Mariusz Kwiecien

 This is about a year old, but apparently I have confused him with Ludovic Tézier who is still singing.

2 October 2020

Polish Baritone Mariusz Kwiecień Announces Retirement from Singing

POLISH BARITONE MARIUSZ KWIECIEŃ, who made his professional debut in 1993 in a Kraków Opera performance of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and went on to join the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program before making his debut with the company as Kuligin in a 1999 performance of Kát'a Kabanová, has announced his retirement from singing, effective immediately, due to health issues. 

Kwiecień announced to the Polish media that he had sustained a slipped spinal disc in 2017 during a Metropolitan Opera performance of Don Giovanni and subsequently underwent reparative surgery in New York, though the issue was exacerbated following a performance of Don Carlo at the Royal Opera House. The baritone's last performance at the Metropolitan Opera came in November 2018, when he sang Zurga in the first act of a performance of Les Pêcheurs de Perles before being replaced in Act II by Alexander Birch Elliott. Over the course of his career, Kwiecień sang in more than 200 performances at the Met, including new productions of Don Pasquale (2006), Lucia di Lammermoor (opening night of the 2007-08 season), Carmen (2009), L'Elisir d'Amore (opening night, 2012-13 season), Eugene Onegin (opening night of the 2013-14 season) and Les Pêcheurs de Perles (2015). Kwiecien also opened Lyric Opera of Chicago's 2014-15 season in the title role of the Robert Falls's Don Giovanni staging. Other companies at which Kwiecień frequently performed included Covent Garden, Paris Opéra, the Vienna State Opera and the Bayerische Staatsoper. With an essentially lyric instrument, Kwiecień made specialties of roles that included Giovanni, Szymanowski's King Roger, Eugene Onegin, Figaro's Almaviva, Don Pasquale's Malatesta, Riccardo in I Puritani and Posa in Don Carlo.

Kwiecień has reportedly accepted the post as artistic director of Wrocław Opera, and will begin his tenure there with the company's 2020-21 season. 

“There are other problems appearing now, and my movements onstage would be quite limited in such a situation. I don’t want that,” Kwiecień told the Polish press. “I have a lot to say about opera these days. I have sufficient background and experience from the greatest opera houses in the world. I have a huge number of wonderful friends, singers, directors and conductors, whom I will be delighted to invite to Wrocław." 

La Bohème from the Royal Opera

Conductor: Antonio Pappano

Director: Richard Jones

Mimì: Nicole Car

Rodolfo: Michael Fabiano

Marcello: Mariusz Kwiecień

Musetta: Simona Mihai

This performance of Puccini's La Bohème is from July 3, 2020, from the Royal Opera Covent Garden.  You may watch it until 7/17.

I was very much engaged with this performance mostly because of the sweet sincerity of Nicole Car as Mimi.  This isn't an opera that I have a lot to say about, but she is special.

It was nice to see Mariusz Kwiecień looking and singing well.

Roberto Devereux Stream

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People don't give Peter Gelb enough credit.  In this production of Roberto Devereux, from 2016, he has chosen the perfect cast.

Elisabetta: Sondra Radvanovsky (soprano)
Sara, Duchess of Nottingham: Elīna Garanča (mezzo-soprano)
Roberto Devereux: Matthew Polenzani (tenor)
Duke of Nottingham: Mariusz Kwiecien (baritone)

He has also chosen the great Englishman, David McVicar, to create this wonderful production.  Of the three queens, I prefer this one because it isn't so dark and drab.

I like Sondra Radvanovsky in other operas, but this is her masterpiece.  The opera comes to life because of the wonderful intensity she brings.

The plot is nonsense, of course.  Elizabeth was a truly great queen who would never have allowed the execution of one of her courtiers on anything so trivial as sex.  My understanding is that Devereux tried to overthrow the queen, the precise meaning of being a traitor.  I doubt that having a girlfriend qualifies.  It wouldn't make an opera, though.

