Sad-faced people held signs reading “Suche Karte” (Seeking Ticket) as the luckier souls piled into the Vienna Staatsoper last night. Scalpers charged as much as 1,000 euros ($1,350) for a seat in the top balcony.
Rolando Villazon, the most beloved tenor in the opera world since Luciano Pavarotti’s Three Tenor days, was about to sing the love-sick bumpkin with the great aria in Donizetti’s frothy “L’elisir d’amore” after a year spent sidelined by a cyst on his vocal cords.
This was the 38-year-old Mexican tenor’s second career- halting illness in four years. In 2006, he abruptly canceled all performances for six months, citing exhaustion and taking on roles too heavy for his voice. His comeback as Massenet’s Werther in January 2008, also at the Vienna Staatsoper, was a triumph.
Villazon’s big test of the evening came with the opera’s hit tune, “Una furtiva lagrima,” a slow, melancholic aria accompanied by harp. Not a conventional showpiece capped by a high note, Villazon shaped the lament into a masterful technique, coloring each syllable and demonstrating astounding breath control during the long final cadenza, gradually raising the volume on the penultimate note and then reducing it to a mere whisper.
Come Back Soon
After a heartbeat of silence, the performance stopped for six minutes of ear-splitting bravos and foot-stomping before conductor Daniele Callegari could restart the performance.
The final curtain calls lasted almost 25 minutes during which Villazon waved to friends, blew kisses, and, grabbing the hands of his colleagues, rushed from the rear of the stage to the footlight, letting loose with a loud victory whoop.
The outrageous scalpers' tickets, the riotous welcome, the even more riotous interruption, the gangbusters ovation--opera fans are probably the best fans in the world. Audiences that appreciative deserve their own ovation.
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