# Anna Netrebko done with Wagner



## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

She knows her limits & also has great taste in choice of favorite composer lol

https://slippedisc.com/2018/02/anna-netrebko-im-done-with-wagner/


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## znapschatz (Feb 28, 2016)

Wagnerian operas can be a real voice killer. They completely wrecked Mario del Monico and seriously compromised Bryn Terfel.
Many are called, but few are chosen.


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## Star (May 27, 2017)

Sounds a perfectly rational decision to me. If the voice does not suit.......


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## interestedin (Jan 10, 2016)

But she will sing Elsa in Bayreuth.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

post deleted.....


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

znapschatz said:


> Wagnerian operas can be a real voice killer. They completely wrecked Mario del Monico and seriously compromised Bryn Terfel.
> Many are called, but few are chosen.


I'm unaware that Del Monaco sang much Wagner, and doubt that his huge voice would have been wrecked if he did. I know he sang Siegmund on one occasion, and I have the impression that he sang it rather well, though he was already past his prime. Here he is in concert in 1966:






And just for fun:


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

interestedin said:


> But she will sing Elsa in Bayreuth.


Anna Harteros is listed as singing Elsa.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

This seems like a good choice. I really like Anna Netrebko, but her approach does not seem right for Wagner.

I'm trying to find the article from when she was learning Elsa for Lohengrin, starting a month or so before as is her standard practice. She was surprised that Christian Thielemann was so focused on the text, and expected her to know it, and be careful with it in her singing. (I believe some of the problem was the German language that she has not sung in as much, so there may be very different results when she is singing in Italian, Russian, or other languages).

I think no matter what voice you have, if you're not paying close attention to the text in Wagner you're leaving a lot on the table.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Woodduck said:


> I'm unaware that Del Monaco sang much Wagner, and doubt that his huge voice would have been wrecked if he did. I know he sang Siegmund on one occasion, and I have the impression that he sang it rather well, though he was already past his prime. Here he is in concert in 1966:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Great clips Woodduck! Thank you


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## interestedin (Jan 10, 2016)

mountmccabe said:


> Anna Harteros is listed as singing Elsa.


2019 ..........


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Her Nebs is no dope. She knows exactly what's right for her and what isn't.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Her Nebs is no dope. She knows exactly what's right for her and what isn't.


At least she knows after experimenting. Too many singers don't recognize when they fall short. They find that they can "get by" singing repertoire that really doesn't suit them, and opera houses desperate for voices encourage them in their delusions.


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## Scott in PA (Aug 13, 2016)

I have her Lohengrin DVD and I think she does very well as Elsa. 

Isolde is a different matter. She would already be a bit late to the game. Netrebko is 46. Flagstad was almost 37 when she sang her first Isolde, and Nilsson was 35. You either have it in your later 30s or you don’t.


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## znapschatz (Feb 28, 2016)

Woodduck said:


> I'm unaware that Del Monaco sang much Wagner, and doubt that his huge voice would have been wrecked if he did. I know he sang Siegmund on one occasion, and I have the impression that he sang it rather well, though he was already past his prime. Here he is in concert in 1966:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is something I don't know first hand, but had read about sometime in the late '60s. Reportedly, (I forget who) said that he had run into Del Monaco briefly, who wryly pointed to his throat, then made the crazy sign over his temple, and said his performance in a Wagner opera had ruined his voice. Frankly, that's all I know about the matter. In the late 1950s, I had a 33 rpm recording of him as Calaf in Turandot with Victoria de Los Angeles as the title character and thought highly of his voice. Maybe he was simply referring to Wagnerian roles, but I believed this anecdote at the time.

Update: I consulted with my wife, who knows opera technicals in greater depth than I, also believed that del Monaco lost his voice, but in a Verdi role, not Wagner. But she couldn't remember which one, either. So I looked it up on the interwebs, and there was no mention of him having lost his voice at all, but at worst, was in his later career unable to sing "delicate" passages. Still, his career lasted until 1975. So, apologies for my memory lapse in this regard.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

znapschatz said:


> That is something I don't know first hand, but had read about sometime in the late '60s. Reportedly, (I forget who) said that he had run into Del Monaco briefly, who wryly pointed to his throat, then made the crazy sign over his temple, and said his performance in a Wagner opera had ruined his voice. Frankly, that's all I know about the matter. In the late 1950s, I had a 33 rpm recording of him as Calaf in Turandot with Victoria de Los Angeles as the title character and thought highly of his voice. Maybe he was simply referring to Wagnerian roles, but I believed this anecdote at the time.


I don't remember that recording (though I'm old enough), but De los Angeles must have been the Liu. She would never have attempted Turandot. There is a Turandot with Del Monaco, Inge Borkh, and Renata Tebaldi which I'd like to hear.


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## znapschatz (Feb 28, 2016)

Woodduck said:


> I don't remember that recording (though I'm old enough), but De los Angeles must have been the Liu. She would never have attempted Turandot. There is a Turandot with Del Monaco, Inge Borkh, and Renata Tebaldi which I'd like to hear.


You are right about that. My memory was way off.

Update #2: My wife, a daughter and student of an opera singer and herself a professional singer (not opera), insisted that Del Monaco lost his voice singing a Verdi role. I can find no verification of this, however. There may be further updates, but at this time I will withdraw from this thread.  Memory can be so fickle  .


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Anna Netrebko done with singing would be the best headline.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Pugg said:


> Anna Netrebko done with singing would be the best headline.


