La Forza del Destino: “Pace, pace, mio Dio”

Lise Davidsen sings an excerpt from Leonora’s Act IV aria in the final dress rehearsal. Production: Mariusz Treliński. Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin. 2023-24 season.

[@summertc1]

More garbage from The Met.

[@ciociosan]

*Meth.

[@Codymeister99]

We were there on March 4th. I’ll admit we’re more into traditional productions, but I must admit that this production grew on us and by the end we really liked it. Lise was stupendous.

[@micaelklein-f3t]

very disappointed! not convinced by Lise Davidsen! but how to sing well in such staging

[@FattoreVoiceStudio]

The answer is to sing so wonderfully and emotionally expressive, that no one cares about the production, since the point of the opera is ultimately the singing. I suggest watching these: Leontyne Price kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5evfaaIZ8ibiMk and Birgit Nilsson kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJTIYnadrpeMjZo

[@georget.7348]

Thank you for posting this, now I am sure that I WILL NEVER PAY TO SEE TO THAT CRAP!!! Thank you, Peter Gelb, you will have to sell the Chagals soon to keep the Met afloat.

[@critic9216]

Davidsen is quite good and worth hearing, even if not truly Italianate. But the production is absolute crap. Why does the Met keep spending precious resources on these absurd "updatings" and distortions that have nothing to do with what the opera is about? The "creative" geniuses at the Met need to be replaced.

[@nancysikes]

A relentless wobble, constricted vocal production, and no feel at all for the music. The moral is: when a singer is lavishly praised by the New York Times, it probably means they're a mediocrity.

[@johnrondeau9222]

Tell it Sistuh!

[@boundary2580]

She sounds awesome. Please go hear singers live before calling them “mediocre”.

[@nancysikes]

​@boundary2580 how would you say she compares to Tebaldi or Price? I can't be sure, of course, but I'm guessing you've got no clue. As for attending live opera, I've been doing so for fifty years, dude. When you've progressed beyond using "awesome" to describe the quality of a full lyric/ spinto soprano voice, your opinion might be worth something.

[@doddsalfa]

I’m listening now for the first time and I’m getting the same results

[@hashatz]

What does the current venue of this wonderful opera have to do with VERDI"s music and the setting of his work? Absolutely nothing! Therefore, it is NOT his opera.

[@NCinNYC]

I love Lise Davidsen's voice. I love that it doesn't sound like anyone else's I've ever heard. And I love the throb in her sound.

[@ESilva-qv1uv]

She sings beautifully, as ever. Better not to say a word about the settings.

[@bayreuth79]

for some reason opera houses are obsessed with making the set as anachronistic and ugly as possible.

[@ESilva-qv1uv]

@@bayreuth79 Indeed.

[@danielreiss-cy4zr]

The Met is doing penance for decades of Otto Schenk and Franco Zeffirelli. Just another swing of the pendulum. If Leonora's gonna sing in the subway, she should put out a collection hat.

[@peteradaniel]

Check out the New Yorkers in the comments section pissed about having their reality on stage at the Met. Crap production, but I love the Butthurt comments and the boos I’m sure will come. So we’ll probably have a revival with Sondra in two or three years time, of which she’ll probably sing badly, and then no Forza for another 20 years. Gotta love the Met. 😂

[@capedcamish]

As a New Yorker, I can confidently affirm that most of us go to the opera for an ESCAPE from the open-air toilet we live in.

[@kevina3744]

@@capedcamishAw, I’m so sorry NYC is pricing you out, bitter poorzy. Maybe you should relocate to some right-wing paradise that’s more suitable for your bank account. I hear Greene County is nice. 😂😂😂

[@zelimircabraja7529]

A great progress since a few years back. She is singing more and more del fiato and no con fiato as she did before.

[@flyinghow]

Is this referencing that her tone is more well-supported by the breath than it was in past years? I did not hear her sing back then so I am not sure.

[@JuanCastillo-sv1ye]

Qué mal gusto de montaje, HORRIBLE y de poco gusto, el que lo hizo y el que lo encargó. Está clarísimo porqué la deriva del MET es imparable. A quiénes pretenden atraer con esos "bodrios"?

[@johnsummers9790]

Whenever I hear Lise Davidsen live at Covent Garden (ROH London) you also 'feel' the power of her voice. This is missing on recordings. Some of the comments below question whether she is a 'Verdi Soprano'. I asked on a different site - Is she a 'Puccini Soprano'?. Her Wagner is superb.

