Exclusive: How Renata Scotto manipulated the Met
OperaIn his new memoir ‘Words and Music’, out next month, Stephen Rubin recounts how the ‘tempestuous diva’ Renata Scotto used the New York Times to wind the Metropolita Opera around her little finger.
Steve, despatched to interview her, asked for a professional assessment of her contemporaries.
Sutherland? ‘Great voice.’
Freni? ‘Boring’
Callas? ‘Great actress’.
Sills? ‘Great woman’.
She went on to say: ‘I sing for eight years at the Met now and I don’t have one new productio,, never, and no opening night either! I will not sing at the Met again until they give me a new production or opening night.’
Steve adds: Scotto’s bold frontal attack worked. She ultimately became a great favourite of music director James Levine and for a while was the Met’s reigning diva…. I have never encountered anouther artist who used the press in as overtly self-serving a manner as Scotto did, and got away with it.’
He concludea; ‘What a piece of work she was.’
Seems to me that she made an excellent point: she had paid her dues, so to speak, by singing at the Met for a very considerable time, and, like every headlining soprano of international standing, she wanted the perk of a new production and/or opening night. I don’t think that is being out of line or temperamental; it’s being a good business person. If a man asked for such, that’s exactly what one might say.
Scotto was a major asset to the Met and well regarded by those who worked with her from what I always heard. She was also the target of some critics and I’m sorry to read that this book might reinforce such negative criticism of one of the leading international opera singers of the 20th century who gave memorable performances.
Scordatura, I am in complete agreement with you.
Not with La Scotto, though: her opinions of Sutherland and Freni should be exchanged!
Be that as it may, Renata Scotto was an absolutely marvelous artist – her Butterfly with Barbirolli is the greatest ever recording of that role (and that opera). She is even better than Callas, who was wonderful in her excellent recording with Karajan.
She loved Callas and was friends with Freni and even made a wonderful recording of duets
It’s al bad press here again, don’t even bother.
I wished we had a Scotto around nowadays but only Slavic voices without any Italian color and touch..
She was fantastic, the MET itself is just horrible!
“I don’t think that is being out of line or temperamental; it’s being a good business person. If a man asked for such, that’s exactly what one might say.”
Yes, one might say that.
Or one might say that the man was being an entitled brat.
Wait, wait, wait just a minute. NEVER encountered another artist who used the press in a self-serving manner??? In a more golden age, they all did. Do you believe Callas didn’t use the power of the press? Sills? Pavarotti? The list is endless, and to greater and longer lasting effect than Ms. Scotto.
Publicity and the press are essential to great careers, the dissolution of which is one reason why many of today’s artists have a difficult time getting any sort of foothold in the imagination of audiences. For better or worse, the power of the singular voice of the press is greatly diminished in our internet age.
she’s kind of iconic when you think about it: voice was declining fast, screeching and wobbling, but pretty ok acting? she had to come up with something quick!
I was fortunate enough to see Miss Scotto in many roles, both in NY and elsewhere, and all I can say is that I wouldn’t trade most (most…) of her performances for those more smoothly (boringly) vocalized nowadays. She was not bland. She was always fully committed.
Given that you’re so tired you should know that one hears an opera singer.
Unless they are invisible, one tends to see them as well.
All hearsay and no context. Renato Scotto was a fine singer and rest is now ancient history.
Levine was absolutely addicted to Scotto – she was all he could talk about! He even gave her Norma, which turned out to be not the best idea. There were some vocally painful evenings during her last years, but her artistry never faltered. And it’s a level of artistry that is now gone with the wind. Her stage craft in Macbeth, Clemenza di Tito, and Francesca di Rimini was unforgettable.
Agree with most of what you write. But I saw her Norma on tour in Minneapolis and it was riveting and quite beautifully sung. Artists can be uneven and it’s disappointing to catch someone on an off night but I’d take few uncomfortable high notes of a Scotto, who like all the great opera singers offered something distinctive and personal, over some of the bland perfections we hear today.
And Don Carlo
He was addicted because she was a real musician!
It should be pointed out that she continued with a great career after she left the Met in 1987. Her performances included Fedora, Parsifal, Menotti’s The Telephone, Rosenkavalier, Erwatung, and Alice in Falstaff.
Doesn’t sound like manipulation. She just said how she felt.
Freni? ‘Boring’
Scotto? ‘JEALOUS!’
Could be lost in translation. Regardless, no one would ever have called Freni “fiery”.
Wasn’t Scotto known as the working class Freni?
No
I can‘t believe Scotto called Freni boring. As far as I know they were good friends.
they were and it’s again all bullshit here what the stupid journalists write – do not believe a word
Freni was magic and Scotto fantastic too – not one Italian voice like her we have atm
Scotto wasn’t good friends with nobody ! She was obsessively jealous of any living soprano or mezzo. Her voice was never perfect but neither boring. She knew her limitations, but never accepted them. But Freni was a bit boring opposite Scotto.
Maybe I never heard her at her best, but the times I saw her on Live from the MET, I wasn’t particularly impressed. Not compared to Leontyne Price or Teresa Stratas. But I was young; maybe I’d think differently if I saw/heard her again.
