Perle Nere - Operatic disasters - Part 2 

At last, someone who agrees with me about Netrebko.

Madam Callas..every time you SANG you gave us a piece of your heart..thankz

Much of this is right on target, I agree. But the Nicolai Gedda crack is SO rare. He spent 50 years at the top of his form. That clip is unfair. The rest of the trash deserve your scrutiny.

When I hear these recordings of Villazon, it breaks my heart...

As an aspiring opera singer. it does make you feel better to hear the great ones crack... Everytime a great one's voice cracks, an angel gets its wings!

You are SO right about Netrebko. The Queen of Opera's Decline.

I agree about Netrebko - she could have a whole video of her own with her disasters! One of the most horrific things I have ever heard is her attempt to sing "Casta Diva" in concert, an aria for which she doesn't ahve the correct technique and which it would appear she hadn't even bothered to learn either!

Holy crap I cannot agree more about Netrebko!!!!!!

I guess you've already known this, but Callas was actually sick at that point, and the Rome Opera House refused to prepare a cover soprano. Between giving a bad performance and just leaving with dignity, she made the right choice.

Netrebko the most overrated in last 50 years!! my God. SO TRUE!!

Callas was wise enough to know when she couldn't perform. She was ill that night and was persuaded to sing the first act against her better judgement. After she left the theater the opera couldn't continue because the management hadn't provided an understudy to sing her role. Which was very poor planning on their part.

You say that no meanness was intended - lol - but some of the editorial comments WERE... Still - a fun video to watch. I have compassion for singers - their instrument is their BODY - and some days they just might not be well...though I agree that today's singers are probably pushing themselves right into vocal problems if they're not careful. I think the past generations were more carefully trained.

...poor Villazon. He had such a beautiful voice.

Haha "Callas has left the building" Fucking callas.....my hero

Some information missing here about the Callas' incident: Before that performance Callas told the Opera House management that she need to be replaced because she was sick, but they insisted that she had to perform saying "No one can Double Callas". When singing the first act, she felt that she was hurting her voice and that she couldn't complete the Opera, so she decided to go. And I totally understand her decision! Sadly the press blamed her, But she won the Lawsuit against the Opera House.

The Netrebko failure is the worst just due to ego. Why not sing the written Bb? There is nothing wrong with singing the score as written.

Netrebko is good for people who prefer to watch instead of listening. That's why she is here. I have her in a lot of disasters, including Rigoletto (Munich). She was simply terrible.

I've been sanctimonious about reveling in operatic disasters, but this stuff is both hilarious and heart-wrenching...haven't laughed this hard in a while

This is a fascinating testament to the treachery of trying to sing when one is not probably prepared or in best form. I remember MY first performance when I was 11 years old. My voice cracked in front of half the school and all my teachers. They laughed - but I went on and finished the song. There was applause because I managed to regain my composure & finish the song. But - it was humiliating, humbling and it shaped and influenced the development of my shyness a long time. I got over it.

The shouted comments during the opera are just like RU-vid comments live.

I love how, after Karan Armstrong's imitation of an ambulance siren as Salome, at 4:42 when Herodes sings 'Sie ist ein Ungeheuer, deine Tochter! Ich sage dir, sie ist ein Ungeheuer!' (She is a monster, thy daughter! I say to thee, she is a monster!), some audience members applaud his sentiments! 😂😂😂

Sehr unterhaltsam! Ich habe schon sehr lange nicht mehr so gelacht!! 🤣🤣🤣 danke dafür! Die Oper, ein Zoo voller Leidenschaften! 🤣🤣

I like this "perle nere" series very much!!!! They're most educational, even for opera listeners. Thus said, let's put to work. First: it's very different a bad night (Gedda), than a bad technique or preparation (most others here). Second: a professional singer MUST KNOW if a role suits his/her voice or not; THAT is a natural consequence of vocal technique an repertory studies. Third: audiences express themselves as they please, comes with the job; otherwise, go back home and sing for your friends (they always cheer you up). Addendum: I fail to guess which role is suitable for Netrebko, not involving boobs display; dramatic roles such as Turandot? Has anyone hear THAT THING?????

I was at the Villazone performance it was horrifying... HOWEVER people overlooked the miked Dessay ... why???

There's singers like Callas that know what is good or bad for the voice and then there's Netrebko....

