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flights of angels, redux
I was never particularly a Pavarotti fan -- Carreras is my favorite of The Three Tenors, I suppose, but as with other voice parts I tend to prefer a simpler, less vibratey tone than the opera kids tend to go for -- but I'll tell you what: on the radio about half an hour ago, the director of the Baltimore opera (tangent: why'd you use him, WTOP, when you're here in DC and could have called the Kennedy Center and got Placido, the artistic director of the Washington Opera and the third Tenor on the phone in minutes? bah.) was talking about Pavarotti's debut at the Met, with Joan Sutherland in The Daughter of the Regiment, in which he had an aria with nine high C's.
And I got a little misty.
Maybe it's the same kind of misty I get w/r/t Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, I guess -- which I did even before I'd seen the film -- because it's not just Peter O'Toole as Lawrence, it's introducing Peter O'Toole as Lawrence. As Lawrence! And this was Pavarotti's debut! I mean, he must have worked before, where apparently O'Toole hadn't -- but still, the idea of the first time you go on that stage being the time you sing nine high C's in the same number.*
Yeah, he was one of the great ones, all right.
*I haven't fact-checked, of course, and presumably at the Post they have, where they say his debut at the Met was La Bohème and the Regiment thing wasn't until four years later. Which I suppose makes it fractionally less of a thing, but still, nine C's. NINE.
And I got a little misty.
Maybe it's the same kind of misty I get w/r/t Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, I guess -- which I did even before I'd seen the film -- because it's not just Peter O'Toole as Lawrence, it's introducing Peter O'Toole as Lawrence. As Lawrence! And this was Pavarotti's debut! I mean, he must have worked before, where apparently O'Toole hadn't -- but still, the idea of the first time you go on that stage being the time you sing nine high C's in the same number.*
Yeah, he was one of the great ones, all right.
*I haven't fact-checked, of course, and presumably at the Post they have, where they say his debut at the Met was La Bohème and the Regiment thing wasn't until four years later. Which I suppose makes it fractionally less of a thing, but still, nine C's. NINE.
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For his debut at the Met was in Boheme as Rodulfo - from what I remember hearing about it - he was forced to cancel the engagement after the second act of the second performance due to illness.
From wikipedia:
His major breakthrough in the United States came on February 17, 1972, in a production of Donizetti's La fille du régiment at New York's Metropolitan Opera, in which he drove the crowd into a frenzy with his nine effortless high Cs in the signature aria. He achieved a record 17 curtain calls.
He holds the record for most number of curtain calls ever: 165 (more than any other artist).
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although my favorite recording is of his "Una furtiva lagrima"
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it's the full song - Pour Mon Ame Fille..
and this one is his breathtaking Una furtiva lagrima:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3106546572727430270&q=pavarotti+una+furtiva+lagrima&total=19&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
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if you haven't - watch my favorite and just listen to the part around 3:45 - 4:40 and it's like friggen butter. butter I tell you.
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http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5857385483265832774&q=pavarotti+non+ti+scordar+di+me&total=3&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
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Seriously, I'm with you on the opera singing. I can barely stand to listen to it, because I find the style irritating. But Pavarotti transcended the style even while defining it. He was amazing.