When von Karajan recorded Aida in 1959, Tebaldi complained that his unwontedly early recording sessions were beginning at an hour when she was customarily still asleep–or at least her voice was.
A friend had given me his ticket for the Met Opera’s dress rehearsal of The Rake’s Progress, Friday morning a week ago at 10:30 a.m. Everyone must have been up for hours. Their voices had risen and shone and they were wearing full fig, etc. They ran through the entire opera without interruption.
It was the earliest performance I’ve ever been to, although I’ve attended matinees in Russia that began at 11:30 or even 11:00 a.m..
During Rake’s intermission, I ran over to the Pain Quotidian on 65th Street and had a muffin and coffee–to get with the real AM idea.
There are two performances of Rake left this season–they’re at civilized evening and afternoon hours:
June 7 & June 11.