Marlis Petersen - Hamlet's mad scene - Pâle et blonde

German soprano Marlis Petersen as Ophélie singing "Pâle et blonde" in Hamlet's mad scene. Metropolitan Opera, March 24th, 2010

And people, although I admit that Marlis' voice in less than perfect, I think it's really unfair to compare her with Dessay. Dessay has been singing this role for years now, she's an amazing Ophelie, but what Marlis did was also pretty amazing. I mean, she just sang it once before, and then stepped in a production she didn't know, with a cast she didn't know. So please, be realistic. I was there on March 30, and I think she did a pretty good job, even better than this performance. It was very interesting to see an other way to embody this role after what Dessay did, and I really enjoyed it.

Conductor: Louis Langrée
Ophélie: Marlis Petersen
Gertrude: Jennifer Larmore
Laërte: Toby Spence
Hamlet: Simon Keenlyside
Claudius: James Morris

Category:

Music

Tags:

• marlis
• petersen
• ophelie
• ophelia
• ambroise
• thomas
• met
• hamlet
• keelyside
• mad
• scene
• opera

[volcan313]

awful! what a shame! Obviously this is not a role for her! She's not a coloratura : she has no brilliance, no high notes ! she's not agile! Bad diction! No colors in the voice... Dessay must be laughing at hearing this!

[thecelticspirit]

Knowing that she is the one who cancelled, that would be awfully unappropriate. Anyway, I was there the 31st, and she did a very good job. I'm tired of hearing "Dessay would have been better" and so on, She wasn't there, Marlis was and had to be, and given the very short time she had to rehearse, and that she only sang the role once... Again, on the 31st, she was more than correct.

[DessayBestSingerII]

31st? pas 30th?

[thecelticspirit]

30th, whatever

[Rcoppin91]

@thecelticspirit I have to agree with you about Natalie, she would have not done well. But, if I had paid to see this, I would have demanded my money back. Peterson did do an good job with the amount of time she had, but this is not Met worthy.

[thecelticspirit]

@Rcoppin91 Well frankly, I think that the performanvce of Anna Netrebko as Lucia was far worse than what Marlis did. These things happen all the time, the show must go on, sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not. I payed quite an amount of dollars for this show, but I wouldn't dream asking my money back. After all, Keenlyside and Larmore were there...

[WolfofSega]

Marlis Petersen was wonderful!

[Cissy97]

Damn it - she had not had any rest before fluing in from Vienna to join this performance.

On this basis, her singing is well-nigh miraculous.

[cantanteporsiempre]

I like her!! She is so expressive, and her legato is very nice!! a very diferent voice than Dessay indeed.

[emilytransex]

TUTTA INGOLATA.....UN URLO CONTINUO....

[gustopheles]

she's really not awful. The cadenzas are all hideously butchered, but her voice is nice - decent vocal agility, decent high notes.

[gayoperadude63]

having only sung the role a couple of times, isn't really enough to learn how to pace the part. its obvious that she was exhausted by the mad scene,several more productions and she will be fine! she needs time to get more aquainted with the role. are you critics singers? could you walk in and replace Dessay in this role and be competent????? i didn't think so!!!!!

[Transoxiana94]

Knowing that Dessay wasn`t able to perform that night and Petersen had not enough time to rehearse, this is a wonderful performance. I didn`t know this singer before, her voice is SO beautiful! Dramatic coloratura? Delicious!

[Renfeildette]

I feel bad for her. She's taking away some of her natural brilliance to make those high notes. She's hyper-extending her soft palette, and so throwing the whole thing off. :(

[pikamom11]

This chick has the acting chops to play the heroine of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but Ophelie??? No way, Charlie. The Met should have given everyone their money back.

[ChristineFlora]

I saw Marlis at the Met on April 2nd. My son & I were disappointed that Dessay had canceled, but we were in for a surprise.  Marlis was fantastic! I now have Dessay's performance on DVD & she owns the role, but Marlis also does an incredible job as Ophelie. So, calm down, naysayers!

[asisecanta]

nice instrument. the pitty is that she has several technical problems. For instance, we can clearly hear how she takes breath wherever she cans, even in the middle of the phrases and syllabes... Not a singer to sing such a role at the Met....