Flotty waves farewell
mainDame Felicity Lott has announced that tomorrow will be her farewell solo performance.
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What a lovely and talented lady. So sorry the time has come to stop. Best wishes for the future.
Actually, here’s a quotation from her own site: ” I am not retiring yet, however, just not doing another solo Wigmore recital. I think perhaps this was not clear on the publicity- although it does say that it is not necessarily my last appearance on the Wigmore stage!” It is her last recital there with Graham. And that in itself is the end of an era.
Dearest Flott, it seems like only yesterday we started out in this mad business…..enjoy tomorrow, and many many more…much love Jumbo xx
However, Dame Felicity will be featured on the next release of Brahms Beloved as she sings Clara Schumann lieder as bonus tracks to Brahms 3. What an honor it was to accompany her. Released in Spring 2014 on Telarc. For those interested in Brahms Beloved, see: http://www2.concordmusicgroup.com/artists/John-Axelrod/
I remember her arriving for a rehearsal with Geoffrey Parsons at the house he shared with my then teacher Erich Vietheer. I was 16 and my jaw hit the floor at such glamour. A fan ever since..
This would indeed be most dismaying news – but I wonder if there might be some confusion here; her website news and diary sections (respectively http://www.felicitylott.de/mix.htm and http://www.felicitylott.de/calendar.htm) seem to have a rather different take on this, although I don’t know how recently they were last updated.
Now hang on …
Does “her final solo appearance” at the Wigmore Hall mean that she’s never again performing as a soloist at all (including with an orchestra, choir or chamber group) or simply that this is her last solo recital?
For my eyes, the statement quoted below is unambiguous: Lott will not be making another solo appearance *at the Wigmore Hall*, but may well be making further solo appearances elsewhere.
“This week the legendary British soprano, the great Dame Felicity Lott, makes her farewell solo appearance at the Wigmore Hall.”
If it were really her last ever solo recital anywhere, the sentence would have read:
“This week the legendary British soprano, the great Dame Felicity Lott, makes her farewell solo appearance, at the Wigmore Hall.”
The presence or absence of a comma in a specific position can have a considerable bearing on the meaning.
Sasha, you’re absolutely right.
However, this presumes that the marketing people who wrote that sentence (a) are fully aware of all the rules surrounding comma use, and (b) intended to be completely clear and unambiguous.
My experience, at least, suggests that we can’t safely presume both those things at once.
Indeed; my experience concurs with yours, MWync.
I sang in the choir of a choral concert at the glamourous Crawley Sportcentre back in the early 1970’s. The soprano was a certain Felicity Lott. I was transfixed by her hair the whole evening, only catching a glimpse of her profile when she turned to the conductor. She really hasn’t changed that much over the years.
I first encounteed her work when she sang the rôle of Roxana in an English production of Szymanowski’s Król Roger; she was relatively unknown then but there was no doubt that she handled this taxing part with quite extraordinary aplomb and sensitivity and not the remotest sense of string of any kind. The opera itself was likewise relatively unfamiliar to British audiences at that time and the entire experience was a thrilling one indeed. Sadly, this is the kind of repertoire with which she has had little to do since; a great shame. A most remarkable artist
Typos, wretched typos! Profuse apologies! My post should have read
“I first encountered her work when she sang the rôle of Roxana in an English production of Szymanowski’s Król Roger; she was relatively unknown then but there was no doubt that she handled this taxing part with quite extraordinary aplomb and sensitivity and not the remotest sense of strain of any kind. The opera itself was likewise relatively unfamiliar to British audiences at that time and the entire experience was a thrilling one indeed. Sadly, this is the kind of repertoire with which she has had little to do since; a great shame. A most remarkable artist.”
Now that we fortunately know that news of her retirement has been grossly exaggerated(!), perhaps Songs of the Fairy-tale Princess beckon…(?)…
Dame Felicity will be singing in Vienna on the 19th November …….. details below:
http://www.stadtinitiative.at/programm.php
Her recording, with Johnson and with Schreier, of the Wolf Italian Songbook is perhaps the best ever.
Thank you all for your lovely comments. News of my retirement is wildly exaggerated however. I just did my last solo Wigmore recital but I have a concert in Vienna on Tuesday, Cheltenham on 30th November, Paris on 16 th December and many other places in 2014…I thought the Wigmore Hall made it clear in its publicity but I was evidently mistaken! Keep on Singing…..Best wishes from Felicity ( http://www.felicitylott.de)
We are so excited in Crediton that during the tree festival in 2018 Dame Felcity Lott is giving a concert accompanied by Sebastian Wybrew. Email sktstephens@gmail.com for further details.