Ned Rorem in La Fenice - 11 September, 1951

from The Later Diaries of Ned Rorem 1961-1972, pages 321-322:

At the Venetian premiere in 1951 I had found it stale but was afraid to admit it. Everyone was saying, "Why do people call it a pastiche when it's pure Stravinsky? It is pastiche, and quite impure. A few very inspired tunes, but the libretto's overrefined with In-jokes and the prosody's burlesque. I left before the last act. (The babble of that international Venetian cast! Schwarzkopf's German accent, Tourel's Jewish accent, Roundsville's Broadway accent, Cuénod's nonaccent from Switzerland, and the Englisheries of dear Nell Tangeman's two or three hardworked lines.)

cite as

The Later Diaries of Ned Rorem 1961-1972 (San Francisco, ), p. 321-322. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1421598377111 accessed: 28 March, 2024

location of experience: La Fenice

Listeners

Ned Rorem
Critic, essayist, Composer, Diarist […]
1923-

Listening to

hide composers
The Rake's Progress
written by Igor Stravinksy
performed by Robert Rounseville, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Igor Stravinksy

Experience Information

Date/Time 11 September, 1951
Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others, in private, indoors, in public

Originally submitted by iepearson on Sun, 18 Jan 2015 16:26:17 +0000
Approved on Sun, 20 Dec 2015 14:37:15 +0000