Society. It seems that American Opera Society was showering New York and Philadelphia with great Cleopatras. In the Philly concert that year the cast had Virginia Zeani has Cleopatra. In 1956, five years before her Met debut, Leontyne Price was AOS’ Cleopatra with Cesare Siepi as Caesar with Russell Oberlin, Florence Kopleff, Louis Sgarro and Donald Gramm in support.

    on February 15, 2011 at 12:24 PM
    • Gualtier M says:

      I forgot, in 1967 American Opera Society did a “Giulio Cesare” with Montserrat Caballé as Cleopatra.

      on February 15, 2011 at 12:30 PM
    • Alto says:

      Florence Kopleff! Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time that was attached to singing I never want to forget.

      on February 15, 2011 at 1:08 PM
  • iltenoredigrazia says:

    Handel operas just and simply were a rarity through the first half of the 20th Century. For example, the Met went on for 120 years without presenting a single Handel opera (Rinaldo). (The same applies to much of the bel canto and Mozart repertoire.) This says nothing about the quality of the singers available at the time although it is true that it affected the style of singing being taught at the time. In general, singers today are better trained for coloratura singing, just as they learn to sing in more foreign languages.

    On the reverse side of the coin, singers today know very little, if anything, about the verismo style. You can find as many singers today who’ve never sung a verismo opera as you could have found singers who never sang Handel or Mozart eighty years ago.

    This is not far from the current situation regarding Verdi singing, particularly for females. French singing too.

    on February 15, 2011 at 2:26 PM
  • No Expert says:

    I think, though, the fact that we can name a handful of important Cleopatras of yesteryear, like Tebaldi, highlights what a rare treat Handel was then. Now, several Handel operas are more or less standard repertoire.

    on February 15, 2011 at 3:09 PM