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David M. Wagner Profile picture
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11 Jul, 6 tweets, 2 min read
1/ "I'm a girl - and I always was!" - My fave line in the libretto, and it belongs to Zdenka, Arabella's sister. Of course the humor of it is deflated by the ascendance ot t'genderism, which deprives Zdenka's remark of its otherwise profound obviousness. Why does she have to
2/ Say it at all then? Bc her aristocratic yet penurious father, unable to afford bringing two daughters out (old meaning) in Viennese high society, has long made Zdenka dress as a young man and be "Zdenko." I suppose new productions post-revolution will play around w this,
3/ play around with Zdenka's incontrovertible unhappiness at being Zdenko, make her honeybunch Matteo a trans-man, whatever. I won't go to see those. I will see this one from 1994. Kiri Te Kanawa is Arabella, for whom beggars (not literally) sometimes can be choosers.
4/ Soprano Marie McLaughlin is a sweet Zdenka. Count von Mandryka, Arabella's proud suitor, is baritone Wolfgang Brendel. Bass-baritone Donald McIntyre, a great Wotan, shows comic chops as the sisters' father, Count Waldner. Tenor David Kuebler is Matteo, who loves Arabella but
5/ but gets reeled in by Zdenka in a non-Euclidian way. As a treat, watch for baritone Kim Josephson as one of Arabella's 2nd-tier suitors, Count Dominik. Natalie Dessay cameos as The Coachmen's Millie ("Fiakermilli"), the "mascot" of the Coachmen's Ball. ...
6/ In a high-value guest appearance, Christian Thielemann conducts.

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More from @david_m_wagner

David M. Wagner Profile picture
13 Jul
1/ Just got news that @MetOpera is pullingt? the plug on the free nightly video webcasts after 7/25. It has to happen, but it cd have happened closer to the opening of the regular live season in late September. So, what will I do with these tweets after that?
2/ After all, I've made some new friends, stayed closer to some old friends, and earned some great new follows as a result of opera tweets. Well, Met Opera Channel on SiriusXM is *not* ending. Downside: audio only, so comments on productions won't be as relevant; part of a weekly
3/ rotation, so, temporal focus is lacking. Upside: an assortment to choose from at any given time; also, if you already subscribe to SiriusXM (at about $18/month), you have access to the Met Channel, at channel 335. With SiriusXM you get about three channels for each of
Read 5 tweets
David M. Wagner Profile picture
12 Jul
1/ I think the big difference betw this (current) production and the former one seen at the beginning of Strauss Week is that, setting aside all arguments about updating and "Regie," standards for plain, character-on-character direction have gotten higher. Another, linked to 1st,
2/ is that - at least as long as Gunter Groissbrock is this production's Baron Ochs, or another bass with his profile - Ochs here is less obviously repellent than usual, and hence a little more dangerous. So while I esteem the old Nat Merrill/Bob O'Hearn production, I also
3/ welcome this one by Robert Carsen. In these performances, our Marschallin, sopran Renee Fleming, and our Octavian, mezzo Elina Garanca, said farewell to these role: Renee bc she's on glidepath to retirement, and Elina - not sure why, but she's def into heavier mezzo roles now,
Read 4 tweets
David M. Wagner Profile picture
7 Jun
1/ This is the gem of updated prodns: RIGOLETTO moved from 16thc Mantua to Vegas in 1960. It’s perfect: the Duke becomes (tho this is not specified in program materials) Sinatra; his principal courtiers, tho ofc retaining their libretto names) are Peter Lawford, Dean Martin,
2/ Sammy Davis Jr., and Sam Giancana (he’s Count Ceprano). Our star, Želko Lučić, w grand Verdi baritone voice and thick Serbian accent, says he doesn’t know much about bygone American pop culture, but adds, “They tell me I am - Don Reeekls?” A good explanation, as Rickles made
3/ as many enemies as friends w his humor that corresponds to what Rigoletto describes in his great (and, for its time, genre-busting) monologue, “Pari siamo” - “We are alike” - ie, I and that hired assassin I’ve just been talking to.
Read 5 tweets
David M. Wagner Profile picture
30 Apr
1/ This⬇️ plus, the tendency of Evangelicals to think there's something "ex opere operato" about demonstrations and rallies. It's why their services look so much like - demonstrations and rallies. 1/6 was plenty serious enough, but I suspect the % of those intending violence
2/ was actually low, and most of those who illegally entered (a minority of those who rallied outside the Capitol, which in turn was a minority of those who attended the rally on the Ellipse) really thought that just by being there - applying some dasein, you know - they wd cause
3/ some sort of divine illumination to descend upon legislators and they'd all be like "Oh man, I'm suddenly convicted Trump won" or something. #InsurrectionByDasein #DaseinerFlags
Read 4 tweets
David M. Wagner Profile picture
29 Apr
1/ Ok since this is Massenet’s most popular opera, I’ve now got to clarify why I don’t like Massenet.
2/ I’ve seen MANON once in the house (+ this perf last time it was webcast). I also used to have a 78 of Bidù Sayão singing “Voyons Manon.” That perf “in the house” was NYCO touring in L.A., and the cast was perfect: Beverly Sills & John Alexander. We went backstage afterwards
3/ and Bev greeted us young’uns with “So how did you like the French GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG?” I take her point: joking about MANON’s length relative to the longest work in the standard rep. Also GTD ends w Brünnhilde’s Immolation, and MANON also ends w a death-scene for the heroine.
Read 8 tweets
David M. Wagner Profile picture
28 Apr
1/ Let Pav & Jimmy give you a verismo treat. Srs q: have any operas about French Rev gone mainstream other than this and DIALOGUES? And neither is particularly sympathetic to it, tho CHENIER, like Dickens’s “Tof2C,” acknowledges the problematic framework out of which it arose.
2/ Safe bet that Pav will rule. Maria Guleghina will be an edgier Maddalena than the classics, Tebaldi & Milanov. (Many ruffled feathers recently on Opera-L over Tebaldi’s vs Callas’s history w this role.)
3/ Baritone Juan Pons, our Carlo Gerard, was always reliable, but maybe two sandwiches short of a mellifluous voice. Beloved bass Paul Plishka takes Fernando Corena’a old role as “le Sans-Culottes Matthieu.” (Sans-culottes did not mean “no pants,” despite what you may have
Read 4 tweets

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