# Opera Miscasts. What is the most memorable miscast performance from a singer?



## Loge (Oct 30, 2014)

This one always make me smile. Waltraud Meier as Carmen.











Not exactly a sizzling gypsy.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Loge said:


> This one always make me smile. Waltraud Meier as Carmen.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've heard far worse Carmens. In any case interesting singers even bring something to music that isn't necessarily suited to them.

N.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Quite a few years ago at Covent Garden they cast Karita Mattila as Musetta in La Boheme, her debut in the role. There were a lot of audience mumbling beforehand about her supposed unsuitability for such a part. She tended to be in rather serious weighty roles at the time.

Anyway, Quando M'en Vo' she sung slowly and thoughtfully rather than flighty. It was beautifully done and it brought the house down, and was certainly the highlight of the evening. She's sung the role many times since then.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The most ill-advised piece of casting I've heard recently was Patricia Racette's attempt at Maddalena in _Andrea Chenier_ at the Met last season. She seems to have got it in her head that she's a dramatic soprano. Maybe she figures "I'm getting old, my voice is wobbly, so - what the hell?" That was exactly my reaction to the worst performance of "La mamma morta" I've ever heard. She's scheduled for Butterfly next season. Watch out everybody.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Woodduck said:


> The most ill-advised piece of casting I've heard recently was Patricia Racette's attempt at Maddalena in _Andrea Chenier_ at the Met last season. She seems to have got it in her head that she's a dramatic soprano. Maybe she figures "I'm getting old, my voice is wobbly, so - what the hell?" That was exactly my reaction to the worst performance of "La mamma morta" I've ever heard. She's scheduled for Butterfly next season. Watch out everybody.


I remember that. It was pretty bad.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Stephanie Blythe as Orfeo was pretty awkward .


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Don Fatale said:


> Quite a few years ago at Covent Garden they cast Karita Mattila as Musetta in La Boheme, her debut in the role. There were a lot of audience mumbling beforehand about her supposed unsuitability for such a part. She tended to be in rather serious weighty roles at the time.
> 
> Anyway, Quando M'en Vo' she sung slowly and thoughtfully rather than flighty. It was beautifully done and it brought the house down, and was certainly the highlight of the evening. She's sung the role many times since then.


That's fascinating. I would never imagine her in that role. Sometimes unusual casting brings a pleasant surprise.


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Commercial pressures maybe but why would Pavarotti and Solti record Otello just when Domingo's star was so high in that role? Domingo had just made a widely commercially released film so the Opera was made known to a wider public. I am a fan but not in this role.


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## Eramirez156 (Mar 25, 2015)

I remember the car wreck that was the *Lyric Opera of Chicago's* production of _*Verdi's Macbeth*_ with *Catherine Malfitano *who was seriously overparted.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...4_1_lady-macbeth-lyric-opera-franz-grundheber


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

The most blatant miscast a on disc have been the crossover singer Andrea Bocelli's attempts at grand opera. I know he loves opera but he just hasn't the voice for the big Italian roles. The latest horror show to come out is Turandot. You can here listen to an excerpt. To think this is being commercially produced is artistically baffling even if it is (no doubt) commercially successful.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00XH5KN66/ref=dm_ws_tlw_trk20


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Here is Bocelli as Caveradossi






Seems cruel to put him besides Domingo


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Siegfried Jerusalem as Florestan in Ferdinando Paer's "Leonora, ossia L'amore coniugale". Can't find the clip for you to listen, but his attempt at fioritura singing at the end of cavatina from Act II is a total failure. It always brings smile to my face when I listen to it


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Don Fatale said:


> Quite a few years ago at Covent Garden they cast Karita Mattila as Musetta in La Boheme, her debut in the role. There were a lot of audience mumbling beforehand about her supposed unsuitability for such a part. She tended to be in rather serious weighty roles at the time.
> 
> Anyway, Quando M'en Vo' she sung slowly and thoughtfully rather than flighty. It was beautifully done and it brought the house down, and was certainly the highlight of the evening. She's sung the role many times since then.


On a similar note, I always thought it was weird that Renata Scotto was cast as Musetta when the Met did LA BOHEME for its first "Live from the Met" telecast in the 1970's. I haven't seen the performance, though.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Itullian said:


> I remember that. It was pretty bad.


It's a shame as I've always liked Racette's voice very much. In my mind I always likened it to champagne, with that bubbly vibrato which I guess has now loosened. She was the first Violetta I ever heard (1998 Met broadcast), and I have fond memories of her in broadcasts of other roles. The only other soprano in whose tone I've heard quite the same poignant quality is Ileana Cotrubas.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Waltraud Meier as Eboli in Don Carlos at the Chatelet. She didn't do well in either the Veil Song, nor "O don fatale"











Not my idea of a Verdi singer (even in French)


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Loge said:


> This one always make me smile. Waltraud Meier as Carmen
> 
> Not exactly a sizzling gypsy.


I didn't like Anne-Sophie Von Otter, either. It felt lik e Pippi Longstocking in Seville...


