Classical Notes: November 20, 2006 Archive

Roles Royce

Posted at 9:16 AM on November 20, 2006 by John Birge (1 Comments)
Filed under: The blog

100 years ago today, Charles Rolls and Frederick Royce incorporated their new automotive venture Rolls-Royce, Ltd. Of Rolls-Royce, soprano Zinka Milanov comes to mind. She was famous for Verdi, especially Aida, which she sang at the Metropolitan Opera seventy-five times. After Birgit Nilsson’s first performance as Aida at the Met, Zinka Milanov climbed into a Rolls-Royce limousine that was waiting for Nilsson. As she step inside, Milanov said:

“If Madame Nilsson takes my roles, I must take her Rolls!”

BTW, for a musical tribute to another great automotive centennial, see entry and link for November 17.

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Retirement for Mutter? "Nein"

Posted at 4:24 PM on November 20, 2006 by John Birge
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Anne-Sophie Mutter on a radio interview in which she purportedly declared she would be retiring from the concert stage in two years on her 45th birthday:

"No! No no no no! That statement was completely misinterpreted. I've always said that I would not go on forever, because I didn't want to fall into the trap of just repeating myself. When I think I cannot bring anything new, anything important, anything different to music, I will stop. But this is not related to age!"

She also says that despite their recent divorce, she and Andre Previn remain friends, and will continue to perform together. Full interview here.