Filianoti's Reading List

One of the many great things that make Giuseppe Filianoti's singing so special -- ignoring for a moment the vocal difficulties that troubled him and that we really hope are a thing of the past -- is that he is that rare being: a passionate reader. His love for the written text is an integral part of what makes his presence on stage so compelling: when so many of his colleagues -- regardless of their vocal abilities -- sometimes do not really seem to understand the meaning of the words they're singing -- Filianoti instead is always about the text, its meaning, the dramatic weight of each sentence. 

In a recent Playbill interview, the young Italian tenor shared the skinny on the books that he really, really considers essential. And it's quite a list: Vladimir Nabokov's "The Real Life of Sebastian Knight"; Henry James's "The Lesson of the Master" & "The Real Thing"; Richard Powers's "The Time of Our Singing". Then a classic Italo Svevo, "The Confessions of Zeno"; Joyce's "Dubliners". And then, of course, literary gourmet that he is, he mentions "everything by Italo Calvino".

Comments

[A Real Cad]

Excellent taste, THE TIME OF OUR SINGING is a masterpiece, and Nabokov and Calvino are among the century's greatest authors.

[Hal]

I have to wonder if he is not trying to bolster his singing by claiming that great culture feeds its roots. If his singing were a bit better, I doubt anybody would care what he read. Were people eager to know what Caruso was reading, or Rosa Ponselle? Flagstad or Melchior?

[nick]

BRAVO HAL!!! Couldn't have put it better!!! Or... Corelli, or del Monaco or Bastianini, or Warren, or.....

[Charles]

I am no great fan of his singing, but Nick and Hal, you are being too cynical. I don't think people will like his singing better if he "shows off his culture" as you say, and I don't think he believes it either. All he did was share some his interests in an interview. Nothing is more normal.

[Christian Ocier]

I do not think anyone should try to assume that he believes that great literature and singing are inextricable. At least he is intelligent, not like many singers I've encountered who have subzero intelligence.

[Hal]

Well OC presented it all as if he thought his reading made his singing a lot better, not that he was just "sharing some interests." Maria Callas was a great "singing actress" but I don't think it was because of what she read. She understood what she was singing and not, I suspect, because she read Plato, Aristotle, Joyce, Henry James or whoever else.

[Hal]

Let me put it another way. Florez has given interviews in which he says what characteristics he likes in women, what he likes to eat, what his style in clothes is, etc., etc., in short info that fans of celebrities usually like to know. But he has never said that eating at Jean Georges or drinking certain expensive wines or liking women to be "feminine" has made him a better singer. He is too sensible for that.

[Aliprando]

Assuming no cancellations, the next role I shall hear him sing is that of a young man who doesn't know how to read -Nemorino - so I shall listen with particular interest to see whether such deep reading helps or hinders!

[Victor]

No Hal, OC wrote: "One of the many great things that make Giuseppe Filianoti's singing so special" is that he's a reader. "One of the many". By the way, you wrote "If his singing were a bit better"... How many times have you seen Signor Filianoti perform? I'm curious.

[Hal]

Let me rub it in, perhaps to excess. Florez has said what he does to sing better: he doesn't talk too much, he sleeps a lot, he is lazy, he watches his diet, and he stays serene and calm. Nothing about what he reads, nothing at all. And he sings quite a bit better than Filianoti, I think most will agree. PS I have never seen Signor Filianoti. I have heard him though, and we are talking about his singing, right, not his acting?

[Victor]

I see that Hal, by ignoring my point re: his misquoting OC, is probably conceding that he did indeed misquote our hostess. Because that's what he did, as I explained.

Back to Signor Filianoti: now we learn Hal has never been to the opera house when Filianoti was singing. Did you judge his singing by listening to the radio then? Maybe on your PC loudspeakers? Just asking. Or was it YouTube? Because Hal's opinions are so precise, but Filianoti has never recorded Lucia, never recorded Rigoletto.

God save us from YouTube critics...

[Hal]

Well Victor, this is what OC wrote:

"One of the many great things that make Giuseppe Filianoti's singing so special -- ignoring for a moment the vocal difficulties that troubled him and that we really hope are a thing of the past -- is that he is that rare being: a passionate reader. His love for the written text is an integral part of what makes his presence on stage so compelling:..."

Now you say I am "misquoting" her when I claim that she is saying that his reading contributes to making his singing "so special." You maintain that she is saying that his reading has no role in making his singing "so special"? If so, I think you can't read or understand what you read. And the fact that I have not been at an opera in person where he sings hardly disqualifies me from an opinion re his singing. I can tell that Flagstad and Melchior are great singers and I never was in an opera house when they sang; I have heard only records, etc. Ditto Ponselle, Caruso, etc., etc. Your argument would mean that nobody can pass judgment on Ponselle or Caruso or Pons unless they have in an opera house and heard them sing in person. Yet Elizabeth Schwartkopf passed judgment on Ponselle's singing only from listening to records. So Schwarzkopf's opinion was worthless? In the case of Ponselle that would mean that only people 82 or over can pass judgment on her singing since she stopped in 1937 or thereabouts. I think you are silly and beating a dead horse, and trying to make points where there aren't any to make. Why don't you give it up?

[Hal]

Hmmm...so no one can opine about a singer unless he or she has heard him/her in person on stage in an opera? So nobody now can opine on Rosa Ponselle's singing unless they are old enough (I would think 82 or more) to have heard her at the Met when she was on stage? Hmmmm....interesting.

[Victor]

No Hal, we have many recordings by the artists you mention. Filianoti? He's young, and we have exactly 0 official recordings of the roles he's famous for (operas such as Lucia, Rigoletto, La Clemenza).

0 recordings, Hal. So how exactly can you pass judgement on his singing? Callas is dead but we have dozens of her recordings. You never answer any followup questions, you just drop contrarian arguments (you are after all the same user who wrote here that Jewish critics have no business writing about Wagner).

Hal, your argument against Filianoti boils down to the fact that since he's not as good as Caruso or Florez (who is, Hal?), then nobody cares what he reads. You can't be serious: you just want to get a rise out of people.