Word: wagnerian
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...singer who has ever been buffeted by a Wagnerian orchestra knows that a performance of Die Walküre (four hours) calls for the constitution of a wild ox. At a Walküre performance last week at Manhattan's Metropolitan Opera, some of the singers were in sub-ox condition; and before the final curtain fell, substitutes had shuttled on and off the stage in an evening of monumental confusion...
Curiously, Sutherland came to Donizetti and Bellini from a background in Wagner, a reversal of the process that usually finds a singer moving from lighter to heavier roles. Sydney-born, the daughter of a tailor, she concentrated at first on Wagnerian roles because "I had the build for it" (she stood 5 ft. 9 in., weighed 224 Ibs., now weighs 170). Eventually, on the advice of her husband, Australian Pianist Richard Bonynge, she decided that the bel canto repertory was where she belonged. She put in seven years at Covent Garden while developing the voice that would lead...
BIRGIT NILSSON, 43, is the big Wagnerian soprano the Met started searching for as soon as Kirsten Flagstad retired. Nilsson displayed her vibrant, flashing voice for the first time at the Met two years ago in a performance of Tristan und Isolde. She has triumphed in most of the Wagnerian repertory, impressing not only with her ringing power but with a precision of phrasing and general musicianship that is not always found in Wagnerian opera. Best of all, at 5 ft. 8 in. and 150 Ibs., Swedish Farm Girl Nilsson is capable of lending an air of physical credibility...
...York gave Bob Wagner 1,239,533 votes for a plurality of 402,980 over his Republican opponent, Attorney General Louis Lefkowitz. Running as an independent, City Controller Lawrence Gerosa collected a protest vote of 321,996-drawn mostly from Democrats who shuddered at the thought of four more Wagnerian years...
...Last week her theory worked just fine: the voice had a raw, fitfully feverish cast, but it never became ugly or strident. Tenor Thomas was less compelling, but he too turned in a good performance-far more vigorous than Bayreuth audiences can expect from more familiar, beef trust-styled Wagnerian tenors. At the curtain, Wieland Wagner paid his two stars a compliment that suggests just how important American talent has become at Bayreuth. "Thank you," said Wagner, "for a new Parsifal...