Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau, who died May 18, was a unique performer. In a very long career he managed to sing and record almost anything that a classically trained baritone could possibly sing. While best known as the foremost interpreter of German art songs he appeared almost as often in the opera house as in the concert hall. The facts of his life and career are well known and can be reviewed here. He was likely the most prolific recording artist in the history of the medium – not even Placido Domingo comes close. Somehow, he never appeared at the Metropolitan Opera. Their loss.

He did not have the great organ that overwhelmed the listener with its power and size. His specialty was subtlety, nuance, and meaning; it was these characteristics that set him apart from everyone else. How he managed to find the time to learn all the music he sang apart from recording and performing them seems to defy thermodynamics. Let’s start with Italian opera. Here’s Rigoletto’s great second act scena. Cortigiani, vil razza dannata!. He catches both the fury and pathos embodied in the piece. Rafael Kubelik conducted this 1964 recording.

Fisher-Dieskau could also do Rossini. This 1956 performance for RAI is Tell’s third act aria ‘Sois immobile’ in Italian.  Gugliemo Tell Resta immobile. This is the scene when Tell asks his son to stay very still before the famous apple shot. This is as Italianate a rendition as could be expected from anyone south of the Alps.

One does not usually associate Fisher-Dieskau with Puccini, but here he’s as menacing a Scarpia as can be desired. This is the finale of the first act of Tosca.  Tre sbirri, una carozza…Te Deum

Wagner was also part of his vocal aresenal Here is the final scene of the second Ring opera – Wotan’s farewell and magic fire music.  Die Walküre – Wotan’s Abschied und Feuerzauber. Fischer-Dieskau shows how much Wagner gains when sung by a singer with a great sense of vocal line and who fully expresses the intent of the music. There is no barking here.

Mozart was an integral part of the baritone’s repertoire. Here is the Count’s third act aria from Le Nozze di Figaro - Vedrò mentr’io sospiro. This is the number that the Count sings just before he’s about to decide if Figaro must marry Marcelina who, of course turns out to be the barber’s mother – Oedipus Schmedopus.

Now to Lieder. I can’t resist starting with this: Wiegenlied. No matter how many times you’ve heard Brahms’ most famous song, this interpretation will grab your attention.

Mahler’s Ging heut Morgen übers Feld is the second of his ‘Songs of a Wayfarer”. This was Mahler’s first song cycle. ‘I Went This Morning over the Field’ is the happiest of the four songs that comprise the cycle, though it concludes with the speaker deciding that the happiness he seeks can’t be found in a field of flowers. If the music seems familiar it’s because it’s used in the first movement of Mahler’s first symphony.

Richard Strauss’ song Morgen  is one of his most beautiful and famous. It was written in 1894 when the composer was 29 years old. This is the original version. Strauss later orchestrated the work.

Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) is known mainly for his lieder.  Sonne der Schlummerlosen is set to a German translation of Byron’s poem ‘Sun of the Sleepless’. It’s eight lines of gloom. Wolf captures its spirit with equal gloom. Fischer-Dieskau was a champion of the German composer who though a critical success after his early death from syphilis still is an acquired taste.

DFK did not sing in French very often. This is his interpretation of Debussy’s lovely Beau Soir. Recorded rather late in his career, he is not as comfortable in French as in German or Italian. It’s still a fine effort.

I’ll conclude with Schubert. Here DFK was unmatched. First Schubert’s paean to his own art - An Die Musik. The song was composed when Schubert was 20 years old. In other word, when he was fully mature as an artist. It is a simple and profoundly touching affirmation of music’s hold on the human spirit.

Der Leiermann (The Hurdy-GurdyMan) is the 24th and final song of Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise (Winter Journey). It is a chilling and shattering conclusion to the art song’s supreme achievement. An old organ grinder is playing alone. No one has given him any money. The dogs growl at him. He keeps on playing. The narrator thinks he will join him. DFK recorded this cycle seven times because there’s universe in these 24 songs. I’ve embedded a Youtube video of Fisher-Dieskau singing the song as it contains English subtitles allowing an English speaker a little more insight into the genius of both the performer and composer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIIS-UgixGE

Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau was a lyric baritone whose mastery of his craft allowed him to perform works that would ordinarily been beyond such a light voice. But his interpretive gifts and suberb technique took him wherever he wanted to go. His width and depth are unmatched. It will be a long time before another with this range, control, and artistry again comes our way. His recordings are an enduring gift.

