High Notes

Now it is time to begin wrenching this blog back in the direction of opera and alienating perhaps all but two of my readers. But… erk… no pain, no gain! People!

Right!



This will be quick and dirty (but there have been and will be pictures!).

In another locale [in the comments of Marginalia—Chalk’s haunt], talk turned to a soprano who will only become more controversial as time goes on I imagine, Anna Netrebko (or Trebs, as the cognoscenti are fond of saying, or as I am fond of imagining they are fond of saying). Anyway, I have seen it mentioned that La Trebs’ high E-flat at the end of I Puritani was less than what people were hoping for. Now I always thought I Puritani ended in D. My score certainly suggests so (and you can see that I have written in the high D--also, enlarge the photo and luxuriate in the hard cool glamour of two sharps! This is ain't no cuddly warm E flat major finish, no-siree-bob.):



Now, we have a couple of options here. But let me say upfront that I think people are mistaken who think that there was a high E-flat sailing (precariously) through the hall. One option is that the edition I have is but one version; that another version has the finale up one-half step. That is possible. But it seems unlikely to me that Trebs would have wanted an E-Flat instead of a D for her last note. A D (a whole step above high C, amici mei!) would have been plenty of teh sexy—why stray into Callas Mexico City Aida 1952 (and Millo Verona [see an earlier post]) territory unnecessarily? I picture La Trebs giving a smoldering-sexy-bad-girl-diva “nyet” to that option:


“I not sing that E flat, maestro,
we do the D. Da, yes, the D.”

Another option is that La Trebs meant to sing a D but went way sharp and served up an E-Flat (which our friends with perfect pitch picked up)—but it seems that the truly intolerable and inevitable dissonance would have provoked comment from these same quarters. No, my money is that it was a D and that the end of the opera was in D and that the E flat stuff is a misconception that keeps getting quoted. These things happen. In my line of work, that most assuredly does happen. It is human nature—one cannot check all things all the time. Public service function concluded!

PS Bonus Netrebko shot! On the stairs at the MET! She didn't even change from her costume in the last act of Puritani!! She will get a definite "Da" from gents who are so inclined. DA! Teh sexxy. DA!!