Thank you all.

La Favorite

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Conductor: Karel Mark Chichon
Production: Amélie Niermeyer

Léonor de Guzman: Elīna Garanča (mezzo)
Fernand: Matthew Polenzani (tenor)
Alphonse XI: Mariusz Kwiecień (baritone)
Balthazar: Mika Kares (bass)
Don Gaspard: Joshua Owen Mills (tenor)
Inès: Elsa Benoit (soprano)

We are experiencing a live stream of Donizetti's La Favorite, in French, from the Bayerische Staatsoper. 

If you have Elīna Garanča, Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecień, you do La Favorite.  These three are a marvelous trio of singing actors.  We get the full on masculine pig behavior from Mariusz, perhaps in honor of our American pig candidate.  This is, of course, Regietheater.  You know, mostly black modern clothing, no particular set.  There is a section in Act II where Léonor and Alphonse are alone and seem to be watching television together.  This can only have been a ballet.  So he responds in a very manic way to what he's seeing alternating with pawing her.  She finds the whole thing boring.  At one point they laugh.  She tells him that she came to him from her home expecting to be married.

This story conflicts with its presentation in this production.  Alphonse is constantly molesting Léonor in every possible context.  It is simply unbelievable that Fernand does not understand what this means.  She marries in black.  Too many clues, Fernand.  We're not buying it when you "suddenly" understand.  He's claiming his honor is lost.  She's saying his soul knows the truth, so why is his pride so inflamed?  Now she's slinking off in her slip.  The chorus is pommeling her with flowers.

Fernand returns to the monastery and Léonor prays.  All three of our singers are wonderful.  She's back, but this time she has on a black watch cap and another black men's suit.  I am seriously loving the singing here.  The ending is marvelous.  One loves most of all the sounds of their voices, which were beautiful together.

Ten years ago I said about this opera:

"It is only recently that women have broken out of their categories. Before that there were good girls and bad girls, angels and whores. It makes a whole opera plot that a whore is mistaken for an angel. You can't always tell, you know.

"In opera angels are sopranos and whores are mezzos. We realize there are exceptions, such as Manon, but generally whores are mezzos. Carmen, Dalila, Maddalena, and Leonor in Donizetti´s La Favorite. She is the king's mistress, and when Fernand falls for her, she refuses to tell who she is. She deliberately lets him think his whore is an angel.

"The opera has a simple beginning--a priest who has not taken his final vows falls for one of his parishioners--and a simple ending--she saves him from hell by dying. In the middle it gets pretty complicated. The king wants to divorce his wife to marry his mistress in spite of the pope's opposition. Fernand also wants her, and when the king promises to grant him any wish, Fernand wishes for Leonor. The courtiers still consider her a whore and tell Fernand now that it is too late and he has married her that he has lost his honor. From there everything just goes to hell. "

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Don Carlo in San Francisco

Conductor: Nicola Luisotti
Production: Zack Brown

Don Carlo: Michael Fabiano
Elizabeth (Elisabetta) of Valois: Ana María Martínez
Philip II, Carlo's father: Ferruccio Furlanetto
Princess Eboli: Nadia Krasteva *
Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa: Mariusz Kwiecień
The Grand Inquisitor: Andrea Silvestrelli

This is such a complex opera that it's hard to cover everything.  I am speaking of Verdi's Don Carlo at the San Francisco Opera.   It has two plots which is part of the reason it is so long.  One plot is about the fact that Elisabetta and Carlo meet in France, think they will marry, fall in love and immediately find out she will marry Carlo's father.  She immediately follows her fate while Carlo obsesses over her all the way to the end.

The second plot concerns the fact that Spain in the time of the inquisition has conquered Flanders, a protestant country.  The Roman Church at this time imagines that if it kills all the protestants, it will be left with a catholic world.  Power in Spain is held as much by the inquisition as by the king.  Many were also being killed in Spain.  Rodrigo and Carlo side with Flanders which is their downfall.

