Colin Barrett: Blog

Very little about Asmedogh in this chapter. Well, that's not really why they're there, though. Nick has a life to live, and his first leading role with a major opera company on top of it.
Name changes aren't all that unusual for performers. You'll be familiar with many of the Hollywood stories. But it happens in opera, too, The late Jane Angelovich, born in New England, became Gianna d'Angelo after she moved to Italy and became a leading soprano there. There are many others. Of late it's less common; actors, singers, etc., more usually stick to their baptised names and let the audiences lump it, but there are still some who prefer to re-christen themselves for the stage.

Superficially, Germont's aria "Di Provenza" from La Traviata seems like it's opera singing for dummies; its metronomic rhythm and straightforward notation moving carefully along the scale make it one of the seemingly easiest pieces in the baritone repertoire, and a favorite of young singers. And if you just want to hit the notes, that about describes it. But in fact it's far from easy to sing correctly. It requires a silky legato-smoothness of vocal tone, which even some seasoned veterans lack-with plenty of vocal strength left over for the crescendi (peaks). It's easy to understand how a fledgling singer, as Nick was when he first learned it, could try to "fix" his inability to command its subtleties by interpolating the artifices of syncopation and rhythmic variation to distort the composer's intent. (Although I admit that it's a lot less easy to understand how his teacher or conductor would sit still for it.)
Remember, Nick's new to singing operatic leads. In the back of his mind he's still a comprimario; so he's learning as he goes along. Fortunately, in my conceit he's a quick study. He needs to be, with two of the finest, and most difficult, roles in the repertoire in the offing.

Nothing much to add to today's offering, other than to remind you again that this and my other novels are all available on Amazon, for Kindle (or its PC/Mac emulator, which Amazon will let you download for free). They're priced at just $3 a pop; I'm looking for readers, not riches. Thanks to all who've voted, and especially who've sent me e-mails.

Well, we finally get to such sex as there is in Castaway. Oh, odd bits more, but I warned you at the start, it's pretty minimal. Sorry, to me sex is strictly a participatory sport; if you're not participating, it isn't something to either watch or read about.
The business about horses on opera stages: I've seen horses used that way. Unfortunately, they lack any sense of the moment, and any decorum. Once I actually did see a horse decide that the moment to relieve itself had come. My recollection is that it was during an otherwise fine performance of Carmen, but the horse happened to be front and center at the moment. Animals simply don't belong on human stages; they should be relegated to animal shows, at which one can simply overlook their casual toilet propensities.
I have some other tales of bad stage direction of operas, but the wildest I'll save for later on in the novel where I use it as part of my story.
There are more than a few tenors-that voice seems to have a penchant for this kind of thing-whose predilection is as I describe Mario's. They so cater to the sound of their own voices that they pay little heed to the composer's intentions. One experience I particularly recall is when the legendary Maria Callas made a farewell tour in the very early 1970s (it may have been the late '60s). Her voice by that time had deteriorated to not much more than a rag but her musicianship was still spectacular. She was joined in her concerts by tenor Giuseppe di Stefano, her long-time collaborator in her younger days who later became her lover. He had an extraordinarily lovely voice in his prime, some of the quality of which still remained at the time of the concert I saw. During his solos he gave it full rein, holding notes longer than the score allowed, sliding from note to note, all the things they do to make sure you know it's the voice that's important, not the music. But when Callas and di Stefano did their duets, the music always took priority and his antics disappeared. The difference was quite remarkable. That's the sort of thing that Camilla's talking about.

Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata is one of the best-known operas in the repertoire; for those who aren't opera fans, it's the one featured in the movie Pretty Woman. And Germont is one of the better baritone roles. Unlike Puccini, Verdi paid plenty of attention to the lower voices and has some really strong roles for them in many of his operas.
So this is yet another plum for Nick as he reboots his operatic career in line with his newfound vocal strength. And with the relationship between Camilla and Asmedogh now solidified, he can focus his attention on his singing.