Thursday, July 16, 2015
WELSH OPERATIC TENOR DAN BEDDOE
The Welsh operatic tenor, Dan Beddoe, was born in Aberdare, Wales, UK on March 16th 1863. He died in December 1937 at the age of 74.
A Cincinnati Enquirer review of a May 1931 performance stated that he "stole the show with voice clear and ringing" with "countless" calls for encores and "with the entire audience of many thousands rising en masse to pay him special tribute."
A December 1931 New York Evening Post article, recalling his singing in the Messiah and the Elijah for the Oratorio Society of New York, noted that he had "been singing for a generation" since his first appearance there in 1903 and described how he was "in marvelous voice and received a standing ovation after each aria he sang.
A New York Times review of the same performance noted that "For Dan Beddoe it was the fortieth year of public appearance. He has become almost indispensable to the Society's performances of the Messiah. The 64-year-old tenor sang as always in keeping with the spirit of the work and with fine musicianship. Age does not stale the many resources of his art."
Here is the great Welsh tenor singing "O Danny Boy:"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3otalrk8Ig
And here is "A Moonlight Song:"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06OJQ_eJTyY
Friday, July 3, 2015
Jozef Sterkens: Golden Voice of the Royal Flemish Opera
Introductory
Note
[Before I can even begin to
tell the story of Jozef Sterkens, I need, first and foremost, to publicly thank
Pierre at Jozefsterkens2.com. for his absolutely indispensable assistance. Pierre 's site is one of the oldest and most
respected on Youtube, and he is certainly the foremost authority on Jozef
Sterkens, after whom he has named his site. I owe to him the videos and the
biography which I have used in the preparation of this article. Secondly, it is important to point out that
Jozef Sterkens' life consists of two distinct parts: artistry and politics, and
the two influenced each other. He was a
leading figure of the Flemish artistic renaissance in Flanders, during the very
stressful period of WWII. I can only deal here with the artistic life.
Edmund St.Austell]
[Before I can even begin to
tell the story of Jozef Sterkens, I need, first and foremost, to publicly thank
Pierre at Jozefsterkens2.com. for his absolutely indispensable assistance. Pierre 's site is one of the oldest and most
respected on Youtube, and he is certainly the foremost authority on Jozef
Sterkens, after whom he has named his site. I owe to him the videos and the
biography which I have used in the preparation of this article. Secondly, it is important to point out that
Jozef Sterkens' life consists of two distinct parts: artistry and politics, and
the two influenced each other. He was a
leading figure of the Flemish artistic renaissance in Flanders, during the very
stressful period of WWII. I can only deal here with the artistic life.
Edmund St.Austell]
Jozef Sterkens (pseudonym of
Jozef Steuren) was born in Antwerp in 1893.
His parents had a laundry in Antwerp, and hoped that young Jozef could
study to become a teacher. He was a good scholar, and so they arranged—although
their funds were limited—to send him to
the Normal School in Ghent, in 1908. Bright boy though he was, he failed
to develop much interest in his studies, generally speaking, but he did have the
chance to take music lessons from the Flemish composer Emiel Hullebroeck, who
soon discovered that young Jozef had a beautiful tenor voice. Hullebroeck
strongly recommended singing lessons, but family finances made it impossible for
Jozef to do anything but become an art teacher after graduation. Within a few
years, WWI broke out, and Jozef joined the armed forces, where he spent the next
four years working as a nurse in a military hospital. While in the army, he had the opportunity,
along with other artists, to sing for soldiers at the front. His patriotic diligence and hard work led to
his being decorated on four different occasions.
After the Armistice, Sterkens
returned to Antwerp and resumed his teaching career, while also studying at the
Royal Flemish Conservatory. In 1923, he sang for the music critic of a local
newspaper, who in turn introduced him to Edmond Borgers, the leading heldentenor
of the Royal Flemish Opera. After
hearing Sterkens sing "In Fernem Land,"
he offered to give him singing lessons.
In that same year, Sterken's career began, in a modernistic vein that
would characterize much of his later work.
His first concerts consisted of works by Flemish composers Peter Benoit,
Jan Blockx, Jef Van Hoof, and Renaat
Veremans, and were presented to largely Flemish-speaking
audiences.
