Unlike Santuzza, may I wish you all a wonderful Easter Holiday!!!!!!!!

Gavazzi,Simionato,Cossotto, Troyanos,Verrett,Obratsova,W.Meier, Urmana

 85 yr.old Lauri-Volpi expounds on singing!!!   Mamma Mia!!!!!!!

   Had I not discovered Zinka Milanov when I was in college, I know my average would have been higher, but I cannot say I have regrets as to what opera has given me since 1953. Then, I had this fantasy about what would happen if I were born maybe 30 years earlier and saw the kind of seasons that the Met Annals reveal. I would be a triple Lois Kirschenbaum, never stay home, and probably end up dropping out of college..well,no,of course not..because it would probably go like this:

"I saw Caruso and Ponselle last week;i need not go again!!." It was much like this in 1954 because now I say things like, "I should have seen Steber, De los Angeles, etc. more," but naturally one must put things in some perspective. Just to think of a little Charlie around 1918, a typical week might go like this.(From the 1917-1918 annals.)

11/12/17   Aida   Muzio,Caruso, Matzenauer, Amato, Mardones

11/13 (In BROOKLYN)  Tosca    Farrar, Althouse (taught Tucker),Scotti

11/14    Boris    Didur, Rothier, De Segurola, Matzenauer, Althouse

11/15    Elisir     Hempel,Caruso, Scotti, Didur

11/16    Boheme    Alda, McCormack, De Luca, Didur

11/17     Faust     Farrar, Martinelli, Rothier  (Mat.)

11/17 (Eve.)   Traviata   Hempel, De Luca, Carpi (who???)

    So you see, this is IMPOSSIBLE to process, and the era was just so replete with sensational stars, and maybe a few who at that time may have not been Caruso or Ponselle, but in the cast each night usually there was at least one great star, and probably more, as you see above.
     I guess it is all right I was born later, because I would have never been a teacher, and I propably cud not spel propally anymorre.

                    Now you see why people say, "Get over it,Charlie...They're DEAD!!!"

 

 Sam once told me about that "skinny little chain-smoking" basso whom he saw in Sam's early days.It was the great Norman Treigle, a giant on the stage;Sam managed to "inherit" some of the great Treigle roles, and here is one of them. Treigle would be honored!!!

  One fine day (Un bel di) in 1970, we started our Anna Bolena rehearsals with Marisa Galvany, me as Rochefort, and some new young guy named Sam Ramey. Imagine suddenly hearing that great voice for the first time, and subsequently we sang in Barbiere, Boheme,Hoffmann, etc.and to this day we have kept up a friendship (He is the "King of Facebook.") and so to dear Sam, not a devil of a guy in person, we wish the happiest of birthdays!!!!

 Maria Aleida Rodriguez....GEE...a "G".....Phenomenal!!!!!!!

Highlights from Kalman's "Countess Maritza", with Sena Jurinac, Karl Terkal, Anneliese Rothenberger, and Rupert Glawitsch, followed by highlights from Lehar's "The Land of Smiles," with Charlie's favorite tenor, Piotr Beczala and Camilla Nylund..  (73 min.)

 Can you spend two hours watching and listening to the GREATEST singing imaginable?????   I saw many of them!!!!!

Some people complain I love dead singers....Well,tough!!!! Can anyone these days do this?????

  Callas and Bechi in Nabucco scene.   To die for!!!!!!!!!

Not much left........Makes me cry...because it is a remnant of a sensational,if short, career......She uses a lot of chest...i think because she cannot do it any other way.....Such a sad end to a career.......But what she gave to music is something of a miracle,even in a short time. (56 min.)

  I saw Magda as Fedora circa 1972.(She was 62)......When she uttered, "LORIS..OVE SEI????" the chills ran up the spines of everyone. Here,with the great Mario del Monaco is the Fedora finale. Again,happy 103rd,dear Magda!!!!!!

As we celebrate Magda Olivero's 103rd birthday (Mar.25),just think of how we cried our eyes out...Note the last phrase,"Rimuuuuuuuuneri cosiiiii."THAT itself sums up what she was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Bless her!!!!!

