You can go to all the language labs you want, take all the classes there are, spend your money, but if you're a singer wanting to learn beautiful Italian, go to the library and get recordings of Italian singers. Nothing is more beautiful than listening to Pavarotti sing Donizetti and Verdi. Tebaldi in anything. The great baritones Tito Gobbi and Ettore Bastianini.Bass Cesare Siepi. Renata Scotto in Lucia or Traviata. Scotto was the diva of my operatic youth. You couldn't avoid her, and her voice was long shot. And yes, they'd flock to her today. Just a few lines of Mi chiamano Mimi were riveting.
Why do I harp on this? I don't like young singers being bilked for money. I've never been sold on the
Giuseppe de Luca
college/grad school route. Better to get a marketable degree and study voice, languages and theory on the side. Then try for the competitions and young artist's programs. If after several years nothing happens, start your own preforming organizations, conduct a choir for underprivileged kids and go make yourself a life in music. Tend bar or do IT during the day. No disgrace in any of these. The goal is to have a life in music and share that life with others.
Wow. Focus Christopher.
Giuseppe de Luca. He was the first Gianni Schicchi. You can lean so much about words and legato from him.
Giuseppe de Luca (1876-1940) sang well into his seventies. He came to the States in 1915 and three years later was the first Gianni Schicchi. He had created Sharpless in Madama Butterfly in 1907 and Michonnet in Adriana Lecouvreur in 1901, the latter with Caruso who he frequently partnered.
I'm not surprised to read raves about his singing in 1918, 1930, etc.
But in 1940 he made a comeback at the age of sixty-four.
He sang Germont in La traviata.
Giuseppe de Luca, the veteran baritone...stepped from the wings in the second act. It is not surprising that on receiving the thunderous tribute from the audience, it was hard for Mr. de Luca to control his features or summon the breath to sing. ...When he did open his mouth the first five notes made the pulses beat because of the art and the beauty of the song...The quality of the legato, the perfection of the style, the sentiment which ennobled the melodic phrase, struck the whole audience...
Olin Downes, New York Times February 8 1940
(They really had critics then,didn't they? Olin Downes was no pushover)
de Luca sang Schicchi twenty -six times from the premiere in 1918 through 1934. De Luca returned to Italy the following year and came back to New York in 1940. (I'm surprised Mussolini allowed him to leave)
Geraldine Farrar as Suor Angelica...unimpressed
By the way, Il tabarro disappeared after 1920 until 1946. Suor Angelica did not impress soprano Geraldine Farrar, who created the role. She and Caruso were the Met's biggest box office attraction. After she retired in 1922, Suor Angelica disappeared until Renata Scotto sang it in 1975.
Performances June 14 and 16 More info: www.operaprojectcolumbus.com
Second staging rehearsal last night, in a different church basement (my church) Not as fancy as before, and I had to collapse a boatload of tables and chairs to make room and haul the upright out of storage, but once set up we were good to go. I need to work on the disconnect between who's been cast to do what. Two roles still open. Spinelocio the doctor arrived late last night-a surprise to me and maybe to him as well. I wonder if Spineloccio can also sing the Notary.
Giuseppe de Luca, the first Gianni Schicchi
I hope I remember correctly that we will have more space to spread out in the theater than I have approximated in these church basements. Things are looking bunched up so far, but I'm confident that in the one night we have to rehearse in the theater I'll come up with attractive stage pictures. This is certainly an attractive cast. They catch on pretty quickly and they all remember the moves better than I do. That's the chore of being 25 years older than most of these good people. Thank God I'm getting out of the habit of calling them 'kids'
Giulioo Crimi created Luigi in Il tabarro and Rinuccio on the same night
So far I haven't been able to dig in to characterizations. I've spoken in general terms...Lauretta=Princess, Rinuccio=nice music but he's as nasty as his relatives (our tenor is such a nice guy I'm going to give him lessons in being an asshole) I haven't so far come up with enough for Nella, Ciesca, Gherardo, Marco and Betto. Gherardo is whipped; Nella is a shrew and it would be fun to spike up a little bitch competition between Nella and Zita. The latter's music I feel illustrates her nicely. I do want to avoid the old harridan stereotype. That's why I have Zita, Nella and Ciesca sexing up Gianni-and enjoying it-as they undress him and put him to bed. Oh, damn...we don't have a letto. We have a sedia. We're also going to have a problem if the stage platforms don't work out. Not that our conductor's backside isn't charming I'm sure but that's not what the audiences is paying for.