One of the main reasons many
opera lovers, especially in this country, do not know much about Sterkens' career now is that from the very beginning he
became strongly associated with presenting Flemish music, and music in
Flemish. There were two opera houses in
Antwerp: The Royal French Opera and the
Royal Flemish Opera. The French Opera
dedicated itself largely to French and Italian works, and the Flemish house to
German works, and works in Flemish translation.
Because of Sterken's association with the Flemish house, he did not have
much opportunity to sing the French and
Italian repertoire that held so many great roles for tenors. There were strong
political pressures for him to adhere to Flemish. At this time, Flanders, the Dutch-speaking
part of Belgium, was completely dominated by French speakers and French culture,
and the need was greatly felt, by the Flemish, to establish Flemish art and
culture in Flanders. Sterkens was, in
fact, to become an important figure in that Flemish struggle for cultural
liberation.
He joined the Royal Flemish
Opera in 1925, and his first big success was Tamino, in 1927. He quickly became the leading lyric tenor in
the company. The following year he sang
the St. Matthew Passion in Paris, under the baton of the famous Flemish
conductor Lodewijk de Vocht, and made his first recordings for the French
Gramophone Company. He was also becoming a fixture on Belgian radio. In 1929 he sang Florestan opposite the
Leonore of Lotte Lehmann, who was a frequent performer at the Royal Flemish
Opera. During this period, he took part
in presenting the Dutch versions of Sadko (1925), Paganini
(1927), Jenufa (1927), Sly (1929), Die tote Stadt
(1932), and Daphne (1939)
Sterkens' story from this point
until his death in 1952 is primarily a story of administrative work, both at the
Royal Flemish and elsewhere.
Unfortunately, it is a sad one, full of the political intrigues and
politics of the time. He was even jailed
at one point, after the liberation of Antwerp in 1944, for a period of about 8
months. After that, he fell into
obscurity for a long time, but slowly began to regain his reputation. Just at the moment when he was to be given a
significant post as chairman of the Musical Copyright Society, he died of a
heart attack. The year was 1952. It's a
rather depressing story, really. Those interested in reading of these matters in
more detail can consult 401 Divas, http://401dutchdivas.nl/en/belgian-singers/440-jozef-sterkens.html I am indebted to this site for my
biographical information.
I think it is important to
first hear Sterkens in one of the most lyrical and beautiful renditions I know
of the aria "Glück das mir verlieb,"
from Korngold's Die tote Stadt:
Now isn't that just absolutely
beautiful! I certainly think it is! What kind of voice is it, essentially? I think of Sterken's voice as being in the
Gigli/ Tagliavini/ Schipa fach, which is to say high lyric tenor, but with a
decidedly German/Dutch color. If you
associate colors with vocal sounds, this might be called "brown," as compared to the darker, "black" quality of
the typical Italian voice—or at least that of Gigli, perhaps not so much that of
Tagliavini. Of one thing there can be no
question: this is a very beautiful
voice, absolutely without strain or harsh edge, a superb lyric
tenor.
Next, we can hear in Sterken's
voice the introduction of drama, of a dark and mysterious kind, in Respighi's
Campana Sommersa, a mythical
opera concerning a sunken bell between two worlds, the world of humans and that
of fairies. Choices have to be made, and
tragic consequences may hang on the quality of the choice. It is basically a verismo fairy-tale with
dark forebodings:
The voice, while lyric, has
here acquired some edginess; it is also more dramatic, with greater dynamic
variations. Clearly, the potential for
development into a slightly darker voice is there, but it was never pushed. It was always the lyric and the beautiful
that dominated Sterken's singing.
Finally, to illustrate that
point even more, here is a real rarity, the only known film footage of
Sterkens. It is from a silly,
light-hearted comedy of the kind that proliferated during the 1930's. Here is the Dutch song "Elisa," from the
movie "De Witte:
Notice the voix mixte
high C sharp at the end? A famous voice
teacher once told me that opera voices would be better and longer-lived if
singers and conductors ever figured out that most people far prefer what is
pretty to what is simply loud!. Case in
point! I cannot help but wonder what
Sterkens' fate would have been if he had been born in Italy or France, in years
of relative peace, and had had the opportunity to sing extensively in the
standard Latin repertoire of those countries.
