MET Opera Opening Night L'Elisir d'Amore

[whipped guy]

Did anyone here attend the MET's season opening of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore either in the house or via the transmissions to Times Square or Lincoln Center Plaza? In the past I have generally enjoyed Bartlett Sher's MET productions of operas by Rossini and Offenbach. Donizetti would seem to fit easily into the Sher equation... but most reviews while being generally favorable as far as the singers are concerned that have not been ecstatic as far as the staging, scenery, and costumes are concerned. In any event, the staging seems to be traditional and unobtrusive... the exact opposite of last season's Le Comte Ory, which some critics though of as being "over the top". I guess it's hard to please everyone.

[hornytwells]

I was there in the house, and agree with every word of Anne Midgette's review in the Washington Post

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/opera-lelisir-damore-at-the-metropolitan/2012/09/25/1afd5cbc-074d-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83bf_story.html

[sydneyboy]

What a light weight piece for the Met to open its season.

[operalover21]

A lightweight piece to open the MET? What do you think the gown-clad and tuxedo-wearing crowd wants? 5 hours of tragedy? Anyway, it was pure happenstance that this work opened the MET. As everyone knows, it was supposed to be a new production of EUGENE ONEGIN. That fell through but they had contracts with Kwiecien, Polenzani and Netrebko and they didn't want to lose the singers. They were going to replace that crappy old production of ELISIR anyway, so, voila, that's why we have it for the opening.

 

I think the production is a typical middle-of-the-road Sher production. Nothing to offend, nothing too pleasing. It mostly stays out of the way of the singers. Could it have been better? Yes. Was it a disaster? No. I realize that's a low standard but there you have it.

 

The singing was top notch throughout. It almost erased memories of the Damraw/Florez/Kwiecien Elisir at the MET last season which was one of the season's highlights for me. I do think they need to re-think Polenzani's wig which was awful. Otherwise, it was an enjoyable evening and I highly recommend it.

[operalover21]

I was there in the house, and agree with every word of Anne Midgette's review in the Washington Post

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/opera-lelisir-damore-at-the-metropolitan/2012/09/25/1afd5cbc-074d-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83bf_story.html

 

 

Anna Midgette, the critic with the perfectly appropriate name. She's a buffoon. She writes like a woman who needs to go on a crystal meth trip or least get laid once in a while. She passes for a critic in an age when the level of arts criticism is lower than it's been since 1435.

[+ WilliamM]

Lightweight, I suppose, as compared to Wagner. I agree with operalover about the crowd at opening night at the Met.

 

I am seeing Elisir on Oct. 5--not my favorite opera, but I am looking forward to it.

 

Just to clarify I like Wagner, Berg AND Donizette operas, amongst many others.

[whipped guy]

Well... I am seeing L'Elisir on October 13... the performance that will be broadcast in theatres... but I am seeing it in the house. When I initially heard the L'Elisir would open the season I thought that the choice of Donizetti's classic comedy was a strange one (the reason was explained above by operalover21), but I was actually somewhat elated as Donizetti is one of my favorite composers and he was finally getting his due at the MET.

 

In any event, L'Elisir is one of my all time best-loved pieces... Just Dulcamara's opening aria alone is worth the price of admission... character painting at its best. Add the ensemble "Adina credimi" (the penultimate portion of the first act), plus "Una furtiva lagrima" (one of the top tenor arias of all time), and one has a gem of an opera in the making... No, it's not Gotterdammerung... and it may be a piece of fluff... but it's a lot of fun... beatuifully crafted fun... Kind of like the pleasure one gets from listening to a Strauss waltz as opposed to Mahler's Ninth... There is a place for both in this world.

 

As for the singing, I know what I like to hear in the piece... Among older singers... Luigi Alva and Carlo Bergonzi are my gold standards for Nemorino... Corena and Capecchi for Dulcamara... Panerai for Belcore... and for some reason a soprano who can pull off a decent Lucia.... Peters, Scotto, Devia, Swenson, Sutherland, etc. usually provides a satisfying Adina... I'll see how close the MET comes on Oct 13...

 

In any event, keep the comments coming... variety is the spice of life... plus we all "hear" differently...

