Tag: Scanned Section
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Nicolai Ghiaurov as Boris Godounov
Nicolai Ghiaurov signed this photo for me after a performance of DON CARLO at The Met in 1968.
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Leonie Rysanek as Sieglinde
I brought this photo of Leonie Rysanek with me for her to autograph after a performance of FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN at The Met in 1971. Why she was signing photos with a green pen I am not sure…her signature is barely legible; but she loved the photo. With her in the picture is basso David Ward, as Hunding.
I did not see Rysanek as Sieglinde until 1988, in a matinee performance that marked the last time she sang this signature role of hers at The Met. Hildegard Behrens, to whom Rysanek later left the Lotte Lehmann Ring, was Brünnhilde. The two divas took many bows together after the performance, to the delight of the huge crowd.
Among the great tenors who sang Siegmund to Rysanek’s Sieglinde was Jon Vickers (Met Opera Guild photo, above).
In 1985, Rysanek sang Sieglinde in the first act of WALKURE as part of her 25th anniversary gala celebration at The Met; Peter Hofmann was her Siegmund that afternoon. My friend Paul Reid and I were there. Rysanek had become famous for her scream at the moment Siegmund pulls the sword from the tree; this was apparently Wieland Wagner’s idea, and it became a signature moment whenever the soprano sang Sieglinde anywhere in the world.
As the 1985 gala was a concert performance, with the orchestra onstage and the singers in gown and tux, there was some speculation as to whether Rysanek would include the scream. “It would break the frame of the concert,” said the woman sitting behind us. “She won’t scream.” She screamed.
As a sampling of Rysanek in the role of Sieglinde, here she is – in fabulous voice – at Bayreuth in 1967, opposite James King:
Leonie Rysanek – Der Männer Sippe ~ WALKURE – with James King – Böhm cond – Live @ Bayreuth 1967
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Four Last Songs
The Polish soprano Teresa Zylis-Gara sings Richard Strauss’s Vier Letze Lieder. This has long been my favorite recording of the songs, although there are many excellent contenders. Zylis-Gara’s voice is so creamy and dreamy.
I found the recording years ago by chance, in a marked-down cassette bin at the old Tower Records on Broadway & Lafayette. The first time I played it, I was amazed by the applause at the end because I had assumed it was a studio recording; it’s actually from a live radio broadcast.
The original tape unraveled years ago; I had made a copy – which is also on its last legs – from which this MP3 was made. The sound quality is not great, but the singing is.
Teresa Zylis-Gara – Four Last Songs~Strauss – Radio Hanover-Live bcast
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Twenty Years in Gotham
March 28th, 2018 – Twenty years ago today, I moved to New York City. This was the first photo taken of me after I settled in at the studio on Perry Street.
Around 1995, I had started to lay definite plans for leaving Hartford and living in my dream city; my goal had been to do it prior to my 50th birthday, and I made it with three months to spare. About three weeks after I’d moved here, I met Wei…and the rest is history.
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Kitty Carlisle
When I was a kid, everybody knew who Kitty Carlisle was: a panelist on the popular TV game show To Tell The Truth. But I had no idea she was also a singer. Born in New Orleans in 1910, she had studied voice there and subsequently appeared in musicals – and even as Carmen (in Salt Lake City). She made several musically-oriented films, including the Marx Brothers’ A NIGHT AT THE OPERA.
In the summer of 1966, my parents took me for our annual summer vacation to Saratoga where Eugene Ormandy was conducting a concert performance of FLEDERMAUS with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The main attraction for me was the presence of Hilde Gueden, Roberta Peters, and Barry Morell in the cast. Kitty’s being cast as Prince Orlofsky seemed like a gimmick to me, but she actually sang very well.
Above: as Prince Orlofsky, in a Louis Melançon/Met Opera portrait
Later that same year, Kitty Carlisle made her Met debut as Orlofsky. I sent her a congratulatory letter and received the card at the top of this article in return. She sang the role fifteen times with The Met, at Lincoln Center, on tour, and in the Parks Series. In 1980 she appeared in the role for the final time for Beverly Sills’ farewell gala at the New York State Theater.
Kitty dated George Gershwin and married Moss Hart. She served for twenty years on the New York State Council on the Arts, and was seen often among audiences at Lincoln Center events. I saw her once, walking alone across The Met lobby: she must have been 80 or so, but her erect posture, jet black hair, and elegant outfit gave her a timeless air. Kitty Carlisle passed away in 2007.
And yes, she really could sing:
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Confrontation
The fictitious meeting of Elizabeth I (Pauline Tinsley) and Mary Stuart (Dame Janet Baker) from Donizetti’s opera MARIA STUARDA, sung in English.
MARY STUART – Confrontation Scene – in English – Dame Janet Baker – Pauline Tinsley – ENO 1973
Oberon's Glade 