I don’t know how to say this, but Anna Caterina Antonacci is one of the most puzzling singers I have ever seen/heard. My first encounter was the video of Rossini’s Ermione from Glyndenbourne. The acting is impressive, but the voice itself had a glittery quality that I found irresistibly sexy.
Then she became a mezzo-soprano. In her early soprano days, one could see that her top notes were a bit glassy and that she seemed a bit on a tight rope on high-lying passages, but the sound itself was always firm and full. In any case, it made some sense her shifting into mezzo-soprano territory. Moreover, with her ease with coloratura, she could make a stunning impression in roles such as Angelina or Rosina. But that was not meant to be. If I am not mistaken, her most significant recording those days was a (very good) Marcellina for Abbado (Le Nozze di Figaro). Recently I could listen to a Youtube clip of her Rondo finale from La Cenerentola – she deals with her scales superbly, but the sound is a bit on the slim side and the overall impression was of overseriousness.
The vocally unremarkable Donna Elvira in Muti’s DVD from Vienna could be understood as the threshold to her Falcon (or something Zwischenfach like that) roles – Cassandre, Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust), parts that boosted her intense dramatic qualities, but here the voice does not feature the nobility of someone like Régine Crespin. Then we had lyric roles, such as Rachel in La Juïve or Anna in Hans Heiling, in which an absence of sweetness in the tone was a serious liability (compensated, of course, by superb acting and good looks).
Finally, I remember an interview in which she says she had been working on technique and that she was now comfortable with her top notes and ready to tackle echt soprano repertoire. Although I still miss the extra tonal sheen of her early days, the voice now has a kind of disturbing sensuousness that has nothing to do with prettiness (the more similar case that comes to my mind is also a singer who had a pendular career between soprano and mezzo: Waltraud Meier).
Her Carmen, for example, is beyond any doubt an important impersonation – there is nothing obvious about her sex-appeal; it has a spicy unloveliness that is in the core of what Carmen should be. Handel’s Agrippina was also an example of chic vocalization – one of the most fascinating performances in a Handel opera in a while. Then there was the amazing Vitellia from Geneva – again the sound itself says everything – there is this bitchiness only a gorgeous looking woman used to have everyone at her feet can produce. And also – perfectly connected registers, fluent divisions and a decent high d. I read she is thinking of Elettra (in Idomeneo) – I find that a real stretch for her, but she has made a career out of surprising, hasn’t she?
I don’t agree with you about her Rachel in La Juive (that I saw in Paris last year); the emotions in her voice were there for sure; her duet with Eudoxie (Annick Massis) was incredible and was one of the few moments that saved this overall dreadful performance.
I don’t think we disagree on that! There is no doubt about her ability to express emotions – she is always responsive in what regards expression. My point is that the role of Rachel, in my opinion, requires a more immediately sweet voice. After all, Eudoxie is the formidable character, while Rachel is supposed to be the ingénue.
Maybe the role of Rachel requires a more immediately sweet voice than Antonacci´s as you said, but it´s a very heavy role (it´s a dramatic coloratura role) and that´s almost impossible to find a singer whose voice is sweet and at the same time can fulfil all the impossible demands made by the composer.
I remember I saw June Anderson in this role quite a while ago. She had a amazing stage presence and a lovely instrument, sweet for sure, but she was inaudible in the lower end of her voice in many important times.
Yes, André, it is not a role for a light voice – you are right. But there are all kinds of lyric sopranos – Mirella Freni and Montserrat Caballé, for example, were lyric sopranos whose voices were large enough to deal with roles that require heft and also sweetness of tone. In the studio recording, Julia Varady more or less coped with those requirements and, to my opinion, Krassimira Stoyanova did a very good job in the video from Vienna. I saw none of these singers live in this role – my opinion is based on recordings, I must point out. And again, Antonacci’s qualities as a performer (in this or any role) are acknowledgedly outstanding – it is a mater of aural pertinence, something like the “voix-du-rôle”. We could say the same thing of roles such as Agathe – even if a singer is technically accomplished enough to deal with it, if the voice is not sweet in quality, then it is just a good singer playing Agathe – it is not Agathe. Again you are right to say that these kind of roles (and also Butterfly or Salome) in which youthfulness and power should be supplied in equal shares are really hard to cast and compromises finally have to be made. But I believe that the ideal should always be kept in mind.
You know that Antonacci can count me as an admirer, but her Rachel for me was Antonacci as Rachel – to my ears, it was more overwhelming than touching. And the libretto suggests the other way round.