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Karita Mattila did Manon Lescaut in SF awhile ago (I think she did it at the Met later). Totally wrong vocal color for my ears, though not a total flop. Her middle register sounded quite colorless, though her high notes were OK, but not Italianate enough. Same with Tosca.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Bellinilover said:


> It's a shame as I've always liked Racette's voice very much. In my mind I always likened it to champagne, with that bubbly vibrato which I guess has now loosened. She was the first Violetta I ever heard (1998 Met broadcast), and I have fond memories of her in broadcasts of other roles. The only other soprano in whose tone I've heard quite the same poignant quality is Ileana Cotrubas.


Yeah, I remembered her as an attractive singer and didn't realze how old she is. She's 59 or 60 now - pretty old for a Butterfly - and I suppose there's no going back to the drawing board at her age. She's had a fine career. Maybe it's time to taper off.


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

Bartoli's recent ill advised Norma CD........

Well beyond her vocal abilities, listen to the out of control vibrato, modulation, strain in her voice in the "fine al rito" after Casta Diva......


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## Tietjens Stolz (Jun 2, 2015)

DarkAngel said:


> Bartoli's recent ill advised Norma CD........
> 
> Well beyond her vocal abilities, listen to the out of control vibrato, modulation, strain in her voice in the "fine al rito" after Casta Diva......


She shouldn't even think about singing the role in the first place. In her voice Norma ends up as Norminetta.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

^^^She also needs advice about cover graphics. Sheesh!


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

MAS said:


> Waltraud Meier as Eboli in Don Carlos at the Chatelet. She didn't do well in either the Veil Song, nor "O don fatale"
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I thought she sounded excellent

@OT
1) Joan Sutherland as Rosina. the sound is beautiful, but the sound is so dramatic and formidable. she sounds more like a 





2) Martina Arroyo as Lady Macbeth. such a bright, personable voice coming from a woman with a warm, motherly personality. lady macbeth is an icy, political bitch. it simply doesn't work


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Jose Carreras, Kiri Te Kanawa and Tatiana Troyanos in *West Side Story*.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

DarkAngel said:


> Bartoli's recent ill advised Norma CD........
> 
> Well beyond her vocal abilities, listen to the out of control vibrato, modulation, strain in her voice in the "fine al rito" after Casta Diva......


Her Amina isn't much better.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

GregMitchell said:


> Jose Carreras, Kiri Te Kanawa and Tatiana Troyanos in *West Side Story*.


You know how much I love Kiri but I have to say that the only thing more soporific of hers than this has to be her Davis _Four Last Songs _or her _My Fair Lady_.

Sorry Dame Kiri- you're _magnificent_ and _sweet as can be_.

I just can't handle 'pleasantly-boring' though. . . or even 'medicated.'


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## Tietjens Stolz (Jun 2, 2015)

DarkAngel said:


> Bartoli's recent ill advised Norma CD........
> 
> Well beyond her vocal abilities, listen to the out of control vibrato, modulation, strain in her voice in the "fine al rito" after Casta Diva......


I kind of enjoy a critical review of this set written by a certain Dr Philip Cokkinos on amazon.com, and the following comments made by him are simply......priceless! :lol:

"She gives us Anna Magnani instead of Norma, we hear a jilted Neapolitan bourgeoise instead of the divine Gallic priestess. The atrocious photographs of a black-clad, dishevelled Bartoli on the recording's cover and in the Notes show a village woman who is the object of adulterous vendetta on a Greek island (Bartoli's album photos have always been of execrable taste, think the embarrassing Sonnambula and Sacrificium artwork!). This downgraded interpretation becomes clearly audible in a horribly paced, blandly sung "In mia man alfin tu sei", which happens to be my favorite part of the work. What we hear is a "cornuta" housewife hen-pecking her errant husband. No, this is NOT Norma."


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

deleted post. .


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Panorama said:


> I kind of enjoy a critical review of this set written by a certain Dr Philip Cokkinos on amazon.com, and the following comments made by him are simply......priceless! :lol:
> 
> "She gives us Anna Magnani instead of Norma, we hear a jilted Neapolitan bourgeoise instead of the divine Gallic priestess. The atrocious photographs of a black-clad, dishevelled Bartoli on the recording's cover and in the Notes show a village woman who is the object of adulterous vendetta on a Greek island (Bartoli's album photos have always been of execrable taste, think the embarrassing Sonnambula and Sacrificium artwork!). This downgraded interpretation becomes clearly audible in a horribly paced, blandly sung "In mia man alfin tu sei", which happens to be my favorite part of the work. What we hear is a "cornuta" housewife hen-pecking her errant husband. No, this is NOT Norma."


I need to meet this Dr Philip Cokkinos. What a critic!


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

GregMitchell said:


> Jose Carreras, Kiri Te Kanawa and Tatiana Troyanos in *West Side Story*.


yes it was a pretty bizarre set of casting with the Kiwi playing a Spaniard and the Spaniard an American! 
When the 1984 West Side Story was recorded, Bernstein gave into the producers who wanted marketable names. Bernstein wanted Jerry Hadley and Julia Migenes who were not yet stars. At least Hadley would have had the right accent!
As it was the thing was the world's most bizarre best seller. Whoever designed the cover was a genius as it was the cover that sold it!