The great baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925-2012) died Friday, May 18 at age 86. I’ll have a longer post about this great artist in a short while. Here is his interpretation of a work by a composer who was likely closest to his heart – Franz Schubert. Der Erlkönig, written when the composer was 18 years old (he did revise it three times before it was published), it uses Goethe’s poem. It’s remarkable for it’s dramatic intensity. There are four character in the poem – a narrator, a father, his son, and the Erlkönig. In a little over 4 minutes Schubert manages to say as much as Wagner could express in four hours.

Schubert’s setting is a miracle of art and Fischer-Dieskau’s reading of it captures all its force and nuance. The pianist is Gerald Moore. Below is the German text followed by an English translation. More to come later. Der Erlkönig.

Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?
Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;
Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.

“Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?” –
“Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht?
Den Erlenkönig mit Kron und Schweif?” –
“Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif.”

“Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!
Gar schöne Spiele spiel’ ich mit dir;
Manch’ bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand,
Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand.” –

“Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht,
Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht?” –
“Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind;
In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind.” –

“Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehen?
Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön;
Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Reihn,
Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein.” –

“Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort
Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort?” –
“Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh es genau:
Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau. –”

“Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt;
Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt.” –
“Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt faßt er mich an!
Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan!” –

Dem Vater grauset’s, er reitet geschwind,
Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind,
Erreicht den Hof mit Müh’ und Not;
In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.

Who rides, so late, through night and wind?
It is the father with his child.
He has the boy well in his arm
He holds him safely, he keeps him warm.

“My son, why do you hide your face so anxiously?”
“Father, do you not see the Elfking?
The Elfking with crown and tail?”
“My son, it’s a wisp of fog.”

“You dear child, come, go with me!
Very lovely games I’ll play with you;
Some colourful flowers are on the beach,
My mother has some golden robes.”

“My father, my father, and don’t you hear
What the Elfking quietly promises me?”
“Be calm, stay calm, my child;
The wind is rustling through withered leaves.”

“Do you want to come with me, pretty boy?
My daughters shall wait on you finely;
My daughters will lead the nightly dance,
And rock and dance and sing you to sleep.”

“My father, my father, and don’t you see there
The Elfking’s daughters in the gloomy place?”
“My son, my son, I see it clearly:
There shimmer the old willows so grey.”

“I love you, your beautiful form entices me;
And if you’re not willing, then I will use force.”
“My father, my father, he’s grabbing me now!
The Elfking has done me some harm!”

It horrifies the father; he swiftly rides on,
He holds the moaning child in his arms,
Reaches the farm with trouble and hardship;
In his arms, the child was dead.

Below is a study from the US Treasury Department -Income Mobility in the U.S. from 1996 to 2005. It presents some very interesting data. We are used to hearing how income disparity in the US is increasing. This conclusion is reached by comparing the difference between the lowest and highest groups of earners. Unless you believe that everyone’s income remains unchanged this observation is meaningless. Almost everyone starts his earning life at the bottom, what matters is does he stay there or does he move up. The study’s conlusions are:

This study examined income mobility of individual taxpayers age 25 and over for the period from 1996 through 2005 using information reported on individual income tax returns. The key findings are that there was considerable income mobility of individuals in the U.S. economy during the 1996 through 2005 period and that the degree of income mobility among income groups is unchanged from the prior comparable period (1987 through 1996).

The analysis found that more than half of taxpayers (56 percent by one measure and 55 percent by another measure) moved to a different income quintile between 1996 and 2005. About half (58 percent by one measure and 45 percent by another measure) of
those in the bottom income quintile in 1996 moved to a higher income group by 2005. 

Economic growth resulted in rising incomes for most taxpayers over the period from 1996 to 2005. Median incomes of all taxpayers increased by 24 percent after adjusting for inflation. In addition, the real incomes of two-thirds of all taxpayers increased over this period. Further, the median incomes of those initially in the lower income groups increased more than the median incomes of those in the higher income groups.

The analysis also found that the composition of the very top income groups changes dramatically over time. Less than half (40 percent or 43 percent by different measures) of those in the top 1 percent in 1996 were still in the top 1 percent in 2005. Only about 25 percent of individuals in the top 0.01 percent in 1996 remained in the top 0.01 percent in 2005.

