Winners (Me!) and Spoilfaces (Others!)

THANKS to everyone who voted for my drink in the Elixir of Love contest… I WON!!! I sent facebook messages to groups of people, asking them to vote – opera people, moms groups, 30 Seconds to Mars fans, Adam Ant fans, college and high school friends. I also posted on some people’s walls and put the link as my facebook status every day, reminding people they could vote once a day. I tweeted it up the wazoo (I believe that’s an official term to mean, a lot) and asked people to RT. I tweeted people directly asking them to vote. People asked their friends to vote. And lo and behold…I got 527 votes! The guy in 2nd place got 334:

 

 

Then the Met sent me a letter saying that my drink “won the hearts of their fans…” Well. Not exactly. But I’ll take the win! The contest said to get everyone to vote. That’s what I did.

 

The prize is, two tickets to L’Elisir D’amore and a special gift from the Met Opera. The tickets and the special gift will be waiting for me at the box office on the day of the performance. I will, of course, report back afterwards. The performance is in February so you’ll all just have to be patient.

 

And then while I was busy basking in my win, I ALSO won the Met’s weekly drawing for $25 weekend tickets. So I got to see the Saturday matinee of Il Trovatore from Orchestra Row R. I had a friend meet me, but unfortunately she got there late and had to watch the first act with about 35 other latecomers on a tv screen until intermission.

 

The opera was interesting. The plot was ridiculous, of course… a sort of loosely woven story of revenge, betrayal, misunderstandings and death. But the music was wonderful and the singing WOW as usual. I loved the soprano. She had such a sweet voice. She made it all sound effortless. At times the orchestra was louder than the singers, which was not ideal, but that was only at a couple of points. This is the opera that has the famous “Anvil Chorus.”

 

Afterwards, I got “involved” in a conversation on facebook with someone who has a Bad Attitude. He actually gave me permission to quote the conversation here, although I will leave his name off. Not that it matters. You wouldn’t have heard of him, he hasn’t sung anywhere. But for the sake of anonymity, let's call him, Mr. Snooty Spoilface

 

It all started when a friend "checked in" at the Metropolitan Opera:

 

Mr. Snooty Spoilface I wonder who the soprano is.... I saw the final dress... the MET was TRYING IT.

My Friend:  They are trying it now...it's a mess

Mr. Snooty Spoilface Hahahahaha the only two great singers are Dolora and Morris.

Mr. Snooty Spoilface Who is the soprano?

My Friend: It's true those two are the best. I don't remember some Asian woman. I'll look at the program on intermission.

Mr. Snooty Spoilface Wow. The same one I saw in the final dress on Wednesday. She sings out of tune and I doubt she'll make it thru Act 3.

My Friend:  It is guanqun yu

Mr. Snooty Spoilface That's her. Should be singing Susanna from nozze, not Leonora.
 

My Friend:  It was a mess. Dolora and Morris were great...it seemed like they muted the orchestra. How do you even do that?!
 

ME!! : Did we see the same opera? Carmen Giannittasio was Lenora. She was amazing. The sets were a big clunky sounding as they moved around but I thought all the singers were great.

ME!! : Also the orchestra was pretty loud down in the orchestra. LOL. Row R. They drowned out the singers at some points. Where were you sitting? If you were under an overhang that could explain the muted sound.

My Friend:  I stood in the back and sat in a few different spots out from under the overhang. The orchestra was muted and you (me I'm guessing everyone) still couldn't hear the singers. I went to the matinee sat afternoon and there was an insert saying that Carmen Giannittasio was sick and that Guanqun Yu was taking her place and making her met debut. The production was kind of awful...with Morris Robinson and Dolora Zajick, and to be fair a few others, as vibrant spots in the mediocrity.

ME!! : Oh! There was no insert in my or my friend's program. I wasn't thrilled with the production but I did like the singers. I thought the soprano sounded lovely.

Mr. Snooty Spoilface HILARIOUS.

ME!! : Which part is hilarious? There are so many choices...

Mr. Snooty Spoilface Trust me, you don't want to know.

ME!! : Hmm. Are you making fun of me for liking the soprano? I can take it, I'm a big girl.

Mr. Snooty Spoilface Lol. There were only TWO Verdi singings in that ENTIRE cast, Zajick and Robinson. If we as singings, young and old, begin to accept mediocre singing as the norm there truly is no hope for our art form. I'm not sure if you're a singer but I challenge you to research the singers of the past who have sang that role. Both L. Price and M. Price, Millo, Milanov, just to name a few.

ME!! : I don't have formal training in music - I'm one of those people who started studying voice as an adult, for fun. So as an audience member, I'm not analyzing every note or technique, and I don't know what composer people have trained to sing or whatever. I experience the performance as it is. I understand where you're coming from, however I have no interest in knowing who sang the role before and how they sang it. I'm there seeing who IS singing it. Does that make sense?

