TodOpera : Música y Mas Música! – Página 1069

Mascagni. Isabeau. 2011.Maria Porubcinova (Isabeau). Selcuk Hakan Tirasoglu (bajo). Arthur Shen (ten). Julia Rutigliano (mezzo). Malte Roesner (bar). Oleksandr Pushniak (bar). Dae Bum Lee (bajo). Georg Michalkov. Uwe Hornecker. Andreas S. Mulik. Dir.: Georg Menskes.
https://rapidshare.com/files/458651497/Isabeau_Braunschweig_2011_CD1.rar
https://rapidshare.com/files/458651195/Isabeau_Braunschweig_2011_CD2.rar

 

Maria Porubcinova

Nell’autunno del 1904 Luigi Illica propose, prima a Marco Enrico Bossi e poi a Puccini, la ‘tela’ di questo soggetto di ambientazione medievale liberamente tratto dallaLady Godivadi Alfred Tennyson. Ma nessuno dei due accettò, e in seguito anche Franchetti espresse un rifiuto. Nel 1908 lo accettò invece, con grande entusiasmo, Pietro Mascagni. «Io intendo che Isabeau sia una cosa tutta nuova e che rappresenti la esatta e compiuta estrinsecazione del concetto che ho del melodramma moderno. E per ciò occorre una preparazione lunghissima ed un lavoro di limatura eccezionale. Quando sentirai quel poco che ho fatto, ti convincerai che un genere d’opera come questa che ho impiantato, non si butta giù in pochi mesi. Aggiungi poi che ho già concepito un tipo di strumentale che lascerà a distanza astronomica tutti i Debussy e gli Strauss di questo mondo», scriveva il compositore al librettista in quello stesso anno.

«A’ bei dì lontani quando la Leggenda correva il mondo, quando, al caldo soffio di una primavera di idealità, su da tutte le terre pullulava il fiore della Fantasia e sbocciava l’Eroe o l’Eroina, giù nei tuguri o su in alto nelle aurate Reggie, tra i figli della gleba e del bosco o tra le bionde pulzelle incoronate: Poesia di Popolo e Poesia di Re», così la prima pagina del libretto illustra l’epoca nella quale si svolge la vicenda.

Atto primo. ‘Il mattino’. La pura Isabeau, figlia del re Raimondo, non vuole sposarsi anche se il padre ha organizzato un torneo il cui vincitore dovrà diventare suo marito. La vecchia Giglietta le presenta il nipote Folco, che ella accetta come falconiere. I principi che hanno partecipato al torneo se ne vanno sdegnati perché Isabeau li ha ancora una volta respinti. Così il malvagio ministro Cornelius convince il re a punire Isabeau costringendola ad attraversare nuda la città a cavallo: la ragazza accetta purché il padre non sfoghi la sua ira sul popolo.

Atto secondo. ‘Il meriggio’. Il popolo chiede al re di promulgare un editto secondo il quale devono essere sbarrate porte e finestre perché nessuno veda Isabeau nuda. Il re acconsente: chiunque la guarderà sarà accecato. Isabeau compie la cavalcata nella città deserta, coperta solo dai suoi capelli biondi, ma Folco vuole rendere omaggio alla sua bellezza e le getta dei fiori dagli spalti. La folla inferocita lo fa imprigionare.

Atto terzo. ‘La sera’. Folco, imprigionato, sta per essere giustiziato. Riceve la visita di Isabeau e i due giovani scoprono di amarsi. La ragazza corre allora dal padre per chiedergli di poterlo sposare. Ma Cornelius apre il carcere alla folla che uccide Folco; Isabeau si getta in mezzo alla folla.

Mascagni, prima dell’incontro con D’Annunzio perParisina, sembra assumere toni già dannunziani in questo Medioevo da favola. Lontana da qualsiasi realismo, tutta pervasa da un clima di sogno, l’opera non si articola in veri e propri pezzi chiusi (se si eccettua la stentorea ‘Canzone del falco’ di Folco), bensì in lunghi declamati. All’orchestra è affidato il compito di descrivere atmosfere di fiaba, come la trasognata e sinfonica cavalcata di Isabeau, sottolineata da uno scampanio in sottofondo.
Fonte: Dizionario dell’Opera Baldini&Castoldi

Donizetti. Alina, reina de Golconda. 1987. Video. Daniela Dessi. Adelisa tabiadon. Rockell Blake. Paolo Coni.Andrea Martin. Sergio Bertocchi. Dir. A. Allemandi
http://rapidshare.com/files/319495342/Alina.avi.001
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Alina, reina de Golconda es una ópera en dos actos de Gaetano Donizetti (Bérgamo, 1797 – Bérgamo, 1848). El libreto fue escrito por Felice Romani basado de un libreto anterior en francés de Michel-Jean Sedaine escrito para un ballet clásico-heroico, “Aline, reine de Golconde”, de Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny, (representado en la Ópera de París, 1766), a su vez basado en una novela de Stanislas de Boufflers.

