Louise

There are pieces that only La Fleming can sing.

Un Ballo in Maschera on medici.tv

Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera can be viewed on medici.tv, and if you are Amazon Prime, you can watch it on Amazon with no extra charge.  This version is from La Scala with Riccardo Muti, starring Salvatore Licitra and Maria Guleghina.  There is a traditional production with the story very easy to follow.  The singing and conducting are magnificent.

Favorites by Year 2016 👍🏻

I traveled twice this year, first to Berlin for Strauss, and then to Paris.  I reviewed 46 performances, including 1 audio only, 8 HDs, 21 live, 2 movies and 14 streams.

For another perspective on 2016 see KK Awards.

Favorite Performances

• (JK) Jonas Kaufmann at La Scala was a Fathom Events broadcast of a concert.  This is available on DVD and may be a better version than the CD recording.  Fathom Event

• Der Vampyr ** at the Komische Oper Berlin was very fun and rather like a horror movie.  I found this on my own which only made it better. Travel Live

• Elektra ** at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin.  This was a fabulous cast, Evelyn Herlitzius, a very workable production and Donald Runnicles. This was the best of the Strauss in Berlin. Travel Live

• Elektra in HD **  The Met Elektra was close behind Berlin in excellence.  This is a great opera which could be seen on the Met On Demand.    Met HD

• Roberto Devereux in HD **  This was the third in Sondra Radvanovsky's tour de force three queens cycle at the Met.  Her portrayal of Elizabeth I was spectacular.  I liked the staging very much.   Met HD

• Jenůfa at SFO.  **  This was the highlight of the San Francisco Opera season with Karita Mattila in peak form.  The intensity was at times overwhelming.   Local Live ##20

• Les Indes Galantes from Munich **  The Rameau music was so gorgeous that one didn't mind the regie production.  The world needs more Rameau.  Live Stream.

• Béatrice et Bénédict by Berlioz from Glyndebourne. **  It is shocking to me that I have never seen this charming opera performed before.  The English love it because the story is from Shakespeare, and it was a Shakespeare year.  Live Stream.

• Vĕc Makropulos at SFO **  Perhaps the San Francisco Opera will do Janáček every year.  Nadja Michael made this very special.   Local Live ##20

• Tristan und Isolde in HD **  Simon Rattle conducted the most glorious Tristan of my lifetime.   Met HD ##20

Singer of the Year

I'm going to award the singing prize to Sondra Radvanovsky.

Didn't like

I was disappointed in the overall quality of Strauss conducting in Berlin.  The subtlety was missing.

New to Me Opera

1. Thomas Adès' Powder her Face (1995) live at West Edge,**
2. Hector Berlioz' Béatrice et Bénédict (1862) streamed from Glyndebourne,
3. Terence Blanchard's Champion (2013) live at Opera Parallèle** 
4. Cavalli's Eliogabalo (1668) streamed from Paris
5. Domenico Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto (1792) live at CSUS,**
6. Handel's Agrippina (1710)was live at West Edge,**
7. Paul Hindemith's Sancta Susanna (1922) live in Paris.**
8. Heinrich Marschner's Der Vampyr (1828) live in Berlin,**
9. Jean-Philippe Rameau's opéra-ballet Les Indes galante (1735) streamed from Munich,
10. Bright Sheng's Dream of the Red Chamber (2016) live from San Francisco Opera,**
11. Siegmeister's Darling Corie (1954) was live at CSUS,**
12. Stockhausen's Donnerstag aus Licht (1980) streamed from Basel,
13. Strauss's Die ägyptische Helena (1928) live in Berlin,**
14. Strauss's Die Liebe der Danae (1952) live in Berlin**

##20 top 20 all time
** live, live stream or live in HD 
 

Things recommended to buy

#ad

Dear Cecilia

Two things have happened.  I read an approximation of your net worth, and I read a suggestion that JK might commission a work.  Have you considered commissioning something?  It's worth a thought.  I wish you a very merry Christmas.

2016 Opera Year in Review KK Opera Awards

It's time for the 2016 KK Opera Awards.

The most shocking event of the year is the complete absence of Jonas Kaufmann.  I hardly know what to say.  Get well, dear.