[adriano46]

Glad to see this thread. I was planning on getting tickets, but I read so-so reviews, and so I will wait a few weeks and go to either La Nozze di Figaro or Turandot... I do like Donizetti but am not a fan of this particular opera so it shows the breadth of opera feelings. I had thought it was strange to open the season -- would have paid anything to see a new production of Eugene Onegin. I have to say I am not too thrilled with the overall choices for this current season, but that is purely my taste which runs to more Russian, German or French operas, although ANYTHING Puccini is fine too, and yet, oddly, I cannot stand Verdi... Can't explain it. I cannot sit through a single Verdi piece, and yet I know most of my opera-loving fans find Verdi much more interesting than Puccini...

[operalover21]

Glad to see this thread. I was planning on getting tickets, but I read so-so reviews, and so I will wait a few weeks and go to either La Nozze di Figaro or Turandot... I do like Donizetti but am not a fan of this particular opera so it shows the breadth of opera feelings. I had thought it was strange to open the season -- would have paid anything to see a new production of Eugene Onegin. I have to say I am not too thrilled with the overall choices for this current season, but that is purely my taste which runs to more Russian, German or French operas, although ANYTHING Puccini is fine too, and yet, oddly, I cannot stand Verdi... Can't explain it. I cannot sit through a single Verdi piece, and yet I know most of my opera-loving fans find Verdi much more interesting than Puccini...

 

DO NOT, DO NOT go to see Turandot with Guleghina. I saw it and it is a fright show. She screeches and screams her way through it and Marco Berti, the tenor, is awful. Go see anything else.

 

As for Onegin, that new production is being re-scheduled for opening night of the 2013-2014 season with Nebs as Tatiana. It's a shame really because the old Robert Carsen production may be the best production the MET currently has on the boards. But at least there is a DVD preserving it forever but I will be sorry to see it go.

 

Whipped: your standards for singers are high. But I must tell you that physically Sutherland couldn't pull of this role. I saw her do Fille at the MET some 40 years ago and she was awful. Couldn't act. When I saw the new Pelly production with Dessay (who was still in good vocal estate) all I could think of was how Sutherland couldn't have done it in a million years. Great singer, bad actress.

[+ Italiano]

Whipped: your standards for singers are high. But I must tell you that physically Sutherland couldn't pull of this role. I saw her do Fille at the MET some 40 years ago and she was awful. Couldn't act. When I saw the new Pelly production with Dessay (who was still in good vocal estate) all I could think of was how Sutherland couldn't have done it in a million years. Great singer, bad actress.

 

I have the feeling that whipped didn't see Sutherland singing Elisir live, she sings really beautifully in the recording with Pavarotti, but her totally non-hydiomatic use of words is always a huge problem for me. Anyway, having a high standard for singers is good, at least one doesn't fall for the absurd that Netrebko is the greatest soprano since Monteverdi began to write, notwithstanding her beautiful instrument....

 

And I never saw Guleghina singing Turandot but I would never go to see her in it! To me it's a big mystery the fame of this singer. Ok. She is loud...

[operalover21]

I have the feeling that whipped didn't see Sutherland singing Elisir live, she sings really beautifully in the recording with Pavarotti, but her totally non-hydiomatic use of words is always a huge problem for me. Anyway, having a high standard for singers is good, at least one doesn't fall for the absurd that Netrebko is the greatest soprano since Monteverdi began to write, notwithstanding her beautiful instrument....

 

And I never saw Guleghina singing Turandot but I would never go to see her in it! To me it's a big mystery the fame of this singer. Ok. She is loud...

 

I run hot and cold with Nebs. Sometimes she blows me away (the LA Juliette for instance) other times I just find her all wrong for the parts (Anna Bolena, Lucia, Puritani). I think she's singing mostly all the wrong roles. I don't get it. I'd kill to see her Butterfly but she says she'll never do it. Elsa in Lohengrin? Is she serious? Can't wait to hear her butcher German.

[whipped guy]

Regarding Sutherland... I saw her in La Fille in 1972...unfortunatley not with Pavarotti... but with John Alexander... I actually thought that she did a fine job within her acting limitations... and that included a cute dance sequence in the second act and an over-the top rendition of the lesson secne. She was also very moving in both of her minor key arias. Still like Xaf, her Italian has always bothered me...and often big time... but then again I look beyond that and whatever other faults.

