Plus Ca Change

"Italy's cultural system is on the brink of collapse. Opera in Italy is a museum with dusty exhibits. But it used to be the country with the greatest composers, artists and singers! I hardly perform there anymore."--Cecilia Bartoli, in an interview with the German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, Sept. 14, 2007.

"Italy, my dear friend, is more enchanting from a distance than close at hand. The theaters have lost much of their former splendor. The art of music, the art of song, no longer flourish as they once did, and the future does not look promising for Italian singers. The works of the masters are utterly exhausted, and one sees no young talent emerging to replace them."--Adolphe Nourrit, in a letter to the bass Gustave Euzet, January, 1839 (quoted in The Great Tenor Tragedy by Henry Pleasants).

In Today's Feuilletons - signandsight

The High Note

Daniel Wakin, the Times's classical-music reporter, has a perceptive piece on singing high Cs, with some interesting comments from Florez. Wakin also touches on Duprez and Nourrit. The whole question of what Duprez's high C de poitrine was like is one of those mysteries that even the estimable Stefan Zucker may never be able to answer. People who are as fascinated by tenors--and by the remarkable Nourrit--as I am will enjoy Henry Pleasants's superb book, The Great Tenor Tragedy, which recounts Nourrit's disastrous last days, primarily in his own words.

Luciano Pavarotti - King of the High C’s - Opera - Music - New York Times