Word: scala
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...plotting his comeback. "I took a long, cool look at conducting," he says Of course I liked the power and prestige being a conductor- but did I really have anything to say?" After deciding that he did, he began to build his new career, using as touchstones his La Scala debut (". . . the finest since Toscanini, icy told me . . .") and his debut at Bayreuth the Teutonic holy of holies. I was the first American and the young est man ever to appear there," Maazel says, and it was beautiful." Soon he was second only to Herbert von Karajan as Europe...
...after its debut in 1823 Semiramide was considered Rossini's crowning triumph. Written at fever pitch in just 33 days, it shines with bel canto flourishes-fluid melodies, runs, cadenzas, arpeggios-and a soprano role that is one of the most difficult in all opera. "Semiramide," says La Scala's artistic director. "is Norma's grandmother." Much of the dramatic singing is in the most difficult vocal range, and the coloratura passages are burdened with drama. With the coloratura parts too dramatic and the dramatic parts too coloratura, it is simply too difficult; Paris saw it last...
Last week La Scala saw it again In the impossible title role was the only soprano now living who could hope to get away with it-Australian Coloratura Joan Sutherland. The purity of her voice, its limpid icy strength all along the scale, and its' perfect intonation, seemed just right for the role, even though Sutherland's history of solid. woodenness onstage suggested trouble with Semiramide's dark libretto (Semiramide falls in love with her Hametesque son before discovering his identity; the son kills her. mistaking her for an interloping lover). But Sutherland was unconcerned. Said...
...Scala was packed for the revival and though Semiramide's faintly ridiculous drama was a 20th century disappointment the crowd went home satisfied In a breathtaking display of virtuosity Sutherland hurtled her voice through the complex and difficult runs, taking triple trills [long legato passages with casual ease embracing two long arias with fiery perfection Onstage, she was a better actress than she had been before. Her characterization of Semiramide was marred only by her old trouble in pronouncing Italian-she could not be understood. But the La Scala audience was grateful to both Rossmi and Sutherland. After...
...Scala, under the baton of U.S. Conductor Thomas Schippers, La Atlantida proved to be a grandiose but admirably controlled work that made its points with much of the concision that Falla displayed in such earlier compositions as The Three-Cornered Hat. Where Falla departed from his familiar style was in the sparing use of folk material and in the skillful use of a descriptive chorus. Atlantida has only three major singing roles: Narrator Corifeo (Baritone Lino Puglisi), Queen Pyrene (Mezzo Giulietta Simionato), and Queen Isabella (Soprano Teresa Stratas). Much of the action is either pantomime or dancing...