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28 Sep, 5 tweets, 2 min read
1/ #Sirius now playing an AÏDA from 1940 with Welitsch, Vinay, Harshaw, Merrill, Hines, Alvary, Franke, & Votipka. I especially enjoy the older performances bc they’re more likely to feature singers I knew personally (Bob Merrill) or by rep/recordings (Merrill & everyone else).
2/ Also, reminder that Margaret Harshaw sang dramatic mezzo roles b4 moving into Wagner soprano heroines; that Paul Franke came to @MetOpera very early; & that Thelma Votipka - “Tippy” - cd sing just about any small role a/w/a supply high Cs for the diva at necessity.
3/Wonderfully majestic take by Emil Cooper at the podium.
I’ve just been informed this performance is from 1950, not ‘40. Everything else stands.
Amonasro’s first entrance, Act II. “Bob’s wearing gotkas!” - #FamilyJoke, #LongStory, #HaddaBeThere

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More from @david_m_wagner

David M. Wagner Profile picture
30 Sep
This evening I was at the Solemn High TLM for Michaelmas at Old St. Mary’s, DC. It began with the Minor Rite of Exorcism, which was good bc minor exorcise is about all I can manage.
Plus it’s great snubs to any demon it works on, like, ha ha we didn’t even need a major exorcism for *you*!
See? Sinophile @tmcgregorchina knows that St. Mary’s DC is in Chinatown! They do a great job w their TLM schedule (9am Sun, 8am Fri) and their Chinese schedule (11:30am Sun). I wonder if there’s a Traditional Chinese Mass - instead of bells, a wacking great GONG….
Read 4 tweets
David M. Wagner Profile picture
29 Sep
@profpryor @suzania Good church music in no particular order:
Renaissance polyphony (very difficult)
Gregorian Chant (very easy, tho difficult to do super-well)
Silence (esp at TLM Low Mass)
@profpryor @suzania Popular opinions:
IXNAY ‘70s “folk” goop music
IXNAY “worship teams”
@profpryor @suzania Unpopular opinions:
IXNAY Anglican hymns shoehorned into Catholic hymnals
IXNAY ‘50s Catholic kitsch
Read 4 tweets
David M. Wagner Profile picture
28 Sep
Sirius (Met Channel, 355) is livecasting the season’s first performance of BORIS GODUNOV.
2/ This year @MetOpera is doing the so-called “original version,” meaning w/o Act III, the “Polish Act.” This is defensible as post-pandemic economizing: no shelling out for a lead mezzo to sing Marina, nor for a baritone for Rangoni the Jesuit; in fact, you can get by w a new or
3/ 2nd-rate tenor for Grigori/False Dimitri, bc w/o the Polish Act he’s in only 3 scenes and is not the lead character in any of them. Besides containing some of Mussorgsky’s best music, the Polish Act situates Boris’s psychodrama within a larger European context and
Read 17 tweets
David M. Wagner Profile picture
16 Jul
1/ This production by the late Anthony Minghella didn't sound like the sort of thing I'd like, but it is. Previous prodns just rearranged the sliding doors. This one largely dispenses w them and lets us concentrate on the (sad) story. Especially, the puppet playing Butterfly's
2/ and Pinkerton's child, with onstage puppeteers made inconspicuous by dark costumes - 👍. A kid old enough to react appropriately is too old to play this child. The puppet, though immobile of face, turns and reacts very expressively. (This effect was imitated goshawfully by
3/ William Kentridge in his fail prodn of WOZZECK.) In Act I Butterfly and her friends and relations emerge over the edge and proceed down the slightly raked stage. Excellent. No huge stars in the cast but that's ok. Partial exception: baritone Paolo Szot as US Consul Sharpless.
Read 4 tweets
David M. Wagner Profile picture
14 Jul
1/ Shirley Verrett began, and sang most of her career, as a mezzo, yet her performance here is quite good. I never tire of recalling how much-hyped critic Joseph Kerman dismissed TOSCA as a "shabby little shocker" and saying "Neener neener." It's a fan favorite, never out of the
2/ Met's rep for more than a season at a time. It's a triumph of "opulism" (opera + populism) over elites and effetes. Looch serves up the faggioli as Cavaradossi, and Cornell MacNeil offers a Scarpia that's a mighty good down payment on the ones he offered later, in Zeff's
3/ production, at an even higher level. Scarpia is the villain we all love to hate, but know what? I've talked to a few baritones and bass-baritones who have played him and asked: "'Tosca, mi fai dementicare Iddio" ['Tosca, you make me forget God'] - sincere, or ironic?" With no
Read 5 tweets
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

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