   She was just a 65 year old kid here at the Met!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  It took me time, but Parsifal grew on me and it is SUBLIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Easter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Charlie

Magda is a baby here at 83, but I bet she still has a lot left.I will call her tomorrow,Mar.25, as I always do......I cannot imagine a world without her. She is a MIRACLE!!!!!!

  Maria Malatesta Calabro..Over 80..Go to her Youtube page..There is more!!!!!!!! This is just amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   I have been waiting since Maria died for another Norma......I am so happy we found one!!!!!

This documentary is a MUST for young singers, and having seen most of them,I tell you they are just tremendous. There is one very sad thing to say,and that is that shortly after this,tenor Ryan Smith died of cancer. Rest in peace!  If you have not seen this, it is something to treasure!!

Happy birthday to Dolora Zajick, who is the last of the "let it all hang out" singers..I was so happy when she had me give a demonstration lesson,with recorded examples, to her students....showing them how you need not fear to approach singing with power and strength..too few singers can do this today,.They prefer to be "safe." (Whatever that means.)

The dear late Rise Stevens sings music by Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, George Gershwin, Cole Porter,and Irving Berlin.  (66 min.)  I will never forget her!

She was 80 here...She was the most captivating singer in my life!!!!!!! Flawed..yes...but no one could just stand there and take over the WORLD of opera!!!!!!!!

 Another of those blazing recordings from the Cetra Soria Archives. Angelo Questa leads the Radio Turino Orch.in 1955 in this Favorita with Fedora Barbieri,Gianni Raimondi,Giulio Neri, Carlo Tagliabue, Mariano Caruso, and Loretta di Lelio(Mrs.Corelli.)   (66 min.)

   In loving memory of the late Rise Stevens, I present a podcast of arias that feature this great artist in her prime years. I have announced the selections. In tribute to my beloved Rise.  (68 min.)

Through my tears, I am trying to find words to describe was Rise Stevens meant to me in my life. The first singer I ever met at 15 was Rise, and we went to her home every year in the club we had for her. She was as kind and gracious as any human being could be, and at this moment I think back to all those years, onstage and off, and the pleasure she gave to us.
         I see that Octavian as she came down the stairs with the rose for Hilde Gueden, the elegance, the beauty, the rich voice as she began the Presentation Scene; I see the gorgeous Delilah with Mario Del Monaco; I recall how we used to wonder how many times they had to sew up the curtain at the end of Carmen, where she fell and died in that production.
         But most of all, I think of the lady who was the first "star" I ever met, and i actually never forgot the "greasepaint feeling" on my palm as she shook my hand as if she always knew me
           That is all I want to say at this moment about Rise, as I try to remember more and more of the beauty of this woman, who brought many others to opera, and who will remain in my heart forever.
             Dearest Rise, rest in peace....you will never be forgotten.

                                                                         Lovingly, sadly, but happy she was a part of my life.........and that of so many.    Charlie

 One of the world's greatest aingers, Lilli Lehmann recorded a wide variety of material (announced) and I sincerely hope you enjoy it. Remember,she was almost 60 here.  (66 min.)

Lehmann sang in the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876, singing in the first complete performances of The Ring Cycle as Woglinde and Helmwige. She performed in London in 1884, and appeared at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1885–1890. Together with her Met colleagues Fischer, Alvary, Brandt, and Seidl, she helped to popularise Wagner's music in America. By remaining in America beyond the leave granted her by the Berlin Opera, she faced a ban following her return to Germany. After the personal intervention of the Emperor, the ban was lifted.

She appeared at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1899 and sang in Paris and Vienna in 1903 and 1909 respectively. In 1905, she sang at the Salzburg Festival, later becoming the festival's artistic director. Lehmann was also renowned as a Lieder singer. She continued to give recitals until her retirement from the concert stage in the 1920s.