New operas for me in 2016 are: Champion by Terence Blanchard at Opera Parallèle, Der Vampyr by Heinrich Marschner in Berlin, Strauss's Die ägyptische Helena in Berlin, Strauss's Die Liebe der Danae in Berlin, Il matrimonio segreto by Domenico Cimarosa at CSUS, Les Indes galante, an opéra-ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau streamed from Munich, Thomas Adès' Powder her Face at West Edge, Handel's Agrippina at West Edge, Hector Berlioz' Béatrice et Bénédict streamed from Glyndebourne, Bright Sheng's Dream of the Red Chamber from San Francisco Opera, Stockhausen's Donnerstag aus Licht streamed from Basel, Eliogabalo by Cavalli streamed from Paris, and Sancta Susanna by Paul Hindemith in Paris.

I believe only Dream of the Red Chamber was new for everyone. That's 13 new operas, 1 more than last year and none from DVD.  I wouldn't want to see the Stockhausen again, but the rest were all worthy.  I am especially interested in my reaction to the Rameau.  He might be considered a discovery for me.

• BEST NEW (to me) OPERA AWARD   The candidates are: Der Vampyr, Die Liebe der Danae by Richard Strauss, Les Indes galante by Rameau, and Béatrice et Bénédict by Berlioz.  I enjoyed all of these but found the Berlioz especially charming.  I would happily see this again.

• BEST MODERN OPERA The candidates are:  Champion, Powder her Face from West Edge, L'Amour de loin from the Met, and Dream of the Red Chamber from San Francisco.  Dream of the Red Chamber was pleasing, but L'Amour was the only home run. It is simply an extraordinary achievement. We had a much broader selection last year.  I left out Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk  from Munich because all the others are 21st century.
  

• BEST BAROQUE OPERA AWARD  The candidates are Handel's Agrippina from West Edge, Handel's Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno from Aix, Cavalli's Eliogabalo from Paris, and Rameau's Les Indes Galantes from Munich.  Following my own prejudices, I didn't like the staging for Eliogabalo or Il Trionfo.  Both of these starred Franco Faggioli.  Since it didn't win best new, I must award to Les Indes Galantes for the beauty of its musical performance.

• BEST BEL CANTO AWARD   The candidates are Roberto Devereux by Donizetti from the Met, Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti from the ROH, Don Pasquale by Donizetti from San Francisco, La Favorite, by Donizetti from Munich and Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini from Dublin.  The singing in Favorite was fabulous, but the staging made nonsense of the plot.  I sort of enjoyed the bizarre Lucia staging, but not enough to award to it.  Hands down the greatest bel canto performance of the year was Roberto Devereux with Sondra Radvanovsky, Elīna Garanča, Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecien.  A truly great performance.

• BEST MOZART OPERA AWARD I enjoyed Simon Keenlyside's Don Giovanni, but I find I don't want to award in this category this year.

• BEST WAGNER OPERA AWARD perhaps in my lifetime goes to Tristan und Isolde from the Metropolitan Opera.  Such a spectacularly beautiful performance is simply not to be imagined.  I also saw a film from 5 years ago of Die Meistersinger with Gerald Finley which makes an excellent runner up.

• BEST VERDI OPERA AWARD  There are only two candidates:  Un Ballo in Maschera from the Bayerische Staatsoper and Don Carlo from San Francisco.  Without any particular enthusiasm I choose Don Carlo.

• BEST ROMANTIC OPERA NOT VERDI OR WAGNER AWARD The candidates include some French operas:  Bizet's The Pearl Fishers from the Met, Bizet's Carmen in San Francisco, Gounod's Faust from Salzburg, Massenet's Werther from the ROH, Béatrice et Bénédict by Berlioz from Glyndebourne.  I particularly loved the Met's The Pearl Fishers, so the award goes there.
  

• BEST RICHARD STRAUSS AWARD offers a lot of candidates:  Salome, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier, Die ägyptische Helena, and Die Liebe der Danae, all from the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Elektra from the Metropolitan Opera.  The Elektras were a virtual tie with a small edge to Berlin.  Considering how much I love Strauss, I should have enjoyed this category a lot more.

