Скачать или смотреть Rita Shane - Argento: MISS HAVISHAM'S FIRE, Mad scene, New York 1979

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THE SONGBIRD: Rita Shane (1936 - 2014) was an American dramatic coloratura from the Bronx. She sang primarily in the United States with many appearances at the New York City Opera (1965 debut as Donna Elvira) and eight seasons at The Met (1973 debut as Queen of the Night) and was Beverly Sills' cover for Rossini's "Siege of Corinth." She actually started there as a secretary with the Metropolitan National Council’s fundraising department in the 1960s. Shane made international guest appearances in many top classical opera cities and festivals. She studied with legendary teacher Beverley Peck Johnson.

THE MUSIC: "Miss Havisham's Fire" by Dominick Argento is loosely based on Charles Dickens' 1861 novel "Great Expectations" and was commissioned by the New York City Opera, where it premiered on March 22, 1979. The full title of the work is "Miss Havisham's Fire: Being an Investigation into the Unusual and Violent Death of Aurelia Havisham on the Seventeenth of April in the Year Eighteen Hundred and Sixty," which encapsulates the libretto's plot device of the coroner conducting an inquest about Aurelia's death, with events seen through flashbacks. The role of Aurelia was double cast: Gianna Rolandi played her in her youth during flashbacks, and Rita Shane played the elderly Aurelia. The role was originally intended as a vehicle for Beverly Sills, but she withdrew from the project, relinquishing the role to Rita Shane. Argento also created a one-act monodrama entitled "Miss Havisham's Wedding Night" which Minnesota Opera premiered in 1981, again with Shane in the title role. In the original full- length opera, Aurelia has a long mad scene that the New York Times critic referred to as "strenuous."