One Fine Day
Apparently abandon by her American husband (the cad!) Cio-Cio San (Madama Butterfly) still hopes that one fine day he will return to her. Renata Tebaldi was one of the finest actors on the operatic stage and she exhibits this here (an artful use of her face and hands, e.g.). Her sense of commitment to her character is palpable. Not all top singers can (or won't) do this. As well as being one of the finest sopranos ever.
Opera
Re: Opera
It was said that when the great English contralto Dame Clara Butt sang "Land of Hope and Glory" at Dover, she could be heard across the Channel in France. This being an opera thread, here she is singing "Ombra mai fu" from Handel's Serse (Xerxes).
Re: Opera
Recently I've been watching some opera masterclasses on YouTube:
1. Luciano Pavarotti at Juilliard in 1979. Probably the most entertaining of this group, with a number of good singers, and Pavarotti in great form as singer and as teacher.
2. Unlike the other three listed here, this only has excerpts from singing and coaching at the Cardiff singing competition. However, the coaches are Joan Sutherland (who has a pronounced Aussie accent), Ileana Cotrubas, and Tom Krause, all wonderful.
3. Placido Domingo at Philadelphia, around 1982, with several singers in an hour's time. Domingo not only sings and coaches, he even plays the piano for the last singer. This was also very entertaining.
4. Concours de Montreal with Marilyn Horne, also around 1980. Only three singers in almost two hours, and the arias are not among the most familiar. The singers aren't miked, so when they talk, as opposed to when they sing, you can't hear them. However, if you want two hours of the wit and wisdom of Marilyn Horne, you will not be disappointed. Marilyn Horne has been there (including, she tells us, "Whitehorse, Yukon Territory"), sung that, and in a kind and generous, yet exacting, way she shares her knowledge and insights with the younger singers.
Common themes include the importance of breath support and the inadvisability of dropping your jaw too much (a technique which has become even more popular among singing teachers since these classes were taped).
1. Luciano Pavarotti at Juilliard in 1979. Probably the most entertaining of this group, with a number of good singers, and Pavarotti in great form as singer and as teacher.
2. Unlike the other three listed here, this only has excerpts from singing and coaching at the Cardiff singing competition. However, the coaches are Joan Sutherland (who has a pronounced Aussie accent), Ileana Cotrubas, and Tom Krause, all wonderful.
3. Placido Domingo at Philadelphia, around 1982, with several singers in an hour's time. Domingo not only sings and coaches, he even plays the piano for the last singer. This was also very entertaining.
4. Concours de Montreal with Marilyn Horne, also around 1980. Only three singers in almost two hours, and the arias are not among the most familiar. The singers aren't miked, so when they talk, as opposed to when they sing, you can't hear them. However, if you want two hours of the wit and wisdom of Marilyn Horne, you will not be disappointed. Marilyn Horne has been there (including, she tells us, "Whitehorse, Yukon Territory"), sung that, and in a kind and generous, yet exacting, way she shares her knowledge and insights with the younger singers.
Common themes include the importance of breath support and the inadvisability of dropping your jaw too much (a technique which has become even more popular among singing teachers since these classes were taped).
Re: Opera
This is a reminder of a fabulous site which offers full performances of opera, mostly from opera houses across Europe. Excellent productions, great variety. Free.
https://operavision.eu
https://operavision.eu
Re: Opera
YouTube suggested I might like to see a complete version of Stephen Sondheim's PASSION, apparently taped (for PBS?) from the original Broadway cast. This is an opera, however, not a musical. Donna Murphy is beyond brilliant as the sickly and unattractive Fosca, who harbors a passion for the handsome soldier Giorgio (Jere Shea, who looks like the 1970s soap star Rod Arrants). Jere Shea, a fine singer, has the difficult task of playng the normal person who then has to do something unlikely, but in this production, quite believable.
Lovely Marin Mazzie plays Clara, the married woman with whom Giorgio is having an affair. She has some pitch problems in the opening scene, but who wouldn't, being at least half-naked in bed with handsome Giorgio while she sings. Her later scenes are fine, with some very attractive low notes.
Surely this is one of the finest American operas ever written. Because Sondheim's background is musical theater, his music tries to please audiences (and definitely pleased me) rather than to impress academic colleagues with dissonance and difficulty.
Lovely Marin Mazzie plays Clara, the married woman with whom Giorgio is having an affair. She has some pitch problems in the opening scene, but who wouldn't, being at least half-naked in bed with handsome Giorgio while she sings. Her later scenes are fine, with some very attractive low notes.
Surely this is one of the finest American operas ever written. Because Sondheim's background is musical theater, his music tries to please audiences (and definitely pleased me) rather than to impress academic colleagues with dissonance and difficulty.
Re: Opera
...oh, and yes, those pesky academic colleagues, all that dissonance and difficulty. If Sondy has eschewed these, as well as those arty intervals between notes so often found in tradionally famous operas and therefore are not catchy enough for normal people, then maybe it's not true opera after all.
Couldn't resist, King, and being just a tad facetious. I'm curious and will try it.
Couldn't resist, King, and being just a tad facetious. I'm curious and will try it.
Re: Opera
This is the rousing last three minutes of Il Trovatore by Verdi. Lots of revelations in this last three minutes. The lady in red is dying. The last male character is being told by the lady that he has just killed his brother. The lady who is staggering around the stage is a gypsy who is apparently going mad because she has found that her son has been killed. Whoopie!
Re: Opera
Uplifting stuff!laffite wrote: ↑September 27th, 2023, 6:35 pm This is the rousing last three minutes of Il Trovatore by Verdi. Lots of revelations in this last three minutes. The lady in red is dying. The last male character is being told by the lady that he has just killed his brother. The lady who is staggering around the stage is a gypsy who is apparently going mad because she has found that her son has been killed. Whoopie!
Re: Opera
Il Trovatore is a grand opera with the best arias, duets, choruses, etc. That's probably why the Marx Brothers used it in A Night at the Opera. The longest ovation I ever witnessed at the Met was when Monserrat Caballe sang "D'amor sull'ali Rosee."
Last edited by Swithin on September 28th, 2023, 4:08 am, edited 1 time in total.