• BEST JANÁČEK OPERA AWARD  The candidates are Jenůfa from the San Francisco Opera, The Cunning Little Vixen from West Edge and Vĕc Makropulos also from the San Francisco.  All three of these were very special.  Nadja Michael was a particularly fabulous Emilia Marty, but the award must go to the powerful, almost overwhelming Jenůfa led by Karita Mattila.  If truth be told, I would not want to have missed any of these.  Modern conductors seem to understand him more than Strauss.

• BEST VERISMO OPERA AWARD  The candidates are Andrea Chénier by Giordano from the San Francisco Opera, Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni from Paris, Manon Lescaut by Puccini from the Met and Gianni Schicchi by Puccini from the LA Opera. I enthusiastically award to Cavalleria Rusticana in Paris.

• BEST HORROR OPERA must go to Marschner's Der Vampyr from the Komische Oper Berlin.  I didn't expect to give this award again, but there it is.  There were axes, guns, wooden stakes, people screaming, vampires, basically all the components of a good horror movie.  It has to win some kind of award.  I think maybe people used to have more fun with opera.  We do wish to mention a runner up:  Hindemith's Sancta Susannah in Paris.  We had rather spectacular nudity and fornicating with a crucifix. 

• MOST INCOMPREHENSIBLE STAGING OF AN OPERA AWARD  How does The Queen of Spades get to be about Tchaikovsky?  No idea what this means.

• BEST TRANSFORMATION OF AN OPERA INTO SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT  This award must go to another Claus Guth production, Salome from Berlin.  Instead of Herodias getting rid of John the Baptist through her daughter, we have Salome getting revenge on Herod, her sexual tormentor.  Instead of the Bible, we are in a men's clothing store.  No necrophilia, no striptease, none of the usual nastiness. 

• BEST OPERA OF THE YEAR goes to Tristan.  Seldom have I felt such love for a performance of any opera.  Bravi tutti.

Queen of Spades

Music director: Mariss Jansons
Director: Stefan Herheim

Misha Didyk - Herman (tenor)
Alexey Markov - Count Tomsky, Plutus (baritone)
Vladimir Stoyanov - Prince Yeletsky (baritone)
Andrei Popov - Chekalinsky (tenor)
Andrii Goniukov - Surin (bass)
Mikhail Makarov - Chaplitsky (tenor)
Anatoli Sivko - Narumov (bass)
Larissa Diadkova - The Countess (mezzo)
Svetlana Aksenova - Liza (soprano)
Anna Goryachova - Polina, Daphnis (contralto)
Olga Savova - The governess (mezzo)

Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades is soon coming to an end on Opera Platform.  For me this opera is called Pique Dame, but I guess nobody else calls it that.  Because Catherine the Great, Empress of all Russia (1762-1796), makes an entrance during Act II, we can safely assume that this opera takes place during her reign.  When we played this opera, the party scene was eliminated.  At the San Francisco Opera it was always a surprise:  will Catherine appear or not?

This production from the Netherlands moves the time to 1890, the time of the opera's premier.  The entire opera takes place in a single set of the Countess's drawing room with her portrait hanging on the wall.  Most of the men, including the chorus, but not including Herman, are made up to look like Tchaikovsky himself.  One of these men is constantly on the stage, occasionally playing a piano.  Yeletsky, I think, is supposed to be Tchaikovsky.  All, including the children in Act I, wear the same outfit.  Instead of Catherine, it is Herman disguised as her who enters in Act II.  Polina is done as a trouser role.

They aren't bothering to make it look like a card game.  Instead of the ace, he draws the queen of spades and loses.  Except the cards look like pages of sheet music.  The Countess who died in Act II returns to shoot him.  Liza returns as an angel with black wings to take Hermann to where?

I love this opera due to having sung in it, but I seem to search in vain for a production that will make it make sense.  Hermann sacrifices all for his card obsession.  This seems like something that might actually happen.  But here it seems it is intended that the opera is about Tchaikovsky.  I can't make this connection.  Prince Yeletsky who is Tchaikovsky begins as Liza's fiance.  So it is a tragedy for him as well.

Misha Didyk is someone to watch out for.  His sound makes Hermann come alive.
#ad

Music on Air France

Ravel Le tombeau de Couperin
Dutilleux L'arbre des songes *
Delage Four Hindu Poems
Dutilleux Métaboles
Ravel Daphnis and Chloe – Suite No 2

Sir Simon Rattle conductor
Leonidas Kavakos violin *
Julia Bullock soprano
London Symphony Orchestra

While browsing through the airplane entertainment, I found this wonderful concert from last January with exciting music of a certain period.  Every piece displayed colorful orchestration. 

