# Opera anecdotes



## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

There may already be a thread dealing with anecdotes but I have not found one so far. It would be interesting and instructive to have a motley collection of true stories about the famous and not-so-famous to provide insight into their characters, experiences and careers. My request is, however, to attempt accuracy and/or provide reference to the source.

Here are a couple to begin:

*Tagliavini*

If you believe Tito Gobbi, Tagliavini was a model of delight as a person. Kyra Vayne (born 1916 in Petrograd) definitely thought otherwise (and was equally unimpressed with Gobbi). She was well regarded throughout the 60s when she also appeared with Gigli. Gobbi, Bergonzi before "retiring" only to reappear thirty years later.

I found her memoirs very negative and dismissive but there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of her comments mainly because they have been substantiated by many others:

"He had touted all the Italian restaurants in Soho, handing out tickets . . . to his prospective supporters in lieu of the traditional Italian clique - the organisation of professional clappers. When the recipients showed their appreciation not only for Tagliavini, but also for me, his fury knew no bounds. In my second act aria he stood at the side of the stage and yelled 'If she sings an encore, there will be NO third act'"

Kyra Vayne "A voice reborn"​
*Wagner*

In 1857, on Good Friday, Wagner woke up to find the sun streaming into the little house. He thought once again of Wolfram's Parsifal. 'Since my stay in Marienbad, when I conceived Die Meistersinger and Lohengrin, I had never given another thought to that poem; now its possibilities struck me with overwhelming force and out of the thoughts about Good Friday, I rapidly conceived a whole drama of which I then and there dashed off a sketch dividing the whole into three acts'

John Chancellor "Wagner"​


----------



## Biffo (Mar 7, 2016)

I was interested to hear that buying applause was still prevalent in the 1960s (or am I just naive?). The term is actually 'claque' not 'clique'. The claque was very active in Paris in the 1820s and '30s and Berlioz mentions them in his Memoirs and also Evenings with the Orchestra. At the time they were also known as Romans, after the practice of the Emperor Nero of paying for applause at his own artistic performances. In Paris of the 1820s the leader of the claque (or Romans) was known as Augustus. In London, Berlioz' opera Benvenuto Cellini was booed off the stage by the highly organised Italian claque - they didn't want anyone from outside moving in on the Italian-dominated Covent Garden theatre.


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

You'd be surprised how many "famous names" use a claque.


----------



## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

*Chaliapin*

There is a lovely account of the young Chaliapin when awarded the role of Mephistopheles. He was unhappy about the "traditional way" of playing this part and told Mamatov that he wanted to deviate from that tradition. They went to Avantso's to examine representations of the character and chose a Kaulbach engraving from which a new costume was ordered. Chaliapin experimented with makeup and felt "as though he had found a new self, a new freedom of movement and consciousness of strength and vigour."

The success was enormous , Krugikov claiming he "would never miss a single production in which this artist appears"

Chaliapin Autobiography told to Maxim Gorky


----------



## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

nina foresti said:


> You'd be surprised how many "famous names" use a claque.


Yes and sometimes it backfired! Here is a lovely quote from a great article at http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/061213-NL-alagna.html

"Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu were less ecstatic. The couple, self-absorbed and acting as if by divine right, treated colleagues haughtily and assistants like dirt. They were banned twice from the Metropolitan Opera in New York and, backstage behaviour apart, never aroused a fervour to match their hype".


----------



## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

*The Amsterdam Opera*

in 1960, this company asked Antal Dorati to conduct a new production. This is a condensed version of his recollections:

"Simone Boccanegra was chosen . . . When interviewers aske me about my happiest moment on the podium, I tell them it wasn't on the podium, but in the pit ... exactly at the moment when the curtain rose for the third act and the splendid decor was roundly applauded. .

"The building was as big a hindrance as can be imagined:The stage was narrow and deep and very poorly equipped; The orchestra pit was a small cavern, placed far to low and under the stage rather than in front of it. The orchestra was incredibly weak: it seemed incomprehensible that such a body should have been tolerated when less than a thousand paces away, the public could hear the magnificent and proud Concertebouw. ..... (two more pages of Dorati's analysis follow).