There are a few oddities in this production.  In the so-called "Auto-da-fé" scene no one burns.  Instead men in tall coned hats are raised into the air.   When Philip sings that his wife doesn't love him, he is alone in bed.  Eboli is seen going into the prison and rescuing Carlo, a first for me.  At the end Carlo is taken away by guards and not saved.  I found the production acceptable. 

Ours was the only performance with Furlanetto instead of Pape.  Furlanetto's voice is starting to show its age, but he still brings a powerful emotional performance.

I felt that Ana María Martínez was a bit light for Elizabetta, but her Act V aria was magnificent.

We were also pleased with the Eboli of Nadia Krasteva.  I saw her previously as Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino.

I was surprised to hear that both Michael Fabiano and Mariusz Kwiecień have big voices to bring to the table when required.  For this opera they would need to coordinate their expression more fully with one another for complete success.

I get to carp if I want but it would be nonsense to overdo it.  It was a successful evening with a large audience.  What do opera audiences really want?  Great Verdi and Wagner.

Roberto Devereux in HD

Conductor: Maurizio Benini
Production: David McVicar

Elisabetta: Sondra Radvanovsky (soprano)
Sara, Duchess of Nottingham: Elīna Garanča (mezzo-soprano)
Roberto Devereux: Matthew Polenzani (tenor)
Duke of Nottingham: Mariusz Kwiecien (baritone)

Roberto Devereux by Donizetti completed Sondra Radvanovsky's tour de force trilogy of Donizetti's three queens in a single season.  For my money this is the opera that most suits her gifts.  Overheard talking to myself, "But this is a wonderful opera."  Perhaps it is wonderful because a constantly enraged queen suits so perfectly the voice of Sondra Radvanovsky.  I did not see in Sondra's portrayal the nonsensical pseudo-butch portrayal of Bette Davis, but saw instead someone with difficulty walking and deteriorating health.

Each of the four stars listed above gets wonderful music, perhaps also perfectly suited to their gifts.  Benini found the drama in the singing. 

What a mess of a plot.  Perhaps Roberto once truly loved the queen as she clearly thought he did.  And then he fell in love with the decades younger and still unmarried Sara.  He goes off to war and after clearly winning it, he is accused of being a traitor.  While he was away, Sara with the queen's help married the Duke of Nottingham because her father died. Women at that time required the protection of a man, either husband or father.  The opera opens with her clear unhappiness.  It is not clear if she is unhappy because Roberto is returning, or if perhaps it is her marriage to someone she does not love and who seems also not to love her.

The queen marches down into her tomb and dies at the end.  This is a poetic rather than a historically accurate ending.  The opera plot more closely resembles the movie The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex than it does historical fact.  It's important to remember that opera is about love, and historical accuracy is irrelevant.

Debbie Voigt announced it as a play within a play, but this is only true if you count the fully costumed chorus clapping when the audience clapped.  In the bows the characters turn and bow to the chorus.  This was all discrete and not at all annoying.  It provided a context for the frequent choruses.  In the period there would have been courtiers standing around watching.

I loved it.  It was filled with both beautiful singing and overwhelming dramatic intensity. 

And yes, that was indeed "God save the Queen" in the overture.

The Pearl Fishers in HD

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Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda
Director: Penny Woolcock
Live in HD host:  Patricia Racette

Leïla: Diana Damrau (soprano)
Zurga: Mariusz Kwiecien (baritone)
Nadir: Matthew Polenzani (tenor)
Nourabad: Nicolas Testé (Diana Damrau's husband) (bass)

For the first time in over 100 years the Metropolitan Opera presented Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles (The Pearl Fishers).  Unlike most of the audience, this was my fourth time, including once in San Jose, once in San Francisco and once in Santa Fe.