Her mature voice, of splendid quality and large volume, gained for her the reputation of being not only one of the greatest Wagnerian singers of her day but also an ideal interpreter of Bellini's Norma and the operatic music of Mozart. She was considered unsurpassed in the rôles of Brünnhilde and Isolde but sang an astonishingly wide array of other parts. Indeed, across the span of her career, she performed 170 different parts in a total of 119 German, Italian and French operas. She was noted not only for her rendering of the musical score, but also as a tragic actress.^[1] She was also a noted voice teacher. Among her pupils were the famous sopranos Geraldine Farrar and Olive Fremstad.

In 1888, she married the tenor Paul Kalisch.

Portrait with signature, 1903

Lehmann founded the International Summer Academy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg in 1916. The academy's curriculum concentrated on voice lessons at first but it was extended later to include a wide variety of musical instruction. ^[2]

The Lilli Lehmann Medal is awarded by the Mozarteum in her honour. Her voice can be heard on CD reissues of the recordings which she made prior to World War I. Although past her peak as an operatic singer when she made these records, they still impress.

   Just watch and listen and i am sure you will understand why I have always placed Diana in the category of the greatest singers in my opera life. Muzio would approve!!!!!

  Here are scenes from the ancient (1952) recording of Il Trovatore, featuring Stella Roman, Gino Sarri,Antonio Manca Serra, AND the true model of proper Italian diction, Sylvia Sawyer as Azucena. Anyone who wishes to learn Italian must use Sawyer as a MODEL, but if you follow her example and travel to Italy, someone may throw you off the leaning tower of Pizza.  (46 minuti di non so che)

Here's a really exciting Cav. with Rysanek,Domingo,Benito di Bella, Ruth Falcon, and the great Astrid Varnay as Mamma Lucia. It is from Munich 1978 under Nello Santi, and i know you will enjoy it.  

(69 minutes)

 More of my beloved friend Diana Soviero, the very last of a breed.They do not like this kind of singing anymore...With Scotto, Diana constitutes a "lost art."  Happy Birthday again,Diana, and to my other beloved diva, my ma. March 19 was a great day!!!!

   I cannot wait for March 19!!Here is the first of the Diana Soviero clips. I have posted it before, I believe.Get your big towels ready for the most emotional singing you can imagine. I have know Diana since i almost fell out of the balcony at her Mimi in 1977, and I have not changed my mind as to her greatness as a singer..last of the verismo ladies.

     You'll get more later this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 A 1978 Toronto,Canada recital by Renata Scotto and Carlo Bergonzi,two of the most famous artists of the past generation. (Contents announced.)     (60 min.)

From the Teatro Massimo "Bellini" in the 1990's (no date noted in my info.) we present a most exciting Puritani under Richard Bonynge, with soprano Mariella Devia, tenor William Matteuzzi (with  the high "F"), Paolo Washington (Giorgio), and Christopher Robertson (Riccardo.). (68 min.).

    I do strongly advise you not to attempt the "F" at home, unless you wish to scare someone.

 Zinka who????? I almost gave her up at the 1956  Antonietta Stella Met Aida debut. Luscious, sumptuous,gorgeous voice..Born Match 15, 1929..She remains for me one of the all-time greatest!!!!!

SORRY ZINKA !! NO ONE in a given role ever thrilled me as much as Christa Ludwig in Frau. I cannot describe adequately what that was like!!!!!!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

  A rare appearance by the great Gedda in Tosca.This is from Nice,France in 1987 under Tchakarov. The Tosca is Olivia Stapp and the Scarpia is Theo Adam. The performance is recorded live so there is some distance, but to hear Gedda in a rare role for him is worth it. (72 min.)

An interesting German Radio (Koln) 1950 performance of Tales of Hoffmann under Eugen Szenkar with Rudolf Schock, Alexander Welitsch, Wilma Lipp, Martha Moedl, Elfriede Trotschel, Maria von Ilosvay(Niklaus), Otto Von Rohr (Crespel),  Willy Hofmann (Spalanzani), Walter Kassek (Franz and Pitichinaccio),  Marion Matthaus (Mother's voice), and Robert Blasius (Schlemil).   (73 min.)