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

I must confess I have never seen visually such a miscast as dear old Ben Heppner in Fidelio. When ever have we seen the starving Florestan looking so bonny? It's just as bad in the version of Mastersingers I have on DVD where he looks like he's wandered in from Falstaff!


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

There have been many sopranos, who, though vocally right for their role, have been physically completely miscast in the role of Gilda, making something of a mockery of the final scene, when poor Rigoletto has to lug her around in a sack. I won't mention names for fear of offending a few people, but would just point out that my favourite, Callas, was also a rather large lady on the only occasion she sang Gilda. Maybe that's why she never sang it again on stage. Who knows?


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

My father saw a production of La Boheme while he was serving in Italy during the war. he said the fragile little Mimi was a large lady of huge proportions. When the aria, "Your tiny hand is frozen," came round, there was a chuckle in the audience as she put out a hand as big as a dinner plate!


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

DavidA said:


> I must confess I have never seen visually such a miscast as dear old Ben Heppner in Fidelio. When ever have we seen the starving Florestan looking so bonny? It's just as bad in the version of Mastersingers I have on DVD where he looks like he's wandered in from Falstaff!


This one always makes me inwardly chuckle. Suspension of disbelief can be hard work sometimes.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Well, Heppner more than met his match when he did Tristan to Jane Eaglen's Isolde. I'm generally tolerant of chubby singers if they have the vocal goods, but the Met video of their performance is positively pachydermal. He, at least, is capable of moving, which I can't be sure of in her case since she hardly budges. I have to wonder if the production is so static because with that much fat to haul around, and with bulldozers being anachronistic (this not being regietheater), it had to be. More's the pity, as they sing rather well. If you've never seen this, don't, unless you're looking for a sleep aid.


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

Woodduck said:


> Well, Heppner more than met his match when he did Tristan to Jane Eaglen's Isolde. I'm generally tolerant of chubby singers if they have the vocal goods, but the Met video of their performance is positively pachydermal. He, at least, is capable of moving, which I can't be sure of in her case since she hardly budges. I have to wonder if the production is so static because with that much fat to haul around, and with bulldozers being anachronistic (this not being regietheater), it had to be. More's the pity, as they sing rather well. If you've never seen this, don't, unless you're looking for a sleep aid.


I always found that DVD cover a bit "cringe worthy"


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

DarkAngel said:


> I always found that DVD cover a bit "cringe worthy"


Crumbs! What's the marriage bed made of? Reinforced steel?


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## sabrina (Apr 26, 2011)

Anna Netrebko in Violetta was definitely out of her capabilities. She was flat during most of coloratura arias. Her nice heathy look was also out of place when suggesting Violetta TB terminal disease. Heart attack would have worked much better...The Salzburg production didn't help either, as it was an epitome of Euro trash at its worst.
Other Violetta that did not work for me came from Diana Damrau. She is in a different league than A. N., still I don't think the role was good for her, at least at that stage in her life.
I love the Glyndebourne production of Il Barbiere, but I didn't like Max Rene Cossoti in Almaviva shoes. I found his aspirated coloratura annoying. It was a pity as Maria Ewing (Rosina), John Rawnsely (Figaro)and Feruccio Furlaneto (Basilio) were amazing. Ah, I forgot Claudio Desderi. He was the most hilarious beautifully sung Bartolo.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

​Krauss as the "young "Alfredo" opposite Hvorotovsky as Germont :lol:


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Pugg said:


> ​Krauss as the "young "Alfredo" opposite Hvorotovsky as Germont :lol:


But he sounds young on that recording and that must be what is most important especially on an audio recording.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Sloe said:


> But he sounds young on that recording and that must be what is most important especially on an audio recording.


Please....listen to his earlier recording on EMI , even their he's on the verge of sounding "older"
And no ; I am not anti Alfredo Krauss.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

sabrina said:


> Anna Netrebko in Violetta was definitely out of her capabilities. She was flat during most of coloratura arias. Her nice heathy look was also out of place when suggesting Violetta TB terminal disease. Heart attack would have worked much better...The Salzburg production didn't help either, as it was an epitome of Euro trash at its worst.
> Other Violetta that did not work for me came from Diana Damrau. She is in a different league than A. N., still I don't think the role was good for her, at least at that stage in her life.
> I love the Glyndebourne production of Il Barbiere, but I didn't like Max Rene Cossoti in Almaviva shoes. I found his aspirated coloratura annoying. It was a pity as Maria Ewing (Rosina), John Rawnsely (Figaro)and Feruccio Furlaneto (Basilio) were amazing. Ah, I forgot Claudio Desderi. He was the most hilarious beautifully sung Bartolo.