I also found a film of Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov from their Asian tour last March.  They performed first Verdi, from Trovatore, and verismo, ending the official concert with "Vicino a te" from Andrea Chenier.  This last was quite thrilling and suggested that they might try this opera together.  I may change my choice to this one.

Anna's move towards late romantic repertoire makes possible this pairing with her husband.  This concert makes a good case for his place beside her.  He tears up a bit here at the end of  "Vicino a te".

Item: Placido Domingo

While discussing Nabucco, Placido Domingo was asked how many roles, including conductor, he had appeared in at the Met. Looking through the archives, I count 62.  Notice 7 debuts in 1971.  He finished his long illustrious career at the Met on April 13, 2019, with Germont in La Traviata.

year	opera	role
9-Aug-66	I Pagliacci	Canio
9-Aug-66	Cavalleria Rusticana	Turiddu
28-Sep-68	Adriana Lecouvreur	Maurizio
20-Nov-68	Tosca	Cavaradossi
6-Mar-69	Il Trovatore	Manrico
13-Feb-70	Turandot	Calàf
27-May-70	Lucia di Lammermoor	Edgardo
3-Oct-70	Un Ballo in Maschera	Riccardo
29-Oct-70	Andrea Chénier	Andrea Chénier
5-Dec-70	La Traviata	Alfredo
13-Jan-71	Aida	Radamès
19-Jan-71	Ernani	Ernani
6-Feb-71	Carmen	Don José
20-Sep-71	Don Carlo	Don Carlo
4-Oct-71	Faust	Faust
4-Nov-71	Luisa Miller	Rodolfo
24-Nov-71	La Forza del Destino	Don Alvaro
16-May-72	La Bohème	Rodolfo
29-Nov-73	Les Contes d'Hoffmann	Hoffmann
23-Sep-74	I Vespri Siciliani	Arrigo
28-Sep-74	Roméo et Juliette	Roméo
31-Oct-77	Rigoletto	Duke of Mantua
7-Oct-78	Werther	Werther
24-Sep-79	Otello	Otello
17-Mar-80	Manon Lescaut	Des Grieux
21-Sep-81	Norma	Pollione
25-Sep-82	La Gioconda	Enzo
26-Sep-83	Les Troyens	Aeneas
9-Mar-84	Francesca da Rimini	Paolo
24-Sep-84	Lohengrin	Lohengrin
10-Oct-89	Il Tabarro	Luigi
14-Feb-90	Samson et Dalila	Samson
14-Mar-91	Parsifal	Parsifal
10-Oct-91	La Fanciulla del West	Dick Johnson
21-Oct-93	Stiffelio	Stiffelio
1-Oct-94	Idomeneo	Idomeneo
19-Jan-95	Simon Boccanegra	Gabriele Adorno
28-Mar-95	Madama Butterfly	Conductor
15-Apr-96	Die Walküre	Siegmund
23-Oct-96	La Traviata	Conductor
26-Apr-97	Fedora	Count Loris Ipanov
13-Jan-01	The Merry Widow	Count Danilovitch
11-Apr-01	Un Ballo in Maschera	Conductor
30-Apr-02	Sly	Christopher Sly.
3-Mar-04	The Queen of Spades	Gherman
19-Oct-04	Carmen	Conductor
11-Feb-06	Rigoletto	Conductor
11-Mar-06	Cyrano de Bergerac	Cyrano de Bergerac
25-Nov-06	La Bohème	Conductor
17-May-08	The First Emperor	Emperor Qin
30-Jan-10	Stiffelio	Conductor
2-Mar-11	Iphigénie en Tauride	Oreste
7-Mar-11	Roméo et Juliette	Conductor
6-Apr-13	La Traviata	Germont
20-Mar-14	The Enchanted Island	Neptune
8-Apr-15	Ernani	Don Carlo
20-Apr-15	Aida	Conductor
21-Nov-15	Tosca	Conductor
9-Apr-16	Simon Boccanegra	Simon Boccanegra
12-Dec-16	Nabucco	Nabucco
26-Apr-17	Don Giovanni	Conductor
29-Mar-18	Luisa Miller	Miller
23-Nov-18	Gianni Schicchi	Gianni

Camerata Capistrano

Camerata Capistrano, led by Dr. Lorna Peters, is a Baroque ensemble from California State University Sacramento.  They were joined in this concert by the Davis Senior High School Baroque Orchestra led by Angelo Moreno.  A Baroque orchestra in a high school is a surprise.

