It is unclear to me whether this is embarrassing or not

Written by earwormopera

I had a dream last night that there was a hitherto unknown director’s cut of the 2003 Salzburg La Clemenza di Tito that had like extra camera angles and stuff, so you could see what was happening on stage from additional directions.

23 thoughts on “It is unclear to me whether this is embarrassing or not”

  2. Not! I have watched this production a few times now (ahem actually quite a few times) and I still haven’t figured out, in the recitative before “Parto, parto”, where in the heck Vitellia has been hiding that dagger that she whips out. Extra camera angles would be just so handy for solving important visual mysteries such as this. 🙂

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    1. Vitellia probably has daggers hidden in all kinds of interesting places! This strikes me as an excellent reason to watch/listen to “parto, parto” again sometime today . . .

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      1. Especially metaphorical daggers! It’s not for nothing that Sesto says “so many ways to hurt me”, poor chap.

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            1. Crikey – I hope my accidental -:) hasn’t depicted anything untoward. Mind you, if you turn your head to the left, it looks a bit like a bald dude without a mouth. In any case, I meant 🙂 of course.

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      1. Tito was my first exposure to everyone in it, except Barbara Bonney and N. Harnoncourt. Luca’s Publio spoiled me for every other production, as he managed to make the character much more than a mean-looking guy who stands around barking orders. Actually, Michael Schade’s Tito makes all the other Titos around look boringly sane and a bit milquetoast. DR has some competition for the most insane/angry/scheming Vitellia, but I am not sure I’ve heard anyone sing it more excitingly (or change clothes more often).

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        1. Robert Gleadow was a superb Publio in Alden’s production. Not just not the John Cleese centurion character but the only one who saw through a particularly self absorbed Tito (Schade again). For right out there nutso Vitellia, Ambur Braid is a must see.

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          1. Schade is definitely my favorite Tito – all the ones I’ve heard since come off as more than a little bland in comparison.

            Ambur Braid was in the Alden production too, is that right?

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        2. One of the things I admire most about DR’s performance as Vitellia – and there is so much to admire, right? – is that the character is not emotionally one-dimensional. For me, that slippage from self-righteous manipulation of people and circumstance to fear of being caught out to horrified self-awareness is just compelling to watch.

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      2. For me it was that lovely Glyndeborne production (on DVD) of Cosi fan tutte with Miah Persson and Ivan Fischer conducting.

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            1. That CFT from Glyndebourne got me in to this Opera DVD watching thing (other than Wagner, that is): they showed it on telly here, and the I had to get the DVD. That let to watching other DVD’s with Persson, like the ROH Figaro…

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              1. I can’t remember what got me into opera DVD watching – I know when it happened, but I can’t remember which was the first one! Bizarre.

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