Balance of tiara
Gather around, cher public (pictured), to discuss off-topic and general interest subjects in this weeks’ Intermission Feature.
Gather around, cher public (pictured), to discuss off-topic and general interest subjects in this weeks’ Intermission Feature.
Born on this day in 1774 composer Gaspare Spontini
Born on this day in 1900 composer Aaron Copland
Born on this day in 1914 librettist Eric Crozier
Born on this day in 1918 mezzo-soprano Jean Madeira
Born on this day in 1919 soprano Lisa Otto
(Does anyone know if she is still alive? If so, she is 93 today!)
Born on this day in 1926 soprano Leonie Rysanek
Happy 65th birthday baritone Jake Gardner
Had not heard Lisa Otto died, so I hope she is still amongst us. Great singer! Her Sophie (for Varviso, with Grümmer at her best as the Marschallin) is my favorite.
According to this article on the occasion her 90th birthday she still drove a car at ninety, “but not to the opera!”
http://www.welt.de/welt_print/kultur/article5195060/Die-letzte-Soubrette-Lisa-Otto-zum-90-Geburtstag.html
For the person asking about the Tucker gala, here’s a review that mentions some of the numbers performed. Too bad the program pic that was posted before was impossible to read:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/arts/music/richard-tucker-gala-and-award-at-lincoln-center.html
I’m so curious about the duet with Borodina and Dima. I wish I had been there.
HI all,
I made a mistake in my reference to “individuality.”When I said, “See under Scotto,Tebaldi,etc,’ I meant that THEY are the ones who showed individuality compared to so many divas of today…LORD!!! They were SUPREME BEINGS to me..and others. My use of “see under” was meant as a direct CONTRAST..but I did sound rather strange.
By the way,so many singers on old records seem to sound similar in a way..like Alda,Farrar,Gluck..but LIVE they must have been as distinguishable as Milanov,Scotto,Callas.
Love CH
P.S.Just a note to mention that dear Marisa Galvany’s wonderful husband, Geiorge Kornbluth, passed away at 94 last week. We go back a long time…..and as much as she loved singing…she loved George as an inspiration…Rest in Peace..He was a wonderful man.
Born on this day in 1874 soprano Selma Kurz
Happy 77th birthday condcutor Gabriele Ferro
Happy 70th birthday conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim
Selma Kurz….yay! trills!
The Cosi fan Tutte at Juilliard last night was a stunning success for everyone, but the ladies were simply outstanding. Emalie Savoy was just sensational, everything was working for her, a magnificent clarion top, incredible chest, flexibility, floated tops, gorgeous phrasing, and the stunning Per Pieta simply brought the house down. The fabulous Wallis Giunta was as expected also sensational, what a beautiful rich and homogeneous voice, and both girls just marvelous actresses and perfect with each other. A stunning pair!!!!. The Despina, Naomi O’Connell, was also a magnificent standout, a great voice, extremely well produced and rich, and a fantastic actress, the most organic actress with the music, a fabulous discovery as I had never heard of her, she is a Juilliard student, not related to the Lindemann, but what a discovery! Of the men, Evan Hughes was spectacular as the cynical Don Alfonso, a fabulous booming voice, and what a clever and sophisticated actor, a major talent that will certainly go very far. The production very beautiful though a tad cluttered in the big seduction scene, but with some arresting images of fickle and confused love.
Any Mozart lover should run to see this gorgeous production, in a theater that must be the ideal size for this treasure of an opera. The more I listen to it the more I hear where Beethoven got the inspiration for the greatest Fidelio, and at the moment think that Cosi is definitely the greatest of the Da Ponte trio, certainly the most sublime music!!!!!
From Washington Post/Associated Press:
As Fiordiligi, the more resistant of the sisters, soprano Emalie Savoy (who sang the title role in last year’s collaboration on Gluck’s “Armide”) grows in vocal and dramatic strength through the evening. The high point is her ravishing, wrenching account of the aria “Per pieta, ben mio,” in which she asks for strength to remain faithful to her lover. Gilbert’s sensitive pacing of the orchestral accompaniment here gives the scene the near-tragic grandeur it deserves.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/review-recipe-for-buoyant-cosi-1-part-met-1-part-juilliard-and-a-dash-of-ny-philharmonic/2012/11/15/826c8bca-2f3e-11e2-af17-67abba0676e2_story.html
And now the New York Times:
The soprano Emalie Savoy brings a luminous and touching vulnerability to Fiordiligi.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/arts/music/cosi-fan-tutte-at-peter-jay-sharp-theater.html
Seen on Twitter
In Tune BBC Radio 3?@BBCInTune
Superstar mezzo Cecilia Bartoli is on IT tomorrow – tweet
any questions you’d like us to ask her.
How about: Is that bald pate your own?
NO, it’s a wig!!!
La Cieca’s Italian diction coach!!!!!!
Celebrating Lawrence Tibbett’s birthday(Nov.16, 1896) with what I deem as the greatest Met broadcast ever….Listen to the declamations…and what a cast (On my third birthday)…The man was a superman!!!!
Born on this day in 1895 composer Paul Hindemith
Born on this day in 1896 baritone Lawrence Tibbett
Happy 82nd birthday soprano Maralin Niska
Happy 58th birthday conductor Donald Runnicles
Follow the links to my review of last night’s opening night of La Clemenza di Tito at the Metropolitan Opera. For once, an opera about political assassination with a production that makes some kind of sense. On both Superconductor and The Classical Review.
Odd that you’d call the tessitura of Tito and Vitellia high-lying when I think it’s the exact opposite. Vitellia is almost a mezzo role except for the number of high notes she has to hit. But the overall tessitura is quite low which is why it is so difficult to cast. And I consider Tito to be in the same mold as Idomeneo in terms of tessitura.