The data in this study came from the analysis of more than 100 million tax returns and is adjusted for inflation. Basically, it points out the obvious. Nevertheless the obvious seems oblivious to many. People do not stay in the same income groups throughout their lives. They move up and down. The likelihood of moving up in the US seems to not have decreased as is commonly believed, but rather to have stayed the same or even increased a bit. You can read the entire study at your leisure and form you own conclusions about its findings.

Income Mobility in the US 2007

Warren Buffett was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. The 81 year old investor released the following
statement about his disease:

To the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway:

This is to let you know that I have been diagnosed with stage I prostate cancer. The good news is that I’ve been told by my doctors that my condition is not remotely life-threatening or even debilitating in any meaningful way. I received my diagnosis last Wednesday. I then had a CAT scan and a bone scan on Thursday, followed by an MRI today. These tests showed no incidence of cancer elsewhere in my body.

My doctors and I have decided on a two-month treatment of daily radiation to begin in mid-July. This regimen will restrict my travel during that period, but will not otherwise change my daily routine.

I feel great — as if I were in my normal excellent health — and my energy level is 100 percent. I discovered the cancer because my PSA level (an indicator my doctors had regularly checked for many years) recently jumped beyond its normal elevation and a biopsy seemed warranted.

I will let shareholders know immediately should my health situation change. Eventually, of course, it will; but I believe that day is a long way off.

Warren E. Buffett

As Mr Buffett’s condition is a matter of public record, it serves a useful didactic purpose. First, it shows that when it comes to his own health Buffett does not exhibit the same analytical skill that has made him one of the most successful investors ever. He says he was told that his condition was “not remotely life-threatening,” which is true. But if such is the case why did he opt for two months of daily radiation therapy? Such treatment is not typically offered to patients who have a non life-threatening disease. He says he feels great. It’s uncertain that he will feel this way after two months of radiation therapy which has a significant incidence of radiation colitis. Every medical student is repeatedly admonished to remember that you can’t make an asymptomatic patient feel better.

An 81 year old man with “stage I” prostate cancer will almost certainly die from something other than prostate cancer. Why did Buffett have a CT scan, an MRI, and a bone scan for an innocuous medical condition which should never have been diagnosed to begin with? The US Preventative Services Task Force has long advised against PSA screening in men older than 75. More recently the Task Force advised against routine PSA screening in men of any age. The most obvious answer is that Mr Buffett left the decision about his diagnosis and treatment mainly to his doctors and doctors notoriously are either unaware of the latest data about procedures they have used for years or are so wedded to routine that flexibility is impossible. While Buffett can afford any thing he wants, Medicare likely footed the bill for all this unnecessary diagnostic overkill as it does for thousands of other men in the US. When the final bill is totaled, as much as $100,000 will have been spent for no good reason. Here’s one of the reasons Medicare is bankrupting the country.

If Buffett had done a simple Google search on prostate cancer he would have discovered that there has been controversy about PSA screening for years. To make this case even more instructive is the recent report to the American Urological Association of the PIVOT study which showed no benefit from radical prostatectomy in low risk early stage prostate cancer. In other words, patients with prostate cancer similar to the type that Buffett has did just as well with no treatment as they did with surgery. There’s no reason to think that radiation therapy for this disease is superior to surgery; in fact, it’s likely less effective.

There are several lessons from this case. One is that human intelligence and reason is compartmentalized. One can be brilliant in one area of intellectual pursuit and inept in another. And when it comes to medicine reason and rigorous analysis are often casualties of sloth and unfocused desire to do good. Come to think of it, medicine is not an isolated example of this kind of reasoning.

Below is the PowerPoint presentation of the talk Screening for Cancer that I gave today to Spring Cancer Conference sponsored by the Lubbock-Crosby-Garza County Medical Society. A related presentation can be found here.

Screening for Cancer

Unable to attend the live telecast of the Met’s performance of La Traviata, I went to the replay on May 2, 2012. The production was first staged by German director Willy Decker last season. Decker sets the action in an indeterminate (but approximately modern) time on a mostly empty stage rimmed by a semicircular wall. There’s some pretty heavy handed Teutonic symbolism involving a clock (we’ve known for a century and a half that Violetta’s dying and is running out of time) and a red dress meant to tell us something else we already knew – she’s a party girl. There’s also an old man who Violetta staggers towards during the first act prelude. He appears ominously throughout the show; it took me until the last scene to figure out he was Dr Grenvil. More unnecessary symbolism.

