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Re: Amazing (Reply to this comment)
by smorg
Hiya Letta,
Thanks, matie! I'm very honored. :o)
O, opera can be very addictive, I think. It took me a while to really get into it, but once I did it really is an amazing new field of exploration.
The opera singers are really amazing. They sing all these mind-blowingly difficult music loud enough to be heard from the farthest seat in the opera house over the full-size orchestra... un-microphoned. All the while keeping up with the conductor and acting believably on-stage.... for hours! And they get paid so little compared to the lip-syncing pop musicians... so I'm very happy to be able to get them more exposure to unfamiliar audience, one reader at a time. ;o)
Thanks a bunch for stopping by! Hope your week has started well!
Cheers,
Smorgy :o)
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Jul 08 '07
9:14 pm PDT
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Amazing (Reply to this comment)
by grandgram
This is the opera world and the reading was amazing even the comment sections. Yes when you can't play golf you have to educate yourself in some new areas and opera was it today.
Thanks I now have your alerts.
Letta
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Jul 07 '07
6:30 am PDT
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Re: Late... (Reply to this comment)
by smorg
Hey Vasilis!
It's never too late to hear from a friend, bro. :o)
It's hard for me to imagine myself broadening your horizon, considering you've seen many more horizons than I have! I really should look up the history of Gaul now that I've reviewed Norma.... but currently I'm too lazy a slug to start reading a new book (still trying to finish 2 at the moment).
I wish the History Channel on TV here would help me out by airing a program on it... but then they also aired a program propagandizing the JFK conspiracy theory a while back without presenting any debunking evidence (they did show another program debunking the conspiracy theory a day or two later, but what if some naive kid only saw the first one?)... so I would still have to look things up even if they do show a program on Gaul.. Drats!!
Anyhow! We're celebrating Father's Day here Sunday, so I'm sending ya' a very Happy Father's Day wish from sunny San Diego, too. Thanks for stopping by and have a great Sunday, bro!
Cheers,
Smorgy :o)
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Jun 16 '07
5:13 pm PDT
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Late... (Reply to this comment)
by lammet
as expected. And fulfilled as expected. Smorg, your submissions are quite something. Thanks once more for broadening my knowledge on things worthy.
-Vasilis
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Jun 16 '07
4:11 am PDT
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Hiya everyone! (Reply to this comment)
by smorg
OHCAPABLANCA: In the summer of 1960 I was – That is as close as I ever came to that diva or that opera in the flesh. – Thanks for your penetrating review. You also mentioned I PURITANI. FYI: that is clearly a Walter Scott opera!
Wow! Thanks for sharing that with us, mate! I really would have loved to experience La Divina live (or at least be in the same town) once. She and a few other great singing actresses. :o)
O, and I totally forgot about I Puritani when I thought of Sir Walter Scott. Old Immortality is reportedly only a secondary source for that work, though, the main chunk being from a French play, ‘Tetes rondes et Cavaliers’. I think the Walter Scott influence is in Elvira’s mad scene there (though not as mad as Lucia’s in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor).
Now that you’ve mentioned it, I’ve better have a brush up on my DVD of the thing. I’, in for a good evening already. Thanks!! :o)
A: It's interesting how you mention Norma's range of emotions, almost like a catharsis. The way you describe this opera makes it almost (but not quite) more reminiscent of a Greek tragedy. – I did notice your hats: congratulations! It's about time the website noticed your outstanding contributions! I take it if you rate and comment on a lot of music, you will soon be an advisor as well. Nice!