[@thomasdahlen8533]

Ugly , awful , terrible production.Davisen can sing Verdi but the music is not hers , but it is always good for the voice.Davisen is wounderful in Strauss , Beethoven and Wagner.

[@richardrosenbluth7544]

A very fine rendition. A great singer only in the context of anyone else around now. You want to hear this aria in all its glory? Listen to Price in the 1982 performance on KZbin or Tebaldi in any recording. I heard them both live and often, and the recordings capture their voices perfectly. That is what we call great singing.

[@Haisha415]

Don't forget Callas.

[@richardrosenbluth7544]

@@Haisha415 Oh, yes indeed! Callas' was the most emotionally riveting performance (as are all her performances).. I was referring simply to vocal beauty and majesty.

[@northdallasguy]

Callas’ studio recording of this is magnificent and tense, as it should be.

[@yehweita]

Don't forget Tebaldi's vulnerable portrait of this aria

[@marydely0880]

Absolutely brilliant👏👏👏

[@edgarfranceschi8338]

Who knew that Leonora's cave in Spain was going to end up looking like a post-apocalyptic NYC subway station? The tract seems to be filed with black water. Kudos to Ms. Davidsen for being a good player and allowing to be put into this homeless woman get-up. Can you imagine divas of the past doing this?

[@masonevans779]

I mean Callas loved this stuff, so yes I can.

[@edgarfranceschi8338]

Opera productions during La Divina's career were not this extreme. The singers were still the stars. The Regietheater future directors were still attending kindergarten.

[@user-zq4fv8sj6v]

Tell me about it! The Met of all houses actually wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars in concept and set design to show the NYC subway. Something that most ticket holders are too afraid and snobby to venture on especially under Adams. Too bad the subway system is such a shithole, they could just perform in a real environment but of course that’s too scary. The voices are okay though Lise isn’t a Verdian voice with the correct squillo and that Solomon guy eats his tones, disappearing by the pit..technique isn’t there but there’s nobody else apparently. Wonder how box office is faring??

[@claudia_957]

Yep, you are right. Ok but not great and there are singers out there who can sing this rep today.

[@roberthorn1838]

I'm a bit tired of people complaining about Lise Davidsen in Italian opera. The voice in my opinion has both the grandeur and the delicacy for this music. In a world where dramatic sopranos are almost extinct we should be so lucky to hear Lise in Verdi!

[@Orfeo68]

👏 👏

[@m0odymillennial]

I agree with you to an extent, but it’s wrong to ignore this conversation. It’s far more catastrophic to consider that these voices are becoming extinct. Our lack of willingness to have difficult conversations had resulted In the situation. There’s been a complacency and laziness and on how the voice works. It’s all become marketing. Microphones ruined the natural technique of projecting the voice. Conductors, coaches, and people ask for various colors, because they have no understanding of the release of the voice. These are the people to blame in my opinion. where are the great teachers? we may lose this art form. It’s very sad. And my opinion, there’s not enough anger towards managers, administrators, conductors, etc. All of the singers are just trying to survive and it is my opinion that they don’t deserve all of this hate. They have the hardest job ever. They are dealing with constant bullshit. There’s a fundamental lack of understanding of how the voice works. We can have the difficult conversation now, or we can have big regrets later. Personally, I think this art form will survive. I think there are a lot of people ironically, thanks to KZbin that hear the differences, listen to the old singers, listen to the melocchi, read the books. The technique for this art form is not subjective. It became subjective because people wanted to be a part of it and have fun with it. The people jumping on this thread, every day going, stop, leave someone alone, you are negative, do you want corpses? They are completely missing the point. The ignorance is obvious. I really hope that things change.

[@m0odymillennial]

And honestly, there’s so much wrong singing, going on, especially in the lighter repertoire. The problem is, it doesn’t sound as obvious to the untrained ear. Go listen to any production of dramatic repertoire, and you will hear wobbles. Ugly sound. I will say again, it’s not completely the fault of the singers. Where are the teachers, why are the conductors putting these people in these roles? There are great singers are there, but they’re certainly not getting hired. I’d love to start my own Opera company. I would love to get a huge sponsor… It would be amazing to hold blind auditions. No more stock in looks, agencies, experience, age, weight, race, height,. Can you sing or not? the end. The real Opera lovers are sick of This “Second rate theater” Or as my boyfriend calls it “second right film” This is an auditory art form. Yes, it is visual and theatrical but it is auditory. Music. That’s why this is not musical theater. That’s why this is not straight theater. That’s why this is not a movie. It is opera. It is about the voice. Enough of this crap. Let’s get back to the voice,.

