Renée Fleming & Giordani sing Lucrezia Borgia Finale La Scala LIVE (1998) Era Desso
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Live at La Scala 1998
Lucrezia Borgia: Renée Fleming
Gennaro: Marcello Giordani
conductor: Roberto Rizzi Brignoli
This performance of the finale of Lucrezia Borgia is another astonishing document of Fleming's singing in the bel canto repertory. Here she is paired with one of her regular partners in this repertoire, Marcello Giordani (jumping in at the last moment to replace an indisposed Sabbatini) who matches her intensity in one of Donizetti's most inspired finales, full of fascinating orchestral effects and extremely taxing vocal demands that push the voices to extremes. Unlike in many other bel canto operas, the finale is not a mad scene and neither is the tenor the leading lady's lover: this is a recognition scene where Gennaro finds out that the Lucezia is his mother, and she realises she has accidentally poisoned him while trying to destroy her political enemies.
This account offers an embarrassment of riches: flawless support and resonance in all three registers, from the most glorious high notes to the richest, darkest chest voice imaginable; vocalising that spans the most sustained legato singing to the most extraordinary dramatic outbursts including huge plunges from top notes into raw chest voice taken up to F#4; gorgeous dynamic control and immaculate phrasing; incisive, heavy, and entirely unaspirated coloratura in the spectacular cabaletta, including a cadenza that goes from F6 down to Bb3 in a single span. To top it off we get some perfect trills from Fleming, some wonderfully risky variations in the second verse of the cabaletta, and beautiful improvisatory quality in the two artist's interactions with one another. Both artists make beautiful use of the Italian text, and are able to colour the text with a huge wealth of vocal colours.
The critical edition used corrects many of the mistaken performance traditions that had surrounded the piece from various editions and performers and provides a clearer picture of Donizetti's genius for atmosphere and drama. Just listen to those amazing sonorities at 1:00, and the imaginative vocal-orchestral textures from 8:30-9:45
This was a performance in the La Scala run that was famously booed on the opening night. A recording of that opening night performance complete with the booing can be found on youtube, but in very poor sound. You can judge for yourself whether the booing seems justified based on what you hear here!
In my opinion this is one the Fleming's three greatest Bel Canto roles, the others being her 1993 Armida (Rossini) and her 2002 Il Pirata (Bellini): one each of the famous bel canto masters. She sang many other roles in this repertoire very successfully also, but these are the most demanding, and the ones she remained most committed to. Here is her live 2002 Il Pirata Finale: • Renée Fleming astonish... and her live 1993 Armida Finale: • Renée Fleming sings th...
Libretto: (Sadly the whole scene couldn't be posted in one video, so the recording starts a little way after the start of the scene. The libretto is too long to post here but can be found here
opera.stanford.edu/Donizetti/L...
starting on the line:
GENNARO (prende un coltello sulla tavola)
Fermo io sono.
Renee Fleming is my favourite singer, great diction, control and her voice is pure.
such a masterpiece.......
what a genius Donizetti is...... Fleming = divine
!mrdunn brucvald thanks for your effervescent comment! Much appreciated, and glad you enjoyed.
Fleming was really in top form this evening! Very much in control of her instrument and the moment. This sounds just as good, if not better, than her studio recording!
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Choose whatever successful, celebrated artist in the operatic world you’re inclined to enjoy and there will ALWAYS be some bitter, unfulfilled wannabee who must destroy the reputation of said artist. When will we begin to celebrate beauty and stop tearing down those singers who bare their souls before us?
See - she's wonderful and we love her and that's pretty much that.
Bravissima. Qui ci sono tutte le sfumature. Gorgeous.
Bravissima!
Stupendous. How could anyone in their right mind boo this ?
I know. Who else has sung this this well in the last 30 years, or maybe ever?!
@@greatmomentsofopera7170 ...how true you are. This is an artist in the old 70's and 80's quality type singer !
Thanks so much for posting these! please never take them down :) x
FANTASTIC :):):)
bravissima
Brava Fleming💖 Oh, to have been there seeing her onstage singing her heart out. Thanks for sharing😘
Thanks for the sweet message! Yes agreed, would have been quite a thing to witness. If you enjoyed this I recommend the Armida finale and the excerpts of Pirata I have posted on this channel.
