Word: boito
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
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...
Goethe lifted the Faust legend into the realm of cosmic philosophizing. Philosophy, though, is a literary rather than a musical exercise. Music can, on occasion, state a case, but it cannot argue the point. In the end, Boito simply tried to present more Goethe than any composer could hope to cope with...
...purely scenic means, the City Opera helped raise Boito to the realm of the abstract. Set Designer David Mitchell and Stage Director Tito Capobianco placed the Prologue not in Heaven but in space. The Epilogue suggests Earth as a dying planet illuminated by the corpse of a setting sun. The production was strongly cast in other major roles. Carol Neblett, a vocally arresting but inexperienced soprano, did both Margherita and Helen of Troy. As Faust, Tenor Robert Nagy sang powerfully but with obvious effort. Julius Rudel's conducting rose successfully to the peaks but tended to coast through...