Thanks, mate! It is a very tragic story indeed. And one of the most humane, I think. A lot of the operatic dive aren’t all that relatable to common folks, but Norma is. She could be anyone of us... especially when she’s sung by the likes of Callas, whose flawed voice was a godsend in driving home all the things Norma experiences through out the opera. She could be angelic, saintly, loving, angry, murderous, hateful, wicked, heroic... all very convincingly thanks to how she used the many colors of her voice.... and she was of Greek descent. Maybe there’s a gene for that!! ;oP
Thanks for the congrats, too! I’m really not up to wearing ‘Advisor’ hat or any other hats that come with more responsibility than just posting good reviews, though. I don’t know how you guys keep up with them, write great reviews, and still manage to have a real life, too! Amazing! :o)
Mike: I wonder if any Klingons eavesdrop from two galaxies away on your cyberspace ramblings, Smorgy. In any case, your discussion here was stellar – Aside from the "'1974' Caballe’" Norma DVD that you mentioned, I became aware of (but haven't yet viewed) the following DVDs: a "'1981' Sutherland/Bonynge" (performance with the Canadian Opera); and a "June Anderson" with Biondi conducting. Have you seen the latter two, too?
Ha! If they did they’re probably sound asleep from the length of it by now, mate! ;o) Nah, I haven’t seen the DVDs of Sutherland and Anderson yet. I’ve seen clips from the Sutherland’s, tho... but not enough to really have an opinion on it. I didn’t really take to Dame Joan’s Lucia di Lammermoor until I saw the DVD of it (visual elements do help sometimes, especially when the singer isn’t very stellar at projecting emotions in the voice itself). :o)
Frances: It sounds like a beautiful Opera with a really great story. I would really like to hear this opera sometime. The way you described it made it sound so sublimely beautiful that I just must see it!
Hey, I hope you’ll get to see a good production of this thing one day, Frances. :o) A truly good Norma is a rare thing (gotta have the best singers for all 3 leads, and a sensitive conductor in the orchestra pit). I think the Callas 㣛 and 㣠 CDs are the best recordings, but the Sutherland/Horne and the Gruberova/Garanca ones are wonderful as well. On DVD... the best one is the one with Montserrat Caballe.... though the most recent release from Munich with Gruberova/Ganassi is also very good (in very different ways; the Caballe is more traditionally staged, while the Gruberova is more conceptual).
Stephen: I think bel canto is about voice, and I can understand Dame Joan's attitude "With a voice like mine why should I bother to do more than let it was over audiences?" Callas was a great actress, Sutherland was the very voice of bel canto for more than a generation (and Horne her mezzo complement more than a few times).
Thanks for accompanying me through the broken glass, mate. ;o) Yup, Dame Joan had a perfect voice for bel canto opera indeed. I like her in most recordings, but when I find ones with Callas in good voice in it, I go for the Kunst Diva instead of the Stimme Diva most of the time.
Ricardo: I thought that "Tosca" was the ultimate Italian opera. But my favorite is Rossini's "Barber of Seville," especially the calumny aria.
Ah! Those 2 are great opera indeed, mate. Very different style. Tosca is a dramatic opera while Il barbiere is a bel canto. Norma is a mix of the two, I think. A true bel canto music with great dramatic potential. There are many great Tosca and Rosina, but a good Norma comes around once in a blue moon, I think. :o)
T:I've got the Gruberova-Garanca CD, which I've yet to fully savour (listened to a few times only, but need lots more time to appreciate fully - easier now that I'm armed with this wonderful backgrounder on the work), and can't wait to read your take on the new DVD - to which Gramophone has given high praise! –– I think people should just stop with the tiresome Callas comparisons already – In fact, one diva said that Callas spoiled it for everyone who came after her - so many ruined their voices attempting to replicate her numerous and varied role-singing! (As for me, I'm still not entirely persuaded by my unschooled ears about the beauty of her vocal - expressiveness, yes, but for now it's tonal aesthetics my ears seek. Perhaps with more time)
Hiya T! You know San Diego isn’t quite hip in the opera world when the current issue of Gramophone still hasn’t arrived to the newsstand here yet! (I’m not a subscriber, but browse through it when I go to Borders Book). I'm glad to hear that they gave her a rave review indeed. She truly deserves it.
