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2009-08-16 -Short Attention Span Theater-

It's all over for fat lady singers as slimline divas triumph

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Posted by Steve White 2009-08-16 00:00|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

Posted by gorb 2009-08-16 01:13|| 2009-08-16 01:13|| Front Page Top

#2 So the fat lady is singing for all the other fat ladies. Sad.

Posted by Grunter 2009-08-16 02:06|| 2009-08-16 02:06|| Front Page Top

#3 Before the invention of microphones, opera singers had to have massively developed abdominal muscles and diaphragms to project their voices over orchestras. Wagnerian singers in particular had to sing over massive orchestras, with seven harps and every member of every instrument family represented (there are tubas in 4 different sizes, and Wagner used all of them at once) The late, great Anna Russell said that a Wagnerian singer had to have "a voice like a buzz saw" to project over such an orchestra.

As a teenager, I saw Pavarotti and Sutherland sing "Lucia di Lammermoor" in Chicago. Whoever did the costuming for Lyric Opera's production did a fine job with the riding habits for the first act. Both singers were as wide as barn doors, and Sutherland was already in her 50s, but the cut of the costumes helped disguise the fact. Alas, the costumers blew it with Lucia's wedding dress. She looked like an outsized Baby Snooks. I had to shut my eyes to enjoy that scene fully.

Get a CD of Sutherland singing Lucia out of the library and enjoy.

Also, get the recent DVD version of Metropolitan Opera's 2008 production of "La Fille du Regiment" with Natalie Dessay. It's excellent.

Posted by mom">mom 2009-08-16 20:17|| 2009-08-16 20:17|| Front Page Top

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