My dream cast of .... Norma

[Schigolch]

We can select the singers we want, to sing a performance of this opera. It doesn't matter if they are dead or alive, active or retired, if they sing together or not... No restrictions.

This will be my dream cast for Il Trovatore:

Manrico : Jussi Bjorling
Leonora: Maria Callas
Conte di Luna: Riccardo Stracciari
Azucena: Marilyn Horne
Ferrando: Tancredi Pasero

And only with active singers:

Manrico : Roberto Alagna
Leonora: Sondra Radvanovsky
Conte di Luna: Zeljko Lucic
Azucena: Dolora Zajick
Ferrando: Giorgio Giuseppini

[Dark_Angel]

We can select the singers we want, to sing a performance of this opera. It doesn't matter if they are dead or alive, active or retired, if they sing together or not... No restrictions.

This will be my dream cast for Il Trovatore:

Manrico : Jussi Bjorling
Leonora: Maria Callas
Conte di Luna: Riccardo Stracciari
Azucena: Marilyn Horne
Ferrando: Tancredi Pasero

And only with active singers:

Manrico : Roberto Alagna
Leonora: Sondra Radvanovsky
Conte di Luna: Zeljko Lucic
Azucena: Dolora Zajick
Ferrando: Giorgio Giuseppini

Manrico : Franco Corelli (forte!)
Leonora: Maria Callas (absolutely!)
Conte di Luna: Milnes or Gobbi
Azucena: Fiorenza Cossotto

[Anne of Green Gables]

Manrico: Jose Carreras
Leonora: Ileana Cotrubas
Count of Moon: Ettore Bastianini
Azucena: A.C Antonacci
Geezer that runs in and tells Manrico to start Di Quella Pira and leads Leonora to prison after: Flórez (he would write variations that would make the part grow up to 10 minutes long)

[Dark_Angel]

And only with active singers:

Manrico : Roberto Alagna
Leonora: Sondra Radvanovsky
Conte di Luna: Zeljko Lucic
Azucena: Dolora Zajick
Ferrando: Giorgio Giuseppini

Manrico : Jonas Kaufmann (I have Natallie's full attention)
Leonora: Draculette (or Netrebko)
Conte di Luna: Simon Keenlyside (I have Annie's full attention)
Azucena: AC Antonacci (good idea Aramis)

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Manrico : Kaufmann (I have Natallie's full attention)
Leonora: Draculette (or Netrebko)
Conte di Luna: Keenlyside (I have Annie's full attention)
Azucena: AC Antonacci (good idea Aramis)

It'll have to be Netrebko or I'm leaving the theatre (actually I'd prefer Radvanovsky)

[Schigolch]

I don't think that Ms. Antonacci will consider singing Azucena, this is her repertoire:

BELLINI I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Romeo) BERLIOZ La Damnation de Faust BERLIOZ Les Troyens (Cassandre) BIZET Carmen CHERUBINI Medea GLUCK Armide GLUCK Alceste GLUCK Iphigenie en Tauride HANDEL Agrippina MASSENET Le Cyd MASSENET Don Quichotte MONTEVERDI Incoronazione di Poppea (Poppea and Nerone) MONTEVERDI Orfeo MOZART Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira) PAISIELLO Nina pazza per amore POULENC La voix humane ROSSINI Ermione ROSSINI Armida SPONTINI La Vestale VERDI Falstaff (Alice)

But one never knows.... Perhaps we should ask her...

[Dark_Angel]

I don't think that Ms. Antonacci will consider singing Azucena, this is her repertoire:

But one never knows.... Perhaps we should ask her...

I have this visual image of her that fits the role so well, the half crazed volitile nature and powerful voice and presence......I can see it now, firey duets with Jonas Kaufmann (like thier earlier pairing in Carmen)

[Dark_Angel]

It'll have to be Netrebko or I'm leaving the theatre (actually I'd prefer Radvanovsky)

I am just bringing back the successful pairing from recent Adriana......
However Gheorghiu outside of Traviata has a weak Verdi portfolio of works

[MAuer]

Manrico : Jonas Kaufmann
Leonora: Anja Harteros
Conte di Luna: Sherrill Milnes
Azucena: Shirley Verrett (in her mezzo incarnation)
Ferrando: Samuel Ramey

And only with active singers:

Manrico : Jonas Kaufmann
Leonora: Anja Harteros
Conte di Luna: Dmitry Hvorostovsky
Azucena: Olga Borodina
Ferrando: Stephen Milling

[Soave_Fanciulla]

And only with active singers:

Manrico : Jonas Kaufmann
Leonora: Anja Harteros
Conte di Luna: Dmitry Hvorostovsky
Azucena: Olga Borodina
Ferrando: Stephen Milling

Bring it on Mary, I'll be there.

[Anne of Green Gables]

Conte di Luna: Dmitry Hvorostovsky

You should have wait with that one, Shigolch is yet to change this thread's title to "My nightmare cast of... Il Trovatore"

[Schigolch]

The first *real* cast of Il Trovatore, back in 1853 at Rome, was:

Manrico : Carlo Baucardé
Leonora: Rosina Penco
Conte di Luna: Giovanni Guicciardi
Azucena: Emilia Goggi
Ferrando: Arcangelo Balderi

We all know the famous saying: "all that we need to perform Trovatore is to get the four best singers in the world". Well, those were not perhaps the best singers of the world in 1853, particularly Guicciardi and Goggi.



Rosina Penco was considered in her times a 'drammatico di agilità". Born in Naples, her debut was in 1847 and her career will be centered in Donizetti and Verdi, along with new pieces by other contemporary composers like Petrella or Bottesini. Leonora was a great sucess for her, and she sung the role in several Italian cities, Paris, Madrid, London and St Petersburg. Soon her vocal health was compromised, though, and Verdi himself criticized one of her performances a few years after the premiere of Il Trovatore.



Carlo Bacaurdé has also sung his first operatic roles in the mid 1840s. Just before singing the premiere of Il Trovatore, he was very succesful in London, singing other Verdi roles, as well as Donizetti's. Verdi first choice for Manrico was another Italian tenor, Raffaele Mirate, ten years older than Bacaurdé, and more experienced, The composer was reasonably happy with Bacaurdé's performance, though. Some sources attribute to Bacaurdé the first non-written high C at the Pira, during a performance in Florence (there are alternative attributions). Like Penco, Bacaurdé soon declined and was receiving harsh criticism.

[Schigolch]

Those are the singers I will select for the performance:

Floria Tosca - Renata Tebaldi
Mario Cavaradossi - Beniamino Gigli
Scarpia - Giuseppe Taddei


A cast for 2012:

Floria Tosca - Daniela Dessì
Mario Cavaradossi - Roberto Alagna
Scarpia - Zeljko Lucic

[Anne of Green Gables]

Floria Tosca - Maria Callas
Mario Cavaradossi - Franco Corelli
Scarpia - Mariusz Kwiecień
Sacristan - Bryn Terfel
Spoletta - Flórez (he would write variations that would make the part grow up to 10 minutes long)

There's one live Tosca with Callas and Corelli, from New York methinks, but it's awfully recorded and unlistenable.

[MAuer]

My top picks, regardless of generation:
Floria Tosca: Sena Jurinac
Cavaradossi: Jonas Kaufmann
Scarpia: Sherrill Milnes
(okay, so I'm repetitive)

2012 Version:
Floria Tosca: Anna Netrebko
Cavaradossi: Jonas Kaufmann (you were expecting ???)
Scarpia: Anthony Michaels-Moore