Operatic traditions valiantly upheald
When operatic traditions are being so heroically fought for, we all let out a sigh of relief and perhaps a bit of envy:
By now, you’ve likely read some […] posts about what turned into an historical night at Wiener Staatsoper on Saturday while you were listening to or watching Roberto Devereux, maybe even listened to a sound clip.
Ah, I forgot, diva behaviour trumps honest performance as far as opera history goes. Maybe we should have more of that, it seems to have gone out of fashion a teensy bit. But did our soprano (who else?) mean to upstage/take revenge at her tenor (who else?)? According to NYT:
André Comploi, a spokesman for the opera house, said in an email that it did not appear to be an intentional slight.
Ok, cynics, she meant to grab a glass of water 😀 How about next time this happens (it will, somewhere in a tradition loving opera house) we get Tosca side with Scarpia and stab Cavaradossi instead? Then Scarpia throws her off the window at the end in the interest of closure. And the star baritone gets to encore an aria of his own choice (freestyle aria insertion, another opera tradition).
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Posted on April 20, 2016, in sopranos, tenors and tagged angela gheorghiu, giacomo puccini, jonas kaufmann, tosca, wiener staatsoper. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
opera, innit? 
I hear La G would have had to walk down some stairs and them was walking up some more to rush to her entry point in the wings, and was doing precisely so, rushing to get to the entry point and didn’t make it in time.
Or something…….
she had to go all the way to the well in the yard, didn’t she? Fresh Viennese water 😀
I like how JK cutely mews ‘we don’t have a soprano’. Most awkward!
they could’ve congregated backstage and let the audience know when they got a soprano by means of smoke.
😝
I’ve seen her upstage a tenor in Boheme with lots of fussy business during his aria. Never seen/heard of her simply not show up. JK is so gracious though–and such a gentleman; some tenors would retaliate! Thanks for sharing this. I’ve been hunkered down over work for weeks and missing most of the cool opera shtuff!
You sometimes wonder if people really think being a diva needs to be part of your opera singer persona or if some people would be like this even as regular people.
I guess she gave her warning ahead of time. I mean the opera isn’t called Cavaradossi! It’s not easy being JK, after all. Good to see you around 🙂
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