I believe I would be telling an entirely different story
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Mabel Garrison, Brilliant Coloratura Soprano
Mabel Garrison was born in Baltimore in1886. She finished
her undergraduate work in 1903 and went on to study singing at Peabody
Conservatory. She studied with George Siemonn and then studied further with
Oscar Saenger and Herbert Witherspoon in New York. She made her debut in 1912
with the Aborn Opera Company as Philine in Mignon. She made her Metropolitan
Opera debut on February 15, 1914 in concert, singing arias from operas by Verdi
and Mozart. Her first role at the Met was Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen. Other
roles included Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore, Bertha in Euryanthe, Biancofiore in
Francesca da Rimini, Crobyle in Thaïs, the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel,
Gilda in Rigoletto, Lady Harriet in Martha, Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera,the
Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute,Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and
Urbain in Les Huguenots.. Her last performance at the Met was as the title role
in Lucia di Lammermoor 1921. First, here is the Garrison voice in its
prime, in the Doll Song from Hoffman:
Mabel Garrison died in New York City on August 20, 1963
Saturday, May 23, 2015
The Great Marcella Sembrich
Marcella Sembrich
(1858 – 1935) was the stage name of the Polish coloratura soprano,
Prakseda Marcelina Kochańska. She was born
in Wisniewczyk, then part of Austria, and now part of Ukraine. She first
studied violin and piano with her father, and later she entered the Lemberg
Conservatory and studied piano with her future husband Wilhelm Stengel . She
was able to enter the Vienna Conservatory in 1875. It was soon discovered that
her voice was exceptional, and she dedicated herself exclusively to voice from
then on. She made her operatic debut at
the relatively tender age of 19 in Athens, as Elvira in I Puritani, in
1877. She was engaged shortly thereafter
by the Vienna Opera, but due to pregnancy she broke the contract. Later, after
the birth of her first son, she had to wait for another opportunity and was
finally hired as a guest artist at the Dresden Royal Opera House in September,
1878, as Lucia. Her success was immediate and she was dubbed the "Polish
Patti." She remained in Dresden for two years, but decided to act
boldly—in order to make up for lost time—and broke her Dresden contract and
began concertizing on her own, in order to raise money. She managed to get to London, and after a
successful audition was accepted at Covent Garden, where she was quick to sign
a contract with them. She created quite a sensation in her 1880 debut there in
Lucia.
Emboldened by her
success, she broke her London contract two years early and came to the United
States in 1883 to make her Met debut, also as Lucia. From there it was on to St. Petersburg, and
eventually back to the Met in 1898, where she finally settled. She remained there until 1909, having given
over 400 performances. She concertized
for years, finally retiring after WWI.
From then on, she dedicated herself to teaching, in important
conservatories. She was very successful
as a teacher, and had significant influence. Among her students were the great
Alma Gluck, Hulda Lashanska, a
successful concert singer, coloratura soprano (and novelist!) Queena Mario, and
dramatic soprano Dusolina Giannini, who had a very successful international
career. Also among her students was
radio vocalist and concertizer Conrad Thibault, who studied with her at Curtis,
and who told the distinguished musical biographer James A. Drake, in an interview in 1976, that “she was always
very attentive and generous to her students, and talked to them personally
about the [singing teachers Francesco and Giovanni Lamperti ] and their methods.” Drake goes on to say, interestingly,
that “He (Thibault) added that at least
in his experience with her, she never demonstrated vocalises or otherwise sang
even so much as a single tone.” * She was also a fundraiser for Polish
causes, following WWI.
Since Lucia played so large a part in her earlier career,
serving as a frequent debut opera, it seems appropriate to begin there. I apologize for the scratchiness of the
recording. I cannot find a better recording
than the one I posted some years ago, and I was not able to clean up the
scratching on the transfer without taking some quality from the voice. Here is the 1906 recording of “Ardon
gl’incensi”:
What most impresses me about this singing is the clarity,
purity, precise intonation, and general absence of affectation, either
stylistic or vocal. It is, as a result, what can honestly be classified as
elegant singing, not always the case with divas of the era. She was often compared to Patti, especially
in her youth, and one can see why: We
note the same clarity and purity of the
voice, including the floating, haunting
tones. Like Patti, Sembrich sings
perfectly on the breath, which is how she is able to portamento up and down so smoothly and
seamlessly, and also trill easily. There is considerable vocal fluidity to be
noted in the singing of both these great divas from the distant past.