La ópera fue encargada para la fiesta de apertura del Teatro Carlo Felice de Génova, donde fue estrenada con éxito el 12 de mayo de 1828. Poco después una versión revisada fue llevada a escena en el Teatro Valle de Roma el 10 de octubre de 1829.

Aporte de Maria Lujan:
Meyerbeer: L´Africaine . 1963. Londres (en inglés).Josephine Veasey. robert Thomas. Raimund Henricx. Heather Harper. Rosemary Phillips. Stanislav Pieczora. Roger Stahlman. Forbes Robinson. Max Worthsley. Dir.: Leo Wurmser
Parte 1: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SLEZ0KQQ
Parte 2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UCUWXL14
Parte 3: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=C89VYRC0

Opera in five acts, by Meyerbeer; words by Scribe. Produced Grand Opéra, Paris, April 28, 1865. London, in Italian, Covent Garden, July 22, 1865; in English, Covent Garden, October 21, 1865. New York, Academy of Music, December 1, 1865, with Mazzoleni as Vasco, and Zucchi as Selika; September 30, 1872, with Lucca as Selika; Metropolitan Opera House, January 15, 1892, Nordica (Selika), Pettigiani (Inez), Jean de Reszke (Vasco), Edouard de Reszke (Don Pedro), Lasalle (Nelesko).

In 1838 Scribe submitted to Meyerbeer two librettos: that of “Le Prophète” and that of “L’Africaine.” For the purposes of immediate composition he gave “Le Prophète” the preference, but worked simultaneously on the scores of both. As a result, in 1849, soon after the production of “Le Prophète,” a score of “L’Africaine” was finished.
The libretto, however, never had been entirely satisfactory to the composer. Scribe was asked to retouch it. In 1852 he delivered an amended version to Meyerbeer who, so far as his score had gone, adapted it to the revised book, and finished the entire work in 1860. “Thus,” says the Dictionnaire des Opéras, “the process of creating ‘L’Africaine’ lasted some twenty years and its birth appears to have cost the life of its composer, for he died, in the midst of preparations for its production, on Monday, May 2, 1864, the day after a copy of his score was finished in his own house in the Rue Montaigne and under his eyes.”

Meyerbeer considered “L’Africaine” his mansterpiece, and believed that through it he was bequeathing to posterity an immortal monument to his fame. But although he had worked over the music for many years, and produced a wonderfully well-contrived score, his labour upon it was more careful and self-exacting than inspired; and this despite moments of intense interest in the opera. Not “L’Africaine,” but “Les Huguenots,” is considered his greatest work.
“L’Africaine” calls for one of the most elaborate stage-settings in opera. This is the ship scene, which gives a lengthwise section of a vessel, so that its between-decks and cabin interiors are seen-like the compartments of a huge but neatly partitioned box laid on its oblong side; in fact an amazing piece of marine architecture.

Scribe’s libretto has been criticized, and not unjustly, on account of the vacillating character which he gives Vasco da Gama. In the first act this operatic hero is in love with Inez. In the prison scene, in the second act, when, Selika points out on the map the true course to India, he is so impressed with her as a teacher of geography, that he clasps the supposed slave-girl to his breast and addresses her in impassioned song. Selika, being enamoured of her pupil, naturally is elated over his progress. Unfortunately Inez enters the prison at this critical moment to announce to Vasco that she has secured his freedom. To prove to Inez that he still loves her Vasco glibly makes her a present of Selika and Nelusko. Selika, so to speak, no longer is on the map, so far as Vasco is concerned, until, in the fourth act, she saves his life by pretending he is her husband. Rapturously he pledges his love to her. Then Inez’s voice is heard singing a ballad to the Tagus River — and Selika again finds herself deserted. There is nothing for her to do but to die under the manchineel tree.

