Netrebko will sing Prima Donna… in German
OperaThe Vienna State Opera has confirmed that Anna Netrebko will sing in German for the first time on its stage in January. She is cast as Prima Donna in Richard Strauss’s opera, Ariadne auf Naxos.
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Uh … this was announced in April 2024. Funny: concurrent with the performances of “Ariadne”, “Cav”/”Pag” are being performed with Elīna Garanča (Santuzza) and Jonas Kaufmann (Canio). Tickets for the double bill were sold-out by mail order before they went on sale online and at box offices on 01 November. Tickets for all the “Ariadne” performances remain available in almost every price category.
Different audiences Cav/Pag vs Strauss
Excuse me, but why do you say this?
There are a few strange people who only listen to one particular composer or style, but the vast majority of opera goers happily attend Cav/Pag on one night and Ariadne on another.
This isn’t *news*. She’s already sung in German on other stages (Wagner in Dresden, for example).
Obviously she is singing Ariadne.
Are you quite certain? I don’t recognize all the notes…and I know the score well.
Toi, toi toi.
“the voice is like an egg, once it’s broken, it’s kaput.”
Christa Ludwig
AN’s voice is that egg.
Err – didn’t she sing Elsa in Lohengrin auf deutsch in Dresden in 2016?
Heavily teleprompted from beginning to end because she could not memorize the German text. That’s how she got through the role of Elsa. The woman speaks no German despite having resided in Vienna for over a decade. It is shameful that the Austrian government granted her Austrian citizenship without having the German language competence required of everyone else, a language which btw takes enormous investment of daily focus, time, energy and patience to learn; and triple that if you want to learn it well.
P.S.: Neither Asmik Grigorian nor Lise Davidsen speak German. Davidsen went through Isolde in Act II concertant the other night with her eyes fixed on the score.
If you had to sing an act of Isolde in concert and on the radio for the first time, you would use a score, I hope. Absorbing Sega-role like this is a looong process.
If you have done just the minimum study of Isolde Act 2 such that your eyes are glued to the score, you have not done the degree of preparation called for by the assignment. Yes, I know, she’s just so important and busy she can’t find more time yada yada…
Davidsen has sung Marschallin, Senta, Elizabeth (Tannhauser), Ariadne, Agathe which are all in German. I don’t expect that is the reason she was watching her score for Isolde.
Add to that list of Lise’s German roles Eva (Meistersinger) andLeonore (Fidelio) . She’s also recorded Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder.
I’m pretty sure that she has a high level of fluency in German!
I’d pay to see and hear her. I’d pay not to see and hear Netrebko.
Davidsen has no German fluency. As I previously said, neither do Grigorian nor, of course, Netrebko. They sing German by forced rote but cannot internalize let alone project the real text, as would a native or non-native speaker who is fluent and confident in the language.
@A.L.: Take your point, but a certain Russian mezzo doesn’t speak German but sings it exceptionally, with excellent pronunciation and an extraordinary understanding of line and phrase. She happens to live in Italy. Does anyone know how much time AN spends in Vienna?
Horrifying. Who pays for this?
A singer whose voice “as is” now is nowhere near what is required for performing on reputable stages keeps being invited to sing. I guess, if people attend and pay money for such performances, they deserve what they get. The ebb lowers all boats. The sad thing is that such performances devalue everything presented in [formerly reputable] theaters.
That video may be the craziest thing I have watched this year. Does she have no one in her orbit who loves her and can pull her aside and say honey, no? She has been giving terrible performances for a long time now but this is just delusional.
Unfortunately, she’s getting hired now because she’s a spectacle, not a singer. She sells tickets because she shows up in d list tabloids and gossip Insta pages, and has terrible political views that have gotten her banned from most of the important theaters. She’s like Callas’ final days minus the voice and artistry.
One of the best recordings of Ariadne’s monologue is that made by the soprano who created the role in both versions of the Strauss opera: Maria Jeritza.
Not sure why she posted that video when she’s clearly still learning the role.
Anna Netrebko frequently posts videos of rehearsing at home. She started working on Ariadne weeks ago.