Lets play a game.

[Guido]

The game is: suggest a singer dead or alive and name a role you wish they had sung (or will sing).

My nominations:

Maria Callas as The Marschallin. Surely something fascinating would have resulted there. Also as one of the Janacek Heroines - Jenufa or Katya or Makrupolos. I'm not sure she ever sung regularly in German or Czech though...

And talking of Janacek - Renée Fleming as Katya I'd love to see. She sung Jenufa at Houston in 1993 (and try as I might I can't get them to send me a copy from their archive - here's hoping it will appear some years down the line) and recorded the Act 2 prayer scene for a recital disc which is perhaps surprisingly truly wonderful - extraordinarily beautiful.

And talking of Fleming - when is she going to do Barber's Vanessa. OK it's not the greatest opera ever, but there's some damn fine music in it, and she's the ideal voice surely (maybe lacking a bit of weight, but it's listed as a lyric part, not spinto).

[Wendell_E]

Maria Callas as The Marschallin. Surely something fascinating would have resulted there. Also as one of the Janacek Heroines - Jenufa or Katya or Makrupolos. I'm not sure she ever sung regularly in German or Czech though...

Of course, back in her day, she might have done those Czech roles in Italian.

My suggestion would be Leonie Rysanek for those same three Janáček roles (especially EM). 

[Tsaraslondon]

I love these games.

I'd far rather have seen Callas in something French. Didon in Les Troyens immediately springs to mind, and, if the opera was split into two parts (as it often is), why not Cassandre as well. The only Berlioz she ever sang was Marguerite's D'amour l'ardente flamme, from La Damnation de Faust, but her complete identification with the role and innate understanding of Berlioz style leads me to think she would have been a great Berlioz singer. And at the height of her career, she would have made a great stab at all the heroines in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hofmann, perhaps with Jon Vickers as Hoffmann. No doubt the role lay a trifle high for him, but I have no doubt it would have made for interesting results. There are also a number of bel canto roles I wish Callas had sung, Lucrezia Borgia, and Maria Stuarda, to name but two, and I often wish the Verdi re-appraisal had begun a little earlier. I would love to have heard her take on some of the heroines of those early Verdi operas, Mina in Stiffelio, and Luisa Miller in particular. Actually, come to think of it, Vickers, always best when tackling psychologically complex characters, would have made a terrific Stiffelio

I too wish Fleming would give Vanessa a shot. It would suit her down to the ground, I would have thought.

Schwarzkopf in the complete Arabella is a tempting prospect (she only recorded excerpts), and why not Marietta in Korngold's Die tote Stadt? She once sang a stunning version of Marietta's Lied in a radio braodcast.

[Guido]

I love these games.

I'd far rather have seen Callas in something French. Didon in Les Troyens immediately springs to mind, and, if the opera was split into two parts (as it often is), why not Cassandre as well. The only Berlioz she ever sang was Marguerite's D'amour l'ardente flamme, from La Damnation de Faust, but her complete identification with the role and innate understanding of Berlioz style leads me to think she would have been a great Berlioz singer. And at the height of her career, she would have made a great stab at all the heroines in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hofmann, perhaps with Jon Vickers as Hoffmann. No doubt the role lay a trifle high for him, but I have no doubt it would have made for interesting results. There are also a number of bel canto roles I wish Callas had sung, Lucrezia Borgia, and Maria Stuarda, to name but two, and I often wish the Verdi re-appraisal had begun a little earlier. I would love to have heard her take on some of the heroines of those early Verdi operas, Mina in Stiffelio, and Luisa Miller in particular. Actually, come to think of it, Vickers, always best when tackling psychologically complex characters, would have made a terrific Stiffelio

I too wish Fleming would give Vanessa a shot. It would suit her down to the ground, I would have thought.

Schwarzkopf in the complete Arabella is a tempting prospect (she only recorded excerpts), and why not Marietta in Korngold's Die tote Stadt? She once sang a stunning version of Marietta's Lied in a radio braodcast.

Nice choices! Marietta I would have thought too heavy a role for Schwarzkopf, though I agree about Arabella.

Wendell - it seems we both hanker after bigger names doing the Janacek operas! I love the classic Soderstrom/Mackerras recordings of course, and Popp as Vixen is also superb, but for some reason the "names" avoid these operas most of the time - maybe because they're emphatically not star vehicles.