"Sie ist ein Ungeheuer, deine Tochter..." ("She's a monster, your daughter...") and the audience applauds in agreement....

omg, Villazon is such a sad case indeed

i think my favourite is when Sutherland was singing Traviata in Genoa and the tenor was booed several times during the performance: as a protest Sutherland left the stage and Bonynge left the podium...the opera finished with the same tenor and another conductor and a new soprano....I know I was there!

Ok, some of these may be "disasters" as you call, BUT we MUST NOT forget that all of these singers of the video, has given to as moments of pure musical magic and we must have a respect..We must not forget that we are humans and singing opera is a very difficult and stressor profession..It is some how like running at the Olympic Games..I' am writing all this because many of the singers from your video have sang very beautifully subsequently to the mentioned dates of the video..Surely a singer must know when it is time to leave the stage, BUT, they are humans like us not gods!

Great post Poli!!! I really enjoyed it!! I heard Sutherland hit emergency ambulance notes in Trovatore with Luciano and got ovation, go figure!! The Carreras broke my heart, I saw him at Met in Forza he was incredibly beautiful with soaring notes.

Gone are the giants like Callas, Sutherland, Nilsson, Bjorling, and Corelli. The giants are gone. Today we only have pygmies.

Good. Listen to the mistakes the famous ones make and avoid them. Good luck.

I'm Italian, and to me it sounds like he saying "c'è una pausa del maestro, qui. Puccini!" = Here it follows a pause by maestro Puccini.... So the tenor is claiming a rest that was not done, because nobody was applauding and orchestra went on.. but people is commenting something like "what? He wanted the pause to get applauded... show off!!!" And I believe the tenor really meant to get that applause in that rest time.

A very funny and truly opera-loving series. Spot on about... and ... (no names).

Totally agree with u! Anna is so overrated. Probs because of her looks

Just a little unfair. Calvin Marsh would have been the top baritone on any stage except he sang at the Met with Warren and Merrill. He would never have sung Tonio at the Met. He would have done Silvio. In any case he got bitten by the religion bug and quit to sing Gospel stuff. Gedda was fairly famous as the Duke - I had his LP album. of Rigoletto. But his voice was kind of 'high strung' It got away from him occasionally. Villazon is a mystery to me. What the hell happened? Oddly enough when he wrecked his voice and couldn't sing the standard repertory anymore he sang Mozart better than you would have thought possible. Better than Domingo or Pavarotti for example. Bonisolli criticism is also a bit unfair. He did act oddly at times but we never knew that he was singing with a brain tumor.

This is really a divide between great singers who had a genuine off night ( Pav, Gedda, Bergonzi) and those singers whose problems are caused by impaired techniques ( Alagna, Villazon, Netrebko)..

Loved the “oh-hoho” after Bonisolli made that incredibly ridiculous comment

As a lifelong Nicolai Gedda fan, my ears couldn't believe what they heard.

I just can't with the heckling. It's one thing to BOO at the END of a performance but to shout out during the middle of someone singing is just BEYOND disrespectful and downright rude. It also defies logic. The stress and nerves of performing to a crowd that is shouting out hateful comments will not ease or relax the vocalist but do the complete opposite, thus making vocal mishaps more likely and frequent.

Haha, I love all this stuff. Yes, indeed, half of Netrebko's career is based on her looks. European audiences also seem to be a lot more critical than audiences in North America.

Maybe Netrebko could have found another way to end this opera? I do not think that she is a soprano with the natural range to sing this material. They need to have teachers who will help them select material that is appropriate for them to sing. She is a very sad case. She tries to sing everything like a Callas. Even Callas was unable to keep her voice 100% of the time for 15 to 20 years. 200 years ago, most singers only lasted for 15 years or less.

I have a more extended excerpt of Netrebko's Lucia at the Met (circulating at the time). That was really bad. Well... Fortunately she has made some improvements recently, at least according to some excerpts I listened to. The American audience usually is quite polite (maybe too polite, according to George Szell) and will not boo, but I do enjoy the "interactions" heard in this clip. Wish we have a clip of the premiere of Le Sacre in Paris back in 1913.

Villanzon picked up all the bad habits that Domingo has, it's obvious he coached him.

Joan Sutherland was a stateswoman. Plus she had Australian common sense and decency. Even Luciano was in awe of her.

OMG, Villazon's stunned silence was hilarious!