 

Regarding L'Elisir... Sutherland recorded it but never sang it on stage and most likely would have looked ridiculous in the role... However, in purely vocal terms she was over-qualified for the part. It was recorded with Pavarotti as a sequel to their well received recording of La Fille. Sutherland is glorious, and incidentally interpolates a wildly virtuoso cabaletta in the last act. The piece was interpolated by Maria Malibran in the 1830's and I would assume Sutherland sings it transposed up a few notches into a much higher key so she can conclude the piece with a ringing high D. Great fun, but it really does not sound like anything that Donizetti would have composed... at least to my ears... though being of the same period it somewhat fits into the equation... and gives some insight as to how the opera might have been performed in Donizetti's day

 

As for Guleghina...I saw her a few years back in Norma... I recall that our buddy Raul G. Manzo saw that production as well... and it made him cry... Well, the end of the opera can make one cry... it is that moving... but Guleghina made me cry and wince at other points in the piece as well... Still, that final ensemble with it's rising pre-Tristan-like echos is sublime.

 

Getting back to Elisir... As I said a few posts back, those who can sing Lucia usually are satisfying in the simpler part of Adina... I thought Netrebko's Lucia was a disaster... but Adina is more her cup of tea... So in her case, unlike Sutherland, she is most definitely not over-qualified for the role... probably just qualified.... More like a Freni who really did not perform many Bel Canto operas, but excelled in other areas.

[hornytwells]

Hi whipped guy! Sutherland adds the Malibran cabaletta (which Malibran apparently composed for herself!) tranposed up a half tone so it ends on E flat (not D), which is also how she ends finale of Act 1. I love Netrebko''s voice, but what I couldn't stand about her Adina was the distinct lack of phrasing> She breathed in the middle of phrases, missed out whole words to make it easier and took breaths in the most unmusical places, suggesting she is not really committed to, or thinking about the text she sings. It is her sloppy slap dash approach to bel canto that makes her unsatisfying to my ear in this rep, not her actual instrument, which I feel is capable of attending to these bad habits if only she cared more.

[whipped guy]

Hey Horny! You are indeed correct... Sutherland sings the Malibran cabaletta in E-flat... and it is a glorious E-flat in alt that concludes the piece... as is the one that concludes the first act! I had a Donizettian brain freeze... it is the cabaletta "Nella pace" from Maria Stuarda that Sutherland transposes so it ends on a high D...

 

As for Netrebko... I totally agree... the instrument is gorgeous... but it is in the details... and it is those details that separate the mererly good from the exceptional... as when she ignored the long trill in her first act cabaletta in Don Pasquale or skipped the trills in her opening solo in I Puritani. I remember complaining about her Puritani Elvira and was lambasted because, "If you had seen her perform and act the role you would have thought otherwise"... or so I was told. Well eventually I did see the video... and her double hand stand over the prompter's box (or what ever the heck the trick she pulled off was called) didn't improve matters for me... As for the breaths, she did the same thing in Anna Bolena... nothing egregious... but I do recall the line being interrupted in ways and places that seemed a bit awkward... Still, her Anna was acceptable... and at least she attempted the all important trills which grace the role... and especially those in the final scene... I thought she was getting her Bel Canto act together with Bolena... I'm sorry to hear that she might have taken a step backward with her Adina. I guess I'll find out for myself in two weeks time.

 

One final Sutherland vs. Netrebko thought: You mention that Netrebko left out words and was not thinking about the text... well Sutherland may have had diction problems etc.... and her Italian might not have been that of a native... but she rarely changed words or skipped them etc. to make things easier...

[operalover21]

Hey Horny! You are indeed correct... Sutherland sings the Malibran cabaletta in E-flat... and it is a glorious E-flat in alt that concludes the piece... as is the one that concludes the first act! I had a Donizettian brain freeze... it is the cabaletta "Nella pace" from Maria Stuarda that Sutherland transposes so it ends on a high D...

 

As for Netrebko... I totally agree... the instrument is gorgeous... but it is in the details... and it is those details that separate the mererly good from the exceptional... as when she ignored the long trill in her first act cabaletta in Don Pasquale or skipped the trills in her opening solo in I Puritani. I remember complaining about her Puritani Elvira and was lambasted because, "If you had seen her perform and act the role you would have thought otherwise"... or so I was told. Well eventually I did see the video... and her double hand stand over the prompter's box (or what ever the heck the trick she pulled off was called) didn't improve matters for me... As for the breaths, she did the same thing in Anna Bolena... nothing egregious... but I do recall the line being interrupted in ways and places that seemed a bit awkward... Still, her Anna was acceptable... and at least she attempted the all important trills which grace the role... and especially those in the final scene... I thought she was getting her Bel Canto act together with Bolena... I'm sorry to hear that she might have taken a step backward with her Adina. I guess I'll find out for myself in two weeks time.