The violins, violas and high winds performed standing.  Dr. Peters seemed unclear that the purpose of this fad was to offer the players the opportunity to sway around while playing.  In Apollo's Fire the conductor also stands at the harpsichord and sways around.  Angelo Moreno, who performed with his ensemble rather than standing in front of it, seemed clearer on the idea.  His group swayed quite a lot.

Trouser Roles Ranked

Laura ‏@petrarchian
@JoyceDiDonato Trouser roles ranked by aptitude in bed.


Reply to @petrarchian @JoyceDiDonato 


1. 
   
   Joyce DiDonato ‏@JoyceDiDonato 44m44 minutes ago
   .@petrarchian Octavian, clearly ... Romeo ... and Cherubino, he just doesn't know it, yet.
   3 replies 1 retweet 15 likes
    


Laura ‏@petrarchian 41m41 minutes ago
@JoyceDiDonato Very good answer, would be curious about Komponist, though.
1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
 




Joyce DiDonato ‏@JoyceDiDonato 37m37 minutes ago
.@petrarchian Too into his music ... but MAYBE after that encounter with Zerbinetta ...
0 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
 
1. 
   
   2. 
      
      @JoyceDiDonato @petrarchian Not to mention Isolier ;-)
      • Likes 2
      • 
       Shiven Limbachia ‏@ShivenLimbachia 44m44 minutes ago
   Joyce DiDonato ‏@JoyceDiDonato 40m40 minutes ago
   .@ShivenLimbachia @petrarchian Oh - no question.
   0 replies 0 retweets 4 likes
   4. Brenna ‏@bee_yes 44m44 minutes ago
      @JoyceDiDonato @petrarchian With Siebel at the v bottom of the list
      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
   Joyce DiDonato ‏@JoyceDiDonato 40m40 minutes ago
   @bee_yes @petrarchian Poor Siebel ....
    

L'Amour de Loin

Tamara Mumford, Eric Owens

👍🏻
Conductor:  Susanna Mälkki [Debut]
Production:  Robert Lepage

Jaufré Rudel:  Eric Owens
Clémence:  Susanna Phillips
Pilgrim:  Tamara Mumford

Eric Owens declared L'Amour de Loin by Kaija Saariaho to be a masterpiece.  I concur.

Eric Owens, Susanna Phillips

I enjoyed all the interviews but it was especially interesting to hear from Susanna Phillips that she was present at the premiere in Salzburg in 2000.

I love this opera.  It is the performance from this season that I have most looked forward to, and I was not disappointed.  Bravi tutti.  The chorus sat in rows under the led lights, standing to become visible to the audience. 

Kaija Saariaho

I found the production completely charming.  Susannah Phillips said that the sea of ever-changing lights was invisible to the performers, and they were all anxious to see the film.  Their show repeats on Wednesday, so perhaps a special showing?  There were birds flying that looked more like doves than gulls.  When Rudel is crossing, he dreams of Clémence leaping out of the sea and diving, rather like a dolphin.  This was the most curious part of the production.  It was all like a dream.  A dream of love.

This isn't my first time with this opera.  To read my first thoughts see here.

Hvorostovsky withdraws from Opera

From Dmitri:

To all my friends, fans and colleagues:
It is with great sadness that I must withdraw from opera performances for the foreseeable future.
I have been experiencing balance issues associated with my illness, making it extremely difficult for me to perform in staged productions.

I will continue to give concerts and recitals as well as make recordings. Singing is my life, and I want to continue bringing joy to people worldwide. With this pause in my operatic career and more rest in between each engagement, I hope to have more time to focus on my health and treatment. Thank you for all your love, messages and well wishes. Your support is felt and means the world to me.

