Oberon's Glade

Tag: Alice Ford

  • Gabriella Tucci ~ “Vissi d’arte”

    Gabriella_Tucci

    While it was the voice of Renata Tebaldi that initiated my lifelong obsession with opera, it was her compatriot, Gabriella Tucci, who was my favorite soprano during the 1960s when I was glued to the radio for every Met matinee radio broadcast. Tucci’s singing of Aida, both Leonoras, Violetta, Desdemona, Cio-Cio-San, Alice Ford, and Marguerite in FAUST on these broadcasts captivated me, and thru her I developed a love for hearing the words sung with such colour and feeling.

    Seeing Gabriella Tucci in TROVATORE at the Old Met was a very special experience for me. I went on to see her in more roles – Liu, Elisabetta, Mimi – at the New Met, and enjoyed her so much, yet it was those formative Old Met broadcasts that linger in my mind to this day: I was learning these great operas at the time, and she taught me how beautifully they could be sung.

    I’ve just come upon this video of Ms. Tucci singing Tosca’s “Vissi d’arte” on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1962, and it reminds me of everything I loved about her.

    Watch and listen here.

  • 50 Years Ago ~ Fabulous FALSTAFF!

    Evans and tebaldi

    Above: Sir Geraint Evans and Renata Tebaldi in FALSTAFF

    February 23, 2022 – Fifty years ago this evening, the Metropolitan Opera presented a memorable performance of Verdi’s FALSTAFF. The evening marked the first time Renata Tebaldi sang Alice Ford in New York City; beloved Met luminaries Regina Resnik and Sir Geraint Evans sang Dame Quickly and Sir John Falstaff, and Christoph von Dohnanyi made his Met debut on the podium. Of key interest for me was the beauteous Jeannette Pilou, a great favorite of mine, in the role on Nannetta.

    This was my diary entry, written right after the performance:

    “A great performance in every way. Christoph von Dohnanyi’s Met debut was a success, despite some moments that seemed under-rehearsed. When the curtain rose on the opera’s second scene and the audience caught sight of La Tebaldi, a sustained round of applause caused the opera to come to a halt. For a moment, no one seemed quite sure what to do, til someone yelled “Start over!”, and that’s what Maestro von Dohnanyi did.

    The cast was incredibly good. Two de luxe character tenors – Paul Franke (Dr. Caius) and Andrea Velis (Bardolfo) – scored numerous verbal points at the opera progressed. And…they can sing! Richard Best was a sturdy-voiced Pistola and Joann Grillo a comely, warm-toned Meg Page.

    Kostas Paskalis sang splendidly as the jealous Master Ford, his monolog being one of the vocal highlights of the performance. His voice is huge, with a darkish tint. Luigi Ava was a sweetly lyrical Fenton, and he played the role of the love-struck youth well. Regina Resnik was a fabulous, genuinely funny Dame Quickly. The voice is not really very attractive these days, but she knows how to sing, and she uses her voice as a dramatic instrument. She is, in every respect, a great Dame.

    Jp nannetta

    Jeannette Pilou (above, as an enchanting Nannetta) seemed so alive, so real, no mannerisms. Her voice is so pretty and clear, and she brought some very appealing pianissimo effects to her Act III aria. Pilou is such a beautiful woman; her arrival on a white Shetland pony as Hearne’s Oak was a lovely moment. Bravissima! 

    Renata Tebaldi enjoyed an immense success in her first Met appearance as Alice Ford. The voice seemed fresher than in recent seasons: very sweet and warm. Her high notes came quite easily tonight. On the last top-C, she really sailed, whilst Pilou tossed her head back and joined her, bringing this romp of an opera to a joyous end. Tebaldi’s sensational good looks, her charm and humor, and her lively entrance into the spirit of the evening made for another triumph for the great diva. Bravissima!

    Towering above all others was that magnificent singing-actor, Sir Geraint Evans, as Sir John Falstaff. In his revelatory portrayal, one sees every aspect – the comic and the tragic – of this incredible character. So pompous at first, so funny and full of himself at Alice’s, so frighteningly degraded as he runs to the Garter Inn at the start of Act III, so touchingly terrorized at Hearne’s Oak, and so human in the opera’s final moments. I’ve heard the role sung with more sheer voice, but never with such flair and nuance. Bravissimo, Sir Geraint: you are Falstaff!    

    Scanned Section 1-1

    The final ensemble was so much sheer fun: the singers lined up along the footlights and mocked the audience…and themselves. And then that great dual-high-C. The curtain calls were numerous, with everyone staying on, and a big gathering at the orchestra rail where flowers were thrown and we all yelled ourselves hoarse.”

    Lois & jp

    Above: Jeannette Pilou with New York’s most famous opera fan, Lois Kirschenbaum

    ~ Oberon