Florence Easton as Lauretta
There was an extended music rehearsal last night. I had forgotten how few rehearsals have been available thus far. This is a difficult score. It's 80% ensembles.
There's a lot of idiomatic Italian. (I'm wondering if we shoulda done in this in English...what with the attractive cast and the audience...Still in this world of titles our singers will never be asked to sing this in English)
I don't know if we'll have more than one orchestra rehearsal. Our pianist/conductor last night is another fine musician. He's really brilliant. He's down extensive work in this repertoire. I sat in on the music with nothing to do myself and learned a great deal.
Gianni Schicchi world premiere, Metropolitan Opera, New York December 14, 1918
I've been wondering about the world premiere of Gianni Schicchi. Not the facts of it which I already know. But how it looked and sounded. Only one of the principal singers in any of the the three Trittico operas recorded music from these works. There's no original cast Senza mamma from Geraldine Farrar; No Nulla! Silenzio! from Giuseppe de Luca...nothing of "E ben altro mio sogno with Giulo Crimi and the divine Claudia Muzio.
Muzio (1887-1937) is the one soprano other sopranos adored. She had a dark, haunting voice and was a reserved, melancholy figure. Diva Magda Olivero, now 103, insists that Muzio "took poison" to end her own life. It is said she was broke at the end, and borrowed money from the Mafia to make the recordings for which she is best remembered today.
Florence Easton (1882-1955) was the first Lauretta. She was a British soprano who sang Mozart, Puccini, Verdi and a great deal of Wagner. It's curious casting a Wagner soprano as Lauretta. Easton was a a good looking woman but hardly the petite soubrette type. She was a valued artist who never attained real stardom. It may be she was given Lauretta as a reward for distinguished service. That said, she's very impressive, and must have been a fine musician. She made the one 'original cast' recording"
Tenor Giulio Crimi (1885-1939) created Luigi in Il tabarro and our buddy Rinuccio. He made his debut at the Met in Aida one month before the Trittico premiere. The New York Times recorded a "thunderous ovation" for Crimi's Radames. He was the teacher of Tito Gobbi.
Giuseppe de Luca, the first Michele and Schicchi, was such a great artist I am going to save him for the next post.
Music rehearsal this Saturday. Next staging rehearsal next Tuesday.
I'm in love with voices. I heard a lot of fine ones last night. It was the first staging rehearsal. We were locked put of the venue for about 20 minutes, this while a local reporter was hovering on the steps, waiting with us. Once we got to work it was great. We had to make do in a very nice choir room (tonight's venue is not as nice I'm sorry to say)
We had a new addition tonight, the young man playing Gherardino. He was sweet and fun and he'll probably walk out off the show, God bless him.
I also met our Marco, a young man who had done the role before. He asked if I wanted to see how it was done in Kent and I said NO. Too abruptly probably. I was in the moment. But really, I need to figure it out for myself.
Licia Albanese: Take risks!
I had to REALLY approximate the playing area. Most of it will be IN the theater not on the bit of stage we have. There was a lot of positioning and running around last night. We had our wonderful rehearsal pianist, thank God and me pacing and yelling and positioning. Years ago at OSU a somewhat hippy dippy guest director asked me "Do you have a lot of experience working with young people?" Well, yes, since before you were born I thought. "You handle them too much. It makes them uncomfortable." I don't get off on handling people but y'all shoulda seen Frank Corsaro or many other great directors, who thought nothing of flinging people into the wings if it made a good affect. Jeez.