Diana Damrau doesn't do it for me in Verdi to begin with. the voice is cold and glittery, like if the white witch from Narnia had a daughter. her voice is beautiful in its own way, but I'd prefer it if she'd stay away from Verdi.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

DavidA said:


> Crumbs! What's the marriage bed made of? Reinforced steel?


welcome to modern Wagner: voices which sound as if they conductor is pressing cold pieces of metal against your face and making them vibrate unnaturally. *runs off and detoxes with some Frida Lieder and Hans Hotter*


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Pugg said:


> ​Krauss as the "young "Alfredo" opposite Hvorotovsky as Germont :lol:


The whole set was completely misguided and has absolutely nothing to commend it. Te Kanawa is a singer I really like in the right repertoire, but Violetta was definitely not for her, Kraus, though stylish as ever, sounds, as you say, too old, and a lot older than Hvorostovsky's young sounding Germont. Mehta is no Verdi conductor. Like the Te Kanawa/Tosca it didn't sell at all when released. I worked in a record shop in London at the time of their release (both with a fanfare of publicity) but we hardly sold any and they all went back to the manufacturers where they were soon remaindered.


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## Tietjens Stolz (Jun 2, 2015)

GregMitchell said:


> The whole set was completely misguided and has absolutely nothing to commend it. Te Kanawa is a singer I really like in the right repertoire, but Violetta was definitely not for her, Kraus, though stylish as ever, sounds, as you say, too old, and a lot older than Hvorostovsky's young sounding Germont. Mehta is no Verdi conductor. Like the Te Kanawa/Tosca it didn't sell at all when released. I worked in a record shop in London at the time of their release (both with a fanfare of publicity) but we hardly sold any and they all went back to the manufacturers where they were soon remaindered.


The late Alan Blyth was pretty harsh (rightfully) on it in his _Gramophone_ survey article, as you could read it.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Ivan Rebroff on Kleiber's Die Fledermaus. He is cast as Prince Orlofsky, which is usually an _en travesti _role for mezzo-soprano. Here Rebroff sings falsetto, which sounds creepy and irritating in equal measure. It's not Rebroff's fault - he is only doing what was asked of him - but it ruins for me what I think is an otherwise excellent recording.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

GregMitchell said:


> There have been many sopranos, who, though vocally right for their role, have been physically completely miscast in the role of Gilda, making something of a mockery of the final scene, when poor Rigoletto has to lug her around in a sack. I won't mention names for fear of offending a few people, but would just point out that my favourite, Callas, was also a rather large lady on the only occasion she sang Gilda. Maybe that's why she never sang it again on stage. Who knows?


I'm of a like mind here (only even more so) with our friend Wooduck, and I don't care at all about the physical appearance of a singer, as long as he has "the vocal goods".

However, there are some difficult pairings, indeed. For instance, Claudio Muzio was cast as Butterfly at the MET, in 1919. She was a towering 5'10'' on her shoes, while her partner was the Spanish tenor Hipólito Lázaro, that was hardly 5'5"... Of course, both Muzio and Lázaro had "the vocal goods", but the contrast was having even a (non intended) comical effect.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

schigolch said:


> I'm of a like mind here (only even more so) with our friend Wooduck, and I don't care at all about the physical appearance of a singer, as long as he has "the vocal goods".
> 
> However, there are some difficult pairings, indeed. For instance, Claudio Muzio was cast as Butterfly at the MET, in 1919. She was a towering 5'10'' on her shoes, while her partner was the Spanish tenor Hipólito Lázaro, that was hardly 5'5"... Of course, both Muzio and Lázaro had "the vocal goods", but the contrast was having even a (non intended) comical effect.


We can only hope that the high clogs traditionally worn by geishas were worn by Pinkerton instead of Butterfly. Hmmm... Pinkerton as a cross-dresser with kimono, obi and face powder? Are you listening, regie people?


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

U


schigolch said:


> I'm of a like mind here (only even more so) with our friend Wooduck, and I don't care at all about the physical appearance of a singer, as long as he has "the vocal goods".
> 
> However, there are some difficult pairings, indeed. For instance, Claudio Muzio was cast as Butterfly at the MET, in 1919. She was a towering 5'10'' on her shoes, while her partner was the Spanish tenor Hipólito Lázaro, that was hardly 5'5"... Of course, both Muzio and Lázaro had "the vocal goods", but the contrast was having even a (non intended) comical effect.


For me if you are to take opera seriously as a music drama the thing must look right as well as sound right. In the recording studio it doesn't matter of course, but on stage it does, especially with the advent of DVD and live broadcasts, where you're no longer watching from the back of the stalls but close up. I recently saw the Met broadcast of Cenerentola with Joyce Di Donato, where she said it would be her last in that role. Very wise as she no longer quite looks the part close up although the voice is still terrific. Certainly singers who no longer (or perhaps never) look right are out for me.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

I mentioned it before, but 90% of Adelgisas. Adelgisa is an innocent young girl training to become a priestess, yet she sounds deeper and darker than Norma most of the time. if she is to be sung by a mezzo, it must be a LYRIC mezzo, with a brighter, more youthful timbre in contrast to Norma's dark, witchy, "scorned cougar" timbre *nominates Joyce di Donato*. casting a deep, dark dramatic mezzo as Adelgisa makes about as much sense as casting Zerlina as a dramatic soprano


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Well, that is your privilege as a paying customer.