 

One final Sutherland vs. Netrebko thought: You mention that Netrebko left out words and was not thinking about the text... well Sutherland may have had diction problems etc.... and her Italian might not have been that of a native... but she rarely changed words or skipped them etc. to make things easier...

 

My problem with Sutherland (less so, obviously, on recordings), who I saw many times on stage, is that she rarely created a believable character. She was always just Joan Sutherland doing Lucia or Norma. She never just was Norma or Lucia. Now Netrebko often does the same thing with much less precise vocalism (to be kind) But after 40 plus years of opera-going I just want a lot more. I want characterization. Dessay or Mattila in their primes could be sing and make you believe they were creating a flesh and blood person on the stage.

 

Just last season, Mattila blew every other soprano on the roster off the stage with her Emily Marty. No other singer last season came even close to creating a real person on stage the way she did in that opera (okay, Patricia Racette did in Butterfly). That's what I want every time these days.

[whipped guy]

My problem with Sutherland (less so, obviously, on recordings), who I saw many times on stage, is that she rarely created a believable character. She was always just Joan Sutherland doing Lucia or Norma. She never just was Norma or Lucia.

That is true. Still, ironically for me Sutherland "live" either via recording or in the flesh always seemed to create more of a character than on her studio recordings... not that she was a Callas or even a Dessay in that regard... but there seemed to be more involvement with the personality that she was portraying. Her studio recordings find her often going through the motions to make things sound beautiful... and that was her forte... a beautiful even stream of sound... so in that regard her recordings prove to be quite satisfying when the visuals of a staging and character interaction are taken out of the equation. Also, Sutherland was further un"phono"genic regarding the fact that her recordings do not always reveal the size and amplitude of the voice... Still, we would have been poorer without her contributions... either on stage or via recording.

[hornytwells]

Sutherland did indeed have scant regard for text, but she did always make up for that in other ways with stunning vocalism and a commitment to singing, also a joy in vocalizing that suggested utter commitment to the vocal art, something I don't get from Netrebko. Mattila did indeed embody the role of Emilia Marty, but the Janacek roles are written much more interestingly from a dramatic perspective than a role like Elvira in Puritani.

One more irritatingly pedantic correction whipped guy (sorry!) but the high note in the Maria Stuarda cabaletta of Sutherland is a D flat, not a D> it is one of the mostridiculous transpositions ever, with the first verse in B flat and then a cringe-making gear change of key in between the two verses up to D flat! Totally anachronistic, even though it does afford Joan the pleasure of a high D flat at the end!

[whipped guy]

Horny... LOL! Regarding the Stuarda high D! I was waiting for that... you're right on "top" of things as usual! I guess another dime short and another half-step off... After I typed that I then thought that the D-flat would make more sense... but by the time I realized it I could not edit the post!!! As for that Stuarda transposition itself... it is one of the most naughty things that Bonynge has done... BUT it is exciting... and the upward transposition of the second verse does add a bit of excitement to the proceedings... quite a bit of excitement! I was fortunate to see Sutherland in the part and I recall how the place erupted with a tumultuous ovation at the conclusion of Maria's entrance aria. One can be sure that Joyce DiDonato won't be pulling the same trick when she tackles the role at the MET later this season!!!

 

Incidentally... this reminds me of one other crazy transposition. "Bel Raggio" from Rossini's Semiramide is in A Major... for the majority of her performances of the aria Sutherland sang it in A-flat... so as to be able to interpolate her trademark E-flat in alt at the conclusion. Later in her career she sang the Aria in A-flat and during the cadenza does this weird modulation so the cabaletta is in... a lower key... I am going say G-flat so she can hit a D-flat at the conclusion of the aria... Hopefully, I got it right this time around... if not please correct me Sir Horny!!!!! In this case the effect is the opposite of the Stuarda transposition... a downer... but Sutherland was not comfortable with the E-flat by the mid 1980's. I recall that she did a similar trick in the I Puritani mad scene as well in her later years at the MET... also her performances and the recording of Anna Bolena include some transpositions. Also, the Bell Song in her complete recording of Lakme... and even at the beginning of her career she transposed the Queen of the Night's aria downward as I recall. I am sure that there are others...

 

One final thought... as Horny implies... Sutherland always impressed one with the power of her vocalism no matter what her shortcomings, transpositions, or whatever...

[hornytwells]

LOL whipped, you are right, so I dont get to whip you as punishment?

