MET Opera Opening Night Anna Bolena

[whipped guy]

Did anyone catch the webcast of the MET's opening night Anna Bolena? Or better yet, was anyone fortunate enough to see it in the house? I completely forgot about listening... However, I should have realized that tonight was the night as there was a MET Opera category on Jeopardy this evening as well. Interestingly, I checked the chat room on the MET's website and there was not a single word posted. In any event, this inquiring mind would be curious to learn if Anna Netrebko sang a better Anna Bolena than she did in Vienna a few months ago...

[Kevin Slater]

Walking through Times Square, I was impressed with the effort they put into the free public broadcast. Velvet ropes, ushers, red carpet and all. It was quite a blast to watch just a few moments of the production on my way to a booking.

 

Kevin Slater

[LouieD]

The opera critic for the Washington Post saw the performance and gave it a blistering review in this morning's paper.

[+ Italiano]

The opera critic for the Washington Post saw the performance and gave it a blistering review in this morning's paper.

 

And from what I heard from Ms Netrebko's links on youtube of that evening, she well deserves the less than lukewarm review!

But to me it wasn't a surprise.

[whipped guy]

I just got around to reading a number of reviews and none were totally ecstatic… some were quite complimentary in a cool sort of way, while others were downright negative. Somehow I tend to believe the Washington Post reviewer…Of course he was using the gold standard for this role as the means of comparison… namely Maria Callas… and perhaps that was not quite fair. Still, we are talking the MET… and opening night at the MET to boot!

 

Based on past experiences with Netrebko and Bel Canto, I have always noted a lack of attention to the small items… that which the general public might not notice, but the true aficionado would be looking for. Yes, the small details that set the not-so and almost great from the truly great… in fact all the things that made Maria Callas (in spite of what one thinks of her vocal production per se) Maria Callas.

 

It is incredulous that Netrebko is apparently not working with a coach that would set her straight, and get her to work up to her potential. Unless of course, she is already at the peak of her game… but still I can’t believe that with a bit more effort she could achieve something far greater than the mediocrity she has shown in the Bel Canto repertory. Shoot! I as a mere opera lover would be able to give her all sorts of hints. I can only imagine what a practiced professional coach would be able to impart!

 

The final line of that Washington Post review sums things up perfectly: “If she approached the part with the focus and commitment of a Maria Callas, or if opera companies today actually invested time in helping singers to master the music they’re performing, the evening might have been a whole lot better.”

 

At any rate, I will be seeing this in a couple of weeks… first with Netrebko and then with Angela Mead as the doomed queen. I will be keeping an open mind and will be hoping that some improvements will have emerged since opening night.

[+ Italiano]

At any rate, I will be seeing this in a couple of weeks… first with Netrebko and then with Angela Mead as the doomed queen. I will be keeping an open mind and will be hoping that some improvements will have emerged since opening night.

 

I have seen 5 productions of Anna Bolena, from the (in)famous Visconti revival of 1982 at La Scala to a concert version at Carnegie Hall in 2003, and I have honestly to say that apart from some beautiful moments I always found it a bore. It is never so (well, some moments yes) when I listen to the live recording from 1957 with you-know-who. Same thing it has happened to me seeing a production of Medea at Covent Garden in 1989, and even if I never saw an exciting lead in Norma, I still enjoyed the opera, and I have had a few occasions where I loved a soprano in Lucia, Tosca, Macbeth, Gioconda, Trovatore, Turco in Italia, Manon Lescaut, Butterfly, where "you-know-who" was a sublime interpreter.

 

To me this means that operas like Anna Bolena and Medea were rarely performed in modern times until "she" revived them and have been rarely performed and never been a success after "her"....for some reason! Without her or someone like her (who??...) they can't really survive per se.

You really need that special/unique combination of technical resources and fantastic personality that is definitely precluded generally to sopranos with beautiful voices, generic interpretation skills and good-but-nothing special technique.

 

"She" spoiled us, damn her!!

[whipped guy]

Damn "you know who"! "She" did indeed spoil us!

I remember having a conversation a number of years ago with an employee in a local record store… which employee went on to having a career as a reviewer for a noted musical publication. He was amazed that I stated that once I had heard Callas in a role it was not only impossible to get her out of my mind, but virtually nobody else seemed to satisfy me totally after that. Not that I would not be able to enjoy and appreciate the efforts of others… but somehow they would always seem to be in the shadow, and if their achievement was virtually as great it was at the very least an achievement of a different sort… a kind of separate but equal concept so to speak.

 

Now when relating this to the Bel Canto repertory things become a bit more central to the problem of performing these works for audiences who have experienced later composers such as Verdi, Puccini, and I dare say even Wagner. The Bel Canto composers wrote their works for phenomenal singers… and it is the singers upon whom the burden is placed in this operas. Without world-class singers the operas can fall flat. With later composers the dramatic thrust and brilliant orchestrations can often carry the day… but with their seemingly lightly orchestrated (by still quite appropriate) instrumental palettes the Bel Canto operas rely more heavily on the vocal components for success… and by vocal components I mean both the dramatic and the technical.

 

Just look at the opening night casts of many of these operas and it often reads like a who’s who of the then operatic firmament. That even those works written for second string players can often pose phenomenal vocal and dramatic difficulties speaks to the high level of artistry present at the time. In other words, all these works suffer from the Il Trovatore complex… an opera about which it has been said simply needs the four greatest singers in the world to be performed properly. That Trovatore is an opera that was strongly influenced by the Bel Canto style certainly makes such an analysis quite apropos.

 

Without great singing most Bel Canto operas fall flat and can indeed be a bore. At any rate, one of the reviews of Anna Bolena complained that in the MET's production the tenor’s second act aria “Vivi tu” was performed when it was a bit superfluous to the action and as such is often indeed cut in performances… However, when one remembers that the lead tenor at the première was Giovanni Rubini (the 1830 superstar who was the Pavarotti of his day) one realizes that that seemingly unessential piece of music was there to showcase the talents of an exceptional artist. The same argument can be made for all the leading roles in the opera and no more so than the title role itself which was composed for the phenomenal Giuditta pasta… and that singer was the “you know who” of her day!

 

I think that explains it all!

 

Incidentally in 1957 when “she” sang Anna Bolena the great Giulietta Simionato was there to partner “her” as Giovanna Seymour. Those two artists supply the most exciting portions of the performance, and that more or less proves my point…