Royal Opera House regulars are reeling in disappointment at the news that two of the brightest stars of the operatic firmament have announced cancellations for this autumn.
Rolando Villazón cancelled a number of events during the summer and into the autumn and his management expressed a hope that he would be back for the run of L'elisir d'amore in London. Earlier this week he announced his withdrawal from this and also from the second batch (in addition to the first) of Romeos at the New York Metropolitan Opera, one performance of which I was hoping to get a ticket for.
There have been rumours circulating in the media and on the internet about his health. One rumour is that he has hyperthyroidism and consequent depression and inevitable vocal distress. Which sounds pretty gruesome to me. Apparently depression is a common side-effect of this, although, to my mind, it's a pretty common side-effect of every debilitating illness that leaves one whacked out and unable to follow one's normal pursuits in life. If by chance you happen to be reading, Rolando, I wish you all the very very best and even though I am desperately disappointed that I won't have the chance to see you in either role, I fully understand your reasons and also respect the fact that you have given the ROH sufficient time to look for a replacement but did not hastily cancel too soon back in August. I know that many of my readers will join in wishing a speedy and full recovery. And I am looking forward even more to seeing you in Don Carlo.
And Bryn Terfel has a dropped out of the Ring. Thankfully he was only due to play a minor role, that of Wotan, who only dominates for three quarters of Rheingold, an act and a half of Walküre and, disguised as Wanderer, appears now and then in Siegfried. See, he doesn't even appear in Gotterdammerung. It's not as if the Royal Opera House has built this production around him and has heavily marketed it using his image. (Not that it needed much marketing). Oh, but wait, it has.
It was originally announced as being because of an extremely stressful situation affecting one of his children. Being an extremely empathetic and sympathetic person, I was totally understanding, even going to the extent of defending his integrity on internet newsgroups. Although I don't have kids, I know plenty of people with children about the same age as Bryn's, and understand that there can be all sorts of issues going on: health, or victim-of-bullying, or behavioural problems, or academic struggles, that create more stress than is necessarily apparent to the bystander, and the details are nobody's business.
And then it emerges, the 'extremely stressful' situation is that his six year old son has broken his finger. Seemingly, badly broken, because it needed to be reset in an operation due last week. 'Operation' is always worrying, far more so than 'broken finger'. So, it would be entirely understandable if he had requested two or three days off rehearsals to be with the family at this time. And then Mrs Terfel, or Fricka to her friends, gives an interview to the Mail on Sunday, explaining that the real real reason is that she wants him home. She would prefer if he recorded more crossover albums and did concerts (which presumably pay fatter fees than opera). Which is all perfectly reasonable in making future plans.
However, the whole episode is unprofessional and entirely lacking in integrity. I can't pretend that I bought tickets because it was Bryn; I bought tickets for the Ring Cycle, and knew that I could only contemplate Cycle 2 or Cycle 3, because Plácido is not in Cycle 1. And I made a conscious decision to buy Cycle 3 tickets, because of Bryn. Many of his loyal fans will have booked to travel from afar, will already have booked hotels and travel, perhaps non-refundable, will have booked time off work etc, and will be faced with the choice of cutting their losses and salvaging some money and the time, or attending a Ring at considerable cost whilst dealing with the fact that the object of their admiration and the reason for them travelling such distance has treated them with disdain and disloyalty. Presumably Mrs Fricka Terfel has no idea that the tickets went on sale - and sold out - on 1 November 2006, or that ordinary people try to reduce their costs by booking cheaper, non-refundable travel tickets and hotels. He had a contractual obligation to learn and study the roles and to turn up. People will always understand that singers have to cancel, either because of their own illness, or because of extreme family circumstances - someone cited Montserrat Caballe cancelling when her daughter had meningitis. But when a singer, who is supposedly the lynch pin of a major saga, the biggest thing the Royal Opera has done in years, cancels and shows such contempt for the public - who pay for his affluent lifestyle - the public have every right to show contempt back. Those concerts he will be doing, well I can't see myself being bothered to turn up, to be frank.
In the down-market media, people who know fuck all about fuck all have been praising him for giving up work to spend more time with the family. Well, it isn't like that in the real world. He has had ample opportunity to be at home during the school summer holidays, a luxury denied to most ordinary people in ordinary jobs, who have to be at the mill day-in day-out. Admittedly, that was time he was supposed to have been spending studying his part, but he did give an interview to local media that he hadn't actually started learning Wanderer until August. I would dearly like to send a copy of my bank statement to the Terfels explaining how monthly income less mortgage and bills, less Ring Cycle Tickets, leaves a part-time worker* such as me with a financial deficit.
Norman Lebrecht echoed many of my thoughts.
* but as a highly paid professional with no dependants -- other than the Royal Opera House - I'm not pleading poverty or sympathy, just stating facts. It's not a problem - I remortgaged with Northern Rock at six times income...