[@victoriafilmproduction6803]

Very true! Unfortunately.@@m0odymillennial

[@claudia_957]

You are essentially correct except that there are good singers out there who are consistently overlooked because of marketing. At this point audience members think something is good if they are told it is good enough times. This is happening all over the world in all areas as predicted in books such as 1984. People need to think and listen for them selves.

[@omghaha9980]

Much complaining and nagging here. I don't understand why. There's a woman who once lived carefree in wealth and now has lost everything. The director found a strong, convincing picture for her situation. Well done.

[@capedcamish]

The problem is not the setting as such. A subway is a good a place as any to show desolation. The problem is that story was changed to put her there. In the libretto, she goes to the hermitage to feel closer to God and pick up the pieces of her shattered life. In this travesty, however, the Father Superior (played by the same actor as the Marchese) first makes her blow him and then all the monks force her to walk the gauntlet. They whip her with sticks as she is banished there.

[@omghaha9980]

@@capedcamish Thank you for those details.

[@operskapevacica1]

Not a Verdi voice!

[@papagen00]

I'm Joe Green and I think she's great!

[@operas6]

Not an intelligent comment!

[@user-zq4fv8sj6v]

Correct!

[@danielreiss-cy4zr]

Tito Gobbi didn't have an Italian voice, so what?

[@cbielgib71]

She's absolutely fantastic in La Forza.

[@packer812]

Ugly costumes and depressive set. Although the music and the singing is beautiful, this trailer likely won't draw many people to the Met to see this live. We want escpaism at the opera, not realism. Not in Verdi anyway.

[@user-zq4fv8sj6v]

Thank you!! It’s the vile NYC subway brought up to the Met?!?? Those snobs don’t ride the subway and for good reason; it’s back to the ‘70-80’s violence and filth levels while Adams finally wants to “flood” it with police out of embarrassment and fear. Why not save a few hundred and sing with the vagrants below at this point?? That’s where the Met put themselves with sub-par singers alone. So sad there’s ABSOLUTELY NO BETTER VOICES and the crass new shows that belong way off broadway…

[@Vocalgold1955]

She is a superb artist who would be in the uppermost echelon of greats in any time period. Come on you all, cut out the cynicism. CYNICISM is the toxin that is stunting the growth of the current and next generation of singers.

[@EudoraPrice]

❤Singing wonderful but setting A shock😢😢😢😢doesn't fit at all

[@SilfredoSerrano]

I hate this production. Her singing is great though!

[@kathleenhensley5951]

Well,. that is an ugly set. The singer is fine, the set reminds me of why I fled New York State, never to return, at the age of 19.

[@NoéJiménezMora]

! Magnífica!.

[@wotan10950]

I’m going to the matinee performance at the Met. I’m keeping an open mind because I’ve already seen all the traditional productions. FWIW, I lived next to the #4 train during my first 18 years.

[@rosemarygoldford5700]

Give us a review 😊

[@danielreiss-cy4zr]

Give a pre-performance talk on the historical background of the #4.

[@rugby8-Philadelphia]

Enjoy it? I saw her in recital in Vienna last fall -- she was Amazing

[@trueself1752]

She is very good

[@rc_1477]

Brava!

[@Mario.Tenore]

Zero chest voice

[@papagen00]

i will be sitting in the bleachers tomorrow so i can hear her and not have to see the ugly production. Fyi Elisabeth Rethberg did not have an Italianate voice but she was a great Aida. Same for Jonas Kaufmann in Italian opera.

[@danielreiss-cy4zr]

Rethberg was ideal in everything she did (except the Siegfried Brunnhilde!). An amazing singer. I remember when I first her records on George Jellinek's program.

[@hrh4961]

@@danielreiss-cy4zr One smart-ass Noo Yawk critic remarked re Rethberg's "Aida," "There was ice skating on the Nile last night."

[@danielreiss-cy4zr]

@@hrh4961 Maybe the same one that said Jetitza sang Sieglinde with a Moravian accent. I asked a Bohemian about that. He said a Moravian accent is detectable only in Czech.

