Word: boito
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...ciel is one of the biggest climaxes in a score that sometimes seems to be nothing but climaxes. But Verdi and Librettist Arrigo Boito knew that after the massive choral scene in Act III, enough was enough. Hence the rightness of the subdued, wistfully melancholy fourth act, a sort of spacious postlude. This act is Desdemona's great moment. Soprano Gilda Cruz-Romo made the most of it, although in the earlier acts her singing had somewhat lacked color and shading. Poignant and dignified, she spun out the Willow Song and Desdemona's final prayer in long, crystalline...
...known as "the Chaplain of Bourbon Street"; his first lead role at City Opera, a guilt-haunted, Bible-pounding minister in Carlisle Floyd's Susannah, was based on those early experiences. Treigle's gaunt face and spidery figure virtually typecast him for such roles as Mephistopheles in Boito's and Gounod's versions of the Faust legend, and as the four villains in Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann...
Treigle, 45, is one of the best acting basses in the business. Till now he has been best known for his near-definitive interpretation of Boito's Meftstofele. In Hoffmann, he imbues Coppelius with the grace of ballet, which he studied to equip himself for opera. Treigle's Dappertutto is all bluster and crafty swagger, perhaps reflecting the lessons he once took from a Mexican matador. His Dr. Miracle demonstrates the hypnotic effect of the most stylistic, crafty and flexible set of arms and legs in all opera. As to his voice, a huge cannon's roar...
Finally, in 1953, at the age of 24, she made her big-time debut with the San Francisco Opera, singing the secondary female role in Boito's Mefistofele. By that time Papa had died, but Mama was there, having flown out and taken a hotel room with a kitchenette so that she could cook Beverly's dinner before each performance. Two years later, after seven unsuccessful auditions, Beverly finally joined the New York City Opera, beginning the stint as a highly regarded utility singer that eventually led to her emergence in 1966. Conspicuously missing from the Sills dossier, then...
...those hands even old familiars like Gounod's Faust became provocative productions. In 1968, for instance, Corsaro transformed the simple good-conquers-evil parable of that libretto into a chilling Gothic horror tale of clashing wills between God and the devil. A year later, Capobianco launched Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele a a space-age sonet lumière production in which the devil seemed about to vanquish the music of the spheres until he was whistled down at final curtain. Contemporary operas seldom fare well with the public, but Alberto Ginastera's atonal, astringent Bomarzo...