Some confusion reigned but all of the singers 'got' what I was trying to do quicker than I did. I'm deeply impressed by the talents and professionalism of these young people. Many have kids, responsibilities, day jobs, other gigs and here they are at 9 pm rehearsing another-unpaid=performance.
I had wanted Schicchi to be more Donald Trump, arrogant and cool and we'll get there if I can get past he beauty of GS's voice. Lauretta immediately got princess ' concept-that she's not such a nice girl. Rinuccio's gonna be whipped, if you know what I mean. We'll work harder on giving each of the relatives a specific characterization. Zita's got it. Simone pretty much. Rinuccio great, well tone down the OSU football hero stance-and this boy knows how to sell the notes. Nella and La Ciesca I need to think about. No Jewish mother. Too clingy. No Irish mother, too aloof. Italian mother, eat but with a menacing undertone (mangia idiote!) Nella, at least rules the roost. Gherardo is a husband typical for 1299 and typical for today. Sweet, responsible and clueless.
I think we listen to singers differently today. Until the early 1960s one on one listening was less adulterated. IPODS, APPS (I had to ask tho years ago what the hell is an app) we didn't listen while doing something else. This appointment listening is endangered./ Tough for me since a lot of my producing involves 'appointment' style programming. We had radio, TV and film of course, but people were still used to hearing great singers-or any singers, either live or with most of their attention tuned to the performance. Years ago I knew a voice teacher with some fine students, but her mantra was "too big too big". She wanted an Elisabeth Schumann style delicacy in everything, which is fine if you're Elisabeth Schumann, but it ain't gonna help you sing Verdi. Most of us view today's technology as a blessing. A few of us see it as a barrier. We are more about the technology that enables us to listen than experiencing what we are hearing. That's part of the reason oldsters say "Oh there' no voices today. you should have heard Tebaldi." I did and she was glorious. Her generation of singers were monsters. They sang without fear, straight out, go-to-hell no shortcuts, filled with courage. Do singers today do the same? Yes! But the voices seem smaller and less characterful. Today's most famous soprano is a beautiful woman with a beautiful voice but to me she's dull. The gift three notes are gorgeous and twenty minutes later so are the last one. There's no risk.
Tebaldi, Del Monaco, Stignani, Merrill, Warren, Tucker, Callas all planted themselves on stage and sang and sang. They loved their own voices, the knew the texts and they cared about what they were doing. The audience sensed this. Many singers today are no different but we hear them differently and they hear themselves differently--ears have been readjusted, diluted if you will, by smaller attention spans and technology
.
I tell singers today. Sing! Don' be afraid! Take risks! In an interview elsewhere on this blog, Licia Albanese told me, "I tell young singers make mistakes! Take risks and use the text!" This from Toscanini's Mimi and Violetta (still going strong today at 100)
I also think some current teachers either distrust a student with a big voice or don't know what to do with it.
Because a huge voice in the current technology may be thought vulgar. (When the hell is opera not vulgar. Do you think the Count was trying to draw Susanna a picture?) Don't forget. You are STILL singing primarily for the live audience.In a 3,000 seat house, less is not more. More is more.
It's my custom to keep a diary when working outside the studios, so welcome to The Gianni Schicchi Diary!
The good people at Opera Project Columbus have asked me to direct their production of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. Tonight is the first staging rehearsal.
This one act delight is Puccini's only comedy. It is part of three one act operas (Il trittico-The Triptych) the world premier of which was given in New York at the Metropolitan Opera n December 14, 1918. The world was in the mood to celebrate one month after the armistice was signed.
Giuseppe DeLuca , the first Gianni Schicchi
Il tabarro and Suor Angelica were qualified successes. Gianni Schicchi was a bona fide hit. W.J. Henderson, dean of music critics for the New York Times, was gentle with the first two operas but called GS "one of the most delightful bits every put on the opera stage".
