Violetta.................Sonya Yoncheva
Alfredo..................Michael Fabiano
Germont................Thomas Hampson
Flora.......................Rebecca Jo Loeb
Gastone..................Scott Scully
Baron Douphol.......Dwayne Croft
Dr. Grenvil.............James Courtney
Annina....................Jane Bunnell
Verdi's La Traviata in the Willy Decker production from the Metropolitan Opera appeared on my television. This is undoubtedly the greatest of all the operas. I think it is the most passionate about the two great themes of love and death. It falls at the end of bel canto and includes one of the greatest of all bel canto arias, "Sempre libera."
This is the final appearance at the Met of this production originally from the Salzburg Festival. I begin to think I will miss it. There were a few cuts. This time around it bothered me that Flora was a man. Why would all those men go to parties where there was only one woman? But rooms full of Victorian dresses hold little charm for me.
This is a perfect role for Michael Fabiano. I like Sonya Yoncheva but do not love her as overwhelmingly as I did Netrebko. The sound of her voice is less to my taste. She carried the final scene to its heart-wrenching conclusion.
I reviewed this same production here with Dessay, here, and here for Netrebko.
Vladimir Jurowski | Conductor
William Kentridge | Stage director
Matthias Goerne | Wozzeck
John Daszak | Drum Major
Mauro Peter | Andres
Gerhard Siegel | Captain
Jens Larsen | Doctor
Tobias Schabel | First Apprentice
Huw Montague Rendall | Second Apprentice
Heinz Göhrig | Madman
Asmik Grigorian | Marie
Frances Pappas | Margret
This is the live stream of Berg's Wozzeck from the Salzburg Festival. There are puppets. There is Matthias Goerne. This is a great role for him. Dark and weird is probably just the right production for this opera. I still don't like Wozzeck. The production overwhelms the action.
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Conductor: William Christie
Director: Peter Sellars
Theodora, a Christian of noble birth, soprano: Dawn Upshaw
Didymus, a Roman Officer, converted by and in love with Theodora, originally alto castrato, here countertenor: David Daniels
Septimius, Roman soldier and friend to Didymus, tenor: Richard Croft
Valens, President of Antioch, bass: Frode Olsen
Irene, a Christian and friend of Theodora, mezzo-soprano: Lorraine Hunt
Messenger, tenor: Michael Hart-Davis
Someone said that Peter Sellars' production of Handel's Theodora was even better than his La Clemenza di Tito, so I thought I would give it a try. He seems best in things that have religious themes. This is one of Handel's oratorios and is in English. This film is from 1996.
Hmmm. There are soldiers and they wear American flags on their sleeves. It's politics and religion rolled into one. Christians are ordered to bow to idols to show loyalty to Caesar. This is a joy. And then there is Lorraine Hunt. It would be hard to ask for more. He stages the first Christian scene like a prayer meeting, except women speak. Lorraine sings of prosperity and people put money on the floor. Many are in white and kneel on the floor to pray. The chorus always present in any Handel oratorio represents the congregation.
Soldiers enter and warn the Christians that they are tempting fate. "Dread the fruits of Christian folly." This is not the usual oratorio libretto. I understand it was not popular at its premier. Oratorios usually draw their plots from either scripture or mythology. Theodora is an historical Christian martyr.
I begin to grasp Peter Sellars' world view. He sometimes strays too far from it. He is THE outstanding American leader in the world of Regietheater, and this is one of his greatest works. Among his productions, this one makes no alterations to the original text.
Apparently, honoring the Emperor consists of getting falling down drunk. So far I don't find this staging to be at all a distortion of the original. People just look like people today instead of ancient Romans. If this bothers you, you should get over it.
Christians are serious people while pagans are drunks seems to be the general idea. One remembers this primarily for the work of Lorraine Hunt, but I am enjoying also Dawn Upshaw and David Daniels. Theodora is in prison and Didymus visits her. She asks him to kill her, but instead they exchange clothing and she escapes.
This is an extraordinary piece, deeply emotional. One needs exposure to a wider range of Handel's works. Here we still hear the Italian coloratura along side the more English lyricism and Handel's great choral music.
The picture above depicts the application of the death penalty. The ending is sad and strange. Christians wave their arms rather more than is strictly tolerable. My experience of the Baroque does not include anything like this. I came for Peter Sellars and Lorraine Hunt but ended with the joy of some of the most beautiful music of Handel I have ever heard. #ad
Modern singers treat their careers as though they were a recreational activity. They think to themselves that in the brief time they have in the spotlight they must work their way through the entire repertoire for their Fach.
In the old days a singer searched for those few roles where their gifts shone brightest and repeated them in opera houses around the world. They seemed greater than modern singers because in their selected repertoire they were. Think about it.
Of modern day singers the one who follows closest the old path is Renée Fleming.
I am going to attempt to apply The Bechdel test to opera. The Bechdel test asks whether a work of fiction features at least two named women who talk to each other about something other than a man.
Carmen and her named girlfriends try to predict their futures in a card game. Men are discussed in the abstract, but the conversation inadvertently turns to death when Carmen draws the death card.