In the two party scenes the women were dressed in men’s clothing. Some of the staging conflicted with the libretto the words of which were right in front of us. The most glaring example of this was in the second act when Violetta is standing right next Alfredo when he tells her maid not to tell her mistress that he’s going back to Paris to raise some money. She’s onstage because Decker has Alfredo cavorting with her while he sings ‘De’ miei bollenti spiriti’. They both are wearing identical flower covered robes. He doesn’t have his pants on; accordingly the sentiments he expresses are mock serious. He puts them ( the pants) on during his cabaletta. This may be an operatic first or I may not go to enough European performances. While we’re on cabalettas, I was saddened to find them all there. Verdi wrote them because he had to at the time, but La Traviata is an opera that does much better without them.

La Traviata is one of opera’s greatest masterpieces and is as popular as it is excellent. But it’s terribly difficult to find a soprano who can sail through the pyrotechnics of the first act and who can also meet the dramatic demands of the two succeeding acts. We’re still looking for her.

La Traviata more than any other Verdi opera depends on one character – Violetta. In this version she is a victim. I think this is the result of Decker’s staging rather than Natalie Dessay’s performance, though the singer made some bad choices. She silently coughed during the prelude and did so audibly near the end of the first act. Verdi did not want coughing from Violetta; this is not verismo opera. Verdi made his “sinner” a creature of poetry and heroism. None of these qualities were present in this performance.

This run is Dessay’s first attempt at the role at the Met. In my opinion she’s about 10 years too late for the part. Remember, we’re discussing a televised performance with all it’s cruel close-ups. To a live audience she doubtless approached a verisimilitude that was denied her by the camera. She also had vocal problems. She cracked just before the high note in ‘Sempre libera’ which she missed. She freely admitted the error during her intermission interview. She also had numerous small breaks in her voice, which though very brief, were very noticeable. I also thought that she lacked the vocal power needed for the two last acts. She seemed unhappy with herself during her curtain calls, though the audience seemed enthusiastic.

Matthew Polenzani has a pleasant lyric tenor. Alfredo is about as far as he can push his voice. In early middle age he looked and dressed, except when he didn’t have his pants on, like a portly banker. Another victim of the unkindness of television. He sang his part well, but there was nothing memorable about it.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky is the best Verdi baritone around. His performance as the elder Germont was generally solid, though he ran into a rough patch just before the high note of ‘Di Provenza’; the high note that followed was fine. Dramatically he delivered a very odd interpretation. He remained aloof from Violetta during the entirety of his duet in the second act. There was no transition from haughty to sympathy that the scene demands. This duet is the core of the opera. Hvorostovsky’s emotional distance robbed it of all it dramatic impact and vitiated its impact. Instead of sweeping the listener away, the scene dragged and approached the soporific. It also made Germont’s subsequent behavior to Violetta seem disconnected to his previous attitude. He should rethink the part.

Fabio Luisi delivered a flabby reading of Verdi’s score which need tautness. His conducting along with all the opened cuts made the opera seem long. To make La Traviata succeed you don’t have do do much besides following Verdi’s directions. If this opera seems long it’s not the composer’s fault.

The comprimario parts were indifferently performed. The Lubbock Symphony Orchestra’s concert performance of this opera in March had better secondary singers than did the Met – hard to fathom.

In summary, an idiosyncratic mounting of one of art’s singular achievements with a gifted soprano who was not quite up to the demands of her part.

Metropolitan Opera House
April 14, 2012 Matinee, HD Transmission/Simulcast

LA TRAVIATA
Giuseppe Verdi–Francesco Maria Piave

Violetta…………….Natalie Dessay
Alfredo……………..Matthew Polenzani
Germont……………..Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Flora……………….Patricia Risley
Gastone……………..Scott Scully
Baron Douphol………..Jason Stearns
Marquis D’Obigny……..Kyle Pfortmiller
Dr. Grenvil………….Luigi Roni
Annina………………Maria Zifchak
Giuseppe…………….Juhwan Lee
Messenger……………Joseph Turi
Guest……………….Athol Farmer
Gentleman……………Peter Volpe

Conductor……………Fabio Luisi

Production…………..Willy Decker
Designer…………….Wolfgang Gussmann
Associate Costume Designer…Susana Mendoza
Lighting Designer…….Hans Toelstede
Choreographer………..Athol Farmer
TV Director………….Gary Halvorson

New posts will resume next month. In the meanwhile visit this site  which contains all of the solo commercial recordings made by the great Swedish tenor. There are a few excerpts with other singers, but most of the material is solo.