My own privilege is not to care at all for "looking right" for the role. Something that, indeed, it almost never happen anyway, and would be quite difficult to define for each and every case. I also have an stupendous capacity for suspension of disbelief when I'm sitting in front of an operatic stage, that I have even been able to develop in more than thirty years doing precisely that. 

As for the DVD and live broadcasts close-ups, I couldn't care less. My own choice would be a single point of view, with no change, simulating the best visual angle available for a member of the audience present in the venue (well, if we can add interactive actions, then it would be nice to get the capacity for each spectator to perform his own close-up, simulating the use of binoculars). 

But I understand other people prefer the close-ups, and the camera movements, and I have no problem with that. I simply don't care about it.

What I do care about, it's for the music and the singing. Visuals come as a distant second for me.

That's part of the magic of Opera. It can be enjoyed in so many different ways, by very different people.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

schigolch said:


> Well, that is your privilege as a paying customer.
> 
> My own privilege is not to care at all for "looking right" for the role. Something that, indeed, it almost never happen anyway, and would be quite difficult to define for each and every case. I also have an stupendous capacity for suspension of disbelief when I'm sitting in front of an operatic stage, that I have even been able to develop in more than thirty years doing precisely that.
> 
> ...


You just go audio then?


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

No, of course not.

I think the best way to enjoy Opera is in the theater, and with a good staging. This is by far my preferred option, and I attend quite a few live performances every year, and I have watched at the opera house more than three hundred different titles.

But one thing I don't care at all, is the physical appearance of the singers performing a particular opera. This means nothing to me, nothing at all. I'm immersed in the music, the singing, and the drama, and I *never* got distracted by the height, weight or loveliness (or lack of) of a particular singer. 

I understand other people feel different, and that's fine to me. To each, his own.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

schigolch said:


> No, of course not.
> 
> I think the best way to enjoy Opera is in the theater, and with a good staging. This is by far my preferred option, and I attend quite a few live performances every year, and I have watched at the opera house more than three hundred different titles.
> 
> ...


Hear, hear I would give a arm and a leg to seeing : *Dame Joan Sutherland* in real live doing Lucia/ Maria Stuarda/ etc. etc.
Alas before my time. 
She _is_ and was _larger_ then life . :tiphat:

Still enjoying the DVD's though


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Pugg said:


> Hear, hear I would give a arm and a leg to seeing : *Dame Joan Sutherland* in real live doing Lucia/ Maria Stuarda/ etc. etc.
> Alas before my time.
> She _is_ and was _larger_ then life . :tiphat:
> 
> Still enjoying the DVD's though


I must confess my preference in the opera house is seeing an opera done with young singers (where appropriate) who look the part. You might not get the sheer vocal beauty of some more established artists but then this is a one off not a repeat listening scenario. And the visual effect more than compensates for vocal shortcomings. Of course, you can have both together - like the 2006 Glyndebourne Cosi. Must confess never to have longed to see Dame Joan in opera after hearing her say that it was singing not drama that mattered. "If you want drama go to the theatre! That's my opinion!"


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

DavidA said:


> I must confess my preference in the opera house is seeing an opera done with young singers (where appropriate) who look the part. You might not get the sheer vocal beauty of some more established artists but then this is a one off not a repeat listening scenario. And the visual effect more than compensates for vocal shortcomings. Of course, you can have both together - like the 2006 Glyndebourne Cosi. Must confess never to have longed to see Dame Joan in opera after hearing her say that it was singing not drama that mattered. "If you want drama go to the theatre! That's my opinion!"


Interesting to note that when Sutherland made such a stir in *Lucia di Lammermoor*, it was in a Zeffirelli production. At that time she was not a star, and went along with all the business Zeffirelli got her to act out. During the mad scene he had her flitting around the stage, chasing her shadow. According to Zeffirelli, he could get her to do virtually anything and it didn't affect her vocal production. That was one of the things that made her so remarkable. It's probable that the more famous she became, and the more Bonygne had to do with her career, the less likely she would be to work with directors who tried to produce opera as drama. I have similar feelings on record. Caballe seems to me to be a much more involved and involving artist. Sutherland, for all her vocal beauty and dazzling pyrotechnics rarely moves me, except maybe on the live recording of that first Lucia, which, probably not coincidentally, is conducted by none other than Tullio Serafin. Other people have different priorities of course, which is why I do understand why she is held in such high regard.

My feelings on the looks versus voice thing are somewhat equivocal though. For the most part I too prefer to see someone who is believable in a role, but I think Caballe is absolutely terrific in the Orange *Norma*, though she is a very large lady and her acting somewhat semaphoric. Caballe's singing is magnificent, and there is no doubt that she is thoroughly involved in the role, however rudimentary her acting. My disbelief is suspended.