Oh yes that Bonisolli must have been fun and he was the first tenor I heard, as I saw on TV this 60's movie of La Traviata which Bonisolli with Anna Moffo (much better than Netrebko!). As for Domingo, no apology needed. He is a great tenor but more for the overall musicality and versatility and not for pure beauty of voice and singing ability. Of all great tenors in world history, he had the least impressive high register, though in zarzuela music, his high A's and B's could be good. Thanks!

Oh my goodness! Villazon's cough at 2:05!! That poor man. But way to soldier on! So glad his voice seems to be healed up. He sounds wonderful in Mozart these days. Glad he's back!

las personas que gritan que se callen o que es mierda (POR FAVOR!) deberían de subirse a un escenario para cantar ante tanta multitud, expectativa y estrés. Qué cobarde el estar sentado rodeado de gente y gritar cómodamente tanta porquería y mediocridad, (sabe que enfrente nadie se enteraría de quién se trata). Los cantantes no son máquinas, deben de entender que a veces tienen días malos, a veces hay malas rachas. Y pese a quien le pese, el hecho de estar pisando un escenario así, es un privilegio y por algo se está allí ..

No, you are wrong. There is only one C (not "Cs" as you write): on ar-DEN-te. Not on "ar-DEN-TE-D'A-MOR" (Bonisolli version). Quite a difference.

3.08-3.40. After that I need two hours of Dame Sutherland to purify my ears.

@VivaRenata I thank you kindly for adding to my small knowledge of opera history, something which I am aiming to expand, for I am a studying bass singer and have come to really enjoy opera. I have known Callas was an opera great, have heard that she has also been criticized with having a wobble in her voice at the top of her range, but did not know of this incident where she walked off the stage. Quite intriguing I must say. I imagine she only gained more respect by doing so.

Callas does made a scandal, but she leave a GREAT legacy ~ She actually made good decision. BTW, Netrebko, why, why she is still on stage -,- Make no sense ~ And you know how bad taste people are nowadays

Thank you for the prompt answer. Do you know which performance it was? I just thought that she was barracked by the audience and therefore left.

Though it's always fun to see/hear operatic train wrecks, these things are normal in live performances, and happened to all singers. The danger of something wrong happening is one of the exciting things about live performance, but the most exciting is the wonderful music by the great masters they perform onstage. A fantastic operatic performance is never perfect-as perfection isn't an option. Cracks and mistakes happen regardless of good or bad technique (or what an untrained opera aficionado may think is technique).

i agree when you say netrebko is probably the most overrated singer of the last 50 years

Watching Franco Bonisolli live was like Russian roulette… either he nails it out of the park and wows everyone with his high notes or he doesn’t have them that evening and you can expect an awkward evening of tenor ego and drama! lol. When he was on point, he is my second favourite tenor of all time, but he does have a HUGE “fail” highlight real” lol. Too bad the nickname “il pazzo” stuck with him because of this. The man had the voice of a god when he was locked it.

I've not followed Villazon's career but have often heard operaphiles express disappointment and even disgust that he avoids climatic high notes and transposes the original keys downward by as much as a third. Such comments are posted frequently on You Tube. People like his voice but not his singing.

Thank you very much!

Wow this is really something! lol. It would have been something to hear the infamous performance of Leontyne Price's terrible Minnie in La fanciulla del West performance, where she had to yell her part out because her voice had gone out lol

As a vocalist I find this comforting to know that the great singers are still human like me. However I find it shocking that the audience is yelling at them, and frankly as a singer that would make me feel even more horrible. Can't we all just support each other? Yes, mistakes are made, now move on

Thank you, kiepura1902. I subscribe to every word! "Poiche noi siam uomini di carne e d'ossa"

AN is the Britney Spears of opera. She is thick as a brick, and her singing is abysmal. She is a success made by clever and aggressive marketing.

I have to disagree that the Duke is not for Gedda. This was a very late recording. He was quite good in his earlier years. This recording is after 1980 where he had been singing for over 30 years!

Gedda's La Donna e Mobile is just hilarious... I don't even think to boo.

wht was wrong with karan armstrong's performance cuz i couldnt hear wht the problem was, can anyone tell me?

what's the aria at 1:34?

Bravo!!!

Wish to be witness of Maria Callas leaving "Rome Opera House after act two of Norma in 1958" :) this would be much much more memorable and thrilling experience for me than what I am witnessing now in opera house :) Unfortunately nobody from the cast is leaving, I do, quite often.

