Sad news: Renata Scotto has died at 89
RIPItalian newspaper sites are carrying sad news of the death last night of one of the last acknowledged opera divas.
Renata Scotto reigned supreme at the Met through the James Levine era. She was untouchable as Manon Lescaut and imposing in much else.
After making her debut in Savona at 18 in 1952 as Violetta in La traviata, she reached La Scala before the year was out and never looked back. The Metropolitan Opera made her wait until 1965 to make her debut, as Madama Butterfly.
From the late 1990s, she developed a second career as a director. Furiously intelligent, she tolerated no fools.
She enjoyed a long devoted marriage to Lorenzo Anselmi, a former violinist at La Scala who became her manager. ‘Tonight an extraordinary and wonderful woman left us,’ writes the head of Savona municipality.
UPDATES: Tributes pour in for Scotto
One couldn’t have planned such a coincidence: The deaths, about 24 hours apart, of Opera News and the other Renata.
I wished we had anyone Italian like her nowadays who would come close to her – none around and how much we miss Mirella, Katja and Renata especially – Her Puccini unsurpassed and generally in the Verismo repertoire…
RIP
She was my La Divina!
https://basiaconfuoco.com/2022/05/22/renata-scotto-a-brief-overview-of-her-many-roles/
Awful news. RiP
Another legend leaves us. RIP
Will we ever experience such artistry again? She was the last of the Mohicans.
Crushing news of the death of an artist who possessed the hallmark of great performance: individuality. Like several of her generation (how lucky we were!), one could recognize Scotto’s voice immediately. The generosity of her expression and the intelligence of her portrayals were rare gifts. To see her on stage was often a magical experience.
The way she conveyed the vision of Suor Angelica’s child, the moment of Norma’s confession of guilt turning “Son Io” into something truly riveting, the pathos of her Manon, Violetta, and on and on. Scotto was a sublime creature of the stage whatever critics thought of the voice. In that regard she was a direct descendant of Olivera and Callas.
We are fortunate that Scotto left behind a rich recorded legacy and I plan to honor her memory by listening to her over the next several days and years to come.
Requiescat in pace.
At the age of just barely 30, the Met under Bing hardly “made her wait.” She was also much more famous as Butterfly than Manon Lescaut.
A great loss of a great artist, who meant a lot to generations of opera lovers.
But your distaste for the Met drives you to pointless statements like, “The Metropolitan Opera made her wait until 1965 to make her debut, as Madama Butterfly.” Making one’s Met debut at age 31 is hardly extraordinarily late. Among singers with similar debut vehicles, Licia Albanese was 30 at her Met bow; Mirella Freni also 31; Adriana Maliponte 32; Mafada Favero and Dorothy Kirsten 35; and Ileana Cotrubas 37.
You can be a very successful singer and a very well known singer without ever making any appearance at the Met!
http://www.bruceduffie.com/scotto.html
A very nice interview sent over by Bruce Duffie, former WNIB presenter, with Renata Scotto. Worth reading.
Since I can remember being a child and listening to my pianist Mother {for Arnold Schoenberg’s UCLA Most Advanced Classes in Theory; Form & Analysis, plus Orchestra Structure & Composition, plus favored Pianist of Russian Great Violinist, Toscha Seidel, in our LA home}, I loved to listen to Renata Scotto, and a child, fascinated by the Kind Opera Diva’s loving and exquisite voice in her most fabled role’s … Opera in the United States was synonymous with Renata Scotto … This Sad News hits one’s heart deeply and tears are falling when realizing Ms. Scotto shall never be seen, Live, again … My Deepest Condolences to her Family and to her Global Opera Admirers and Fans ~ Twenty First Century Opera Aspirant’s will do well to try emulating the Grace and Humility of the Great Renata Scotto . . . R I P Opera Angel ~ As from, elisabeth matesky, American born Violinist/ Orig pupil of Heifetz 7 & later 1st private artist pupil of Nathan Milstein, London. 18th August 2 0 2 3 . . .
Unwavering intensity in ”Manon Lescaut”. ”No! non voglio morir!”