Word: maometto
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...light silvery instrument that takes cadenzas at breakneck speed and makes them sparkle. Sills the actress managed to breathe life into the flat character of Pamira--the daughter of the governor of Corinth who is torn between love for her country and love for the Turk King Maometto, her father's enemy. Sills's Pamira was emotionally focused--a earess of Maometto's arm conveyed sexual delight, and one act later a subtly different touch of the sleeve of Neocle, the Greek warrior she's supposed to marry, indicated a dutiful, patriotic love without passion. The libretto is tedious...
...greatest role to date--that of Count Cenci in Ginastera's Beatrix Cenci--didn't take place at the Met: Beatrix Cenci opened the Kennedy Center in 1972 and ran for two years at the New York City Opera. The role of Maometto, which he sang at La Scala with Sills in 1969 for his own debut there, is another crucial triumph--his career is well-established internationally but still on the rise. As for the Met, he says, "My position here, of course, is not really steady. I'm not like a weekly artist--I go wherever the jobs...
Thus with Siege of Corinth. It is one of Rossini's grandest operas, set in 15th century Corinth. The Turks, led by their Sultan Maometto (Justino Diaz), are hammering at the gates. Sills plays Pamira, the daughter of Cleomene (Harry Theyard), the governor of Corinth. Beverly, who talks as fast as she trills, narrates the plot in a style redolent of both Anna Russell and Rhoda Morgenstern: "It's very similar to Aida. The only difference being that my lover is a girl. Well, I mean to say, the part is played by a girl. Actually...
...away and live in a tent with Maometto, which is pretty good stuff for opera. Then Neocle shows up in chains - sound familiar? - and says, 'Listen, honey, you gotta go back to your father and your country; they're doing terrible things to all the virgins...