Feels very thin…
As a subscriber to the Met in the late 70s, the voice of Renata Scotto was responsible for some of my greatest musical experiences. Her Otello with Jon Vickers, and her Don Carlo with an all-star cast including Marilyn Horne, Sherrill Milnes and James Morris remain indelibly etched in my memory. Her artistry was exemplary, and if she became the reigning diva at the Met, it was not because she somehow manipulated the press, but because she was a sublime singer.
she was amazing and what an actress on top – her TRITTICO unforgettable and again wished we had anything like her today
Brava La Scotto we miss you on stage
OMG (he wrote in Sarcastica font), Scotto used the press in her dealings with the Met. Who could imagine such a thing? No singer had ever done this before, nor has any done it since. Oh, the horror! The supine press! The poor, defenseless, opera house! I am shocked, shocked!, I tell you.
More seriously: the voice did become difficult to take in the last years. But I treasure my video discs of Scotto. The voice was always used for expressive purpose; she was always fully committed to the characters she played; and in operatic terms (certainly when compared to the stand-sing-occasionally-contort-face/gesture-with-arm school) she was a marvelous actress. Because she wasn’t obese, she was also completely believeable as a Mimi or Musetta, a Desdemona or Luisa Miller or Manon Lescaut or Gianni Schicchi’s Lauretta.
Maybe (smile) my perception is colored by the fact that I once sat in the front row at one of her recitals (where seats in that price bracket were out of my financial range, but I got one as an usher in the hall), and during a general round of applause in which I said “Brava,” she blew a kiss to me. But I don’t think so.
No reason to take hearsay at face value, not even if it casts a negative light on the great Metropolitan Opera. That said, those kinds of manipulations wouldn’t work for a singer of a lesser caliber.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHxGhmgI2QQ
Indeed. She earned her stripes.
Wow, groundbreaking
Maybe the MET needed Joe Volpe; this was before he became General Manager and fired Kathleen Battle for her obnoxious behavior (seemingly giving every other A-list organization in the world courage to stop working with her, too), then dropped Georgiu/Alagna from a new production when they were demanding approval over production concept/design – saying no singer at the MET, not even Pavarotti, gets that.
Seems Mr Rubin isn’t well-acquainted with the real world. It is routine for employees with savvy and desired skills to lobby for plum assignments and projects. Using internal and external PR channels, among others, is completely usual. Whether at Accenture, BCG, Credit Suisse or… the Metropolitan Opera.
Brava, Scotto!
Assessing one of her colleagues as “boring” is truly reprehensible and, in this case, completely wrong!
The days when a diva could matter enough for all that are gone, right?
The hoards of loyal, ticket-buying fans aren’t numerous enough to give an artist any more heft than what they see on the bathroom scale in the morning.
The newspapers don’t cover opera enough for a diva to put her opinion out in one, either.
And no one reads newspapers.
Hordes, not hoards, but otherwise very much on point.
She was/is a marvelous person. I worked with her almost daily over several periods. I was a nobody and yet she trusted me. Sadly, I could not do a recital tour she asked me for. I don’t care what people say about her as I know FOR A FACT that nobody worked harder than Renata. Even on performance days she studied. Unlike many, she came to coaching sessions with the music LEARNED. Often she would not use the music and use only the libretto. That’s called singing WORDS, not just sound. When sessions were over, she’d hand me a signed, blank check and have me fill it in. It’s called trust. I am very bored with Renata bashing by people with naught but an overheard anecdote or an interview or even a passing acquaintance. Yes, she had opinions. And yes, she had original thoughts in music. And that is why she is sorely missed, especially in her original repertoire. She thought I was teaching her but, actually, the shoe was on the other foot and those lessons I took into my conducting career. Brava Renata sempre.
Thank you, Maestro. Just plain thank you for telling it as it was.
Bravo to you for speaking up. I hope colleagues like you (of Miss Scotto and probably countless others) commit your experiences to paper. First-hand accounts humanize these great performers and set the record straight for the future. We have too much hearsay from opera queens and not enough facts.
Yours is a book I would read! Thank you for your insight!
I went back in the NYT archives, and this is what Stephen Rubin wrote about Miss Scotto’s assessment of a few of her colleagues in 1978. Either Mr. Lebrecht or Mr, Rubin are now mischaracterizing the original interview.
“And whom else does she love among her colleagues? “Many, many sopranos. They are all good.” Giggle. Does she not admire Mirella Freni, her record‐mate? “Yes, why not? I admire Mirella Freni.” Aren’t there any others? “I can say Katia Ricciarelli has a beautiful voice or Montserrat Caballe has a beautiful voice. If you want, I’ll say that. I find many times that to me they don’t say too much when they sing, these beautiful voices.” Anybody else? “I don’t know. Leontyne Price perhaps. I like very much Leontyne. I think it’s the most beautiful voice in the last years.” What about Joan Sutherland? “Yes or no.” And Beverly Sills? “I lika very much Sills, especially as a person, because she’s very, very intelligent. She’s a great woman. It’s more important than a singer to be a great human being and woman.”
Why the down vote? Mr. Rubin’s lie was revealed by his OWN interview.
Scotto was the Met’s reigning diva because she is a great artist. I am very fortunate to have heard her often. We rarely hear passionate singing like that anymore.
She is talented beyond belief and has served her trade well. I have to believe your comment borderlines being sexist. If a man had made this demand you would have not even bothered to comment on it, or, you would have praised him. I wouldn’t waste my time reading your book. (Oh, and stop with ‘getting away with it’ comments regarding the NYT. Makes you look like the snob you probably are.)