Canard à l’anglaise
Rupert Christiansen (not pictured) writes, “…a right old mash-up of Meistersinger, confusing, contorting and complicating something which should communicate with radiant emotional and intellectual simplicity.”
canard de la semaine
Leveraged canard
“Sing on your vocal interest, not your vocal principal!”
Yet here’s a canard
The part of Lady Macbeth is different from any other role Verdi wrote because the composer insisted that the interpreter must have a harsh, ugly voice.
Canard à la mode
When people talk about an opera “production,” they tend to mean “the sets and costumes,” that is, the physical production.
O happy canard
There are so many neglected operas like Antony and Cleopatra or Les Huguenots that have been treated so unfairly…
Canard dynasty
“Say! What about throwing your very own baby in the fire by accident? There’s one for you. Doesn’t get much more implausible than that!”
Statue of limitations
Our weekly canard concerns that greatest of all operas, Don Giovanni—or is it?
Magrets de canard
For our weekly meander through mendacity, we turn to no less than Gotham Chamber Opera’s own Neal Goren, who writes, “People repeat as fact that women ruin their voices, or at least sacrifice their high notes, by singing in chest voice. So untrue!”
Canard season
La Cieca has her old, old, old friend Enzo Bordello (pictured, left) to thank for this week’s canard, or rather, carnards, as Enzo has delivered a delicious brace of blunders.
Le canard de la semaine
La Cieca would like to introduce a new feature debunking a popular misconception about some aspect of opera. To kick of the series, let us take into consideration Manon Lescaut’s expedition into the “desert” of Louisiana.
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).