On the other hand, I find it very hard to take a fat Violetta or Mimi. That stretches my credibility to the limit.

It is of course well known that Callas was also a large, fat soprano when she started her career. She decided to lose weight, because she felt she could not portray the women she was playing, because of her size. Losing all that weight may well have eventually cost her her voice, but, had she not done so, would she have been the artist she became? Already an artist of incomparable musicality and distinction, she became, if only for a short time, one of incomparable dramatic ability. One only has to see the silent film of her performing Medea in 1962. There are times she looks more like a Martha Graham dancer than an opera singer.

Then there is a singer like Teresa Stratas, who is a fantastic actress and stage animal, but who records less well. She may not have made many records that I would want to sit and listen to (excepting her terrific Weil albums) but I would go out of my way to hear her live. Back in the 70s, when I saw her as Susanna, she could deliver a mesmerisingly beautiful _Deh vieni_, or at least it seemed so in the theatre. I wonder now though if it would have the same effect in sound alone. I guess I will never know, but the memory has stayed with me all these years, and nobody has ever had quite the same effect as she did on that one occasion.

As a footnote, Schwarzkopf recalled that when Karajan did *Der Rosenkavalier* at La Scala in 1952 with her, Lisa Della Casa and Sena Jurinac, the orchestra thought that they were the dancers and were still waiting for the opera singers to arrive. It seems that, in Italy anyway, it wasn't over till the fat lady sang.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

GregMitchell said:


> On the other hand, I find it very hard to take a fat Violetta or Mimi. That stretches my credibility to the limit.
> 
> As a footnote, Schwarzkopf recalled that when Karajan did *Der Rosenkavalier* at La Scala in 1952 with her, Lisa Della Casa and Sena Jurinac, the orchestra thought that they were the dancers and were still waiting for the opera singers to arrive. It seems that, in Italy anyway, it wasn't over till the fat lady sang.


I heard a story (whether apocryphal or not) about Jesse Norman being asked whether she had ever considered playing Violetta. She replied, "Who could ever imagine me dying of consumption!"

Karajan is reputed to have said, when discussing his contribution to opera, "At least I chased all those fat ladies off the stage!"
For Karajan the visual was as important as the aural. Hence his film of Butterfly with Ponnelle was re-recorded with Domingo rather than Pavarotti, who had featured on the audio recording. Certainly Pav rushing through the wall of the house at the end would probably have caused an earthquake. 
It maybe that this was one of the reasons Karajan tended to choose light voices - his recordings were often linked to stage productions in which the singers had to look the part as well as sounding it. I believe he had intended to film the Turandot which is possibly why he chose Riciarrelli for her looks. But that is speculation.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

DavidA said:


> I believe he had intended to film the Turandot which is possibly why he chose Riciarrelli for her looks. But that is speculation.


Well, personally I find that is one bit of casting that didn't work. Not only is Ricciarelli's voice too light, but her voice ddoesn't have the necessary steadiness. Indeed Callas is steadier on her 1957 recording, which was recorded too late for her.

Bringing up the name of Callas in conjunction with Karajan leads me to the one stage production they did together. When she first sang Lucia with Karajan she was not quite the pencil thin woman she became, but she was already a lot slimmer than she had been. Zeffirelli thought that Karajan was the only one to get it right with Callas. In the mad scene, he simply dimmed the rest of the stage lights and trained a follow spot on Callas, leaving Callas free to wander around the stage at will, for, with a Callas, Zeffirelli said, that is all you had to do. She exuded music, her gestures and moves completely at one with the music.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

GregMitchell said:


> Well, personally I find that is one bit of casting that didn't work. Not only is Ricciarelli's voice too light, but her voice ddoesn't have the necessary steadiness. Indeed Callas is steadier on her 1957 recording, which was recorded too late for her.


Yes I will grant that she doesn't really have the voice but I think a good deal more highly of her than some do, as she does make the final melting of Turandot more believable than (e.g.) Nilsson. She has a deal of fragility which I like. But she is far more of a Lui than a Turandot granted. But Karajan's handling of the opera is masterly!


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## mswh (Jun 25, 2015)

I saw Scotto in one of the two performances she gave as Musetta at the Met. She was wonderful in Act II and, as might be expected, nearly stole the last act with her affecting acting.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

mswh said:


> I saw Scotto in one of the two performances she gave as Musetta at the Met. She was wonderful in Act II and, as might be expected, nearly stole the last act with her affecting acting.


But that is hardly to call a miscast, it's on DVD by the way , with Carreras and Stratas on DG


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## ma7730 (Jun 8, 2015)

DavidA said:


> Here is Bocelli as Caveradossi
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It seems cruel to put anyone aside Domingo  Aside from Pavarotti, of course


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

On the topic of singers looking the part: basically, for me it's the effort that's important. A singer doesn't have to be slender or a "natural" as an actor -- she/he just has to make an effort to look the part, and to do something more than just stand there and sing. As long as there's concern for the visual aspect of the portrayal, that's all I ask.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Bellinilover said:


> On the topic of singers looking the part: basically, for me it's the effort that's important..