[Tsaraslondon]

Nice choices! Marietta I would have thought too heavy a role for Schwarzkopf, though I agree about Arabella.

Wendell - it seems we both hanker after bigger names doing the Janacek operas! I love the classic Soderstrom/Mackerras recordings of course, and Popp as Vixen is also superb, but for some reason the "names" avoid these operas most of the time - maybe because they're emphatically not star vehicles.

I don't know Die tote Stadt that well, to be honest, but I have never heard a better version of Marietta's Lied than Schwarzkopf's, an aria that lyric sopranos tend to do very well, Te Kanawa and Fleming amongst them. That said, Schwarzkopf makes a superb Ariadne on the Karajan recording of Ariadne auf Naxos, which is also a role one might have thought a tad too heavy for her. No doubt, in the theatre it would have been.

As for Janacek, maybe the language puts off the big names. It does surprise me that some of the bigger names haven't been attracted to Emilia Marty and Katya at the least. I wouldn't mind seeing Gheorghiu in the role of Emilia. I'd have thought it would suit her rather well.

[Guido]

I love the Fleming Marietta's Lied on "the beautiful voice" - it's almost ridiculous how beautiful it is.  There's an incredible live version too on Youtube from the late 90s/early 00s where she's at her peak. Haven't heard the Schwarzkopf. The whole opera is a rather frothy affair, and that aria is its undoubted highlight. It's really the tenor role that's ridiculously hard - so many german tenor roles from that period are superhuman - those Strauss ones in Daphne and also in Schoeck's Venus. The Ariadne tenor role is also excrutiatingly hard.

I love Schwarzkopf's Ariadne. Fleming's excerpts are really wonderful too, and she's doing the part within the next few years - but in a small theatre she insists, and with a non-stentorian tenor!

[Superhorn]

  I can't see Callas as the Marschallin.Possibly Elektra, but I don't know if she would have had the sheer lung power required for that monster role.   That's just not her type of role. It requires
  the kind of melifluousness she never had. She would have been as out of place in that role as Kiri Te Kanawa as Verdi's Lady Macbeth.

[Tsaraslondon]

  I can't see Callas as the Marschallin.Possibly Elektra, but I don't know if she would have had the sheer lung power required for that monster role.   That's just not her type of role. It requires
  the kind of melifluousness she never had. She would have been as out of place in that role as Kiri Te Kanawa as Verdi's Lady Macbeth.

I have no doubt that in her earlier days, when she was singing Turandot, Brunnhilde, Kundry and Isolde, Callas could easily have sung Elektra. It would no doubt have made for interesting results. But I agree with you re the Marschallin - temperamentally and vocally unsuited.

[Superhorn]

    Some one,I can't recall who, tried to interest Callas in singing the staggeringly difficult role of Renata in Prokofiev's Fiery Angel !  But apparently Callas thought the music was just too weird. Entirely understandable,because that's not the kind of music she sang. But it might have been something.
   The music of the Fiery Angel is almost unbearably intense and dissonat.

[Tsaraslondon]

With a game like this, one's thoughts usually go to one's favourite singers and which roles one would have liked them to sing. With most I find it pretty easy to come up with suggestions, but Janet Baker was different. she pretty much sang all the roles she was perfect for, and the range was greater than you might expect.

She sang Poppea in L'Incoranazione di Poppea (though, here at least one might have wished that she had had a stab at Ottavia) and Penelope in Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria. Also the twin roles of Diana and Jove as Diana in Cavalli's La Calisto. I suppose that one might have wished she had sung more Handel once her career had taken off, her only role being Caesar in Giulio Cesare at the ENO, but we must remember that she sang quite a lot with the Handel Opera Society when forging her career. Perhaps she might have sung more Gluck, but her Orfeo and Alceste were excellent choices.

Though a great Mozartian, her operatic roles were confined to Dorabella, Vitellia (in la Clemeza di Tito) and Idamante in Idomeneo, and I confess I can't really see her in, say,  any of the female roles in Don Giovanni. If one has any regrets here, it might be that she never sang Sesto.