I was watching her on a DVD of Lucia di Lammermoor yesterday. She looks good on the screen, but if you close your eyes and just listen, the singing per se isn't very good.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Bonetan said:


> She knows her limits & also has great taste in choice of favorite composer lol
> 
> https://slippedisc.com/2018/02/anna-netrebko-im-done-with-wagner/


Thinking of her years when she in her early prime (truly stunning, everything going for her), I'm impressed that she stayed completely in the field of opera when the world beckoned... and then she says things like this too! So glad to have her as part of my opera passion and that she's chosen to stay wholly our opera world, i.e. no crossovers, no marriages to hedge fund managers.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Scott in PA said:


> I have her Lohengrin DVD and I think she does very well as Elsa.
> 
> Isolde is a different matter. She would already be a bit late to the game. Netrebko is 46. Flagstad was almost 37 when she sang her first Isolde, and Nilsson was 35. You either have it in your later 30s or you don't.


Gwyneth Jones took it on at 44.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Pugg said:


> Anna Netrebko done with singing would be the best headline.


Miaow. Saucer of milk for Pugg, methinks!:lol:


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

wkasimer said:


> I was watching her on a DVD of Lucia di Lammermoor yesterday. She looks good on the screen, but if you close your eyes and just listen, the singing per se isn't very good.


Funny, I was watching that same DVD the other day, and I remarked to myself that her voice fit the part well. I think it depends on the type of timbre you want or will accept in a Lucia. In bel canto opera above all, there's a great deal of subjectivity about whose voice timbre best fits a character -- hence all the heated Callas vs. Sutherland debates, etc.

Netrebko gets a lot of criticism for her supposedly sloppy ornamentation, yet I usually don't find it to be anywhere near as bad as its reputation. It is said, for instance, that she can't trill, or that she couldn't trill until very recently. Yet right now I'm listening to her first recital disc ("Opera Arias")...and she trills in several arias (and, yes, they _are_ true trills, or alternations between notes; I replayed them several times to be sure.

I'd accept that she's inconsistent/impulsive, but I don't believe she's not a "true" artist, or whatever her detractors like to imply.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Bonetan said:


> She knows her limits & also has great taste in choice of favorite composer lol
> 
> https://slippedisc.com/2018/02/anna-netrebko-im-done-with-wagner/


Yeah, I had no idea Wagner was Netrebko's favorite composer! Interesting.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

znapschatz said:


> I looked it up on the interwebs, and there was no mention of him having lost his voice at all, but at worst, was in his later career unable to sing "delicate" passages.


What a blow it must have been, to lose that fabled Del Monaco delicacy.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Bellinilover said:


> Yeah, I had no idea Wagner was Netrebko's favorite composer! Interesting.


Wagner is everyone's favorite composer some people just don't know it yet.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Couchie said:


> Wagner is everyone's favorite composer some people just don't know it yet.


They'll find out when they get to heaven.


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

Not telling us much that you are done with wagner when you haven't even really begun yet, makes it sound like you are telling us something important about a career change 

All curious wagner minds demand to know how did Miss Netrebko get her start with wagner, I have done exhaustive research of russian archives to find this clip of Anna as flower maiden in Parsifal at 3:10 mark, don't blink you may miss it


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

DarkAngel said:


> Not telling us much that you are done with wagner when you haven't even really begun yet, makes it sound like you are telling us something important about a career change
> 
> All curious wagner minds demand to know how did Miss Netrebko get her start with wagner, I have done exhaustive research of russian archives to find this clip of Anna as flower maiden in Parsifal at 3:10 mark, don't blink you may miss it


She should have stuck on that and the Wood bird perhaps.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Woodduck said:


> They'll find out when they get to heaven.


Unfortunately, if they do not see the light of Wagner before they die, they are punished forever with Brahms on eternal repeat. The 10th circle of hell.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Couchie said:


> Unfortunately, if they do not see the light of Wagner before they die, they are punished forever with Brahms on eternal repeat. The 10th circle of hell.


This is sad news. I must hurry to convert my sister.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

on the next episode of "nice lyric voice gets a little too ambitious and regrets it later after years of singing dramatic rep"

#SeenThisBefore


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

From the machine-translated article:_

"Are you going to sing Turandot?"_

_"Yes. That's for sure. In fact, this should not cause any shock. This party is written for the same soprano, which plays the role of Liu. That there really is a strong one, this is the last duet that Puccini did not write, because at that time he had already moved to another world. The Turandot party itself is not strong, including the output aria "In questa reggia", *where there is no rich orchestra that needs to be 'overridden'."
*_

Haha, she's a true Wagnerian. Suck it, Puccini.


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## Star (May 27, 2017)

znapschatz said:


> That is something I don't know first hand, but had read about sometime in the late '60s. Reportedly, (I forget who) said that he had run into Del Monaco briefly, who wryly pointed to his throat, then made the crazy sign over his temple, and said his performance in a Wagner opera had ruined his voice. Frankly, that's all I know about the matter. In the late 1950s, I had a 33 rpm recording of him as Calaf in Turandot with Victoria de Los Angeles as the title character and thought highly of his voice. Maybe he was simply referring to Wagnerian roles, but I believed this anecdote at the time.
> 
> Update: I consulted with my wife, who knows opera technicals in greater depth than I, also believed that del Monaco lost his voice, but in a Verdi role, not Wagner. But she couldn't remember which one, either. So I looked it up on the interwebs, and there was no mention of him having lost his voice at all, but at worst, was in his later career unable to sing "delicate" passages. Still, his career lasted until 1975. So, apologies for my memory lapse in this regard.


I know Del Monaco recorded some Wagner - he certainly gav the voice to bellow over an orchestra


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