"Later, I was asked, at a meeting of the directors, what my advice for the institution's future would be.
"I replied ' Go bankrupt and start again"

Thus ended my brief popularity with the Amsterdam Opera

Antal Dorati "Notes of Seven Decades"


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

aussiebushman said:


> Yes and sometimes it backfired! Here is a lovely quote from a great article at http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/061213-NL-alagna.html
> 
> "Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu were less ecstatic. The couple, self-absorbed and acting as if by divine right, treated colleagues haughtily and assistants like dirt. They were banned twice from the Metropolitan Opera in New York and, backstage behaviour apart, never aroused a fervour to match their hype".


Speaking of whom: During the run of a 1996 Met _La Boheme_, they decided to tie the knot, so during the first intermission they rounded up some of the troops backstage, and had then Mayor Rudy Giuliani conduct the nuptials.


----------



## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

This thread has not attracted much attention, so if it is unworthy of continuation, please say so.

Conversely, anyone with interesting anecdotes about opera composers, singers or performances please contribute: Here is another one:

*Falsetto vs Chest notes above the stave*

The earliest Bel Canto tenors like Rubini, Garcia and others of the early 19th century used flute-like falsetto in the higher registers, it was Donzelli who appears to have pioneered a far more robust sound from the chest. This created a new craze, though it placed immense strain for singers not trained to utilize this method.

Famously, in 1931, Americo Stigoli attempted to emulate Donzelli, stepped towards the footlights and sang with all the force he could muster. He dropped dead immediately from a burst blood vessel!

_Source: The Rough Guide to Opera_


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

I've read a couple funny stories involving Robert Merrill. One anecdote I remember was about Merrill's being offered the role of John the Baptist in SALOME early in his Metropolitan Opera career. Merrill had a tenor friend who was cast as the Second Jew, but Merrill ended up turning down John the Baptist because he "didn't want to be the first Jew to have his head handed to him on the stage of the Met.":lol: I think this anecdote was in Merrill's autobiography, ONCE MORE FROM THE BEGINNING.


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Then there is the famous anecdote about the time Corelli entered Tucker's dressing room and asked him how he managed to sing a certain high note so very well, to which Tucker answered, "You've got to be Jewish, kiddo!"

Or the time that, during the last act of a _La Boheme_, the Colline lost his voice and could not sing his famous aria to his coat. In panic he signaled to Caruso indicating his throat. With that Caruso told him to move his lips while Caruso stood behind him and gave a perfect rendition of the coat aria ("Vecchia zimarra senti").


----------



## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

aussiebushman said:


> *Chaliapin*
> 
> There is a lovely account of the young Chaliapin when awarded the role of Mephistopheles. He was unhappy about the "traditional way" of playing this part and told Mamatov that he wanted to deviate from that tradition. They went to Avantso's to examine representations of the character and chose a Kaulbach engraving from which a new costume was ordered. Chaliapin experimented with makeup and felt "as though he had found a new self, a new freedom of movement and consciousness of strength and vigour."
> 
> ...


I remember a slightly different account (or an additional part to this one). Chaliapin had a highly original idea for how the part of Mephistopheles should be played. He felt that it would be best rendered with the singer naked! This of course wasn't possible, but is a striking idea.

N.


----------



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

aussiebushman said:


> Yes and sometimes it backfired! Here is a lovely quote from a great article at http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/061213-NL-alagna.html
> 
> "Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu were less ecstatic. The couple, self-absorbed and acting as if by divine right, treated colleagues haughtily and assistants like dirt. They were banned twice from the Metropolitan Opera in New York and, backstage behaviour apart, never aroused a fervour to match their hype".


I'd imagine a whole volume could be filled with the pathetic behaviour of the Tiresome Twosome. Perhaps there's a chance they've both grown up since their split.


----------



## The Wolf (Apr 28, 2017)

*Magda Olivero - On recording Fedora:*

_An example I like to recall is the death of Fedora, which I recorded for Decca. The entire opera had been recorded. The conductor, Lamberto Gardelli, speaking for the musicians and technicians, said, "Signora, we still have two hours at our disposal." Del Monaco, Gobbi and all the others had left. "We would like to offer you an homage. Is there something you would like to repeat?" I said, "The death of Fedora, but with my eyes closed, so as not to see the mechanical apparatus in front of me, as though I were on stage." Maestro Gardelli replied, "Sing just as you like, with your eyes closed. We are all here, ready to follow you, with all our love."