A new Edition of Doing Nothing has been released. I can be purchased at Amazon as either a paperback book or in a Kindle edition. Go here for more details. Below is a new review of the novel:

Kurtzman, Neil
DOING NOTHING
CreateSpace (708 pp.)
$23.35 Paperback
$9.99 e-book
January 6, 2012
ISBN: 978-1461096535
Kurtzman’s debut novel traces the evolution of a wary first-year medical student who becomes chief resident at a busy city hospital.

Many may believe the making of a doctor to be a tedious endeavor, but this notion will be quickly dispelled when readers become acquainted with Richard Grollman, an eccentric doctor-to-be with an affinity for opera. With wit and dark humor, Kurtzman’s descriptive dose of the day-to-day life of a medical student in the late 1950s details the challenges and rewards of the entire process. As Grollman progresses through his eight years oftraining, he experiences a number of trials and tribulations while surrounded by a cast of crazy surgeons and bumbling interns, before eventually discovering that he’s learned more than procedure and bedside manner. In his final act as chief medical resident, Grollman expounds upon his epiphany with his trademark cynicism: “Medicine is an elaborate masquerade in which the doctors pretend to cure while the patients pretend to get better…. Surgery is no more complicated than automobile repair and requires no more talent or ability. Knowing what to do and when to do it, or more importantly, when not to do it, is what counts.” By the novel’s conclusion, Kurtzman has presented readers with a thorough examination of the art of medicine and more than a few may be left pondering whether sometimes doing nothing may in fact be the best remedy. Although a familiarity with the medical field will engender a stronger connection to Kurztman’s work, it is not required. The book could benefit from another round of editing for brevity and excessively flowery language without detracting from its strengths: a zany point of view and black humor.

Holds its own alongside Samuel Shem’s The House of God, a highly regarded take on the life and times of medical students.

Kirkus Indie, Kirkus Media LLC, 6411 Burleson Rd., Austin, TX 78744
indie@kirkusreviews.com

The Metropolitan Opera transmitted its penultimate HD telecast of this season - Massenet’s Manon – on Saturday April 7, 2012. Manon is the most French opera I can think of. It’s almost like an opera Debussy would have written had he been able or inclined to write boffo arias and duets. This new production was staged by Laurent Pully who also designed the costumes. This may explain why the sets looked like they had been purchased on-sale at Walmart. Designed by Chantal Thomas, they resembled the pop-up scenes in a children’s book or were dingy (the gambling scene) or like a skate boarders park (the promenade scene). I suspect Pully spent his budget on the costumes and had to make do as best he could with the rest of the production. There was an interesting item in the Cours-la Reine set. It appeared to be a giant basketball –  see below. I think it was supposed to be a hot air balloon, but it looked like it belonged in the NBA.

Pully chose to set the opera in the late 19th century; the sets were not specific for any period. Why directors keep changing operas’ time settings is mysterious. Nothing was gained by moving the opera up 150 years except for arcane references to the king when the last king of France had been gone for half a century.

The giant basketball is behind Mr Pittsinger's right shoulder

The opera was mounted as a vehicle for the Met’s reigning goddess, Anna Netrebko. And she didn’t disappoint. Her figure may be more matronly than when she first appeared in New York, but she’s still gorgeous. More important, her voice is rich and beautiful and her acting beyond criticism; she has Manon down to the last personality trait. Her singing may lack some of the agility required for Manon and one high note was off pitch, but the whole package was grand. She managed the daunting task of portraying a character 25 years younger than she in the face of Gary Halvorson’s close-ups while still being convincing – a tour de force. Disbelief was shed like October’s leaves.