I would put the ‘spoiling’ on the shoulder of the Callas-imitators instead of on La Divina, really... And also on the idiotic fans who can’t seem to appreciate anyone else without saying ‘but she’s no Callas.’ Callas did her job so well that the public was captivated and identified her performance of many lead roles as the gold standard. And as you’ve pointed out how not so pretty her voice was, that was a remarkable achievement and a mark of a truly great opera singer. They know how to use their ‘flaws’ to their advantage. I wish the dive who came after her would seek to bring their own interpretation to the table, but many of them ended up imitating her style (all the while protesting the Callas comparison... I wonder if they really believe that they aren’t imitating her sometimes).
That’s one thing that really endears me to the likes of Astrid Varnay (who didn’t sing anything like her idol Kirsten Flagstad did) or Edita Gruberova (who didn’t earn the nickname of L’Unica for nothing) or Vesselina Kasarova (whose personal stamp on each role makes her identifiable within the first 2 notes you hear in any role). Originality is the only way to allow a singer to be judged on his/her own merits.... vocally or physically...
I think it was a combination of things that ruined many voices that came after Callas... and La Divina’s herself. As Stephen pointed out, that rapid weight-loss had a lot to do with it, eroding out the muscles that used to provide breath-support. A lot of the Callas imitators not only sang her roles, but they also go for the look as well (examples: Renata Scotto, Lucia Aliberti, etc). To her credit, Callas did try to protect her own voice in extreme cases, and she wasn’t well rewarded for it. Rudolf Bing tried to impose 2 very different roles on her with no break period, and when she refused, he humiliated her in public by firing and banning her from the Met. And when she was pressured into giving an extra, unscheduled performance to the benefit of some politico, and then had to cancel after an act due to illness, La Scala banned her for life. Callas wasn’t a saint by any mean, but she wasn’t as bad as some egotistical opera directors made her out to be either. And that L’affaire Onassis .... Stephen’s right there, that dude was totally not worth it.
Anyhow, better get off the soap box before a Tebaldi fan shows up. ;o) Thanks a bunch for stopping by, matie! It’s always a treat hearing from ya’.
Thanks for stopping by, mates! Hope your week is going well!
Cheers,
Smorgy :o)
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Jun 12 '07
3:38 pm PDT
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The Day Maria Callas Did Not Sing NORMA (Reply to this comment)
by aohcapablanca
Dear Smorg,
AOHCAPABLANCA here.
In the summer of 1960 I was between a Fulbright year in Vienna studying Aristotle and a semester beginning Japanese in Yokosuka. Where better for a budding "classical philologist" to spend a summer than in Greece, mainly Athens.
But I did play the tourist as well via some bus tours. One hot day we, mainly Americans including some notably pushy, noisy extremely discontented ones, zipped in and out of Napolis in Peloponesus. Police everywhere. Only one narrow road in and out. The great Callas was to sing NORMA that evening. We could see moored off shore atop deep blue salt water Ari Onassis's yacht where she was lodged.
We toured the amphitheatre and watched cushions being set on the stone seats for the performance. But as our bus pulled out and hundred of others pulled in, it began to ... hush, I kid you not ... rain! Later, meteorologists reported that it had not rained in that locale on that day for nearly a century. And this was more than mist. It was a gully washer. Result: no NORMA.
That is as close as I ever came to that diva or that opera in the flesh.
Thanks for your penetrating review. You also mentioned I PURITANI. FYI: that is clearly a Walter Scott opera!
Cheers!
AOHCAPABLANCA 06/12/2007
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Jun 12 '07
10:38 am PDT
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A Classic (Reply to this comment)
by bettega
It's interesting how you mention Norma's range of emotions, almost like a catharsis. The way you describe this opera makes it almost (but not quite) more reminiscent of a Greek tragedy.
I did notice your hats: congratulations! It's about time the website noticed your outstanding contributions! I take it if you rate and comment on a lot of music, you will soon be an advisor as well. Nice!
Take care
A
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Jun 12 '07
7:05 am PDT
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I wonder if any (Reply to this comment)
by henry_thoreau,  in Music
"Klingons eavesdrop from two galaxies away" on your cyberspace ramblings, Smorgy. In any case, your discussion here was stellar.