I prefer singers that look good rather than looking the part.
If the singers should look the part it would mean that we would have Mimis and Violettas that look like they were dying and people would be more worried about the singers than the characters.

Then there are singers that look fine but are not so pleasant to listen to.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Sloe said:


> I prefer singers that look good rather than looking the part.
> If the singers should look the part it would mean that we would have Mimis and Violettas that look like they were dying and people would be more worried about the singers than the characters.


I'm not so sure about that. I'd love to see a truly realistic cast for _Siegfried_: a Siegfried who looks seventeen, real dwarves for Mime and Alberich, a thirty-foot basso profundo with fangs and scales, a forest bird who....well, we never see the forest bird, do we? -and a Brunnhilde who looks like Katherine Jenkins but sounds like Kirsten Flagstad. That would make Siegfried's "Das ist kein Mann!" even funnier than it is.

This is why the _Ring_ needs the movies. After all, the music is the greatest soundtrack ever written.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Sloe said:


> I prefer singers that look good rather than looking the part.
> If the singers should look the part it would mean that we would have Mimis and Violettas that look like they were dying and people would be more worried about the singers than the characters.
> 
> Then there are singers that look fine but are not so pleasant to listen to.


So let me get this right. How do you feel about film or stage actors. Do you also prefer them to look good than look ill, if, for instance they are playing someone who is ill? Does it make you worry about them too if they happen to be too convincing? Isn't that what acting's all about?


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

GregMitchell said:


> So let me get this right. How do you feel about film or stage actors. Do you also prefer them to look good than look ill, if, for instance they are playing someone who is ill?


Yes and how often do they really look ill and is it really possible.
I am fine with cough cough I am dying.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Sloe said:


> Yes and how often do they really look ill and is it really possible.


These days, most of the time I'd have said.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

On topic:

Pavarotti in the Muti ; Don Carlos.
I saw it a few times but is almost painful to watch, how he moves and his voice sounds as if he had a could .


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Bocelli and Domingo in the Pearl Fisher's duet. Don't know who's miscast more. Domingo as has been baritone or Bocelli as a never was tenor!


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I once played Dancairo (one of the low tenor smugglers in Carmen and I'm a Bass-baritone!

N.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Jessye Norman as Sieglinde.


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## Loge (Oct 30, 2014)

Barbebleu said:


> Jessye Norman as Sieglinde.


If you think she was miscast, then you should listen to this...


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## OperaMaven (May 5, 2014)

Barbebleu said:


> Jessye Norman as Sieglinde.


Not so much Norman as such, as the combination of her and Gary Lakes. Near-identical twins?????


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

Dietrich Fischer Dieskau as Wotan, the Dutchman, Orest, Hans Sachs, or any other low dramatic role he had no business singing.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

I have been listening to several Otello's the past few days on Spotify.

With an opera as vast as Tristan, it seems that we do not have a perfect Otello on disc at the moment. Monaco and Tebaldi in the Karajan have the voice and the chemistry, but they do sound like a screaming couple sometimes. Toscanini is terrific, as well as Vinay, but Herva Nelli is not memorable. Furtwangler is not a his best in this opera, and I don't really care for Domingo or any Otello after him.

The best possible studio recording for me is *Serafin*/Vickers/Gobbi, but the miscast here? *Rysanek*! What on earth were they thinking when they cast her as Desdemona? Not that she is bad, just that she sounded terribly out of style. They had better options out there! Renata Scotto was actively recording with EMI around that time, and she proved to be a fantastic Desdemona in her MET performance with Vickers (one of the best performance at the MET captured on video, although I'm never a fan of Levine's conducting). What a shame, a great recording ruined by a slight miscast!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

silentio said:


> I have been listening to several Otello's the past few days on Spotify.
> 
> With an opera as vast as Tristan, it seems that we do not have a perfect Otello on disc at the moment. Monaco and Tebaldi in the Karajan have the voice and the chemistry, but they do sound like a screaming couple sometimes. Toscanini is terrific, as well as Vinay, but Herva Nelli is not memorable. Furtwangler is not a his best in this opera, and I don't really care for Domingo or any Otello after him.
> 
> The best possible studio recording for me is *Serafin*/Vickers/Gobbi, but the miscast here? *Rysanek*! What on earth were they thinking when they cast her as Desdemona? Not that she is bad, just that she sounded terribly out of style. They had better options out there! Renata Scotto was actively recording with EMI around that time, and she proved to be a fantastic Desdemona in her MET performance with Vickers (one of the best performance at the MET captured on video, although I'm never a fan of Levine's conducting). What a shame, a great recording ruined be a slight miscast!


Try the Fleming / Doming DVD or Fleming / Botha, you be surprised.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Itullian said:


> I remember that. It was pretty bad.