The libretto is by Gioacchino Forzano. The basis is an episode, a few lines really, from Dante's Divina Commedia. In the XXX canto, we encounter Gianni Schicchi, who had advised Simone, relative of Buoso Donati on amending an unsatisfactory will. In so doing, Schicchi is consigned by Dante to hell. Some of this story reflects Dante's own antipathy toward the 'peasant class' and especially of his wife's family, the Donati.
What's not to love with this 45 minute opera? You get a deliciously nasty family, a dead guy on stage for much of the action, a 'peasant', his daughter who sings a big hit:
"Un Donati sposare un figlia di villano?! cries Simone, the elder of the family.
A Donati, to marry the daughter of a peasant?!
That's just one of several great lines in this opera.
Splendida Firenze!
When the will is found and read leaving all of Buoso's property to the monks, his cousin Zita, a hateful old lady grumbles:
Ch l'avrrebe mai detto che quando Buoso andava al cimitero si sarebbe pianto per daverro!
Who could have told that once Buoso went to the cemetery, we'd be crying for real!
Gianni Schicchi arrives with his daughter Lauretta. She's usually portrayed as a sweet, innocent girl. I think she's more of a princess. Daaaaaadddy!
Schicchi's first line is one of my favorites in all opera:
Quale aspetto sgomenta e desolato
Buoso Donati certo e migliorato
What a lot of sad looks
Buoso Donati must be getting better
I've directed Suor Angelica and yes. I loved it and yes I cried, nice Catholic boy that I am.
But now we get down and dirty, and we have fun. Newsflash: Opera can be fun!
Opera Project Columbus was formed to give local singers an opportunity to perform. We have a terrific cast
Alessandro Siciliani. Opera can be fun!
for this production: attractive, talented and a world class baritone for the tile role. And our conductor?
Alessandro Siciliani, former music director of the Columbus Symphony, veteran of the New York City Opera and the Met, not forgetting a slew of Italian opera houses. Alessandro is Florentine himself. Watching him dart around at rehearsal coaching the Italian texts has been the joy of my late spring. He gets all of the inflection and double meanings unavailable at first to non native speakers.
The big challenge of this staging is not musical, its the venue. We have a small stage, and no pit. With the orchestra onstage we're going to use the house more than the stage. You may be sitting next to Rinuccio as he pours out his love for Lauretta, or Simone or Zita as they scheme away Buoso's money. Gianni Schicchi might pick your pocket.
Performances June 14 and 16.
Check back here for more dish.
First staging rehearsal is tonight.
Needn't be "classical". Janis Joplin and Adele would make my list.
Please leave your own choices on this blog. I want to make a collection over the next month to encourage myself and others to listen to one and other's choices. Don't be shy. There are no wrong answers.
A listener died and left me crates and crates of back issues of OPERA NEWS.
So all of these crates were a rich play ground for me.
I first received this magazine in 1968 at age 12 and have been a subscriber ever since. But I manage to hang on to very few.
(Wife: You are NOT
bringing that shit in here!")
I rediscovered one of my favorite issues, from 1999 which asked the question up in the title. Other sings were asked. Peters loved Sutherland. Moffo loved Callas and de los Angeles. Horne loved del Monaco, Stignani and Tebaldi. Hampson loved De Luca. Farrell loved Ponselle. Chookasian loved Farrell.
I've been listening a lot over the past weeks trying to gather my own list. Its impossible. Like the ol' potato chips, its impossible to choose just one.
With one exception, I limited myself to only one voice I never heard live. I could have, had I gone to Russia, as this artist lived to a great age and was reportedly still singing well at the end of his life:
PAVEL LISITSIAN (1911-2004)
This rich voiced Armenian baritone seldom appeared outside the old Soviet Union. Reports would come back form the USSR and Europe about the Armenian baritone with the beautiful voice. This is The Greatest Voice I Did NOT Hear Live
Lisitsian sang a lot of Italian Opera-in Russian-Rigoletto, Germont, Amonasro. He sang a lot of lieder and art song, always in Russian translation. Remember up until fifty years or so ago vocal music was generally sung in the language of the audience. I chose Yeletsky's aria to show you Lisitsian's gorgeous legato, and I always enjoy hearing a great voice sing in his own language. What a Great Voice!