We were put in the mood of actual pearl divers with what appeared to be a film of people diving into deep water.  It was instead a kind of Peter Pan harness that looked amazingly realistic.

The famous duet was even more beautiful than I anticipated.  I did not take into account the fabulous conducting of Maestro Noseda.  He brought new lyrical qualities to the entire opera.  This is the most I have liked Mariusz Kwiecien who was perfect in his role.  I have always liked Matthew Polenzani.  Their voices were as perfect together as I thought they would be.

This revival was requested by Diana Damrau.  She brought many qualities to the role of Leola:  wonderful coloratura technique for the coloratura parts and power for the increasingly dramatic requirements as the opera progresses.

This is a big hit in New York.  All are predicting it won't be 100 years before we see it again.

What anyone likes about this opera is the music and the singing, spectacularly well done today.  What anyone doesn't like is the plot.  Leila has been hired to protect the pearl fishers from their constant exposure to the weather.  She is to sit alone by the ocean and sing to the god Brahma.  She fails miserably at this.

Nadir promises his friend Zurga that he has gotten over their mutual interest in Leila, the priestess they both simultaneously fell in love with years before.  Zurga does not similarly make such a promise to Nadir.  This doesn't matter because Nadir is lying.  It is important to notice that Nadir immediately recognizes Leila when he hears her voice, but Zurga does not.  This tells us that only Nadir truly loves her.

Zurga only allows them to escape because of the contrived deus ex machina, this time a giant pearl on a gold necklace.  In this action he betrays the pearl fisher community whom he has sworn to lead.  Because of Leila's inattention, they have been hit by a tsunami, fascinatingly evoked in the projections.  Sometimes Zurga is just left standing there, but sometimes Zurga dies at the end.  For me this works better.

Nadir seems to legitimately love Leila, while Zurga doesn't really make his case.  He is jealous for its own sake.  But what logic forgives Leila?  Would we like it more if Zurga killed them instead?  One can't help wondering.
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Eugene Onegin in HD

Onegin and Tatiana in the city

I have long been an admirer of Chekhov, the Russian writer of plays and short stories, so when Peter Gelb compared his new Metropolitan Opera production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin to a play by Chekhov, I was prepared to enjoy it.

Conductor:  Valery Gergiev
Production:  Deborah Warner

Tatiana: Anna Netrebko
Olga: Oksana Volkova
Madame Larina, their mother:  Elena Zaremba
Tatiana's Nurse:  Larissa Diadkova
Lenski: Piotr Beczala
Onegin: Mariusz Kwiecien
Gremin: Alexei Tanovitski

I liked enormously the sets for the house in the country.  It created an atmosphere of reality and strengthened the sense of the relationships between the characters.  There was too much contrast in the last act with the bare stage and huge columns.  There was no sense of artistic unity for the opera as a whole.

Lensky and Olga in the country

The beginning and ending had a new symmetry.  As Onegin rejects and coldly dismisses Tatiana, he looks at her face and kisses her before walking away.  Netrebko's Tatiana rises to equal Onegin's coldness and arrogance in the final act.  She tells him she loves him but will not sacrifice her life for him.  She stares him down coldly and then kisses him before she walks away in the snow.  There was a kind of perfection to this.  Perhaps Mariusz is the right singer for this conception after all.

Netrebko sang extremely well, giving the letter scene a special intensity.  Alright.  I'll say it.  She looked terrible in the girl's dress.  But the mature Tatiana's outfits made her look beautiful.  Few singing actresses could bring so much strength to a character. 

I couldn't help wondering how this would all play in the house.  Chekhov is not for the huge theater.  Could the softness of the singing be heard in the house?  Could such an intimate and interior conception be seen, heard and indeed felt in the huge expanse of the Met?  Chekhov's sense of humor seemed to be missing.

Beczala was the best Lensky ever.  My favorite was the Nurse, a wonderful actress.  The sense of it all being truly Russian was very powerful.  I would like very much to see this kind of treatment of Pique Dame which somehow just misses for me.

