Christopher Corwin

Christopher Corwin began writing for parterre box in 2011 under the pen name “DeCaffarrelli.” His work has also appeared in , The New York Times, Musical America, The Observer, San Francisco Classical Voice and BAMNotes. Like many, he came to opera via the Saturday Met Opera broadcasts which he began listening to at age 11. His particular enthusiasm is 17th and 18th century opera. Since 2015 he has curated the weekly podcast Trove Thursday on parterre box presenting live recordings.

American woman American woman

Trove Thursday presents Alzira—derided by some as Verdi’s worst opera—in a 1968 Carnegie Hall concert with Gianfranco Cecchele, Louis Quilico (star of last night’s Met Rigoletto stream) and Elinor Ross, who died in March at age 93.

on August 13, 2020 at 10:00 AM
Poisons of interest Poisons of interest

Trove Thursday uncovered two broadcasts of Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia that share a fascinating nexus: in each an enduring superstar tenor—José Carreras/Alfredo Kraus—is poisoned by a soon-to-vanish rising-star soprano—Vasso Papantoniou/Margarita Castro-Alberty.

on August 06, 2020 at 9:00 AM
Fairies at the bottom of our Wagner Fairies at the bottom of our Wagner

Ordinarily we’d be listening to Bayreuth Festival broadcasts this week but instead Trove Thursday steps up with a true Wagner rarity: Die Feen from the Wiener Staatsoper starring as Ada, the fairy in love with a mortal, Gundula Janowitz, who turns 83 on Sunday.

on July 30, 2020 at 11:06 AM
Double cross Double cross

Sonya Yoncheva’s first-ever Princess Romazov was one of this summer’s casualties but Trove Thursday steps up with a rare 1960 in-house pirate of Giordano’s Fedora starring Renata Tebaldi, Giuseppe di Stefano and Tito Gobbi along with a pair of Tebaldi-di Stefano Puccini highlights from the early 1950s.

on July 23, 2020 at 10:00 AM
Thou mighty monstre sacré Thou mighty monstre sacré

Trove Thursday relishes neglected works, operas in translation and irreplaceable divas, and this week it presents a pair that embody all three affections: Cherubini’s Les Abencérages and Weber’s Oberon in Italian with the glorious Anita Cerquetti, conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini and Vittorio Gui respectively.

on July 16, 2020 at 10:00 AM
Teeth like razors Teeth like razors

A broadcast of Weill and Brecht’s pungent Die Dreigroschenoper

on July 09, 2020 at 10:00 AM
Do that slow drag Do that slow drag

With the Fourth of July approaching, Trove Thursday turns to a quintessentially American opera with the broadcast of the world premiere—some 60 years after its composition—of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha with Alpha Floyd, Seth McCoy and Simon Estes conducted by Robert Shaw.

on July 02, 2020 at 10:00 AM
Love increases courage Love increases courage

An acclaimed revival earlier this season of Sebastián Durón’s Coronis (that name, yikes!) reminded me that Trove Thursday has been ignoring baroque zarzuelas.

on June 25, 2020 at 11:13 AM
“Savage” love “Savage” love

Trove Thursday offers a problematic yet fascinating work that would almost certainly not be staged today: Il Guarany by Carlos Gomes featuring João Gibin, Gianna d’Angelo, Piero Cappuccilli and Nicola Zaccaria.

on June 18, 2020 at 10:00 AM
S that all there S? S that all there S?

Starry galas are popping up everywhere lately so it’s time for Trove Thursday’s, a challenging panoply trodding mostly off the beaten path—with an S-twist!

on June 11, 2020 at 11:50 AM
Holding out for a hero Holding out for a hero

Trove Thursday finally welcomes Wagner’s Lohengrin arriving in a concert performance conducted by Georg Solti with Siegfried Jerusalem, Julia Varady, Eva Randová, Hermann Becht, Hans Sotin and Wolfgang Schöne.

on June 04, 2020 at 10:28 AM
Multiple Mascagni Multiple Mascagni

Cavalleria Rusticana began Pietro Mascagni’s career with a bang, and despite a number of fine subsequent works the composer never again achieved the same lasting success that he had with his first.

on May 28, 2020 at 10:00 AM
In memoriam Arlene Saunders In memoriam Arlene Saunders

As the late Arlene Saunders had a very limited commercial discography and performed mostly in Europe, I thought some readers might be curious to hear more of her.

on May 22, 2020 at 2:56 PM
The last time I saw Paris The last time I saw Paris

Trove Thursday goes mini-epic with Gustave Charpentier’s naturalistic slice-of-life of fin-de-siêcle Paris in a rare 1999 Renée Fleming performance of Louise co-starring Jerry Hadley, Samuel Ramey and Felicity Palmer.

on May 21, 2020 at 10:00 AM
Take the long way home Take the long way home

Trove Thursday turns to another epic opera in which the personal and the political intertwine: Prokofiev’s War and Peace.

on May 14, 2020 at 10:00 AM
World of Wunders: the solution! World of Wunders: the solution!

Congratulations to kankedort who correctly identified 17 of 24 selections!

on May 12, 2020 at 2:43 PM
World of Wunders: last chance! World of Wunders: last chance!

The competition to guess the identities of 24 sopranos singing “O hehrstes Wunder!” ends tonight, Monday May 11 at midnight EDT.

on May 11, 2020 at 2:23 PM
World of Wunders, part three World of Wunders, part three

The final third of this week’s vocal-identification quiz brings together perhaps the most difficult-to-name sopranos offering Sieglinde’s “O hehrstes Wunder!” from Die Walküre.

on May 08, 2020 at 12:53 PM
I want to break free I want to break free

Many now have scads more time for listening so Trove Thursday will offer several epic operas during May beginning with Rossini’s Guillaume Tell (this week aka Guglielmo Tell) in a concert performance featuring Giuseppe Taddei in the title role and Teresa Zylis-Gara and Franco Bonisolli as the war-crossed lovers.

on May 07, 2020 at 10:26 AM
World of Wunders, part two World of Wunders, part two

Today’s installment of parterre box’s latest vocal-identification quiz brings eight more Sieglindes proclaiming “O hehrstes Wunder!”

on May 06, 2020 at 12:46 PM
World of Wunders World of Wunders

For an ecstatic outburst lasting less than a minute I swiftly gathered up an exaltation of Sieglindes from live performances spanning nearly 80 years. In fact, there were so many I decided to split up the quiz into three parts.

on May 04, 2020 at 10:00 AM
Eye of a storm Eye of a storm

Two of the leading postwar Czech sopranos appear together in Janacek’s Kát’a Kabanová when Trove Thursday presents Gabriela Benacková‘s gleaming heroine in her US debut relentlessly persecuted by Nadjezhda Kniplová’s implacable mother-in-law.

on April 30, 2020 at 12:57 PM
A perpetual contrast A perpetual contrast

Trove Thursday completes its Prévosttrifecta with Puccini’s Manon Lescaut starring Sondra Radvanovsky and (pre-Met) Aleksandrs Antonenko conducted by Riccardo Chailly plus an added Radvanovsky-Puccini bonus: Suor Angelica.

on April 23, 2020 at 10:00 AM
Green-eyed monster Green-eyed monster

Last night should have seen my favorite of this season’s revivals but instead Trove Thursday must step up with Jean-Marie Leclair’s irresistibly captivating Scylla et Glaucus conducted by Christophe Rousset.

on April 16, 2020 at 10:00 AM