Hold the phone, here. What's the criteria for a GREAT voice. Vocal beauty/quality? Diction?
Characterization? All of it. Every scrap. A beautiful voice that says nothing is a bore. A flawed voiced used expressively (Callas, Sills) can be very exciting. A stentorian, exiting voice with nothing much behind it can be dull . I want to hear a sound ion which to wallow and a wonderful legato.
CARLO BERGONZI (b. 1924)
I heard this tenor live many times. It was late for him, but she made no cuts, never dodged a note, never cheated. Pavarotti cancelled his apeearance at a gala in New York in 1996. Bergonzi, then 72 walked out unexpectedly. The place went bananas before he uttered a sound. It was not a young man's voice and the top notes weren't rock solid in his prime. Never mind. Carlo Bergonzi kept the line and sweetness of tone.
Here's Bergonzi in 1970:
And the winner is....
This voice never failed. It was louder, richer, high and faster than anyone else. he one thing you don't get in recordings is the most important element: Presence. Birgit Nilsson's voice was an arrow aimed right between your eyes. Pavarotti could sing a piano than projected beautifully to the cheap seats. Marlyn Horne made the most fiendish music sound easy-and magnificent. She never cheated, either.
But THIS voice. I don't think there will ever be another like her. There will be, and their are magnificent voices but this artist could sing it all. And again, the voice was huge and warm in person, elements hard to capture on recordings.
DAME JOAN SUTHERLAND (1926-2010)
Dame Joan. And still champ.
Isn't this hard? What about Pavarotti, Caballe, Domingo, Horne, Janet Baker, Merrill, Pape, Leontyne Price...oh wait I have room fotr an encore. This vocie and this specific performance are incredible. Enjoy:
Who are your great voices? Leave your choices here:
It's hard to know what to say about Boston and what to say about April 19th
That's Patriot's Day, little known outside New England. It's a state holiday in Massachusetts: no school, no work, parades, pancake breakfasts, battle reenactments and scads of hula hoops and tri-corn hats.
The American Revolution began with the battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775, around 5 a.m. People in Concord MA will tell you the American Revolution began there at Concord Bridge. Yes the battle continued in Concord, but those of us from Lexington have long allowed our neighbors to rave on.
April 19 became a "Monday holiday" years ago. I'll say this for Concord, their celebration has always kept to the actual date. The Boston marathon is run on Patriot's Day. For me the day was magic as well because the Metropolitan Opera always opened their spring tour at the War Memorial Auditorium, close to the finish line. The War Memorial was great for the boat show and bad for the opera but one made do.;
In short, April 19 or the Monday closest to it was a time for celebration. It was a great day. Now look
what's happened
April 19, 1989 rape and beating of the Central Park Jogger
April 19, 1993 David Koesh and the Branch Davidians firebombed in Waco, TX
April 19, 1995 Timothy McVeigh blows up the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City killing nearly 200, many of them children
April 15 (for the 19th) Bombing at the Boston Marathon, killing three including an eight year old child, injuring many others. On e police officer killed later that night.
I don't know what the good burghers of Boston and Lexington are going to do about Patriot's Day in the future. My guess is a rousing fuck you to those who would use this or any day for violence.
But the day is tainted by violence by the sick and deranged toward the innocent . And yes, I know all about the U.S. bombing Baghdad and the horror of Vietnam.
I have a number of unhappy memories of growing up in Lexington-not the town's fault! I have only wonderful memories of Boston. All through Jr. high and high school, Boston to me meant freedom. I often skipped school to crash Sarah Caldwell's rehearsal at the Opera Co. of Boston (theater in the combat zone...yay!) to sit in the Boston Public Library Meeting Room, to eat pizza in a dive on Boylston Street-almost smack in what became the bombing site-and to go to X rated movies since I could pass for 21.