With love,
DMITRI HVOROSTOVSKY

Another Elektra with Janis Martin

ELEKTRA
Oper Köln 24-November-1985
Conductor - Gerd Albrecht

Janis Martin
Kathryn Montgomery-Meissner
Helga Dernesch
Hermann Winkler
Harald Stamm

Janis is convincingly a soprano here--perhaps the first time I have thought so.  

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

Conductor: Kirill Petrenko
Production: Harry Kupfer

Boris Timofeyevich Izmailov, a Merchant: Anatoli Kotscherga
Zinoviy Borisovich Izmailov, his son: Sergey Skorokhodov
Katerina Lvovna Izmailova, wife of Zinoviy Borisovich: Anja Kampe 
Sergei, a workman employed at the Izmailovs: Misha Didyk
Aksinya, a workwoman employed at the Izmailovs: Heike Grötzinger
Sonyetka, a convict: Anna Lapkovskaja

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Dmitri Shostakovich streamed today from the Bayerische Staatsoper.  I have seen this opera twice before, both times at the San Francisco Opera.  This is different somehow.  Kampe is marvelous, but the most applause goes to Petrenko.

Cavalleria Rusticana in Paris

👍🏻

Cavalleria Rusticana 

Conductor for both: Carlo Rizzi
Director for both: Mario Martone

Santuzza: Elīna Garanča
Turiddu: Yonghoon Lee
Lucia: Elena Zaremba
Alfio: Vitaliy Bilyy
Lola: Antoinette Dennefeld

Sancta Susanna 

Susanna: Anna Caterina Antonacci
Klementia: Renée Morloc
Alte Nonne: Sylvie Brunet-Grupposo

On November 28 we attended Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana paired with Sancta Susanna by Paul Hindemith at the Paris Opera.  This double bill was performed without intermission.  Curious, we said to ourselves.  Why would they do that?  And who ever heard of Sancta Susanna?  Well, it turns out that this opera premiered in 1922 in Frankfurt and was a terrific scandal.  I think the modern day European is much harder to scandalize.

The production for Cavalleria Rusticana reminded me of the Cavalleria Rusticana production at the Met. Just furniture and no set.  Normally the Easter mass is celebrated inside a church which appears in the set and Santuzza stands outside.  Here there is no set, so the mass is celebrated on the stage in our view.  My experience of the mass shows the crowd much more active than here.  People stand and sit, occasionally speak, and move to the front to receive the wafer, but here they only mime, of course.  The characters are in front.  I think it was staged this way to emphasize the importance of religious imagery in the story.  The large crucifix becomes a character.

Though I have written extensively about Elīna Garanča, this is my first live experience of her.  In this house her voice was large, full and very suitable for a wonderful Santuzza.  I withdraw all previous reservations about her transition to spinto mezzo.  The singing was spectacular, but the production very much muted the physical parts of her characterization.  Yonghoon Lee is improving.  He looks good and sounds dramatic.

After a brief pause, the curtain rose on the physical parts of the set.  Sancta Susanna was presented as a small chamber surrounded by a giant blank wall.  We had visited the death chamber of Vincent van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise the day before and thought Susanna's chamber very much resembled it.  Susanna is a nun dressed in white.  Other nuns appear dressed in black and white.

I was explaining to my son that this is expressionism, an art style that consists of realistic details without context.  Then I thought, "oh."  Thus the giant blank wall.  

We are told that Susanna is dying.  The window in her chamber is open, and she intensely enjoys the scents.  Sister Klementia begins a cautionary tale about a woman seen naked in the woods some 30 or 40 years ago.  A space below the chamber opens up, and we see a nude woman and a crucifix much like the one in the previous opera.  Susanna suddenly rips off her habit, revealing her I must say rather gorgeous breasts and declares herself to still be beautiful.  She runs out and throws herself onto the reclining crucifix.  There is much lamenting and confusion.  This is sort of a wtf opera.

Clearly only the beautiful Anna Caterina Antonacci could be expected to pull this off.  Her acting is superb here but the role is a bit contralto for her voice.  As you know, I do not read explanations of what this is supposed to mean before going, but it does seem to me the pairing of these two operas is intended as a religious commentary.  Santuzza tells us that she has been excommunicated but without explanation.

Symbols can be more powerful than reality, and clearly that is the intention here.  It was only partially successful.  It was oddly pleasing to hear Hindemith who is of course nothing like Mascagni but not in any way shocking to modern ears.