Sutherland never sang the Bell Song in the original high key live-only on her Art of the Prima Donna album early in her career, same for Bel Raggio. She sang Queen of the Night at Covent Garden, first aria down a half step, second one down a full step, but the confusion arises among fans because the quality of the pirate recording sometimes runs too fast, making the first aria sound like it isndeed in the correct key. Transposing the Queen of the Night was surprisingly common practice up until the 70s/80s. Inge Nielsen even had Konstanze first aria transposed down at Covent Garden in the 80s. Not that this post will be of much interest to anyone here except a few high note queens like our good selves!

[whipped guy]

My copy of the Queen of the Night's second aria was "corrected" so as to be in the "correct" key... Also, if the pitch of my recording is correct... Sutherland sang "Bel Raggio" in A at La Scala in 1962... but in later performances in A-flat. Again only for high note fanciers... and those into transposition trivia.

[operalover21]

That is true. Still, ironically for me Sutherland "live" either via recording or in the flesh always seemed to create more of a character than on her studio recordings... not that she was a Callas or even a Dessay in that regard... but there seemed to be more involvement with the personality that she was portraying. Her studio recordings find her often going through the motions to make things sound beautiful... and that was her forte... a beautiful even stream of sound... so in that regard her recordings prove to be quite satisfying when the visuals of a staging and character interaction are taken out of the equation. Also, Sutherland was further un"phono"genic regarding the fact that her recordings do not always reveal the size and amplitude of the voice... Still, we would have been poorer without her contributions... either on stage or via recording.

 

Absolutely. I'm not saying I would do without her. Far from it. The sheer beauty and size of that voice was amazing. There is certainly something to be said for beauty of sound and she had that in spades. Sometimes Netrebko has the same thing but then she goes into "overacting" mode and it starts to bother me. At least Sutherland sang the right roles -- although I always wish she had been freed from the constraints of that scary husband of hers and ventured into different territory. And it was a crying shame that after the early 1970s she never worked with a decent conductor who could have brought out so much more in her -- and different roles -- than her closeted husband. It is interesting that her most successful studio recording is a of a role she never sang on stage with a conductor who wasn't her husband -- Zubin Mehta's recording of Turandot!

[whipped guy]

I have always wondered "what if" regarding Sutherland working with different conductors. Bonynge had certain talents...and that included taking a more 19th Century approach to the performance of many operas... and especially regarding embellishments. Plus, heck he wrote the embellishments for her Semiramide performances as far as I know... and while they have nothing to do with what Rossini wrote at many places in the score... he was able to create the illusion that Rossini personally wrote the role for Sutherland... as opposed to his own wife Isabella Colbran who was more of a mezzo or low soprano at that stage of her career. Furthermore, he was an important link in the Bel Canto revival so for that I am grateful... He also had a love for Massenet and the French rep... but I doubt that he would be on the short list great of operatic conductors of the last or current century.

[hornytwells]

I would check that La Scala recording and check the pitch in relation to the other pieces-Bonynge himself told me that Joan never sang Bel Raggio in A major live.

 

 

My copy of the Queen of the Night's second aria was "corrected" so as to be in the "correct" key... Also, if the pitch of my recording is correct... Sutherland sang "Bel Raggio" in A at La Scala in 1962... but in later performances in A-flat. Again only for high note fanciers... and those into transposition trivia.

[hornytwells]

Also operalover-Sutherland is pretty amazing as Donna Anna under Guilini-and with clearer text than she had later when she (artificially, to my ear) thickened and darkened her middle voice.

[whipped guy]

I would check that La Scala recording and check the pitch in relation to the other pieces-Bonynge himself told me that Joan never sang Bel Raggio in A major live.

Horny... I just checked CD-1 of that performance and the Overture is in D major, "A quel giorno" is in E major, "Serbami ognor" is in Eb major, and "Bel Raggio" is in A major... all the keys of Rossini's score. It is interesting to note that the embellishments Sutherland employs are similar to those used in the studio recording and with all of the live performances that I own with Bonynge at the helm... Also, the orchestration is slightly different (more in accordance with what Rossini actually wrote... horns and bassons as opposed to strings in the opening measures of the orchestral introduction to the chorus which precedes the aria... compared to the Bonynge versions.) I any event, that's what my ears are telling me... Of course "Bel Raggio" could have been corrected... but I tend to doubt it.

 

Incidentally, this is one of the few performances where I am not fond of Giulietta Simionato's contribution... otherwise one of my favorite singers... she definitely sounds out of sorts.