My Friend:  Lol Susan I wouldn't make fun of you...everyone has different ears. I think she had a nice voice just not for Verdi. I am curious about what specifically you liked. And please don't feel I'm asking you to defend your opinion, simply want to hear it...I want to know exactly what you thought. Feel free to post here or message me.

Mr. Snooty Spoilface I thought I was having a conversation with an actual singer. Oh well. Continue on your journey sugar.

Mr. Snooty Spoilface I apologize, My Friend. You know how I get about singing.

ME!! : Mr Snooty, Are you implying that someone who hasn't studied formally doesn't have a valid opinion of a performance? I consider myself an actual singer. I don't get paid and I'm not on a career path but I love singing and I love performing. It's part of who I am. I don't have to have gone to music school to have that passion. Your patronizing attitude is one of the reasons opera seems so snobby to the general public.

Each singer brings his or her own self to the character. It's fine to love how a particular singer performed that role, I have my favorites in certain roles too. But I try to see what's good about a performance, and what's enjoyable... not what was wrong. I don't go in expecting a sub-par performance because the singer isn't "trained" to sing Verdi.

Friend , what I liked was how pretty her voice was. It was sweet. This was my first time seeing Trovatore and I thought the sweetness of her voice was right for the innocence of the character. I also thought the tenor was good too. Yes I've heard better tenors, with stronger voices, but he was fine in the role. And the reception they both got from the audience shows that I wasn't the only one who thought so. She had one show-stopping aria and also a standing ovation at the end. Are we to dismiss the general public's "opinion" as because they're (we're) not "smart" enough to know what's good, so we accept mediocrity?

If you guys don't mind, I'm thinking of using this conversation as the topic of a blog post.. I won't name either of you of course. But that "actual singer" comment is priceless!

Mr. Snooty Spoilface By all means use want you want. But please become a learned singer so you and actually appreciate what you're hearing. When you and a baritone, soprano and tenor who have no business singing Verdi, yes that bothers me. And what bothers me more is when you have a singer who claims they loves and are learning how to sing in an art form yet doesn't want to do the research of what type of voices should be singing the certain rep. I find that ridiculous. I'm very opinionated when it comes to singing and I know tons of patrons who have never sung a note yet know rep and who should be sing it. Don't be a dummy. Please do some research. Trust me, I will help you with your very own development.
Best in your singing!!

ME!! : Thank you for your well wishes. And no no no. There is more than one way to appreciate and learn music. Your way is not the only way. You don't know anything about me to say what I want or don't want to do. I started studying at the age of 40. I see it as an achievement to finally do something I've always wanted to do. I have a job and am the parent of a special needs child. I squeeze in 30 minutes of voice lesson a week unless parenting interferes. I am in it for me, to learn what I can do with my voice, not to criticize the casting director at my local opera company for putting the wrong type of singer in a role. I do agree that you appreciate more the more you know. I appreciate opera singing more than I did before I began studying voice now that I know a fraction of what goes into it. I love learning to sing, I love singing, I love going to the opera when I can afford the time and money. But let's switch lives for a few days, and then you tell me when you have time and energy to do anything else for yourself other than the weekly 30 minute lesson. I do most of my practicing in the car because it's the only set chunk of time I have alone.
One piece of advice I have for you is to be nice to everyone you meet, from the friend-of-a-friend mom who studies voice for herself, the person measuring you for your costume, the super who volunteers to be a soldier or townsperson or the person in the box office selling tickets. You never know who is in the position to do the hiring, or who they know. And you never know who is in the position to buy a ticket to see you, or decide NOT to buy a ticket, based on how you treat others. No matter how talented you are, if you are as rude to other people as you have been to me, you will encounter a glass ceiling when the decision for a role is between you and the guy who maybe isn't as strong a singer but sure is nicer to work with.

Mr. Snooty Spoilface Sigh.

_______

Yes, Mr. Snooty had to get the last word in. I let him, because it was obvious that he was not getting off the top of his cultural ladder. I suppose another option would have been to attack him. But I figured I went beyond the necessary by defending myself, and he wasn't worth my time to attack. I'm not proud that I played the "I'm the busy parent of a special needs kid" card. But... he called me Sugar!

 

I do believe that it's attitudes like his that keep opera inaccessible, by implying that you need to have all this background knowledge to "properly" enjoy an opera. What a load of garbage. You either like something or you don't. If you have some background knowledge, great, you'll understand it more. But it's not a requirement. And there was no mediocre singing that day. The Met doesn't hire mediocre singers. I realize that all the Snooty Spoilfaces out there will say I'm naive for saying that. And I don't really care. I go in to a production ready to be amazed, not prepared to criticize.

I think what really made me reply at all was that he called me Sugar. So patronizing. Part of me wanted to smack him so hard upside the head that he'd fly ass-over-teakettle against the wall. And truthfully, I wrote that only for the opportunity to write "ass-over-teakettle."