Oberon's Glade

Tag: Tatiana Troyanos

  • Mahler ~ Rückert Lieder: Tatiana Troyanos

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    Tatiana Troyanos sings Mahler’s Rückert Lieder, recorded “live”; date unknown.

    Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1rpkuBZuU0

  • My First TANNHAUSER ~ 1978 @ The Met

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    Above: Richard Cassilly as Tannhauser and Tatiana Troyanos as Venus

    I saw Wagner’s TANNHAUSER for the first time in 1978 in The Met’s classic Otto Schenk/Gunter Schneider-Siemssen production, conducted by James Levine. Here’s what I wrote in my opera diary the morning after:

    “TANNHAUSER – first time – great!! Really a superb production (equal to the LOHENGRIN, but the opera is less exciting…) The sets, costumes, direction, and choral work were all excellent. Levine had some bombastic moments, and some places where he covered the singers, but his pacing was excellent and the orchestra played beautifully.

    Kathleen Battle was the very fine Shepherd – she sounds a bit like Reri Grist, which is a huge compliment. Vern Shinall made an exceptional impression as Biterolf, and Richard Kness (most likely the cover for the title-role) sang powerfully as Walther.

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    Kurt Moll, repeating his Met debut role as the Landgraf, brought his warm, velvety bass to the music – a great pleasure to hear his clear and steady tones, wonderfully resonant in the deep notes.

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    Bernd Weikl as Wolfram (above) looked as handsome as he sounded. His voice is lyrical, and he projected superbly in the big hall. An outstanding performance! This was my first time hearing Weikl, and he immediately became a favorite. 

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    As Elisabeth, Teresa Zylis-Gara (above) began with an exciting “Dich teure halle“, followed immediately by her thrilling singing in the duet with Tannhauser, wherein she conveyed subtle emotional changes convincingly. Zylis-Gara’s portrayal of the saintly woman as she searched desperately among the pilgrims for her beloved, and her subsequent downcast expression, were extremely poignant. She sang the Prayer with haunting expressiveness, and then walked slowly and sadly up the hill to her fate. It’s great to have Zylis-Gara moving into heavier German repertoire – the voice is satiny and strong; I would love to hear her as Elsa, Ariadne, Chrysothemis and, eventually, as Sieglinde.

    Richard Cassilly was a powerful, committed Tannhauser. His voice is not tonally beautiful, but he makes great use of it. The role is vocally grueling, almost sadistic in its demands. Cassilly was able to summon great reserves of sound, but he could also be subtle at need. He not only sang tirelessly, but made the character come vividly to life. His manic joy as he described the Venusberg to the stunned court, and later his crushed, agonized acting as a returning pilgrim were particularly well brought off. Cassilly’s potent rendering of the Rome Narrative, with his mocking of the Pope’s voice, was superb. He really deserved the huge ovation…bravo! 

    Tatiana Troyanos was electrifying as Venus, possibly her best role. She looked absolutely gorgeous, and her portrayal abounded in sensuous allure. Her wrath when she rejected Tannhauser was so intense, and her brief appearance in the opera’s final scene was simply spectacular. Her vocalism, which could smoulder alluringly one moment and blaze forth the next, was stunning. Troyanos was a stand-out in an outstanding cast.

    There were tumultuous ovations during the curtain calls, with the singers basking in the audience’s vociferous praise at the end of this glorious performance.”

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    ~ Oberon

  • Troyanos & Domingo ~ duet from NORMA

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    Tatiana Troyanos and Placido Domingo sing the Pollione/Adalgisa duet from Act I of Bellini’s NORMA at a 1982 gala concert at The Met. James Levine conducts.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Troyanos & Domingo ~ duet from NORMA

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    Tatiana Troyanos and Placido Domingo sing the Pollione/Adalgisa duet from Act I of Bellini’s NORMA at a 1982 gala concert at The Met. James Levine conducts.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Tatiana Troyanos as Giulio Cesare

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    Tatiana Troyanos ~ GIULIO CESARE arias – San Francisco 1982 – in English

    I wonder: has any other singer in the history of opera sung both the title-role and Cleopatra in Handel’s masterpiece?

    Tatiana Troyanos – Piangerò la sorte mia ~ GIULIO CESARE

  • Tatiana Troyanos ~ O don fatale!

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    Tatiana Troyanos sings Princess Eboli’s great aria, ‘O don fatale‘, from DON CARLO. Watch and listen here.

    i felt that Eboli, Kundty, and Venus in TANNHAUSER were the greatest of Troyanos’s role. But then, everything she did was so thrilling.

  • The Young Troyanos

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    Tatiana Troyanos made her Met debut as Octavian in DER ROSENKAVALIER in 1977. But I had had the incredible opportunity to see her on the Met stage ten years earlier, when she sang Baba the Turk in a remarkable performance of Stravinsky’s THE RAKE’S PROGRESS given by the visiting Hamburg State Opera for the Lincoln Center Festival in 1967. I was 19 years old and obsessed with opera.

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    A few days after the performance, I sent Tatiana Troyanos a fan letter in care of the Hamburg State Opera. Soon after, an envelope arrived in our family mailbox in Hannibal, New York:

    Troyanos envelope

    This was in the pre-zip code era; there was no return address, but the German postage stamp (with no cancellation) provided a clue. Inside was the signed photo from Troyanos that appears at the top of this article. Scanning these beautiful souvenirs was genuinely moving to me: these were things Tatiana held in her hands, and undoubtedly she signed, sealed, and delivered this to the post office herself. (So cute that she ran out of space when signing her name!)

    Troyanos had sung in the chorus of nuns in THE SOUND OF MUSIC on Broadway before spending two seasons with New York City Opera.  Then, in 1965, she traveled to Europe, auditioned successfully for three companies, and chose to join the Hamburg State Opera, where she remained (first as an ensemble member, later as a guest artist) for ten years, singing a variety of roles and honing her stagecraft.

    Then came the debut at The Met, where she was to become a beloved star, giving over 275 performances there and making an indelible mark on such roles as Octavian, the Composer in ARIADNE AUF NAXOS, Mozart’s Tito, Princess Eboli, and Wagner’s Venus and Kundry. I saw Troyanos many times, in these roles and others, and she always thrilled me as few other singers consistently did. Yet whenever her name comes up, it’s that first experience of her Baba that immediately springs to mind.

    Tatiana Troyanos passed away after a long battle with cancer. She continued to sing to the end of her life, including – reportedly – for fellow patients at Lenox Hill Hospital on the day she died: August 21, 1993.

    Here, from her Hamburg years, is Troyanos singing the Composer’s great aria in praise of music from a 1968 performance:

    Tatiana Troyanos – ARIADNE AUF NAXOS ~ finale of the Prologue – Hamburg 1968

    ~ Oberon

  • Tatiana Troyanos as Venus

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    The inimitable Tatiana Troyanos as Venus in Wagner’s TANNHAUSER, photographed by Winnie Klotz. 

    Tatiana Troyanos – Geliebter komm! from TANNHAUSER – Met bcast 1992