[@hrh4961]

@@danielreiss-cy4zr I'll be pondering that for a while. LOL

[@RamonHernandez-v2g]

Las voces muy buenas, la puesta una porqueria, en verdad van a perder los pocos que van. En Tampa la pasan por el cine Bristol donde sirven comida durante la funcion. Apaga y vamos....

[@smurf902]

Why does the 4 train have a red sign? That's the 1/2/3 train line that's red

[@Danielap4513]

Grazie. Scenografia discutibile, soprano no

[@feavouglan4427]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@doGreatartistsgrowontrees]

This may be something but Verdi it isn’t. The singing is perfect for any Regie WTF in any province. The staging is perfect for any WTF-singing in any province.

[@operas6]

Go listen to your recording of Tebaldi and leave us in "Pace."

[@doGreatartistsgrowontrees]

@@operas6 Who is “us”?

[@catherinecozzano2580]

Beautiful voice but sinister set as usual.

[@davidjohnson9796]

Love the singing but not her acting

[@jolantasakalauskiene4312]

I am always entertained by people complaining about modern productions, but honestly I will take them over lackluster mothball vibe of some of the 'classic' stuff or stuff like AIDA still performed in blackface. My absolute favourite was Pretty Yende singing Sempre Libera beside a bin while waiting for her kebab. I know some people want to gatekeep opera, but modern adaptations just hit different and allow to admire the timeless beauty of the opera.

[@romainlefranc3760]

Ouf un commentaire sensé ! Thanks ! Sa voix et sa présence sont sublimes !

[@tonyhot81]

The best comment indeed.

[@capedcamish]

When done well, modern staging makes you see an old classic in a new way. When done poorly (such as in this turd), it is impossible to focus on the music. This staging feels like it was made by a 15-year-old with ADHD who *hates* the story he is adapting.

[@BellaFirenze]

The monastery has turned into a filthy subway station. The IND Concourse Line station at 155th Street is very clean. Leonora is now a homeless person, a bag lady. Her Italian is not idiomatic. "...da tant'anni durrrra..." "Invan la pace qui sperrrrrò." Perhaps she will get better in the Italian repertoire in the coming years. This nightmare by Polish director Mariusz Trelinski is set in a present-day dictatorship with gestures of salute that recall Hitler’s Germany, and with the depiction of a hotel owner-turned-tyrant that evokes Donald J. Trump’s presidency. Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin has called her "the dream singer." Davidsen is very good in the German repertoire, her true fach.

[@wotan10950]

Many people said the same thing about Nilsson, and yet she gave distinguished performances in Ballo, Aida, Tosca, Macbeth.

[@operas6]

Thank you for your frothy and inane opinions .

[@BellaFirenze]

I didn't say that about Madame Nilsson and I saw her in all those operas. Did you? Stronzo. This woman is not in the same league. Stronzo.@@wotan10950

[@BellaFirenze]

As I am Italian, I had to look up "frothy." Thank you for a new word in my vocabulary. Inane (insensato in Italian) I already knew. You are one of those insufferable opera queens who lose their panties when opinions do not concur with theirs. Apparently, nine other persons agree with me. Ad ogni modo, I put your comment in the toilet. It was a pleasure. Stronzo.@6

[@joyaepace]

I like Lise's singing very much but would enjoy it even more if she stopped making tragic faces and just sang. She is overacting I think.

[@barrymorentz5190]

I just got home from the premiere of Forza del Destino at the Met. The Met has truly surpassed itself for an inane production of a wonderful opera. Just when you think it cannot do anything more idiotic than the recent Lucia and the ludicrous Lohengrin, along comes this travesty.The constantly revolving set and distracting projections gave me a serious case of sitzfleisch and the moronic staging was beyond ridiculous. Wonder why the Met is on hard times? Go see this crap. The Met is spitting in the faces of many long-time attendees by savaging past masterpieces and pushing contemporary crap down our throats, nonsense that has no music --if you can call it that--let alone staying power. And check out the big yawn of a line-up next season…heaven help us…they are not getting my money.

[@michaeltortora8563]

Agree!!! I have ceased contributing to the Met. These productions are hideous & I refuse to support this crap. I understand that the days of elaborate productions alla Zeferelli are over but this for a venue that had a stellar reputation. I no longer attend live opera performances or will watch any in a movie theatre. I only listen now.