P.S.  Netrebko seemed to be in the mood to argue with Debbie in her interview.  I wonder what that was about?

PPS.   The plot of Onegin is from Pushkin (1799-1837). I know that. What was being discussed was the PRODUCTION which was moved to the time of Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) which it just so happens overlaps with the time of Chekhov (1860-1904). My remarks referred to the production and not to the opera.   Gelb is the one who brought up Chekhov.  I liked this and went with it.  The production comes from British theater people who are undoubtedly far more familiar with Chekhov than with either Pushkin or Tchaikovsky.

A truly Chekhovian ending would require much more ambiguity.  Instead of perfect symmetry we would need to be left wondering if perhaps they might get together on occasion, just as we are left wondering in the story "The Lady with the Little Dog."  If she is not required to sacrifice her life and her husband, would Tatiana occasionally meet with Onegin in secret?
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Netrebko in a Top Hat

Conductor...............Maurizio Benini
Production..............Bartlett Sher

Adina...................Anna Netrebko
Nemorino................Matthew Polenzani
Belcore.................Mariusz Kwiecien
Dr. Dulcamara...........Ambrogio Maestri

The first question you ask when you watch L'Elisir d'Amore live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera is What is Anna Netrebko doing wearing a top hat? Besides looking cute in it.  I decided it was there to show that she was the boss, that she is running this farm.  She orders people around.

Since I started this blog, I have seen Elixir of Love in the DVD with Netrebko and Villazon from Vienna, a straight presentation which focuses on Nemorino; the charming modernized version from the Santa Fe Opera where Adina is a school teacher and Nemorino repairs cars; the slapstick comedy version from the Sacramento Opera which I thought completely did not work; and this one from the Met which I liked very much.  I agree completely with the talk at intermission--I want to care about them, and I can only do this if they are reasonably serious.

They are two people virtually obsessed with one another.  He stares longingly at her, and she furtively stares back.  In this production she has her little black book.  She is a woman who likes men.  She does not like being whined over.  It is immediately obvious that she loves him.  We really see the tear that he sees--a first for me.

In Vienna Netrebko was blocked up high on the porch of her house, made insignificant by her placement on the stage.  Adina is the main character.  Or rather Nemorino and Adina share the spotlight equally.  The focus on Netrebko brought this production to life.  She still moves well, sings well and makes us laugh and cry, but her voice is moving away from Donizetti comedy into heavier repertoire.

Mariusz Kwiecien as Belcore, shown in the picture above, was just right in this part. He sweeps Adina off her feet with great style, what she wishes Nemorino would do.

Matthew Polenzani as Nemorino is not really the perfect partner for Netrebko.  He sings the role beautifully, but he whines too convincingly.  At the end we need to see him show more confidence.  Then we will believe that he is the one for her.  Perhaps it will work out, perhaps not.  There's always the little black book.

In the intermission Debbie Voigt was interviewing a tall bald man with an English accent about Thomas Adès' The Tempest which is currently in rehearsal.  He was ornamented by a tall, absolutely gorgeous woman who simply stood by his side.  Who could this be?  Finally at the end Debbie turned to her and called her Isabel.  Of course.  That's Isabel Leonard.  Wow.  It would help if I paid more attention.

Roger

I have now listened to three different people try to explain Karol Szymanowsky's [Shim-on-OFF-sky] King Roger (composed 1918-1924) to no avail.

I'm going to give it a shot.  First off there is what you see.

Byzantine
We begin in a church service with beautiful choral singing and bright royal costumes.  The Shepherd arrives talking about his non-Christian god and the priests and congregation want to kill him.  Only Queen Roxana speaks on his behalf.  The three characters visible in the above picture are Shepherd (sung by tenor William Burden), King Roger (sung by baritone Mariusz Kwiecien), and Roxana (sung by soprano Erin Morley).