In French opera, she was a superb Didon in Les Troyens ( and of course also in Purcell's opera), a great Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust, and a superb Beatrice (though I believe only on record) in Beatrice et Benedict. She also sang a wonderful Charlotte in Werther. Are there any other French operas I would have liked her to sing? Nothing immediately comes to mind. Certainly not Carmen.

In nineteenth century Italian opera, she wisely stuck to bel canto - Smeton in Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda and (on record) a superb Romeo in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi. The only Verdi she sang, and with interesting results, was the Requiem. One can't readily imagine her tackling Azucena or Amneris though.

Perhaps surprisingly, she sang both the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos and Octavian for Scottish Opera with great success and to enormous acclaim, but, yet again, I can't think of another Strauss role I would suggest for her.

Maybe she could have sung more twentieth century opera, but here, too, she chose wisely; Lucretia in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, and Kate in Owen Wingrave (written specifically for her), and Cressida in Walton's Troilus and Cressida, which Walton revised for her.

An excellent career, with excellent career choices, it seems Baker always knew exactly what was right for her.

[Wendell_E]

I suppose that one might have wished she had sung more Handel once her career had taken off, her only role being Caesar in Giulio Cesare at the ENO, but we must remember that she sang quite a lot with the Handel Opera Society when forging her career.

There's also, on records at least, her Ariodante in Leppard's Philips recording.

[Tsaraslondon]

There's also, on records at least, her Ariodante in Leppard's Philips recording.

I should have written her only stage role, post her Handel Opera Society days. She did of course sing Ariodante on stage with the Handel Opera Society in 1964. I should also have mentioned that she sang Hermia in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1966, her Royal Opera House debut.

[Tsaraslondon]

    Some one,I can't recall who, tried to interest Callas in singing the staggeringly difficult role of Renata in Prokofiev's Fiery Angel !  But apparently Callas thought the music was just too weird. Entirely understandable,because that's not the kind of music she sang. But it might have been something.
   The music of the Fiery Angel is almost unbearably intense and dissonat.

Callas had a total antipathy for "modern" music. Walton wanted her for Troilus and Cressida and Menotti for The Medium, I think. She showed no enthusiasm for either. She even spoke quite disparagingly about the music of Puccini.

[Tsaraslondon]

I love the Fleming Marietta's Lied on "the beautiful voice" (otherwise a rather bland album)- it's almost ridiculous how beautiful it is.  There's an incredible live version too on Youtube from the late 90s/early 00s where she's at her peak. Haven't heard the Schwarzkopf.

Found the Schwarzkopf version on youtube, Guido.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoGQd1dsAlw

[Wendell_E]

Callas had a total antipathy for "modern" music. Walton wanted her for Troilus and Cressida and Menotti for The Medium, I think. She showed no enthusiasm for either. She even spoke quite disparagingly about the music of Puccini.

Rudolf Bing also tried, unsuccessfully, to get her to do Barber's Vanessa at the Met.

[Guido]

Her reason for not doing that was that the Mezzo got with the bloke! Even although Anatol ends up with Vanessa,, it was too much of a snub!

[Tsaraslondon]

Her reason for not doing that was that the Mezzo got with the bloke! Even although Anatol ends up with Vanessa,, it was too much of a snub!

She may have said that, but I believe the main reason was that she simply didn't like the music. Even Barber's late Romanticism would have been too modern for her tastes.

[Wendell_E]

Her reason for not doing that was that the Mezzo got with the bloke! Even although Anatol ends up with Vanessa,, it was too much of a snub!

I've read that it was because, despite the opera's title, she thought Erika was really the leading role, though I imagine there's some truth in what Tsaraslondon said, as well.

[mjwal]

@ Tsaraslondon Jan 24
There is a wonderful 1963 live Orlando with Heather Harper & co on Ponto, so she did do other Handel roles - or did I misread your message?

[Tsaraslondon]

@ Tsaraslondon Jan 24
There is a wonderful 1963 live Orlando with Heather Harper & co on Ponto, so she did do other Handel roles - or did I misread your message?

Maybe I didn't make myself clear. She did quite a lot of Handel in her early career with the Handel Opera Society (that 1963 Orlando you mention being one of them) but once her operatic career took off she did no more Handel on stage till the famous production of Julius Caesar at the ENO in 1982.