La Bohème In 10 Seconds According To Rolando Villazon (Language NSFW)

There's also a version where she runs off with a Uruguayan baritone, but that's another story.

Here are three more pictures from Rolando's epic Saturday night appearance on ZDF's Wetten Dass...?

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Comments

[Les Mitchell]

This show looks like the most insane piece of garbage on TV anywhere. That Rolandino would even consent to appear on it is a question to me. It kind of looks like Saturday Night Live in the Swiss Alps. Whatever the case, I'm just hoping that he can pull himself together for those Met L'Elisirs. He's still scheduled, but who knows??

[walter]

In Italy there's always worse... You might see (...and unfortunately, HEAR) Ricciarelli or others on Italian tv and not only on Sunday afternoons. You never know when "jaws" of any sort are going to pop out and warble their way into your living room!

[ellie]

There is nothing Swiss about Wetten Dass. It's as German as can be. And as far as Villazon's recount, I don't think he chooses to use his intelligence. How about, an ailing young woman enters the apartment of a poor poet upon needing light in bohemian Paris, they fall in love, but sadly, he loses her in the end. Would that be so difficult for someone who has sung the opera several times? Opera is being debased, by talk show hosts to the singers themselves. The managers and singers think they are keeping the artform going by making it comprehensible to toddlers and bon bon eaters...but in reality it is being strangled alive.

[Moi]

Having suffered many hours of UK, American, Italian and God knows how many other countries TV shows "Wetten Dass...?" could be at home on any major channel in the world.

Is it cr&*? Yes. Toe curlingly awful? Oui. Mind numbingly bad? Si. Do I find myself sometimes addicted to it...uhm...ja...

Does it have a bigger audience than your average classical TV show - well, JA! Okay, I'm not sure if I can name a regular classical TV show on mainstream channels so I'm not comparing it with much...

The whole point is that it's publicity for the guy that most singers would love to have. And if it helps to freshen up the numbers of people taking an interest in opera / classical music then I think it's good.

And before anyone mentions anything about dumbing down I have to say that to me, music cuts through the whole artifice of the package and product world we live in and I'm confident that people can appreciate opera / classical music for what it is even if it's sold to them on a TV show. The way it is sold may be not to everyone's liking, but as soon as the curtain goes up and the first notes are played the advertising guys exit stage left and the substance of music is centre stage.

[Coloratura Tempura]

That jacket needs to go. Where's his wife?

[Ute Thomas]

Yes, Villazon with the quintessential oompah band on a decidedly trashy program does look awful - but before criticising him do consider how even here he demonstrates his musicality, picking up an unknown piece of music and getting the hang of it within seconds. In the same program he sings one of the arias from his new Handel CD, accompanied by a telegenic group of young musicians - surely there is an effort here to woo a young audience. In a March 21 interview on ZDF, Villazon is emphatic about his desire to reach out to young people, to expose them to opera, and to demonstrate to his mass audience how "modern" this music is with its rhythm and passion. Like other commentators here, I cringe at the "Wetten dass" show but I respect Villazon for what he is trying to do.
usi, Canada

[ellie]

Well, I hate to be cutting, but any musician should be able to pick up a Handel aria and make something decent out of it. The fact that he is allowed to present himself as the hottest thing in opera in such mass (European) culture venues as Wetten Dass may be impressive, but it is also just a cheap shot...

[yappy]

Just some more little detail: He lost a bet in the show, and the concept of the whole thing is that celebrities betting on ordinary people's extraordinary stunts have to do something ridiculous if they lose.
It is indeed Germany's biggest-ratings (and probably longest-running - I used to watch it as a kid when TV was so much more relevant) Saturday night show. I wouldn't exactly call it trashy. There's huuuuge sums involved, and I'll bet (wetten dass) Rolando's "encore" was meticulously rehearsed, bad pitch and all.

Also, Mr. Villazón and "Tomasito" Gottschalk seem to be best buddies, seeing as Villazón has appeared on Wetten Dass three times in two years. No other classical musician has been thus over-featured. I wonder who paid more - Rolando's management for the PR or ZDF to get him on the show...

Dumbing-down and other talkshow standards aside, what's really sad is that every so-called live act but the Bavarian brass band is doing playback.

[ellie]

Seriously, I thought the accompaniment was pretty good. But whoever thinks Rolando just "picked up" this aria and learned it in seconds should maybe get a reality check. As someone mentioned, he is lip-synching. It may be easier music than he has sung in the past (and MUCH lower), and no doubt he did learn the notes rather quickly, but what professional singer couldn't? There is nothing spectacular about his interpretation either. I honestly think that there are dozens of little-known tenors who could do it ten times better--and move young and old people alike.

[ariel]

where else should this second rater be ?????