Episode 473. Renata Scotto and the Opera Queens
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We are quickly approaching the third anniversary of the death of Renata Scotto, and that sad commemoration, combined with my desire to produce an episode celebrating Opera Queens, prompted this episode, which features a rare live LP that I once owned a few decades ago and recently returned to my collection. It features live performances of “our diva” from the stage of Carnegie Hall on two different occasions in the mid- to late-1970s: the first, a gala concert on September 12, 1975 with Eve Queler leading the Opera Orchestra of New York on which Scotto performed Rossini (the bravura rondo from Armida) and Donizetti (the mad scene from Anna Bolena). She also sang “Tu che invoco” from Spontini’s La Vestale on that concert, and though it was not included on that record, I have unearthed a live recording of that exact performance, which is also included on the episode. The second concert featured on that LP took place on October 31, 1979 under the baton of Lorin Maazel leading the Cleveland Orchestra, and includes a rare performance of Scotto singing from Cherubini’s Medea as well as the mad scene from Bellini’s Il pirata. In all of these, Scotto is in sterling vocal form, which allows her to fully explore the expressive bel canto possibilities of this music. Since Scotto was also widely accused of being anti-Callas, I also dispute that view with some comments that Scotto made in an interview about Callas’s importance as the high priestess of bel canto. I also intone a few more nasty reviews and comments from those who do not hold Scotto in the same high esteem that I (we!) do. For I, too, am one of those opera queens that we are celebrating today. I just happen to have better taste than those that are dissing our diva!
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Gioachino Rossini, Giovanni Schmidt [after Torquato Tasso]: D’amor al dolce impero (Armida). Eve Queler, Opera Orchestra of New York, Schola Cantorum [live Carnegie Hall 12.IX.1975]
Vincenzo Bellini, Felice Romani [after Charles Nodier, Isidore Justin Séverin Taylor]: Ah, s’io potessi dissipar le nubi [Mad Scene] (Il Pirata). Lorin Maazel, Cleveland Orchestra [live Carnegie Hall 31.X.1979]
Gaspare Spontini, Victor-Joseph-Étienne de Jouy [Italian translation by Giovanni Schmidt: Tu che invoco (La Vestale). Eve Queler, Opera Orchestra of New York [live Carnegie Hall 09.XII.1975]
Luigi Cherubini, François-Benoît Hoffman [after Euripedes, Pierre Corneille; Italian version by Carlo Zangarini]: De tuoi figli la madre (Medea). Lorin Maazel, Cleveland Orchestra [live Carnegie Hall 31.X.1979]
Gaetano Donizetti, Felice Romani [after Ippolito Pindemonte, Alessandro Pepoli]: Piangete voi? Donde tal pianto? (Anna Bolena) [Mad Scene]. Eve Queler, Opera Orchestra of New York, Schola Cantorum [live Carnegie Hall 12.IX.1975]
Big Scotto fan here, although not always! My first time was a Butterfly (on New Year’s Eve?) and I was not prepared for how beautifully she colored her voice. I managed to see a Norma at the Met in which she was appalling in the first act, and transcendent in the rest. Saw a Lucia and still remember the way she colored “Splendon” in the Mad Scene. Glad that Levine enabled us to hear such a wide repertoire!