And so we repeated the death of Fedora, with my eyes closed, and I think you can sense this on the recording. They inserted Loris's brief phrase, which Del Monaco already had recorded. _

https://www.belcantosociety.org/olivero/


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> Then there is the famous anecdote about the time Corelli entered Tucker's dressing room and asked him how he managed to sing a certain high note so very well, to which Tucker answered, "You've got to be Jewish, kiddo!"
> 
> Or the time that, during the last act of a _La Boheme_, the Colline lost his voice and could not sing his famous aria to his coat. In panic he signaled to Caruso indicating his throat. With that Caruso told him to move his lips while Caruso stood behind him and gave a perfect rendition of the coat aria ("Vecchia zimarra senti").


I've heard the one about Tucker and Corelli a couple other times, but the way I heard it, it was not a note but a phrase: in _Tosca_, "Le belle forme disolea le veli" from "E lucevan le stelle."


----------



## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

I'm sure this event has been discussed elsewhere on TC but I have not seen it. Leontyne Price needs no introduction from me, but the following illustrates the ******* obstacles she had to overcome:

_"In Atlanta of spring-summer, 1966. Metropolitan Opera General Manager Mr. Bing took the whole cast to a country club. Leontyne was very famous. We walked in and the manager came up and whispered to Mr. Bing, "You can't come in." She had just sung her guts out, and couldn't believe that I was in the middle of those things about which I had been reading. And Mr. Bing, to his credit, said, "Folks, we're out of here." And we went someplace else"._


----------



## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

*Earnings of Opera singers*

I read in the sleeve notes on a set of recordings of Galli-Curci that in 1925 she demanded and was paid $2,500 per performance. The US government calculator converts that figure *to $34,969 in 2017 money.*

A recent review suggest that these days, chorus members of the Met generally earn between $100.000 and $200,000 per year whereas the "stars" get $17,000 a night. The latter is roughly half what Galli-Curci was getting in today's money. However, the "super-stars do much better. At the height of his fame, Pavarotti was getting $100,000 per performance. With sponsorships and recording contracts, $5 million a year is not beyond reach of the top artists.

As well as having great talent, these singers have trained for decades and live unbelievably stressful lives. I figure they are worth every cent, whereas top executives of even fairly mediocre companies get even more than that. In my opinion, they rarely earn it

In Australia for example, the former CEO of Australia Post was getting $A5.4 million and the organisation never made a profit!


----------



## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

In a interview (which I sadly couldn't find) Maria Callas told the interviewer about a story how during a rehearsal of I think Parsifal (I forgot the details really), she was too shy to kiss the guy, so the conductor went up to him and kissed him then turned to Maria and said: "If I can kiss a man on the mouth like that you'd better do it!"


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

This is a classic regarding tenor Leo Slezak (father of actor Walter Slezak). Playing Lohengrin one time, and prepared to enter on a boat drawn by a large mechanical swan, he was startled to see the swan leave the station without him due to a backstage error. He had the presence of mind to be heard out front quipping "What time's the next swan?"


----------



## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

MarkW said:


> This is a classic regarding tenor Leo Slezak (father of actor Walter Slezak). Playing Lohengrin one time, and prepared to enter on a boat drawn by a large mechanical swan, he was startled to see the swan leave the station without him due to a backstage error. He had the presence of mind to be heard out front quipping "What time's the next swan?"


This is attributed to several singers, and some version include the tenor being very drunk and missing his swan.


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Then there was the time at the Detroit Opera when the procession in Aida was led by the Energizer Bunny. 

(It popped up again in Louisville, playing the bass drum during the Turkish March variation in Beethoven's Ninth.)


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Then there was the horn player in Hamburg who slipped in the opening of Der Rosenkavalier in place of Siegfried's leitmotif once in the middle of a performance of "Siegfried."


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

. . . and the Tosca, whose trampoline was too bouncy, and was seen reappearing above the parapet after she threw herself over.


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

And the Boris Godunov at the Paris Opera whose Coronation Scene was interrupted when the chandalier crashed down. (Enough!)


----------



## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

MarkW said:


> And the Boris Godunov at the Paris Opera whose Coronation Scene was interrupted when the chandalier crashed down. (Enough!)


Actually not an opera performance but I was at the Sydney Opera House for a performance of the Shostakovich 7th when one of the "donuts" crashed down from the roof, nearly missing an orchestra player. It says a lot for the Svetlanov/USSR symphony that they hardly missed a beat . I guess the Russians of that era were used to it!


