That is what fiction means
“As beautiful as her singing was, [Renata Scotto] never was much of an actress.” — Lotfi Mansouri: An Operatic Journey
Questo e Quello
Royal Hunt
Les Troyens is one of those things, or often two of those things, that should be a big event or it practically needn’t happen at all.* The keynote is grandiosity in the best way, from the subject to the musical demands (let’s include the implicit challenge of one singer performing both Cassandre and Didon—not because […]
Good morning!
Sunday challenge: can you name the two obvious errors (of omission) in human physiology within the first 90 seconds of this scene from Rigoletto?
What happens in San Francisco stays in San Francisco
“It is in the Wagner repertory that Ms. Brewer has truly frustrated her fans. She has sung Isolde magnificently, though so far only in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s ‘Tristan Project,’ which used Bill Viola’s videos, while Ms. Brewer and the other lead singers performed as in a concert, with music stands and vocal scores.” [NYT]
Questo e quello
Friendly correspondent Kalena (not pictured) reports that (so far as she can make out) the telecast of the Mantua Rigoletto this weekend will in fact be viewable here in the US. Her email and La Cieca’s attempt to figure out time zones after the jump.
Person to person
Finally, the background to the story that rocked the operatic world earlier this summer. Peter Stein withdrew from the Met’s Boris Godunov “because he felt offended by his treatment at the United States Consulate in Berlin when he applied for a work visa and by a lack of sympathy from Peter Gelb, the Met’s general […]
Deck, ya know
Real estate news from San Francisco: the Potrero Hill home of the late Blanche Thebom, which “includes a very spacious living room that opens onto a large view deck,” is now for sale. [SocketSite]
Six of one
In a development likely to elicit from aficionados of the tenor voice a resounding “meh,” Dimitri Pittas has withdrawn from all scheduled performances of Verdi’s Macbeth at Lyric Opera of Chicago, to be replaced by Italo-Nutleyite sensation Leonardo Capalbo (pictured).
“Ghosts” of honor
John Corigliano‘s first and second symphonies won the Grawemeyer and the Pulitzer, respectively; the premiere of his Third Symphony wasn’t even reviewed by the Times. His score for The Red Violin won an Oscar™; his score for Edge of Darkness ended up on the cutting room floor. Is there an American composer at once more […]
Mehta: “Bondi is shameless”
During rehearsals for the upcoming Rigoletto from Mantova, Zubin Mehta attacks Sandro Bondi, Berlusconi’s Minister of Culture. Mehta is angry, and by his own admission, he becomes “cattivo”, nasty, when speaking about the financial cuts of the Berlusconi government in the opera houses.
Back in business?
La Cieca’s spy tells her that Maestro Levine returned to the Met today for a coaching session with the cast of Das Rheingold.
Jewfro meets tone row
“I just saw a woman upstairs,” said poet/translator Richard Howard, “wearing a very large pair of sunglasses that made her look for all the world like a great dragonfly.” “Upstairs” was the balcony at the Met; at the time, I was taking Howard’s lecture on the subject of frivolity in literature, and so when I […]
Save the date
La Cieca is proud to unveil what she hopes will become your second-favorite calendar: The New York Opera Calendar at Parterre. This handy resource includes an exhaustive list of opera and opera-related performances for the 2010-2011 season, the better to plan your busy social life. Opera companies and members of the cher public who have […]
Franco-Russo-Sino-Roman
Igor Stravinsky was a bit of a musical shapeshifter in his day, especially when compared to his contemporaries in early 20th century Europe. Given, the time in which Stravinsky was living in Europe was one of the most dynamic periods in recent history, but few were able to consistently generate music of such varying style […]
Turn Lepage
La Cieca has managed to obtain a few minutes of video, pirated at great personal risk, from a dress rehearsal of the Met’s new production of Das Rheingold.
Rome (if you want to)
Everybody loves an orgy. But, in the words of Betsy Ann Bobolink (pictured), “a really good orgy takes preparation, and I don’t mean Preparation H.” Our Betsy continues (discussing, I mean) after the jump.
Gallows humor
La Cieca hears that Susan Neves has joined the cast of Washington National Opera’s Un ballo in maschera to sing Amelia in two performances, and Tamara Wilson will sing two additional performances. The American sopranos take over dates held by Irène Theorin.
Mad about the boy
It’s easy to see why the Met has chosen to include this 1982 performance of Der Rosenkavalier in their James Levine: Celebrating 40 Years at the Met – DVD Box Set: the marathon evening is a triumph for Levine from the frenzied blend of waltz melodies in the overture to the final, birdsong-like notes of […]
Four saints in five acts
A quintessential theater man as well as a brilliant conductor, James Levine rightfully chose not only the five-act version of Don Carlo for this 1980 performance but begins the opera as Verdi had originally conceived it. The Woodcutters chorus and the episode in which Elisabetta gives her necklace to a destitute woman are pages essential to […]
While the headlines did the rest
In a week that includes the news of the release of nearly 100 “lost” Judy Garland performances and the announcement that Bernadette Peters will star as Sally in a lavish revival of Follies, even Betsy Ann Bobolink is hard-pressed to thrill with choices for Saturday afternoon listening. As she so often says, “Maybe something really […]
Ready, set…
Congratulations to tenor Stephen Costello, who today was officially awarded the ceremonial title of Villazóneinspringer at the Vienna State Opera. No, actually, he’s jumping into two performances of La boheme, replacing Rolando Villazón, on September 6 and 9.
Think ’til your brain madly whirls
La Cieca hears that Renée Fleming will yet again grace the stage of the Metropolitan with a new role in 2015. The production will be staged by Susan Stroman.
“Parade” passes by
“Parade” is defined simply by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “a pompous show.” Fitting enough, then, that the triple bill titled Parade: An Evening of French Music Theatre recorded at the Met on March 16, 2002 consists of Erik Satie’s ballet Parade, Francis Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias, and Maurice Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. These […]
Rake, no progress
James Levine: Celebrating 40 Years at the Met includes not only unreleased video performances on DVD but also live radio broadcasts on CD. This performance is one of the latter, originally heard April 19, 2003. The Rake’s Progress has one of the greatest operatic pedigrees of all time. It was inspired by a series of […]
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).