parterre box

229 comments

• Quanto Painy Fakor says:

  Rare footage of La Cieca applying for entrance to the old country:
  

  on March 16, 2011 at 10:49 PM
  • Camille says:

    Is that the horrible song Christine Brewer always want to sing as an encore?

    Where is the Blind Lady? Is she schlafenden or jet-lagged?

    Call home, Cieca, even if you have to call collect. We’ll accept the charges.

    on March 17, 2011 at 12:04 AM
• rossifigaro says:

  what a great “Lucia” !!! i found it most enjoyable.
  but…frustrated by transmission flaws or was it just my computer that silenced much of calleja’s final aria? really feel the met should issue an apology on that one.
  have not always been a fan of calleja but felt his singing tonight excellent – expressive and nuanced (the bothersome “wobble” gone?). Does everyone agree that dessay was wonderful? so spot on and secure – and dare i say – “mesmerizing?” was tezier a little under-powered in the wolf crag scene? otherwise thought him quite good – thought the lucia/enrico in act II a real “wow” moment (especially the conclusion).
  Lucia (performed well) is an opera i never tire of – think it is a masterpiece. always recall Rudel’s disparaging comments on the work when Sills writes in her autobiography about approaching the conductor to perform the piece.
  am curious……………what happened to the glass harmonica? its inclusion in the original current production was given such hype – who decided to nix it this time?

  on March 17, 2011 at 12:20 AM
• manou says:

  Well – we seem to be a very unruly mob here ever since the headmistress left us alone for a while, and I am afraid I am carrying on in this vein by posting some Gilda background here, when I am sure it should be elsewhere.

  It should be very interesting for those with a modicum of French to look at the original Hugo play (Le Roi s’amuse) here

  http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29549/29549-h/29549-h.htm

  Verdi seems to have followed the original very closely indeed – here is La Donna’E Mobile:

  “Souvent femme varie,
  Bien fol est qui s’y fie!
  Une femme souvent
  N’est qu’une plume au vent!”

  The Gilda character is called Blanche (not very subtle), and she evidently knows nothing about her father – not even his name, it seems. She is 15 years old.

  At the end, she does say she is scared of dying, but her last prayer is :

  “Ô Dieu, vers qui je vais,
  Je pardonne à tous ceux qui m’ont été mauvais;
  Mon père, et vous, mon Dieu, pardonnez-leur de même,
  Au roi François Premier, que je plains et que j’aime,
  À tous, même au démon, même à ce réprouvé,
  Qui m’attend là, dans l’ombre, avec un fer levé!
  J’offre pour un ingrat ma vie en sacrifice.
  S’il en est plus heureux, oh! qu’il m’oublie!—et puisse,
  Dans sa prospérité que rien ne doit tarir,
  Vivre longtemps celui pour qui je vais mourir!”

  Interesting also to note that the King is François I (no Ballo equivocation here).

  [I do hope our doyenne can restore some Teutonic order to this blog soon]

  on March 17, 2011 at 6:52 AM
  • manou says:

    …and to crown it all – italics attack!!!

    on March 17, 2011 at 6:53 AM
• enzo says:

  Dessay was in terrible voice last night. One doesn’t have to sing well to get an ovation these days. Screaming suffices.

  on March 17, 2011 at 8:33 AM
  • DonCarloFanatic says:

    Second that. She was painful to hear. As someone on chat pointed out, though, all she had to do to get the ovation was nail the final Eb, which she did, but flat.

    on March 17, 2011 at 10:02 AM
    • uwsinnyc says:

      I listened to the broadcast last night, and while not a performance for the ages, Dessay was FAR from the trainwreck the parterrians were predicting.

      There were a few iffy moments and odd breaths along the way, but I’ve heard much worse.

      And I actually had no problems with the transmission, which I often do have when listening to the MET streams.

      on March 17, 2011 at 10:58 AM
      • ianw2 says:

        I agree, certainly up until the second intermission (where I couldn’t possibly recover after Dolora’s masterclass, so I went to bed).

        She didn’t sound as comfortable as she has been in the past, but certainly a long way from ‘painful’ or The Fall of Rome type scenes people were predicting. Though I gather last night was a vast improvement from the prima.

        And whatever she was doing, the house was responding very warmly indeed- and, contrary to what Paterriani sometimes think- they’re not all tone-deaf.

        on March 17, 2011 at 11:03 AM
    • Quanto Painy Fakor says:

      
      Video for Dessay (do it without the flute!)
      

      
      Mediocrity rulzzzz
      

      on March 17, 2011 at 11:10 AM
      • Quanto Painy Fakor says:

        oops! Sorry for the trout.
        

        on March 17, 2011 at 11:12 AM
      • ilpenedelmiocor says:

        But can he TRILL?
        

        on March 18, 2011 at 2:02 AM
    • Lucky Pierre says:

      oh please… i was there last night. as i said, she was fantabulous (go to the previous page in this thread). painful were voigt’s minnie and renee’s armida this season. she was so far above those two. the voice is not what it once was, it was far from perfect, but far from terrible.

      on March 17, 2011 at 11:14 AM
      • uwsinnyc says:

        Not sure about the fantabulous bit(admittedly I only heard it over the radio so I got a partial picture) but I agree she was superior to Voigt’s and Fleming’s outings this season, and there was much to like in her singing.

        on March 17, 2011 at 11:38 AM
    • Regina delle fate says:

      how is singing an E flat flat ‘nailing it’? Surely it’s missing the nail and hitting your thumb, no?

      on March 18, 2011 at 9:07 PM
• Camille says:

  Sari, in Heia, heia — for Bill with gratitude for his wonderful informative posts.

  on March 17, 2011 at 12:15 PM
  • Bill says:

    Camille – thanks so much. This opening song from
    Die Csardasfuerstin of Kalman is also a favorite
    of Nebrebko these days.

    on March 18, 2011 at 11:41 PM
• Clita del Toro says:

  I didn’t very much like Dessay at the Prima of Lucia (on Sirius), but I thought she sang a really great Mad Scene last night. Her voice sounded very good to my ears. Also loved Calleja. I can, however, do without the baritone.

  on March 17, 2011 at 2:18 PM
  • armerjacquino says:

    These are the Lucias that Dessay was definitely going to cancel because she can’t even sing Handel any more, right?

    *giggle*

    on March 17, 2011 at 2:59 PM
    • Bosah says:

      You go!! lol

      on March 17, 2011 at 3:48 PM
    • Regina delle fate says:

      lol Armerj – you have a longer, snarkier memory than most posters.

      on March 18, 2011 at 9:08 PM
  • florezrocks says:

    Thought Telzier was very good, actually. Very lyrical

    on March 17, 2011 at 3:24 PM
    • MontyNostry says:

      Tezier **is** very good. One of the best baritones around, but all Covent Garden managed to cast him in recently was a minor role in a concert performance of Linda di Chamounix …

      on March 19, 2011 at 5:17 AM