Agreed, but then she redeemed herself with a spectacular Salome. The lady is a stage animal so it is too bad that her voice is a shadow of its former self. I still like her and think she brings excitement to her roles. There's still some life in the old gal yet before she exits to concerts, recitals and soirees.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Agreed, but then she redeemed herself with a spectacular Salome. The lady is a stage animal so it is too bad that her voice is a shadow of its former self. I still like her and think she brings excitement to her roles. There's still some life in the old gal yet before she exits to concerts, recitals and soirees.


I don't know how my post got positioned to this page but I meant it to be a part of the comments on Patricia Racette in "Andrea Chenier."

"Quote Originally Posted by Woodduck View Post

The most ill-advised piece of casting I've heard recently was Patricia Racette's attempt at Maddalena in Andrea Chenier at the Met last season. She seems to have got it in her head that she's a dramatic soprano. Maybe she figures "I'm getting old, my voice is wobbly, so - what the hell?" That was exactly my reaction to the worst performance of "La mamma morta" I've ever heard. She's scheduled for Butterfly next season. Watch out everybody.
I remember that. It was pretty bad. "


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## Loge (Oct 30, 2014)

Waltraud Meier in the infamous Met production of Carmen. She acts more like Princess Giselle from Enchanted rather than a sultry gypsy temptress. Meier only sang the role twice. And is Don Jose her Dad?


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

The worst tenor I have ever heard and a disastrous miscasting of Don Jose was Chauvet in 1978 with Crespin in Carmen.
How he ever made it into the Met I will never know. They must have been desperate. He sounded no more French than the man in the moon.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> The worst tenor I have ever heard and a disastrous miscasting of Don Jose was Chauvet in 1978 with Crespin in Carmen.
> How he ever made it into the Met I will never know. They must have been desperate. He sounded no more French than the man in the moon.


Maybe because Don Josè is Spanish.
Strange that he did not sound French when he was French.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Sloe said:


> Maybe because Don Josè is Spanish.
> Strange that he did not sound French when he was French.


French or no, his accent was sloppy. But his voice was worse. He sounded more like a heldentenor than a French singer.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> French or no, his accent was sloppy. But his voice was worse. He sounded more like a heldentenor than a French singer.


Maybe he was a hérostenor.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> We can only hope that the high clogs traditionally worn by geishas were worn by Pinkerton instead of Butterfly. Hmmm... Pinkerton as a cross-dresser with kimono, obi and face powder? Are you listening, regie people?


I think if they want the lead tenor to wear a kimono they should stage Iris.


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## gellio (Nov 7, 2013)

Damn...why didn't I see this yesterday?!? I would have said Maria Callas as Norma.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

gellio said:


> Damn...why didn't I see this yesterday?!? I would have said Maria Callas as Norma.


Isn't it enough to have said it today?

Perhaps even too much.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

gellio said:


> Damn...why didn't I see this yesterday?!? I would have said Maria Callas as Norma.


My monitor has tea on it now whilst reading this :lol:


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

I see a lot more _costume_ mismatches than voice mismatches. If you have a lead singer who is a bit more "masculine" looking (square jaw, larger frame, etc), less is more. Trying to over-feminize them will only make them look like a drag queen.

like this:









NOT like this


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> I see a lot more _costume_ mismatches than voice mismatches. If you have a lead singer who is a bit more "masculine" looking (square jaw, larger frame, etc), less is more. Trying to over-feminize them will only make them look like a drag queen.
> 
> like this:
> 
> ...


I do thinks there are several years between that photo's being taken, beside that, one if for promotion the last one for personal use.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

OP: That's easy. James McCracken as Don José on the Leonard Bernstein recording of Carmen.

Unless you feel that an unsexy, heldentenor-like voice is appropriate for the part.

For moi, NO!!!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Pavarotti as Don Carlo on EMI ,CD/ DVD, the worst thing he ever did, never understood maestro Muti why he made this horrible recording.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

To me it is a miscast when an obese singer is cast as Florestan in Beethoven's Fidelio. He may be a great singer, but the imagery of a plump man playing a man who has been nearly starved to death is hard to accept.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I just remember Alfredo Krauss / Te Kana recorded La Traviata on Philips.
The man was old enough to be her father.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I am stepping out a bit from opera to recital territory. There was a time when I would have done anything to go to to hear the divine Jessye Norman sing. On her last concert in Seattle, though, she opened Benaroya Hall 19 years ago with the Immolation Scene. She sang one of my very very favorite Immolation Scenes years before when she was as big as a house, but after the weight loss and aging I had a really good idea that this was going to be a big mistake. I stayed away. I was right. It was a HUGE failure. She was always a tone or more under the high notes and it was a cringeworthy performance. Her hubris kept her billing herself as a soprano, but by that point she really couldn't reliably sing above a G5. It was broadcast for all the world to see her. I think it is on Youtube but I can't bring myself to watch it.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Pugg said:


> I just remember Alfredo Krauss / Te Kana recorded La Traviata on Philips.
> The man was old enough to be her father.


It is a cd that I personally don't like much but you don't have to see them. They stage Il trovatore recently in London with a Manrico old enough to be the father of the singer who played his mother. I think he was like 30 years older. I see it as the fun fakeness of opera.


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