Fear itself
Lately I’ve been preoccupied with Verdi and Il trovatore in particular anticipating the opera’s return to the Met later this month for the first time since 2018, this unusual deep-dive Chris’s Cache (on my birthday) is the result.
quiz
Everybody rose!
Some answers to the Rosenkavalier Trio Vocal ID quiz for you!
Three by three
I’ve got some new software and messing around with it today I had the insane notion that a vocal ID quiz featuring the Rosenkavalier trio might be fun.
Who’s that Fiordiligi?
The long-awaited solution to the Fiordiligi Quiz!
A bouquet of Fiordiligis
I am embarrassingly bad at vocal ID quizzes—I may never get over the one where I was convinced every single excerpt was Leontyne Price—but I do love to put them together.
parterre boxing
A new series where we pit Zerbinetta against Zerlina, Caballé against Callas, Berg against Bellini in the ultimate operatic showdown.
World of Wunders: the solution!
Congratulations to kankedort who correctly identified 17 of 24 selections!
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.
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.
World of Wunders, part two
Today’s installment of parterre box’s latest vocal-identification quiz brings eight more Sieglindes proclaiming “O hehrstes Wunder!”
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.
Tutto sprezzo che d’Ernani
When La Cieca reached out asking for content, I resurrected a hoary standby—the vocal ID quiz.
Unveiled
Congratulations to Christian Ocier (not pictured) who guessed all 16 of our mystery Salomes correctly!
That midnight kiss
A challenging Salome-themed vocal identification quiz arranged by Our Own Christopher Corwin.
Sausendes, brausendes Rad der Zeit
At long last, cher public, a finale to our Senta’s Ballad quiz, nearly a month late! The name of the winner and the complete lists of sopranos after the jump.
Spin the dial
After the jump, a quiz featuring 15 singers performing Senta’s Ballad.
Panel stumped
La Cieca admits she was surprised the historically well-informed cher public missed the mark so frequently on the “Breadbox” quiz.
Intorno a me s’oscura il ciel!
The Manon Lescaut identification quiz, which La Cieca thought would be pretty much a cakewalk, turned out vastly more challenging than she imagined.
Ah! Manon, mi tradisce
Our Own Chris Corwin (not pictured) has taken a peek at the current guesses for the “Sola perduta” quiz and notes that fewer than half of the selections offered have been correctly identified.
La deserta donna
La Cieca hopes the cher public won’t let poor Manon Lescaut get too lonely out there in the bayou or the heath or whatever it is, because you’ll want stay close to listen to our latest Identification Quiz, 15 sopranos in full hysterical wail.
Chiamo il mio ben così
Congratulations to Leitbreite, whose cunning ears identified all but one of the singers in last week’s “Orpheus” quiz.
Before sunset
In honor of the upcoming Met Opening Night, here’s a singer identification quiz featuring, for a change, music for a tenor: the climactic phrase from Otello’s third act monologue.
Triskaidekaphilia
Your task: name the Ortruds, all unlucky 13 of them.
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!
