Big river
Was he listening to a lot of Meyerbeer?
Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin
Ah, youth!
Once again, your alte Jungfer is pleased to offer a performance by a polarizing diva: it seems that parterriani either love her or loathe her.
How Green was my Verdi
As the world knows, Anja Harteros dropped out of this series of Don Carlo for a stab at Aïda in Rome. Illness sidelined Ramón Vargas from the title roles in both Don Carlo and Werther. While Wiener Staatsoper has been plagued with cancellations all season (even substituting L’elisir d’amore for La Juive at the last […]
Eternamente
“Go while the going is good. Knowing when to leave may be the smartest thing anyone can learn,” sings Fran in Promises, Promises, the 1968 Hal David/Burt Bacharach musical which apparently Edita Gruberová has never seen.
The kindness of Previn
Renée Fleming is one of the most polarizing figures to be discussed here on an ongoing basis.
Ein sel’ger Engel dort zu werden!
I really wanted to post Victoria de los Angeles‘ Met performance of Elisabeth, but this recording is a more than acceptable substitute.
Meyerbeer me!
So, how well does Les Huguenots stand up in this, our modern world?
Che grido è questo mai?
Defying a computer breakdown and an online outage, I fled to a smoky Iranian Internet café to upload this performance of Don Giovanni. It was worth the trouble.
My one and only
Today’s program documents the only time Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti performed La traviata together at the Met.-
Blind item
As a preview of sorts of the Next Big Thing at the Met, here’s a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta featuring Piotr Beczala from 2002.
Perfectly Franco
It’s Corelli two ways and across nearly two decades in this dream double bill of Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci.
The Fotheringay kerfuffle
This week, we return to the 1970s with a very special performance of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda featuring the duelling queens of Beverly Sills and Pauline Tinsley.
The brass menagerie
This week’s post is a bit of a departure for your Jungfer Marianne (pictured). It’s a New Year’s salute to all the broad and brassy dames, divas, and diseuses we have grown to love from the 1950s and 1960s. In a special collaboration with parterre.com, La Cieca, the grand doyenne of Parterre Box, and I […]
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