@@greatmomentsofopera7170 You are very welcome. I have always loved Renee Fleming despite what others say about her. I will definitely check the other videos. Thanks again😁
Una grandisima intérprete, injustamente no valorada lo suficientemente en el belcanto. Brava Renee.
Gracias Renee por tu entrega.
Siempre imprime una forma tan particular del canto e interpretación.
I guess, this is not the performance where she got widely booed??? (and where the conductor collapsed)
ericsteph no that was the first night. This was the second night.
The conductor collapsed? What happened, why?
I'm not sure if he just fainted or had a heart attack, but he definitely went to hospital because he wrote to Fleming saying only that her Borgia was very "special" which in Italian is not meant as a compliment. She relates it in her book the inner voice.
I'm wondering if your work on this channel might be enhanced by offering English subtitles, just as are offered on the backs of the seats at the Met. I know this is probably making me seem like a country bumpkin, but the truth is I've had tinnitus in 12 frequencies since being on the USMC pistol range in 1968, so while I still can hear the beauty of the music, it would be nice to be able to understand what I'm listening to here. Probably the lyrics would not help the numinosity of the music, which is acknowledged, but they would probably keep me on the site longer. And believe me, I do know what a pain doing this would be, so I'm not expecting a magic wand. I will probably seem uncultured, because I can't understand Italian, German, and French for the Operas, but in compensation, I do speak Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, and a bit of Spanish, so you see my quandary. Perhaps the Met could supply the translations they put on the seat backs.
Carl Jung Depth Psychology Reading Group That is a truly an excellent idea, and I can't believe I never thought of it. I've never seen subtitled in audio only videos, only on video videos. Now there's a project for me!
In response, even though this is only audio, it IS in fact a video, and TH-cam does offer, for the channel owner, the ability to enter text, bit by bit. Indeed, for dialogue, it proposes the dialogue, though of course it could not pick up English from an aria in another language. BUT, that IS a time consuming task unless you can hire an intern to do it for you. Another much less time consuming idea might be to offer a bit more of the context (story; libretto?) in your discussion of the piece, so that those unfamiliar with Opera and the technicalities of the music can at least have an orientation about what is happening on stage, and why such and such piece is as it is from an uninformed audience point of view.
@@greatmomentsofopera7170 Your to kind my friend. Take care Arnold
where can i find the complete opera? please help me
You might be able to purchase it from operapassion or another online seller of broadcasts?
@@greatmomentsofopera7170 thank you...i like so much this edition
@@satirodeiboschi It's great isn't it!
M'odi ah m'odi was a bit rushed for my taste.
#NEWFAVORITETH-camCHANNEL
I never said it then, but thank you!!
I have never really followed Rene Fleming etc. To be BOOED is such an insult to the performer at this level. The audience was aware of Madame Fleming's voice type etc. And to treat her in that manner is inexcusable. SHAME ON THEM for such infantile behavior. Arnold Bourbon Amaral
Every great artist is controversial - look at Callas, greatest and most controversial of all, even to this day! The heart (and ear) wants what it wants and we can choose to listen to who we want to listen to.
RE Booing, to decide for other people whether the performance is worthy of such negative response (rather than just withholding applause) is a huge act of egoism. Clearly many others enjoyed it.
@@greatmomentsofopera7170 And now we have a very sad incompetent sate of affairs in the international Operactic stage. LA Scala & Parma have a reputation of so-called Opera aficionados. Need I say anymore. What an ugly selfish environment they create to those that truly love Opera & see the whole picture ECT. What they fail to understand is the application of the human element. It's not a difficult concept but the application is very foreign to many. Tank you for your channel that will help. people appreciate the complexities of this MOST INCREDIBLE ART FORM. take care my friend. And please keep posting these various Artist. Do you have videos etc on Kundry? I saw him at Coruna with Hernandez & I felt that he keeped up with her vocally. Very much so than others tenors. If you do have any live performance of him please post at your convenience. Take care Arnold
Arnold Amaral do you mean Kunde? Yes I think he is spectacular. I will post something from their Armida together at some point!
La Scala has made itself quite irrelevant these days - the big stars rarely go there any more. London, Vienna, Munich, the Met and a few others are all more important than La Scala.
@12:16 she went off rails.
They were right to boo her.
MrNabucco this says a lot more about you than it does the performance. It's a mystery to me that people reveal their toxic thoughts so freely. I guess you are anonymous which gives your unconscious free rein to say what it likes.