I would get off the Red Line at Charles St., and walk down to the public garden. I loved that walk down Charles Street to this day. That walk was my Freedom Trail. I would walk all over the city, by myself and loved every minute of it. Even if I did nothing else, walking through Boston never disappointed me.
A dear friend , a city, has been wounded. People have been killed and badly hurt. I wish I could be there just to walk around again. Boston is beautiful and for me was filled with opportunity. I lived in the city, I went to B.U. and I had escapades I shudder to remember. And enjoy remembering as well. What a time! What a city!
I generally delay writing program notes for late in the week, and I usually use another blog. I 'm giving
pre-concert talks on the Brahms Requiem this year, and with the bombing in Boston can't wait any longer in expressing my devotion to this work.
Trinity Church, Boston
I first heard Ein deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms at Boston's Trinity Church, about thirty-five years ago. Trinity is one of those magnificent stone structures built by the Brahmins.It's house of worship as awe inspiring as the grandiose banks of the day were meant to be. Trinity Church is also quite close to the bomb site at the Boston Marathon of two days ago. I heard the performance back in the day with friends who were much smarter, more serious and better informed about life than I ever was. My post adolescent cynicism was mightily challenged by the beauty, both simple and grand of this music in such impressive surroundings. There was organ, and oh, mighty it was, no orchestra and a large choir. I was hooked.
Johannes Brahms
Brahms was a German Protestant. There's no earth shaking rabble rousing call to punishment and death favored by the Latin liturgy. No Dies irae here: "The day of wrath will dissolve the earth into ashes".
Brahms assembled the texts himself, from Luther's bible. He uses the psalms, the apocrypha, Revelations, Ecclesiastes and parts of the Gospels and Letters of Paul. There is no mention of God, Jesus or any reference to the deity anywhere. If the opening music is dark, it is a darkness of reverence rather than of fear. The first words come from Matthew:
Seling sind, die da Leid tragen, denn sie sollen getrostet werden Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted
It goes on: Die mit Tranen saen, werden mit Freude enten They that sow in tears shall reap in joy
To say that nothing in the Brahms Requiem hit s you over the head unexpectedly is a compliment. There are unpredictable harmonies if you want to dig enough (I don't) The fifth movement, a soprano solo was added by Brahms after the premiere. This may be a nod to Christiane Brahms, the composer's mother, who died as work on the Requiem began. Brahms denied for years any association with his mother's memory. Yet here he sets,
Ich will euch trosten, wie einen seine Mutter trostet I will comfort you as one whom his mother comforteth (Isaiah 66:13)
Robert and Clara Schumann
There's another specter at work.. Robert Schumann died in 1856. A few years earlier, as sketches for the Requiem began, Schumann threw himself into the river in an attempted suicide. Tertiary syphilis destroyed his mind. He was eventually hospitalized and starved himself to death. Schumann, renowned as a great composer in his lifetime, was an astute music critic, and knew a winner when he found one. He was young Brahms's mentor and father figure. Things go all the more complicated when the young Brahms became infatuated by Clara Schumann. Yes, she assumed a maternal role-she had six children of her own-and she it was to whom Brahms showed many a sketch that eventually became great symphony or concerto. It is evident that Brahms's feelings for his paternal friend's life were complicated and uncomfortable. Cara Schumann lived to a great age dying in 1896 a year before Brahms and some years older than the composer who both idolized and needed her.
Shall we decide that the third movement is about Robert Schumann? If I could sing at all, I would want to sing this: Herr, lehre doch mich, dass ein Ende mit mir haben muss Lord, make me to know there must be and end to me
The entire work opens with Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. The German Requiem ends over an hour later with
Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herrn sterben Blessed are the dead, that die in the Lord form henceforth
And only at the end of this great work are the dead comforted, the previous hour taken up with comforting the living.
