Word: bassos
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...Rite influenced nearly every composer who followed except the serialists-and Stravinsky himself, whose genius never repeated itself. His earlier work had been marked by the colorful nationalistic flavor of his native Russian tradition. The son of famed St. Petersburg Basso Feodor Stravinsky, he was raised in an aristocratic and intellectual atmosphere and became a favored pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov. His first durable score, the orchestral fantasy Fireworks, was written in 1908 as a wedding present for Rimsky's daughter Nadia...
There are good things in the first act; Jeffrey Wayne Davies' General Stanley is perfectly marvelous, and his version of the General's great song ("I am the very model of a modern major general") is quite fine. Nicholas Wyman as the Pirate King has a particularly good basso, which he uses to advantage. His acting, while good, could use improvement...
Died. Salvatore Baccaloni, 69, basso buffo of the Metropolitan Opera from 1940 to 1962; of heart disease; in Manhattan. His keen sense of timing, his magnificent voice and even grander physique (320 lbs.) gained Baccaloni a reputation as "the greatest scene stealer in the business." Toscanini discovered him in Italy in 1925, and the young giant packed houses around the world before coming to the Met to appear in such roles as Don Pasquale, Doctor Bartolo and Fra Melitone...
Whatever the opera's qualities, there could hardly be a better incarnation of Satan than Basso Norman Treigle, 42. Small, skinny, seemingly naked, Treigle flashed through the role like a black-voiced cobra. Plunging from profundo depths to baritonal heights, his voice remained huge and perfectly focused through one of the crudest bass roles ever written. "I can't say I really like this Mefisto," Treigle said afterward. "I think of myself as an actor, not a singer, and it isn't an interesting role. I just keep dashing out and gutting...
Hollering is making noise. Hollerin' involves a lot more than that. Jackson, now 76, and the community's reigning basso profundo, gave the final proof. Hitching up his overalls before a crowd of 5,000, he launched into a lusty, ear-piercing "whooo," then followed with a foghorn of a tune that sailed clear into the next county. That was genuine east North Carolina country hollerin'. As Dewey told the crowd, "I been hollerin' since my mammy slapped me on the bottom the day I was born...