Manon is a selfish teenager whose only redeeming features are beauty and youth. OK, I guess that’s enough. Her lover, the Chevalier des Grieux, is a very decent young man who’s totally lost every shred of restraint over Manon. He’s completely bonkers. He’ll do anything for Manon, no matter how stupid. Woody Allen said the brain was his second favorite organ. Des Grieux has no second favorite organ. But he does have as much great music to sing as Manon. Polish tenor Piotr Beczala has been singing at the Met for five years. He has gradually established himself as perhaps the best pure lyric tenor now active. Though 44 years old he looks a dozen years younger. His voice is rich, focused, and reaches high notes with ease; they have ping and his piano singing is lovely. His sound is not large, but it’s big enough for the roles he sings and he never forces. This is a beautiful voice that should last given how well it’s used. His performance today had everything one could want from Des Grieux. “Le Rêve” was sung with sweet pianissimi and “Ah! Fuyez, douce image” with passion and ringing high notes. His acting, though not as nuanced as Netrebko’s was convincing. Beczala’s also slim and handsome. The opera world is his.

Netrebko and Beczala when singing together were an audio-visual treat. The St Sulpice had all the raw sex that Massenet wrote into the score. What a cot was doing in a church is a nit to pick, but of course the duo ended up in it. Des Grieux’s short flirtation with celibacy couldn’t last because he had lost his mind in the first act. Massenet knew what sold the tickets. It still does.

The rest of the cast was first rate. Paulo Szot was handsome as Lescaut, Manon’s high living cousin, and he sang with a smooth lyric baritone. French tenor Christophe Mortagne was campy as the old roue Guillot. I don’t think he understands more than five words of English, but that didn’t stop him from being interviewed by Deborah Voigt during an intermission. It was hard to tell who was more confused, Voigt or Mortagne. The aforementioned David Pittsinger was dignified and convincing as the elder des Grieux. He’s a ringer for Christopher Plummer 40 years ago. Bradley Garvin wearing a fright wig was solid as Brétigny.

The Met’s principal conductor Fabio Luisi conducted with vigor and polish. Manon can drag if the conductor doesn’t keep the pace brisk. Maestro Luisi is in the midst of a conducting marathon. He’s on the podium 20 times this month. We were told in a text screen that this was a Met record. The Met orchestra as is now the norm played with brilliance except for one blown trumpet entrance. The intermission host was supposed to be Natalie Dessay. No reason was given for her absence.

In summary, if you have Netrebko and Beczala available then put on Manon. If you don’t have their like, leave the score in the library.

Metropolitan Opera House
April 7, 2012 Matinee HD Transmission/Simulcast

MANON

Jules Massenet-Henri Meilhac/Philippe Gille

Manon……………….Anna Netrebko
Des Grieux…………..Piotr Beczala
Lescaut……………..Paulo Szot
Count des Grieux……..David Pittsinger
Guillot……………..Christophe Mortagne
Brétigny…………….Bradley Garvin
Poussette……………Anne-Carolyn Bird
Javotte……………..Jennifer Black
Rosette……………..Ginger Costa-Jackson
Innkeeper……………Philip Cokorinos
Guard……………….Alexander Lewis
Guard……………….David Crawford
Maid………………..Kathryn Day

Conductor……………Fabio Luisi

Production…………..Laurent Pelly
Set Designer…………Chantal Thomas
Costume Designer……..Laurent Pelly
Lighting Designer…….Joël Adam
Choreographer………..Lionel Hoche
Associate Director……Christian Räth
TV Director………….Gary Halvorson

Daniel Auber’srarely performed opera La Muette de Portici was stage by the Opéra-Comique in Paris yesterday. It featured the rising young American tenor Michael Spyres. The opera was a success at its premiere in 1828, but then disappeared from the repertory and is known, if known at all, as the first Grand Opera – a genre dominated by Meyerbeer, but which reached its artistic heights with the two operas Verdi wrote for the Paris Opéra (Les Vêpres siciliennes and Don Carlos). Preliminary information indicates that both the opera and Mr Spyres triumphed at the prima. The Opéra-Comique seems an odd venue for a five act opera that ends with it’s heroine, even by the standards of opera this is special, jumping into Mount Vesuvius in the midst of an eruption. Makes the end of Tosca seem like hopscotch.

I plan to publish an interview with Spyres shortly. He wrote me on the eve of his first performance in Auber’s spectacular: “ I am currently in Paris singing the role of Masaniello in La Muette de Portici in the Opera Comique. Our opening night is tomorrow and it is quite a marvelous production.” I don’t have anything from the opera sung by Spyres, but here is the great Nicolai Gedda in a wonderful rendition of Du pauvre seul ami fidèle recorded in 1954.

Added April 10 – a link to a review of this staging.

For a different take on this performance go here.