“Is the shadow of this tree so fatal?” asks a French authority. “Monsieur Scribe says yes, the naturalists say no.” With this question and answer. “L’Africaine” may be left to its future fate upon the stage, save that it seems proper to remark that, although the opera is called “The African,” Selika appears to have been as East Indian.

Early in the first act of the opera occurs Inez’s ballad, “Adieu, mon doux rivage” (Farewell, beloved shores). It is gracefully accompanied by flute and oboe. This is the ballad to the river Tagus, which Vasco hears her sing in the fourth act. The finale of the first act — the scene in which Vasco defies the Royal Council — is a powerful ensemble. The slumber song for Selika in the second act, as she watches over Vasco, “Sur mes genous, fils du soleil” (On my knees, offspring of the sun) is charming, and entirely original, with many exotic and fascinating touches. Nelusko’s air of homage, “Fille des rois, a toi l’hommage” (Daughter of Kings, my homage thine), expresses a sombre loyalty characteristic of the savage whose passion for his queen amounts to fanaticism. The finale of the act is an unaccompanied septette for Inez, Selika, Anna, Vasco, d’Avar, Nelusko, and Don Pedro.

In the act which plays aboardship, are the graceful chorus of women, “Le rapide et leger navire” (The swiftly gliding ship), the prayer of the sailors, “O grand Saint Dominique,” and Nelusko”s song, “Adamastor, roi des vagues profondes” (Adamastor, monarch of the trackless deep), a savage invocation of sea and storm, chanted to the rising of a hurricane, by the most dramatic figure among the characters in the opera. For like Marcel in “Les Huguenots” and Fides in “Le Prophète,” Nelusko is a genuine dramatic creation.

The Indian march and the ballet, which accompanies the ceremony of the crowning of Selika, open the fourth act. The music is exotic, piquant, and in every way effective. The scene is a masterpiece of its kind. There follow the lovely measures of the principal tenor solo of the opera, Vasco’s “Paradis sorti du sein de l’onde” (Paradise, lulled by the lisping sea). Then comes the love duet between Vasco and Selika, “O transport, ô douce exstase” (Oh transport, oh sweet ecstasy). One authority says of it that “rarely have the tender passion, the ecstasy of love been expressed with such force.” Now it would be set down simply as a tiptop love duet of the old-fashioned operatic kind.

The scene of Selika’s death under the manchineel tree is precede by a famous prelude for strings in unison supported by clarinets and bassoons, a brief instrumental recital of grief that makes a powerful appeal. The opera ends dramatically with a soliloquy for Selika – “D’ici je vois la mer immense” (From here I gaze upon the boundless deep).

Time: Early sixteenth century
Place: Lisbon; on a ship at sea; and India.
Act I. Lisbon. The Royal Council Chamber of Portugal. Nothing has been heard of the ship of Bartholomew Diaz, the explorer. Among his officers was Vasco da Gama, the affianced of Inez, daughter of the powerful nobleman, Don Diego. Vasco is supposed to have been lost with the ship and her father now wishes Inez to pledge her hand to Don Pedro, head of the Royal Council of Portugal.

During a session of the Council, it is announced that the King wishes to send an expedition to search for Diaz, but one of the councilors, Don Alvar, informs the meeting that an officer and two captives, the only survivors from the wreck of Diaz’s vessel have arrived. The officer is brought in. He is Vasco da Gama, whom all have believed to be dead. Nothing daunted by the perils he has been through, he has formed a new plan to discover the new land that, he believes, lies beyond Africa. In proof of his conviction that such a land exists, he brings in the captives, Selika and Nelusko, natives, apparently, of a country still unknown to Europe. Vasco then retires to give the council opportunity to discuss his enterprise.

In his absence Don Pedro, who desires to win Inez for himself, and to head a voyage of discovery, surreptitiously gains possession of an important chart from among Vasco’s papers. He then persuades the Grand Inquisitor and the Council that the young navigator’s plans are futile. Through his persuasion they are rejected. Vasco, who has again come before the meeting, when informed that his proposal has been set aside, insults the Council by charging it with ignorance and bias. Don Pedro, utilizing the opportunity to get him out of the way, has him seized and thrown into prison.

