More boos for Paris Isolde
OperaWith much of France on strike today, we have seen no newspaper reviews of the revival of the Peter Sellars Tristan und Isolde in which the American co-star was loudly booed on opening night.
Two online reviews, however, confirm the hostile Parisian reception.
On the Causeur site, Julien San Frax writes:… ‘Mary Elizabeth Williams, for her debut at the Paris Opera, is not at all up to her business in the role of Isolde: shrill highs, scratchy voice, low without depth, summary articulation, gesture borrows from an awkward theatricality. Opposite her, the Swedish tenor Michael Weinius portrays a vocally acceptable Tristan… The show is saved, so to speak, by the excellent bass-baritone Eric Owens as King Marke.’
On operawire, João Marcos Copertino writes: ‘Having lived in Paris for a while, I can say I have more than once seen a stage director booed. Once, a conductor was vaguely disproved of by few operagoers. But until tonight, I have never seen a soprano booed so virulently as Parisians jeered Mary Elizabeth Williams’ Isolde. Why did that happen?…
‘The reasons that a singer is heckled usually have more to do with audience expectations than with the artist; afterall, it is the audience that heckles. Parisians operagoers, rightfully, have high expectations, especially when the subject is Wagner. Nevertheless, I was surprised to listen her Isolde, especially after rave reviews from role debut in Seattle last October.
‘In contrast to her castmates, Williams’s lighter instrument makes her voice significantly less “Wagnerian.” Her fach is closer to a lyric spinto than a dramatic soprano. An orphan of Birgit Nilsson and Astrid Varnay would say Williams has not the voice for Isolde…
‘More than a problem in casting, however, there were signs of her difficulties with Wagner’s score. Williams felt that she had to make herself heard, therefore she sang forte most of the night. Her fortes are filled with harsh attacks that, eventually, compromise the beauty and focus of her voice and intonation….’
press photo: Tristan and Isolde, January 13, 2023 © Elisa Haberer/Opéra national de Paris
This just but one more example of the undergraduate-level wannabes they keep thrusting onstage and that we are then expected to appreciate, applaud, support, encourage, write about glowingly and you name it, and even refer to them as “stars”. Such is the level of despair in the business.
And let’s not forget totally the too inexperienced casting director and unqualified, arrogant Intendant giving these singers roles these before they are ready. Blind ambition. Shooting Paris in the foot with both poor leadership choices.
No matter how badly someone performs, it is absolutely disgraceful to boo them.
Agreed
I wouldn‘t say so. In a professional context booing can be justified. Agreed though that it‘s too easily done by some.
This is very sad and rather surprising. Admittedly I have only heard Mary in the bigger Italian repertoire but she has been marvellous every time. A lovely actress, too. I confess, I wouldn’t have earmarked her as an Isolde so this whole episode seems odd.
One only needs to listen to her Liebestod from Seattle on YouTube to get the full picture. The question is, how did the management of the Paris Opera think that she was an Isolde for their opera house?
because they are both out of their depth with these jobs. Neef would sell his own child to get ahead in the world. Joyce is a favorite of the political opera mafia, but not worth her weight in salt. Two over promoted average people who are good at one thing: politics.
can’t agree more but one needs to be woke nowadays and the result was poor as often
I hear you, Tristan. But Paris should WAKE UP and get rid of these two amateurs. No doubt they are more focused on getting the Met post Gelb than running Paris. Neef jumps from job to job like a desperate starving child. Poor Paris. Poor NYC to come.
Why are you people so obsessed with this “woke” stuff? Seriously, get a life. She’s a good singer by all accounts, just perhaps not right for this role. Even great conductors like Karajan sometimes cast inappropriately. It happens.
Was this perhaps the result of diversity casting? Surely a Tristan with three African American leads would be a great victory for diversity on stage…… Doesn’t appear to have worked out that way.
Sadly you are probably right. I’m sure she is a fine singer in appropriate roles.
More likely it’s that there are just a stunningly small number of people in this world who can sing Isolde (or Tristan), or even try. She seems to be well-regarded in other repertoire; someone probably encouraged her to try. Not the first time a singer found a role wasn’t right for their voice.
Yes, but one would assume the HUGE roles like Isolde need to be properly prepared for, often over the course of years. The Paris Opera isn’t even 2000 seats, so if she can’t sing it there……..
What could be better than a few “boo”s? . . . . More boos!!! (and booze). Let’s get this party started.
When a Leontyne Price was performing over 50 years ago, the suspicion of her being a by-product of largely quantity-for-quantity’s-sake culture and politics wouldn’t have crossed anyone’s mind. But today? Today, when ideology (socially, governmentally, philosophically) is becoming more and more overbearing?
Margaret Price was one of the greatest ever Isoldes on disc with Carlos Kleiber but had the good sense never to try it on Stage.
sorry but this has been a different world – hers in the studio with the most exciting conductor of his time can’t be compared – never forget that most managers and most critics don’t know anything any more
Possibly Kleiber did get the advice from Karajan: use lighter more agile and lyrical voices for the microphone. Karajan did that with Fischer-Dieskau and Helga Dernesch as well.
Then sopranos send out recordings for castings, and someone didn‘t get the memo about the difference between a couple of meters (your voice needs to carry to the microphone) and twenty meters (your voice needs to carry in an opera house.)
Booing sopranos ( and others) is not that unusual at the Paris Opera I’m afraid. Crespin , by then hailed as a world acclaimed artiste, was booed in Iphigenie en Tauride. Just a few years ago another very active ( at the time) french soprano was booed one night in the same Gluck opera simply because she hit a little bit of mucus which cleared after one phrase in ‘ O malheureuse Iphigenie.’ The booing started after the aria.
Audiences naturally feel the need to give an immediate response to the performance , but booing is just unpleasant . If you haven’t liked a performance just don’t clap at Curtain Call time.
Why are commentators such bitches on this site?
I see no mention above of the production’s conductor, Dudamel, who is famous for drowning singers. He has no business conducting opera. I am sure this soprano would have had a success had she been working with Anthony Negus, Reginald Goodall, or numerous earlier and very famous conductors who started their careers in the opera house as repetiteurs and assistant conductors and who knew about singers. Wagner is NOT an indulgence-fest for lazy orchestral conductors who don’t care about the singers.