Her Rachel in Paris was a wonder of musicality and taste. Not sweet perhaps but tender and full of goodness. Let’s add perfect french and elegance of phrases. I would also not consider she lacks nobility compaired to Crespin. Crespin was more a Didon than a Cassandre in my opinion.
By the way, I had a small talk with Anna Caterina a few months ago. When discussing about roles, she told me she would like to sing three roles: Gluck’s Armide, Verdi’s Lady Macbeth and Eboli. Whoelse could think to gather those three roles as short term projects? Especialling just leaving the opera house after a wonderful and exciting Vitellia!
Hi, Olivier!
Long time no see! I would be interested to hear that Eboli! I am sure she would make something really interesting out of it.
As for Lady Macbeth, I would be definitely interested to _see_ it. I am not sure she has the right voice for the role, though. I believe that Verdi’s opinion that the role requires an “ugly” voice has been misinterpreted as a licence for singers to get away with downright bad singing – poor coloratura, bad intonation, flat high notes, sharp low notes, you name it. Of course, this is not the case of Anna Caterina Antonnaci – who is a sensitive, stylish and musicianly singer. But the role requires a dramatic voice – and I don’t think she falls in that category.
Well, Lady Macbeth recquires a dramatic voiced singer. No doubt about that. But light-voiced ones could offer very nice performances of this fantastic role. I would say Mara Zampieri, who could deliver, in my opinion, the sound picture of the Lady like no other singer. Of course, I have my doubts about Antonacci´s sucess in this particular interprise, but I´m sooooooo sooooooo curious of what she could do with it.
Unfortunately, she canceled her Elettra in Spain.
Hi, André!
As soon as I write that down, I thought someone would mention Zampieri. I think Zampieri’s case is very special – it is a very peculiar voice with this kind of penetrating quality which enabled her to sing above her Fach, while Antonacci has a darker and warmer tonal quality . In any case, as you say – she is an artist who always makes you curious, even when you think the whole venture is risky…
I saw Zampieri live only once… I think I was 11 or 12; unfortunately, very young to enjoy the experience completely. She was not singing Lady Macbeth, but her twin sister Abigaille. Although her tone had a light quality, even that late in her career, her natural projection allowed her to be perfectly heard in the ensembles, something most Abigailles and Ladies today, when we are running out of dramatic coloratura sopranos, have trouble about!
BTW, is there something in the web with my beloved Violeta Urmana singing Lady Macbeth??? She sang it in La Scala this season, but I think it wasn´t put in broadcast.
I was going to say something about another non-dramatic voiced singer to sing Lady Macbeth – I listened to the broadcast and I really really liked: Dimitra Theodossiou. She´s a very nice greek singer and hasn´t made into great theaters, only to Italian smaller than Scala or San Carlo houses.
Urmana will sing Lady Macbeth in Paris this season. Wait and hear. I must admit I have always found too much self-control with her. But I had a great experience with Zampieri live in Vienna. The voice was magnificient, much more beautiful than on records. And her Lina was a wonder of both singing and dramatic involvement. By the way, she received a well deserve triumph that night. More than Carreras and Bruson, both so beloved in Vienna at that time (I think it was 1996).
For ACA, she will appear twice this season in Paris: Cleopatre (Berlioz) in concert with Nelson, and a one-woman-show on stage with arias by Gluck (Armide), Berlioz (Didon) and Rameau (Phedre). Can’t wait. Nothing planned today for the next seasons in Paris Opera. Rumor says new Paris director has only offered to her at the moment Hanna Glawari she declined. Other rumor says she could be Elettra in Bondy’s production. Also no news regarding to her Norma-project in Toulouse.
Urmana is one of my fetiche singers… but I do have to admit that she lacks a bit of that “je ne sais quoi” any second-rate italian soprano display in this kind of role… Her totally-in-control-and-too-chic-for-the-circunstances Tosca is another good example. But, my heart doesn´t care and always has a nice and warm place for her!
I agree with you both about Urmana – although her Italian performances are vocally and musicianly adept, they are, as André put it, too chic for the circumstances. I believe she really belongs in the German repertoire. That said, I found her Manon Lescaut exceptionally good – it is a role with a difficult tessitura and she handled that beautifully.
I also know that she sang Norma in Dresden and, in spite of the considerations above, I would kill for a tape of that. Her Adalgisa in Amsterdam (to Nelly Miricioiu’s Norma) was very very good.
As for Anna Caterina Antonacci, I still believe that Elettra and Norma are both above the “gravitational center” of her range.