Act II. Vasco has fallen asleep in his cell. Beside him watches Selika. In her native land she is a queen. Now she is a captive and a slave, her rank, of course, unknown to her captor, since she and Nelusko carefully have kept it from the knowledge of all. Selika is deeply in love with Vasco and is broken-hearted over his passion for Inez, of which she has become aware. But the love of this supposedly savage slave is greater than her jealousy. She protects the slumbering Vasco from the thrust of Nelusko’s dagger. For her companion in captivity is deeply in love with her and desperately jealous of the Portuguese navigator for whom she has conceived so ardent a desire. Not only does she save Vasco’s life, but on a map hanging on the prison wall she points out to him a route known only to herself and Nelusko, by which he can reach the land of which he has been in search.

Inez, Don Pedro, and their suite enter the prison. Vasco is free. Inez has purchased his freedom through her own sacrifice in marrying Don Pedro. Vasco, through the information received from Selika, now hopes to undertake another voyage of discovery and thus seek to make up in glory what he has lost in love. But he learns that don Pedro has been appointed commander of an expedition and has chosen Nelusko as pilot. Vasco sees his hopes shattered.

Act III. The scene is on Don Pedro’s ship at sea. Don Alvar, a member of the Royal Council, who is with the expedition, has become suspicious of Nelusko. Two ships of the squadron have already been lost. Don Alvar fears for the safety of the flagship. At that moment a Portuguese vessel is seen approaching. It is in command of Vasco da Gama, who has fitted it out at his own expense. Although Don Pedro is his enemy, he comes aboard the admiral’s ship to warn him that the vessel is on a wrong course and likely to meet with disaster. Don Pedro, however, accuses him of desiring only to see Inez, who is on the vessel, and charges that his attempted warning is nothing more than a ruse, with that purpose in view. At his command, Vasco is seized and bound. A few moments later, however, a violent storm breaks over the ship. It is driven upon a reef. Savages, for whom Nelusko has signaled, clamber up the sides of the vessel and massacre all save a few whom they take captive.

Act IV. On the left, the entrance to a Hindu temple; on the right a palace. Tropical landscape. Among those saved from the massacre is Vasco. He finds himself in the land which he has sought to discover — a tropical paradise. He is threatened with death by the natives, but Selika, in order to save him, protests to her subjects that he is her husband. The marriage is now celebrated according to East Indian rites. Vasco, deeply touched by Selika’s fidelity, is almost determined to abide by his nuptial vow and remain here as Selika’s spouse, when suddenly he hears the voice of Inez. His passion for her revives.

Act V. The gardens of Selika’s palace. Again Selika makes a sacrifice of love. How easily she could compass the death of Vasco and Inez! But she forgives. She persuades Nelusko to provide the lovers with a ship and bids him meet her, after the ship has sailed, on a high promontory overlooking the sea.

To this the scene changes. On the promontory stands a large manchineel tree. The perfume of its blossoms is deadly to any one who breathes it in from under the deep shadow of its branches. From here Selika watches the ship set sail It bears from her the man she loves. Breathing in the poison-laden odour from the tree from under which she has watched the ship depart, she dies. Nelusko seeks her, finds her dead, and himself seeks death beside her under the fatal branches of the manchineel.

Verdi. Don Carlo. 1998. Salzburgo. Sergei Larin (Don Carlo). Marina Mescheriakova (Elisabetta). Dolora Zajick (Princesa de Eboli).Carlos Alvarez (Marques de Posa). Rene Pape (Felipe II). Paul Plishka (Inquisidor). Dir.: Lorin Maazel.
https://rapidshare.com/files/457669357/Don_Carlo_Salzburg_1998.rar

Aporte de Raul de Montevideo:
Handel. Orlando. 2001. Budapest.Artur Stefanowicz (Orlando). Denis Lakey (Meodoro). Mónika Gonzales (Angelica). Szilvia Hamvasi (Doronda). Béla Laborfalvi Soós (Soroastro). Dir.: Philipp Pickett.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KKIP411N
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http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W8LLMJKL

Artur Stefanowicz

The Polish counter-tenor, Artur Stefanowicz, studied at the Chopin-Musikakademie Warschau with Jerzy Artysz and Jadwiga Rappé. In 1990 he won the first prize for the best counter-tenor at the Mozart-Gesangswettbewerb (Mozart singing competition) in Vienna.