Arab
We are in King Roger's royal chambers.  The Shepherd continues to preach his gospel of Dionysus and everyone seems to be coming over to his side.  There is an orgy.  Roger tries to chain the Shepherd, but he easily breaks free.

Greek
The scene takes place in a ruined Greek temple.  The Shepherd appears in fuzzy pants and looks a bit like a satyr, the servants of Dionysus.  Roger has a spiritual awakening and rises to greet the rising sun.

Got that?  No, I thought not.  I'm not sure it is possible to understand this opera at all.

So here's my theory:  Szymanowsky wrote an opera about things he liked.  He liked Sicily and went there often.  At some point he heard about the medieval King Roger II of Sicily with his uncharacteristic religious tolerance.  He liked Nietsche's The Birth of Tragedy which is about counterbalancing influences of Apollo and Dionysus in Greek tragedy.

He ignored time and space and mixed all this together in an incomprehensible libretto with the help of one of his relatives.  They didn't mind that it made little sense.  Each person can make his own interpretation.  An explanation that focused strictly on Roger might be more comprehensible, but ambiguity is not altogether unpleasing.

Szymanowsky was a composer and may be regarded as more successful in that area.  We discussed the composers who may have influenced him and mentioned Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky.  For my ears I definitely heard what I lovingly call Movie Music.  The combination of a world-wide depression and the beginning of talkies brought a lot of European composers to America and American films.  Alfano, Korngold, guys like that.  The specific details would vary from composer to composer, but the general style is very similar.  I call the style Movie Music because it is seldom heard today outside that medium.  King Roger will never make the 100 most performed operas list.

The performance was marvelous.  Szymanowsky could hardly have asked for more.  Kwiecien was fabulous as King Roger, and Erin Morley was simply incredible as Roxana with her soaring, mysterious singing.  The orchestra played this difficult score brilliantly.  It's all atmosphere and is over in 90 minutes.  This was the last performance, so everyone did their best.

Don Giovanni in HD

Don Giovanni............Mariusz Kwiecien
Donna Anna..............Marina Rebeka
Don Ottavio.............Ramón Vargas
Donna Elvira............Barbara Frittoli
Leporello...............Luca Pisaroni
Zerlina.................Mojca Erdmann
Masetto.................Joshua Bloom
Commendatore............Stefan Kocán

Conductor...............Fabio Luisi
Production..............Michael Grandage

One of my long time wishes came true in the Live from the Metropolitan in HD broadcast of Don Giovanni on Saturday. I have always wished for a very sexy and aware Zerlina, one who truly meant "vorrai e non vorrai" [I want, and I don't want], where you could see it in her eyes. I wanted to feel the moment when she pauses and finally says "andiam." [we go]  I wanted the vision of her full participation in the seduction. I got her in Mojca Erdmann's Zerlina. She was perfect.

This was an excellent production for a number of reasons. Don Giovanni is hard to stage unless you just bail on the whole thing and stick with a bare stage. The scene is constantly shifting. In this production the stage pictures were pleasing and moved smoothly and easily from scene to scene. This version by Michael Grandage was very comprehensible and well thought out. And the death scene was the best ever.

The cast was well matched, but I felt that the Leperello of Luca Pisaroni stole the show from Mariusz Kwiecien [pronounced KVEE-chen, according the the New York Times, although Renée Fleming seemed to be saying something slightly different] as the Don. Mariusz has a pretty face so we forgive him the dastardly deeds. He showed no effects of his back crisis of only two weeks ago.

The rest of the cast, which included Barbara Frittoli and Ramon Vargas, was also excellent. Vargas is a wonderful singer, but I hated the fact that he sang his whole first aria sotto voce. Sotto voce is a stunt, something done only for a specific effect, and not real singing at all. More than a single phrase is too much. This is a recent phenomenon, and I refuse to just give in and ignore it. It must be weeded out.