Going personal in discussion says a lot more about you, Great Moments :)). But that's not relevant. What I love most about Italian public is that they are not shy to honestly express their opinions. And here she is a complete mess. If people disagreeing with you make you feel intoxicated, disable the comments.
Ballet Elephant I have absolutely no problem with people sharing their opinions, especially dissenting ones, if they add to a fuller analysis of a performance. But speaking objectively this message is a pure expression of contempt, containing no musical or dramatic analysis of the performance in question, instead only expressing ill will towards the performer. It just struck me as particularly mean spirited even for a TH-cam opera comment! But I'm sure that was your intention so I'm not telling you anything new!
What for you are the 3 worst offending passages/phrases here, what do you dislike about them, and can you suggest a performer who sings the given phrase better? Would genuinely love to hear another perspective.
1) the over the top, Dessay-style, crying-like overbreathing
2) the breathy, over-emphasized glottal stops at every turn
3) the Meade-esque clockatura
The performance is still impressive overall, IMO. But the above is what I personally found greatly annoying and distracting, and probably a crowd used to a more traditional way of interpreting belcanto (and who was not already sold on RF as were the Americans at that time) might have thought the same and decided to boo.That opening night crowd was savage, and it's actually very sad that it hurt and scarred Ms. Fleming so much. They went home and went about their business, while she carried the stress, the embarrassment and the dread (she said that it triggered intense stage fright that lasted for years) long after that night - quite unfair. However, as an excuse (if there is any), these people probably paid a fortune for those première tickets, something which might have made them feel entitled - who knows. Also, at that time there were quite a few instances of booing of American singers at Scala. Rumor has it that it had to do with anti-American feelings of some sort. But that ship has sailed and now Nadine Sierra and her compatriots are getting standing ovations.
It's mostly butthurt pride that americans started clearly taking over and italy seemed to have lesser and lesser international capable singers. The strange techniques, that for me aren't really Bel canto, since in treatises it's written the basis of bel canto, which don't feature these aspirations she does, these attacks etc.. But that's just an excuse to justify hatred. Giordani gets away here, she at least worked hard, gave her all, clearly flexed herself to the full of her capacity, something to admire. But it's not the italian taste, and i do kinda get it, she kinda misses the point of what this music is. But this is the same public that admired Mara Zampieri, so....
Wow, she sounds MUCH better in her early days before she ventured into pop and jazz. Not fantastic, but you can hear so much potential. The breathiness is very annoying, though. But the tenor is much, much worse than she is. I don't find it appropriate to boo performers, but I understand why the audience would not like this
th-cam.com/video/LfzqW5h8qsU/w-d-xo.html
It seems the public reactions were erased. I have the radio bcast and remember the angry reactions of the Milanese crowd !
Unfortunately, opera seems to be a "dead corpse" that is killed more with incompetent singers. Fleming has her own way of transmitting the heroine's feelings to her audience. With the tears in the voice, with the glottal attacks, with her whispers. And this is exactly what turns the "dead corpse" to life ! FEELINGS ! Sutherland always said that she is a singer and not an actress ! We all know the results: poor diction (if at all !) with a tremendous SOUND ! She was all sound ! BUT, where is the drama ? Where is the tension ? NOWHERE ! So, the "dead corpse" keeps lying in front of us with no hope to be revived ! Caballe was also a good vocalist and a lazy actress. She based her performances on her famous pianissimi. Bur this also is not enough to revive the "dead corpse" ! Fleming, is not a Callas - vocally - but tries to do her best and give the audience a proper picture and atmosphere of the plot. Is this a crime ? On the contrary, it is a blessing ! The La Scala public is notoriously famous for his disgusting behavior. There still exists the Opera Mafia called the Claque ! If they are not paid, and much, they boo !!! Also a major part of the public demands the impossible. And if this impossible is not served to them on a silver tray - they boo ! The GREAT Callas received a bunch of.......radishes on the stage of La Scala together with very loud boos ! Pavarotti had the same "fate" when he sang Don Carlo at La Scala ! Callas and Fleming were Americans but Pavarotti was Italian ! Let's hope that Fleming will go on HER WAY , as for Callas and Pavarotti, let them RIP and we will go on enjoying their recorded legacy !!!