Since 1991 he sings frequently in Poland and abroad, among other things in Paris at the Opera Comique, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées an the Théâtre du Châtelet, in Berlin at the Deutschen Staatsoper and the Komischen Oper, at the English National Opera (as Xerxes and in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice), at the New York City Opera (also in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice), at the Warsaw’s and the Budapest’s Kammeroper, at the Opera Houses of Miami, Strasbourg, Dublin, Enschede, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Salamanca, Bilbao, at the Berliner Philharmonie, at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, at the Warsaw’s Philharmonie, as well as at importans music festivals such as Aix-en-Provence, London, Glyndebourne, Palermo, Massachusetts, Mörbisch, Innsbruck, Montreux, Bratislava or Flanders. He also appeared as a guest at the Hallenser Händel-Festspielen. He has co-operated with conductors as William Christie, René Jacobs, Leopold Hager, Philip Pickett, Philippe Entremont, Roy Goodman, Sir Charles Mackerras, Michael Hofstetter, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky and Andrey Boreyko.

Artur Stefanowicz sang amazingly many Georg Frideric Handel parts: the title roles in Tamerlano and Orlando, Arsamene in Serse, Polinesso in Ariodante, Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Unulfo in Rodelinda as wekll as Didymus in the oratorio Theodora. In addition should be mentioned: Ottone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, Domiziano in Cesti’s Il Tito, Ascanio and Farnace in Mozart’s operas Ascanio in Alba and Mitridate, Re di Ponto, Ottone in Scarlatti’s Griselda, Orlofsky in Fledermaus and Baba the Turk in Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress.

Orlando Synopsis:
Unknown librettist, based on a text by Carlo Sigismondo Capece after Ludovico Ariosto .
Act One:
Zoroastro is worried. Orlando, a great warrior, has fallen in love with the foreign princess, Angelica, who has been living in Dorinda’s house for some time. Since falling in love, Orlando has shown little inclination to perform deeds of valour and refuses outright to listen to Zoroastro’s demands that he should again take a greater interest in his military duties. Dorinda has also noticed that Orlando lives only for love at the moment. Angelica, however, does not return Orlando’s love, her heart belongs to a mysterious hero called Medoro whom she nursed to health when he was wounded. She was helped in this by Dorinda, who is now also in love with Medoro.
Orlando tries in vain to win Angelica’s affection with proof of his love. Dorinda discovers Angelica’s and Medoro’s so far well-kept secret of their love for each other and her hopes of finding happiness with Medoro are thus dashed. Angelica and Medoro thank Dorinda for all her help by giving her a piece of jewelry and try to comfort her in her love-lorn state with assurances that she will one day also find true love.

Act Two:
Orlando learns from Dorinda of Angelica’s love for Medoro; the piece of jewelry the lovers gave Dorinda had been a present to Angelica from Orlando. Beside himself with jealousy and rage, Orlando is torn between thoughts of revenge and suicide. Zoroastro warns Angelica and Medoro of Orlando’s fury and promises to help them when they decide to flee from Orlando. While Medoro is making the necessary arrangements for their flight, Orlando discovers Angelica, who just manages to escape from him. Tormented by anger and jealousy, Orlando becomes unhinged.

Act Three
Dorinda is worried about Medoro’s safety. To her utter amazement, Orlando suddenly declares his love for her, but she then realizes that he does not really know who she is in his madness. He first sees in her his beloved, then an enemy whom he has to attack and destroy. Angelica realizes that Orlando’s unrequited love for her has brought on this fever of the brain. While she expresses her hope that Orlando will come to his senses, Dorinda is lost in her own thoughts about love.
Zoroastro is convinced that his theory, namely that lovers all too often lose their minds, has been confirmed. He is determined to restore Orlando to his senses and set him back on the path to fame.
In his madness, Orlando destroys everything that crosses his path. He first kills Medoro and then Angelica. When he finally falls asleep, exhausted, Zoroastro magically heals him. Orlando comes to and learns what he has done in his madness. In despair, he wants to kill himself – and is prevented from doing so by Angelica and Medoro, who had merely appeared to fall victim to his rage and had been saved by Zoroastro. Orlando overcomes his despair, accepts the betrothal of Angelica and Medoro and announces that from now on he intends to devote himself to his task of seeking glory as a war hero. Zoroastro has achieved his goal.

 

Puccini. Turandot.1988.Nancy. Maria Dragoni. Giorgio Aristo. Kemmer. Tranter.Dir.:Antonello Allemandi
https://rapidshare.com/files/458260409/TURANDOT_88_Nancy.zip

Wagner. Lohengrin. 1982. Bayreuth.Peter Hofmann, Karan Amstrong. Elizabeth Connell. Siegfried Vogel. Leif Roar. Bernd Weikl. Dir.:Woldemar Nelsson.