  Beginning in 1830, Vincenzo Bellini embarked on a project to compose an Ernani, but he never got to complete it. Very few fragments remain, and we present them here, with the Oltenia Phil.Orchestra under Franco Piva. The cast is as follows:

Ernani        Patricia Morandini (a travesti role written for Giuditta Pasta)

Elvira          Rosanna Savoia

Don Carlo   (a tenor in this version)   Paolo Pellegrini

Don Sancio   (also a tenor)     Patrizio Saudelli

Ines               Nina Batatunashvili  (mezzo)

       I hope you enjoy this rare set of excerpts.          (37 min.)

  Claudia Novikova was born on Mar.9 ,1895. This has to be one of the most charming (and funny) renditions of ANYTHING!!!!!  La Perichole "drunk aria."

  Christina is due to come to a comedy show near you!!!!!!!!   This is a riot!!!!!!!!!

Which one do you like the best???? For me it was Del Monaco,who walked across the Met stage holding the note and we went ballistic!!!!!!!!

Wilhelm Furtwaengler conducts scenes from a 1937 Covent Garden Gotterdamerung with Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, Kerstin Thorborg, Herbert Janssen, and Ludwig Weber  (71 min.)

 In the 1970's (I do not have the exact date), the great tenor Nicolai Gedda gave a recital (broadcast) from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Musica Aeterna Orchestra was conducted by Frederick Waldman, and the French horn soloist was Antony Miranda (in the Britten piece.).

    Gedda  sings the Serenade for tenor, horn, and strings by Benjamin Britten, followed by arias of Rameau and Gretry.    (39 min.)

 A fine cast in this Scala 1968 Bellini "I Capuletti e i Montecchi" under Claudio Abbado, featuring Renata Scotto (Giulietta), Giacomo Aragall (Romeo),  Luciano Pavarotti (Tebaldo), Agostino Ferrin (Capellio), and Alfredo Giacomotti (Lorenzo.)   (72 min.)

Gina Cigna, born March 6, 1900,lived to 100!  Here is Met 1937 broadcast with Martinelli and Castagna. Thank God,I never knew of this perf.I sang along with the Cetra,where she did not take the D..otherwise I would have ruined my voice at 16!!(What voice???)

Highlights from a Dresden 2011 Gala under Christian Thielemann. It features excerpts from Lehar's Giuditta, Land Of Smiles, Paganini, and Der Zarewitsch.   (28 min.)

Wanna laugh????????????????????????????????????????????????????

  A not-too-well-known opera by Saverio Mercadente ( 1795-1870), "Elisa e Claudio" with the following cast:

Virginia Zeani                Elisa

Agostino Lazzari           Claudio

Domenico Trimarchi     Tricufazio

Ugo Trama                      Arnaldo

Giovanna Fioroni            Carlotta

         From San Carlo, Naples, 1971 under Ugo Rapalo                     (69 min.)

  I mentioned the Stella Fanciulla Poker Scene in my podcast.Here it is,with Anselmo Colzani. Note her nervousness and how she finally gets her way. Wonderful!!!!

 Verdi and Puccini arias (announced) by the wonderful Antonietta Stella. I have always placed her as one of my all-time beloved divas!   (67 min.)

YES, Ruby Helder, born March 3, 1890, was a female TENOR!!!!!!!!

 An interesting compilation of scenes from operas of German Composers of the 20th Century.

1-2 Franz Schmidt  "Notre Dame" (w.Gwyneth Jones)

3-5  Alexander Zemlinsky  "Es War Einmal"

6.  Zemlinsky  "Der Traumgoerge"

7.  Zemlinsky   "Der Kreiderkreis."

8-9   Zemlinsky   "Der Koenig Kandaules"

10.  Franz Schreker  "Der Ferne Klang"

11. Schreker   "Der Schatzgraber"

12-14  Manfred Gurlitt  Three scenes from "Wozzeck"

Lucine is a"baby" here at 70, but for her March 1 birthday we wish her the best, and go to Youtube to find a clip of her singing at 87! How many artists can sound youthful after over 65 years of singing? We wish her well, and trust me, she is as much fun as anyione could be.(But i will not tell you her jokes...this is a "family" site.     LOVE TO HER!!!!!