For the opera queens, this was in the news this morning:
Placido Domingo is making the jump from tenor to baritone. Domingo will sing the title role in Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra" for the first time at Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden in 2009. . . .
I should have seen this coming, ever since he sang Tristan. Obviously he's been developing his baritone range -- you can't do Heldentenor roles without a strong baritone support. (His Tristan, by the way, is wonderful.)
4 comments:
Oh my god. Domingo as Simon. This is making my heart go pitapat. Brethren, let us pray that he records it. And then I will go down on my knees . . .
And then I will go down on my knees . .
You don't really want me to comment on this, do you?
My first Simon, in the mid-1950's, was one of the old-style ponderous basses, who sang the entire role in such lugubrious fashion that it took me twenty years to learn to appreciate the opera. Domingo's dramatic intelligence, I hope, would bring the character to life even if his voice turns out to be less than ideal. I won't deny, also, that I think he's one sexy guy, and the idea of his playing a pirate-turned-Doge simply thrills me.
Domingo has the strength and the clarity to pull it off beautifully. I'm not a Verdi fan, by any means, so I won't be holding my breath for a recording, but his Tristan is on my "must have" list. Superb.
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