P.S.: Aside from the "'1974' Caballe’" Norma DVD that you mentioned, I became aware of (but haven't yet viewed) the following DVDs: a "'1981' Sutherland/Bonynge" (performance with the Canadian Opera); and a "June Anderson" with Biondi conducting. Have you seen the latter two, too? If so, what were your impressions?
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Jun 11 '07
6:17 pm PDT
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Wow! (Reply to this comment)
by countess_eva
It sounds like a beautiful Opera with a really great story. I would really like to hear this opera sometime. The way you described it made it sound so sublimely beautiful that I just must see it!
- Frances
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Jun 11 '07
12:11 pm PDT
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Re: Re: What about "La Stupenda"? (Reply to this comment)
by Stephen_Murray, in Music
OK, you won't have to crawl across broken glass to atone!
I think bel canto is about voice, and I can understand Dame Joan's attitude "With a voice like mine why should I bother to do more than let it was over audiences?" Callas was a great actress, Sutherland was the very voice of bel canto for more than a generation (and Horne her mezzo complement more than a few times).
(And I think it was precipitous weight loss rather than number of roles that wrecked Callas's voice along with not taking care of it as she lived operatic passion for a totally unworthy object offstage.)
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Jun 11 '07
10:37 am PDT
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Not "ultimate" as in last (Reply to this comment)
by Ricardo_Ramos
I thought that "Tosca" was the ultimate Italian opera. But my favorite is Rossini's "Barber of Seville," especially the calumny aria.
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Jun 11 '07
10:01 am PDT
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^ (Reply to this comment)
by virtuelle2
An excellent introduction to 'Norma', this is! (Speaking like Yoda now, aren't I?) Oh, record companies should hire you to write the CD liner notes, as these are some of the most lucid and enjoyable writeups on opera!
I've got the Gruberova-Garanca CD, which I've yet to fully savour (listened to a few times only, but need lots more time to appreciate fully - easier now that I'm armed with this wonderful backgrounder on the work), and can't wait to read your take on the new DVD - to which Gramophone has given high praise!
I think people should just stop with the tiresome Callas comparisons already - starting to grate on my nerves. There's more than one way to 'skin a diva'...as a certain friend of mine once joked ;)
! In fact, one diva (in that Diva book, can't recall who) said that Callas spoiled it for everyone who came after her - so many ruined their voices attempting to replicate her numerous and varied role-singing! (As for me, I'm still not entirely persuaded by my unschooled ears about the beauty of her vocal - expressiveness, yes, but for now it's tonal aesthetics my ears seek. Perhaps with more time....)
Given the challenges posed by the written music, I am even more impressed with Frau Gruberova's success as Norma!
Awaiting the DVD review, I remain,
Ever your humble student and worshipper,
~ T.
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Jun 11 '07
5:25 am PDT
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Re: What about "La Stupenda"? (Reply to this comment)
by smorg
Drats! I knew I was forgetting someone!!
Thanks, Stephen. Must add La Stupenda to the list pronto or her fans will set my pad on fire with flame mails. I must confess that I really listen to the Sutherland recording more for the Adalgisa of Marilyn Horne, tho. Somehow Dame Joan doesn't quite do it dramatically for me, but man... what a voice she had and what ease she sang Norma with indeed!
I hope I'll have time to visit Bellini's house next summer when I'll invade Europe. You sure have been around, mate! :o)
Thanks a bunch for stopping by. Back to the editing page I go.
Cheers,
Smorgy :o)
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Jun 10 '07
10:46 pm PDT
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What about "La Stupenda"? (Reply to this comment)
by Stephen_Murray, in Music
This was really the signature role for Dame Joan.
I like "I Puritani" more than "Norma," though "Casta diva" is difficult to top.
And I made a pilgrimage to Bellini's burial place in the Catania Cathedral, though didn't have time to see more than the outside of his house there.
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Jun 10 '07
10:25 pm PDT
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