In La Boheme Mimi tells Musetta that her hands are cold so Musetta goes out and buys a muff.
In Marriage of Figaro the countess and Susanna plot their revenge on the count. This probably doesn't count. However, Marcellina and Susanna have an extended exchange of insults that definitely qualifies.
Despina in Cosi fan tutte advises the sisters to take new lovers while their current boy friends are away. Generic advice so it should count.
In Die Fledermaus Adele pretends to her boss Rosalinde that her aunt is sick so she can accept an invitation to a party.
In Fidelio Leonore, a woman pretending to be a man, successfully becomes engaged to a young woman, Marzelline. I'm not sure if this counts or not. For me it has layers of hidden meaning.
In La Traviata Violetta and Flora are friends and invite each other to parties, but we see them only briefly talking.
In Magic Flute Queen and Pamina plot to kill Saroastro. This probably doesn't count.
The witch in Hansel and Gretel orders Gretel around while Hansel is frozen.
In Elektra Elektra and Chrysothemis plot to murder Klytämnestra.
In the opera Jenůfa Kostelnička tells her step-daughter Jenůfa that her baby has died, when in reality Kostelnička has killed him.
In Otello Desdemona asks Emilia to put out her bridal gown and then asks to be buried in it. They discuss the Willow Song.
In La Cenerentola the step-sisters get into some competitive bragging while constantly putting down Angiolina.
Most of Dialogues of the Carmelites.
In The Medium Madame Flora and her daughter Monica arrange seances. They talk mostly about the business.
This seems an entertaining game for opera plots. Try some of your own.
Arturo Chacón-Cruz is this year's winner of the Emerging Stars competition at the San Francisco Opera. I first saw him in San Francisco as the Duke in Rigoletto in 2012. He starred this past season as Rodolfo in Puccini's La Boheme. He is another Mexican tenor. We seem to have a lot of them these days. Perhaps Placido finds them. Yes, I see he won Operalia.
Who doesn't love a good Rodolfo? To quote myself I said, "...my favorite was Arturo Chacón-Cruz as Rodolfo who has a gorgeous, bright sound." Here he is as Rodolfo.
Philip Glass had his 80th birthday earlier this year. I had no idea he had written so many operas. Here is a list.
1975–1976--Einstein on the Beach for the Philip Glass Ensemble (with Robert Wilson). I saw this at Zellerbach in Berkeley when it toured in 2012.
1978–1979--Satyagraha (premiered in 1980, libretto by Constance DeJong). I first saw this in 1989 at the San Francisco Opera. This was my first experience of a Glass opera. I saw it again live at the Metropolitan Opera in 2008 and again in HD in 2011.
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Teodor Currentzis | Conductor
Peter Sellars | Stage director
Russell Thomas | Tito Vespasiano (b) USA
Golda Schultz | Vitellia (b) South Africa
Christina Gansch | Servilia (w) Austria
Marianne Crebassa | Sesto (w) France
Jeanine De Bique | Annio (b) Trinidad
Willard White | Publio (b) Jamaica
This is Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito from the Salzburg Festival in a staging by the American Peter Sellars. I put letters next to the cast to show that most of the cast is black. They are from everywhere. I know what this would mean to Americans but am not sure how a European audience would react. It would be difficult to persuade me that the timing of this was a coincidence. All appear to be fine singers. This is on medici.tv until November, and I see no titles.
When the opera opens the crowd of mostly white people are herded into a corner by army. Some of the women wear head scarves. Tito picks Sesto and Servilia out of the crowd. This is such wonderful music. How have I not known this?
There are Roman arches across the stage as the only reminder of the Roman Empire, but the costumes are all modern. I read elsewhere that Tito is compared to Nelson Mandella. This is rather more profound than I normally expect from Peter Sellars. This is clearly a concept production, much more so than the Claus Guth from Glyndebourne. Mandella, the great reconciler is evoked. Clearly Sellars has changed it into a story of racial conflict and broadened the impact by placing it in modern South Africa and using black singers.
Sesto and Annio
Sesto shoots Tito who does not die. This is intensely serious. A miracle could happen -- I could become a fan. This is so brilliant I am truly amazed. The timing couldn't be more right. It goes to the top of my list of great Regietheater.
Annio sings a Kyrie for those who have died in the raid on the Campidoglio. Jeanine De Bique's Annio was for me the best singing. I liked Golda Schultz but thought she struggled with the low parts of her arias. The use of chorus is spectacular and may truly be his area of expertise. Russell Thomas raises Tito to new heights and then dies in the hospital. Tutto perdono. Are we ourselves so large?
This version has a sad ending which is achieved in part through the presence in this performance of music not originally in the score for this opera, music undoubtedly added by Peter Sellars. One may feel free to complain. The first clue came with the Kyrie sung by Annio. He liked the singer and wanted her to have more to sing. In part the tragic ending is created through the addition of serious music from Mozart's Great Mass in C minor.
I felt the brilliance of this interpretation long before the ending and therefore did not require this musical interpolation.
