Paris original
Another month, another La Traviata release on video.
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Spun
Let’s go back 45 years to a kinder, gentler Bayreuth with a 1970 performance of Der fliegende Holländer starring Donald McIntyre and Leonie Rysanek.
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).
Hysterical blondness
Born on this day in 356 BC Macedonian king Alexander the Great.
Mouse packs house
On this day in 1951 the revue Two on the Aisle opened at the Mark Hellinger Theater for 276 performances.
A roof with a view
On this day in 1907, Florenz Ziegfeld‘s Follies of 1907, first in the impresario’s legendary series of lavish revues, premiered at the Jardin de Paris in New York City.
Escape from nuance
Just when you though it was impossible to have any less respect for Francesca Zambello…
Schlepp by Schlepp
On this day in 1762 Catherine II became tsarina of Russia upon the murder of Peter III.
Blow a kiss, take a bough
Richard Strauss’s many one-act operas make excellent concert programs, both for their length (usually under two hours) and the primary place each gives the orchestration, a specialty where Strauss’s brilliance seldom deserted him.
Unabating
On this day in 1782 Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail premiered in Vienna.
The people are the heroes now
On this day in 1971 President Nixon announced he would visit the People’s Republic of China.
Liberté, égalité, feux d’artifice!
On this day in 1789 the French Revolution began with the fall of the Bastille.
“She must be beautiful, but more important, she must be refined”
La Cieca wants to be the first to congratulate Renée Fleming on her latest achievement: being named as the new “Gillian Girl” following the retirement of Anne Welles.
Crime of “Passion”
Bohuslav Martinu’s The Greek Passion has had a rough life.
A life with a hero
By some quirk of fate, I tend to hear about the deaths of many operatic legends via radio news while out driving.
You Bette your life
On this day in 1987 a federal judge threw out Bette Midler‘s $10 million suit against Ford Motor Co, who used a sound-alike voice for their TV commercials.
Something extramarital
Saturday evening conductor Will Crutchfield revived Donizetti’s La Favorite—unheard in New York for fifteen years.
Drama queen
On this day in 1912 Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth premiered in New York City, the first foreign film to be exhibited in the United States.
Jon Vickers 1926-2015
The legendary Canadian heldentenor died on Friday. He was 88.
Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals
On this day 1804 a duel transpired in which Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounded former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.
“My work is done”
John Berry, artistic director of the English National Opera, has announced he intends to step down from his role after 20 years with the Company.
Monkey business
On this day in 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called “Monkey Trial” began with John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
A ‘Ring’ for the rest of us
I was once accused—by my own mother, mind you!—of having too many recordings of Verdi’s Aida. The blistering audacity of that recrimination did get me to thinking: How many recordings of Aida is too many? I mean, you’ve got the old classic you cut your teeth on. Then there’s he one where the tenor and […]
As you like “it”
Born on this day in 19o7 actress Clara Bow.