Verdi. Aida. 2011.  Londres.Liudmyla Monastyrska (Aida). Roberto Alagna (Radames). Olga Borodina (Amneris). Michael Volle (Amonasro). Vitalij Kowljow ( Ramfis). Madeleine Pierard (Sacerdotisa). Brindely Sherratt (Faraon) Dir.: Fabio Luis
https://rapidshare.com/files/458610608/Aida_ROH_2011_CD1.rar
https://rapidshare.com/files/458610601/Aida_ROH_2011_CD2.rar

 

Liudmyla Monastyrska

Menotti La Loca.1979. N. York. Beverly Sills (Juana). John Bröcheler. Susanne Marsee (Manuela).Dana Krueger. Harlan foss (Chaplin). John seabury (Marques de Denia). Joseph Evans (Miguel de Ferrara). Robert Hale. Suzy Block. Timothy Eaton. Dir.: John Mauceri.
Parte 1
Parte 2Parte 3

(extraido y editado del blog cantanellas). Gian Carlo Menotti nació el 7 de octubre de 1911 en Cadegliano, Italia. Con sólo once años ya escribía libretos y componía óperas, The Death of Pierrot la primera de ellas, comenzó a estudiar en el Conservatorio de Milán, en 1928, tras la muerte de su padre, marcho a los Estados Unidos, en Filadelfia completó sus estudios musicales, allí comenzó su amistad con Samuel Barber -para éste escribiría el libreto de Vanessa-.
Su primera obra de madurez fue la opera bufa Amelia al Ballo, estrenada en 1937 e interpretada en el Met cuando el compositor tenía 27 años, comenzó a tener verdadera repercusión internacional tras estrenar The Medium The Telephone. Con The consul (1954) obtuvo el Premio Pulitzer y el Premio de la crítica de Nueva York como la mejor obra musical del año, su obra más conocida es Amahl and the Night Visitors (Amalia y los visitadores nocturnos) (1951), la primera ópera compuesta expresamente para la televisión.

Todas sus óperas están escritas en Inglés con la excepción de Amelia al Ballo, The Island God y Le dernier sauvage, ésta última un encargo de la Ópera de París -el último encargo que la Opera de París había hecho a un extranjero había sido Don Carlos- pero se estrenó en la Opéra-Comique.Fue el creador en 1958 del Festival de los Dos Mundos, en Spoleto, Italia, con el objetivo de unir las manifestaciones culturales de los continentes europeo y americano, después lo extendió a Estados Unidos y Australia.

Menotti se consideraba a sí mismo como un músico conservador, su música es tonal pero sin dejar de lado la utilización de técnicas modernas, sobre todo en lo que respecta a la utilización de instrumentos electrónicos, el fragmento de La Loca que se puede escuchar arriba podría denominarse neoverismo, pero su encasillamiento con la música de Puccini y otros compositores italianos de principios del siglo XX es algo que no gustaba nada al compositor, prefería que se relacionara también con Debussy y Mussorgsky. Un sector de la crítica siempre se mostró reacio a reconocerle méritos por considerarlo pasado y convencional, “”pure light entertainment”, sobre todo en los años sesenta, aunque veamos lo que se escribía en el New York Times en 1984 a propósito de La Loca: “The music, unfortunately, all too often seemed equally hysterical, equally banal, lacking both repose and dignity. It has sometimes been claimed that Mr. Menotti, with his simple melodies and effusive emotionalism, represents a logical American successor to Puccini; this may be so, but it seems a dubious distinction..”

Beverly Sills, quería retirarse de la escena al cumplir cincuenta años y para ello pidió a Menotti que reescribiera para ella La Loca, la última ópera que había compuesto el italo-americano, se estrenó en San Diego el 3 de junio de 1979 y está basada en la célebre y romántica “locura de amor” de Juana, hija de los Reyes Católicos y esposa de Felipe el Hermoso. También Plácido Domingo quiso que Menotti compusiera una ópera para él, el resultado fue Goya, estrenada en Washington en 1989 y basada en los amores entre el célebre pintor y la duquesa de Alba. Al final creo que no fue la última actuación escénica de la soprano, pero sí una de las últimas. En su autografía, Beverly: An Autobiography escribió “La Loca is the best piece of acting I’ve ever done”.