Fabio Luisi conducted from the harpsichord where he played the secco recitatives. He explained in the intermission that it is easier for him to keep the music flowing from the harpsichord. Everything worked together to create a Don Giovanni of incredible dramatic effectiveness.


[See Kinderkuchen History 1780-1803]

Don Pasquale in HD

Don Pasquale............John Del Carlo
Norina..................Anna Netrebko
Ernesto.................Matthew Polenzani
Dr. Malatesta...........Mariusz Kwiecien
Notary..................Bernard Fitch

Conductor...............James Levine
Production..............Otto Schenk

I know I've seen Donizetti's Don Pasquale, today's simulcast from the Metropolitan Opera, before.  In fact I am going to stop saying I've never seen something before.  Everyone else seems to think I saw Makropulos before.  So maybe I have.  Let's just say I never loved Don Pasquale this much before.

To start with there is the perfect cast:  Anna Netrebko as Norina, Matthew Polenzani as Ernesto, Mariusz Kwiecien as Dr. Malatesta and my personal favorite John Del Carlo as Don Pasquale.  Would we change even one of them?  Absolutely not.  John has honed his buffo bass to a state of perfection which I'm sure is seldom approached.  Matthew is a wonderfully romantic tenor.  Mariusz as Don Pasquale's doctor is charming and very funny.  And the conducting of James Levine was magnificent, as always.

And then there is Anna.  The best thing about the Netrebko is how much she loves it.  In fact the whole cast overflowed with a joy of performing that is seldom seen.  I have searched in vain for a photograph of Anna in her going to the theater outfit.  She said in her interview that she asked for boots with higher heels, and these were worthy of the runway.  Who but Anna would be this athletic, this beautiful, sing this fabulously and acting to such perfection?

Found!

There was an encore of a patter song with the doctor and the Don.  I was going to say it was my first, but you never know, I may have forgotten.

It was a blessing.



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No Crashing and Burning

I detected a complete lack of crashing and burning in today's Lucia di Lammermoor in HD from the Metropolitan Opera. Where to begin?


How about the production by Mary Zimmerman? She talked about traveling around in Scotland for the look of the scenes and told where each one took place. I would place the date around the American Civil War. Photography was invented, but women still wore long dresses. Mary added ghosts to the scenes to great effect. When Lucia sings about the death at the fountain, the ghost is there. And at the end when Edgardo learns that Lucia is dead, she appears as a ghost. The production filled my criterion for a good production--it clarified the action extremely well. I loved every bit of it. Brava!


How about Natalie Dessay as host? She was enthusiastic about Anna Netrebko, today's Lucia, but was eager for us to know that it was she who opened the production. I thought this was less than high class. The interviews with everyone else except Anna were good. She and Marco Armiliato, today's conductor, agreed that the Metropolitan Opera orchestra are the best in the world.


How about the orchestra? There was the fabulous harp solo and wonderful glass harmonica. The effect of a glass harmonica is like nothing else.

And the singing? I loved all of them. Anna, I have decided, has a legato technique rather than a leggiero technique, such as one would hear with Beverly Sills, or maybe Natalie Dessay. But I love her. I think I enjoy this style more than the other one. She has put on a few pounds, it's true, but her voice sounded fabulous. We will all have to argue later about whether these two things are related. She did an excellent trill. Welcome back!


The replacement tenor, Piotr Beczala, was very fine, very Italian sounding, though he obviously isn't Italian. He's also cute. In the act break the baritone, Mariusz Kwiecien, discussed the fact that the third act duet between Edgardo and Enrico was left uncut in this production, and pointed out how heavy it is. At the point where it was decided to cast Rolando, it should also have been decided to cut this scene. He probably could have gotten through the rest of it.

Am I supposed to complain about more? Lucia's ghost helps Edgardo commit suicide. Weird.

My bunch of audience seemed very happy.