My mind has been officially blown.
In Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment (The Daughter of the Regiment) Marie is an orphan girl who was raised from infancy by a French army regiment. She is what is known as a vivandière, a woman who is attached to the regiment doing such things as taking care of the mess. Having been raised by soldiers, Marie is pretty rough around the edges. She falls in love with the Tyrolian peasant Tonio, who joins the regiment in hopes of being with her. But the Marquise de Berkenfield, claiming to be the girl's long-lost aunt, takes Maire away. Of course everything is resolved with a comical plot twist worthy of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Why do I have two different sopranos pictured here? Well, because Pretty Yende, the lady sang Marie in today's performance, is really giving Natalie Dessay a run for her money. I don't know why, but Yende's Marie came off a bit more on the sassy side than Dessay did, though I can't quite put my finger on why. Now there really is no comparing these two formidable women. But I'm just going to say that Yende is probably the only woman who match Dessay in the role of Marie.
No comments:
Post a Comment