----------



## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

Two bass players were engaged for a run of Carmen. After a couple of weeks, they agreed each to take an afternoon off in turn to go and watch the matinee performance from the front of house.

Joe duly took his break; back in the pit that evening, Moe asked how it was.

"Great," says Joe. "You know that bit where the music goes `BOOM Boom Boom Boom'--well there are some guys up top singing a terrific song about a Toreador at the same time."


----------



## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

What's the difference between a Wagnerian soprano and a Wagnerian Tenor?
About 10 pounds.

What's the difference between a soprano and a pirhana?
The lipstick.

How do you tell if a tenor is dead?
The wine bottle is still full and the comics haven't been touched.


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

The celebrated Austrian tenor, Leo Slezak, was singing Otello at the Houston Opera House and here he recounts how the program set out the operatic entertainment for the evening. Slezak was aware that American Opera Houses had pioneered the exploitation of sponsorship and advertising but even the humorously quick-witted Slezak was unprepared for the way that Crisco, a brand of shortening (baking fat) was brought to the attention of the audience:

OTELLO
Opera in four acts, by Giuseppe Verdi

Act 1
The people of Cyprus on their knees are praying for the safety of Otello, whose ship is fighting the elements. The danger passes, Otello arrives and greets the people with the words:

USE CRISCO, THE BEST SHORTENING

"Rejoice! The Turk is vanquished and drowned in the sea" The people hail Otello:

CRISCO IS UNSURPASSED

Iago, jealous of Cassio, who enjoys Otello's confidence, tries to render Cassio drunk. A drinking song:

CRISCO HAS NO RIVAL

is heard, and Cassio, by now quite drunk, attacks Montano. Otello rushes in and calls out:

CRISCO IS ECONOMICAL

"Down with your swords!" Cassio is being demoted. Desdemona, Otello's bride, appears in the doorway to the castle. Otello takes her hand and they sing a lovely duet:

CRISCO USERS ARE SATISFIED

which belongs to the best Verdi wrote, and is considered one of the pearls of operatic music.

And so it continued through to the finale.

After Otello has strangled Desdemona, he plunges his dagger into his breast, and dying, sings the touching phrase:

ASK ONLY FOR CRISCO, THE FAMOUS SHORTENING

"Kiss me, kiss me again!" He dies. End of the opera.
From The Rough Guide to Opera by Matthew Boyden.
https://super-conductor.blogspot.com/2008/10/in-lieu-of-actually-writing-something.html


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

The 1981 Genoa Opera synopsis of Carmen for English-speaking tourists:

Act 1. Carmen is a cigar-makeress from a tobago factory who loves with Don Jose of the mounting guard. Carmen takes a flower from her corsets and lances it to Don Jose (Duet: “Talk me of my mother”). There is a noise inside the tobago factory and the revolting cigar-makeresses burst into the stage. Carmen is arrested and Don Jose is ordered to mounting guard her but Carmen subduces him and lets her escape.

Act 2. The Tavern. Carmen, Frasquito, Mercedes, Zuiniga, Morales. Carmen’s aria (“The sistrums are tinkling”). Enter Escamillio, a balls-fighter. Enter two smuglers (Duet: “We have in mind a business”) but Carmen refuses to penetrate because Don Jose has liberated her from prison. He just now arrives (Aria: “Slop, here who comes!”) but hear are the bugles singing his retreat. Don Jose will leave and draws his sword. Called by Carmen’s shrieks the two smuglers interfere with her but Don Jose is bound to dessert, he will follow into them (final chorus: “Opening sky wandering life”).


Act 3. A roky landscape, the smugler’s shelter. Carmen sees her death in cards and Don Jose makes a date with Carmen for the next balls fight.

Act 4. A place in Seville. Procession of balls-fighters, the roaring of the balls is heared in the arena. Escamillio enters (Aria and chorus: “Toreador, toreador, All hail the balls of a Toreador”). Enter Don Jose (Aria: “I do not threaten, I besooch you”) but Carmen repels him wants to join with Escamillio now chaired by the crowd. Don Jose stabbs her (Aria: “Oh rupture, rupture, you may arrest me. I did kill her”) he sings “Oh my beautiful Carmen, my subductive Carmen.”


----------



## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

Absolutely wonderful! Thank you


----------

