Placido Domingo responds to Bayreuth boos
mainHe tells El Mundo: ‘It’s normal here, the audience knows the score so well that it deserves the right to disagree, and also my respect.’
Very good reaction.
See: Why they booed Domingo at Bayreuth
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Great artist that respect the audience
If he respected the audience, the music, the composer, the venue – he wouldn’t attempt to conduct there!
Right!
So, Domingo, that is how you treat the music and the knowledgeable audience? You are being very respectful indeed.
The disrespectful person is the one who invited him.
Whoever invited him might be partially blind / deaf, but apparently Domingo himself hasnt learnt the word humble and he has zero self awareness.
+1
+1
I agree.
+10
They were fairer boos than Pavarotti got at La Scala for Don Carlo because Domingo is a lousy conductor with the gall to pretend he has mastered Die Walküre and routinely selfish enough to fill slots that could provide career chances for others. Separately, it is an affront to the composer to mount Die Walküre as a standalone.
Very well said!
+1
I thought it was fairly normal for companies to put on the Ring one opera at a time, and then only do a full “Ring Cycle” when all four are built/ cast/ in the repertory?
(No idea if Bayreuth did Rheingold last year or is planning Siegfried next year)
Wrong, because Bayreuth is not your “normal” opera company.
Firstly most “normal” companies donstage Walküre quite regularly separately from the rest of the Ring.
Secondly Bayreuth did perform in the past all Ring operas separately from the Ring. For the first four years of a run each every year one part of the Ring is shown separately from a cycle (basically showing one cycle over four years)
Thirdly Rheingold was staged last year (as a part of the Ring) and no there won’t be Siegfried next year
Finally main scandal is this year is that they’ve invited Domingo to conduct. This was however announced last year, so everyone who bought ticket for the performance knew what they’re getting. Booing in this case is therefore even more ridiculous
Bruce,
Yes, it is normal to build one of the ring at a time, until you have a complete Ring cycle. However, the one exception to this rule is Bayreuth. This opera house has always changed all four in the same year, and pretty much always performs the four operas as a complete cycle. What has happened this time (performing only one of the cycle) is highly unusual for Bayreuth.
Justice .. the world of cultured people are fighting back.. last year’ s Meistersinger … idiotic…. Lohengrin now of a non director … at the worst Ring of eternity still lingering …perhaps Gotterdaemmerung next tear directed by Madonna.. or Jennifer Lopez … we cry Wagner ….
It‘s not the worst Ring. Disagree.
There have been much worse lately, also in Bayreuth.
Bayreuth audience to a large degree fulfills the definition of ‚petit bourgoise‘, „Spießer“.
And Ch. Thielemann, the man who enjoys combing the carpet fringes at home, is their perfect cult leader.
And what he does at home has relevance to this, how?!?
Oh it’s all relevant. haven’t you gone out of the house lately?
Combing the carpet fringe. Trying to kiss a woman that accepted your invitation to your hotel room. It’s all relevant.
But on a serious note: would you brag about enjoying combing the carpet fringe in interviews?
Tamino:
I don’t think Thielemann is going to be in trouble any time soon for kissing a woman he invited back to his hotel room.
Obviously the man doesn’t get it or hasn’t received the memo. His reaction is so very typical of people who suffer from inflated self delusion, forever finding any excuse no matter how lame to justify their unwelcome presence. As I wrote elsewhere, the other aspect about this (suspect) engagement of Domingo to “conduct” Wagner at the master’s shrine is that, to accommodate Domingo’s incessant ego and vanity, the festival administration allowed the mounting of Die Walküre (and only Die Walküre) during a non-Ring Cycle year. Why was this allowed? We well know Domingo could not get through the other missing three if it meant reviving The Three Tenors. Shame Shame Shame.
You are right with every word you say about Domino, especially his “conducting”, but maybe we should be happy they don’t allow him to sing anymore. There was a time I really adored his voice, not so much his acting, but he was a quite good singer. Now I’m just disappointed that he didn’t know when it was high time to stop his career.
And please, please, don’t let him start as a teacher how was suggested at an other comment. He’s so lousy in this discipline too. I really don’t know what’s worse, his conducting or his teaching. He should accept his time is over. Why not to stay at his fantastic finca in México, put his legs up and play with his grand-grandchildren? He wouldn’t be missed anymore.
(Sorry for my poor English, I’m trying to approve it.)
+1
As much as I don’t like the idea of Domingo conducting anything, least of all Walküre in Bayreuth, hats off to him for such honorable behavior and comments.
At this point in his career, Domingo has more to offer as a teacher.
Certainly not. I’ve seen him in a so called “Master Class” and it was Domingo at his worst: Me – me – me and once again me. I don’t know what the kids should have learned from that (except perhaps hybris?), so please – spare us Domingo as a teacher! And as a baritone (shudders). And as a conductor. It’s really time he goes home, puts his legs up and tells the great-grandchildren stories from the great, old time when he was a star and people respected him.
Exactly
Great artists have too much ego, yet too little patience, to be great teachers.
Yep. Of course. Now I wonder: Sandor Konya, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Kurt Moll, Sir Thomas Allen, Renate Holm, Angelika Kaufmann – they were/are all great teachers. So are they lacking as artist, following your thesis? Or is it possible you’re talking bs?
I totally agree.
Wasn’t Angelika Kauffmann a neo-classical painter?
Angelika Kaufmann were a singer too but to be honest, I don’t know, if she was also a teacher. I think, Mrs. Binder thought for the wonderful Austrian contralto Angelika Kirchschlager, who isn’t just a famous singer but also a fantastic teacher. Right, Bylle Binder?
Yep, Saskia Ellmer – I meant of course Angelika Kirchschlager (though I adore Angelika Kaufmann, too) who isn’t indeed only a great singer, but a wonderful teacher.
What a classy response!
You have got to wonder what the orchestra thought. I am reminded of a story – and I’d be grateful for correction/refutation – of a horn player being asked what he thought of a young conductor of the Philharmonia suggesting all sorts of changes in rehearsal – new broom sweeping clean etc.- and replying, “Well when you’ve played Beethoven 5 under Klemperer, there’s not a lot to add…” But I may have got this story wrong.
My wife and I heard Domingo conduct ‘Die Walkure’ on 8/29 and his performance was quite solid and certainly at or above the Bayreuth standard deemed acceptable.
What I found wholly unacceptable was the Festspiele stage crew placing one or two live chirping/gobbling turkeys in a cage which detracted from the audience’s ability to fully appreciate the singers’ performances. Shame on the Bayreuth Festspiele! If I was in Placido’s shoes, I would have been embarrassed and angry at the second rate ploy by an otherwise first rate stage crew!
Bill