What is the source/performance of the Gedda failure in Rigoletto?

Actually, Netrebko had the same problem at the aria "addio" in the famous Salzburg Traviata DVD

I have to say, if I were in a theater where Maria Callas were performing and she left half way through, I would not be a happy camper either.

1:39 what’s the name of that aria ?

Anything can go wrong during a live opera performance.

And that's definitely not an alternative. What happens when you go to a restaurant and they serve you rotten food? Do you eat it politely, compliment the chef and give lots of tip? I guess not.

Con todo y el fallo, Bonisolli fue el mejor Manrico de todos, este si sonaba a hombre... 💯 Su Do es el más grande y varonil de todos.

It's an Eb not and E and she is under pitch. for sure

I'm histerically laughing at Alagna's Traviata xD!!!!!

@AfroPoli does anyone have that video?

Pienso que seria bueno discutir con un equipo multidisciplinario foniatras otorrinos maestros de canto....que paso en cada uno de esos momentos vocales desde el punto de vista técnico.....y sacar provecho de cada uno de esas situaciones en cuanto a tecnica del canto

Never feel happy about other people's failures. One day the same thing might happen to you.

Thank you! Great idea and very interesting. Only one thing: Bonisolli in Hamburg was not complete, you cut it so that the end is missing. I was there and recorded it too.

Maria Callas , larger than life! What a pazzo, that Bonisolli. Do you also have one presentation of Il Trovatore in Barcelona, where after he cracks on the (interpolated) high C's of "All'armi!" in "Di Quella Pira" at the end of the Act, and the audience is not giving him a big ovation during the curtain calls, he suddenly for no reason sings a high C just to show he can do it ?!?!?! Gigione!

We remember Reggie Jackson (Mr. October) for his many clutch home runs not for his strike outs even though he set and still holds the strike out record. I've heard Pavarotti crack live, and Domingo, and Merritt, and McCracken. Perform enough and sing high enough and some SOB will collect your cracks. I first heard the Gedda crack recording twenty years ago. Netrebko reminds me of Moffo - who also missed a lot of high notes. Most of these missed high notes are not in the score.

Villazon, to me, had one of the most beautiful tenor voices I have ever heard. As well, he was so genuinely passionate. Thank God we had him, if even for such a brief time.

Does anyone know if Nicola Gedda had laryngitis? It just seems odd to me that a lyric tenor would struggle with this role.

It should be mentioned that Callas walkoff was not because of a performing or voice problem. As far as I remeber she was very sick. The press made a huge story out of that but her only fault was that she did not read the apology note to the audience which Meneghini wrote for her .

Dear Afro poli: have the whole performance of salome with karan armstrong? I have another evening from this same production (1982), but in this performance nobody booed her. I want this yours where she's booed because i love perle nere jajaj Regards. Gus.

THANK YOU!!!! It is about time that someone told the TRUTH about Anna Netrebko!!!!! You were so right!!

@Drelnis I really dont think so, cause in 2009 they broke up already, and Villazon got depression from that, how will they sing together again ???

Artists, they are human too, having bad days or bad health conditions. On the other side, I don't think haters are human...

Rolando Villazon was just beginning with the failure of his voice due to a genital polyp which had been there before he was born. It had nothing to do with his technique.....Just pure, damnable, inescapable, bad luck. My heart goes out to him.

Bonsolli turns a black pearl into a pure white one!

2:08 Doctor, we're losing him!

I don't understand what happened with Callas, she left the opera house, but why? Sorry, I don't get it, please help me out.

Thanks. Actually, the "pazzo, pazzo" you hear is Bonisolli speaking in German. He says: "trocken, trocken, Waser, Wasser!" (dry, dry, water, water) while some people are booing.

Even a Covent Garden audience vociferously booed Bonisolli. That’s very rare.

Couldn't agree more with your assessment of Netrebko. She's filling in nicely for the troubled shoes of other overrated marquis singer, Dessay. As for the Met audience, it's a pop audience now. No one need say more.

7:42 What on Earth had caused her to leave?

I don't think Marsh singing Si Puo was that bad actually, the Ab needed more power but the tone and voice are great. Gedda and Villazon however were painful, and Netrebko's E flats were at least a semitone flat. The Aida clip is hilarious.