Another favorite opera for Sembrich was I Puritani. Here is the lovely “Qui la Voce sua Soave”
from 1907:
Lovely! This is
really very accomplished singing for the period. At the beginning of the aria, the same
“straight,” restrained and haunting melodic line is apparent. One can notice a slight development of weight
in the lower register, compared to the Lucia recording of the previous year,
but it is slight and still well integrated with the rather remarkable top
register. Later in the aria, the great
flexibility so characteristic of her voice is on display: the rapid and well executed cadenzas, with a
brilliant, in-line C sharp inserted, stand out for their precision. It was common during this time for sopranos
to attempt cadenzas they could not really articulate at speed, with the result
that they were in effect glissandi, often musically inappropriate. Not the case here, as it was not the case
with Patti. Sembrich’s intonation and
articulation are both precise, and this is most admirable.
Finally, a 1912 recording of a song from Leo Fall’s 1907
Musical Comedy Die Dollarprinzessin (“The Dollar Princess”):
Sembrich was 54 years when this was recorded. What we finally have here is a wonderful
recording, first of all because the recording itself, as an artifact, has been
cleaned up to such a degree that it gives us a very real look at her
singing! The digital transfer was done
by my friend Doug at Curzon Road, one of the best classical music sites on the
web. He is extremely skilled at creating
audio files from old recordings, and this is so important. I feel I can very nearly hear the voice of
this singer from long ago with a clarity resembling what one might hear in the
opera house. Several things become
apparent; first, the purity of intonation and articulation of which we have
spoken is not an aural illusion from faded 107-year-old records! It is very real, and absolutely
characteristic of the voice and training.
Second, the vocal registers remain superbly well integrated; there are
no “register scoops” and there is no inappropriate “huskiness” in the lower
register at all. The purity of the high
soprano voice remains spotless even at age 54.
This is a diva who deserves her reputation! A fine, elegant, articulate, vocally and
stylistically immaculate first lady of the lyric stage!
*My thanks to Jim Drake for sharing this information with me.
*My thanks to Jim Drake for sharing this information with me.
Sunday, May 17, 2015
The Great French Tenor Alain Vanzo
Alain Vanzo (1928-
2002) was a French opera singer who attained international standing in the
postwar era. Along with such singers as
Henri Legay and the Canadian Léopold Simoneau, he represented a traditional
French lyric style during a period when larger Italian and German vocal styles
had become popular. Vanzo was born in Monte Carlo, the son of a Mexican father
and a French mother. He started singing at a young age in the church choir. At
18, he was singing popular songs with a small band, and began performing at the
Théâtre du Châtelet, during the 1951-52 season, as a double for Luis Mariano in
the operetta Le Chanteur de Mexico.
Later, in 1954, he won an important singing contest in Cannes.
Virtually from the beginning, Vanzo was blessed with a high
lyric voice of uncommon beauty and range.
One can very easily get the idea of the young man’s singing voice from
the following exceptional rendition of the famous tenor aria from I Puritani, a
death trap for even great tenors. Here
is “A te o Cara”:
Vanzo was then immediately invited to sing at the Opéra-Comique
and at the Palais Garnier, quickly establishing himself in the standard French
lyric repertory, such as Nadir in Les
pêcheurs de perles, Gérald in Lakmé,
Faust, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette, Vincent in Mireille, des Grieux in Manon,
etc. He also sang the Italian repertory, such as the Duke in Rigoletto,
Alfredo in La Traviata, Rodolfo in La Bohème. He won great acclaim at the
Palais Garnier in 1960, as Edgardo in Lucia
di Lammermoor, opposite Joan Sutherland who was making her debut there. This was the beginning of an
international career with appearances at many of the major opera houses in
Europe, including the Royal Opera House in London, La Monnaie in Brussels, the
Liceo in Barcelona, the Vienna State Opera. Vanzo also appeared in North America,
on tour with the Paris Opera, singing Faust, and in South America at the Teatro
Colón in Les contes d'Hoffmann. He sang at Carnegie Hall in New York, as
Gennaro, in the famous 1965 concert version of Lucrezia Borgia, opposite
Montserrat Caballé. Here is a wonderful performance of the famous
Pearl Fishers duet, with the remarkable baritone Gerard Bacquier:
It is generally only occasionally that one hears this great duet sung by truly great French singers. This can actually make a difference. In comparison to other accomplished singers, native speakers of the language of the opera can have an advantage in eloquence and precision of diction and presentation and the entire musical rendering can be changed as a result. It is hard to imagine two singers better suited for this music than Vanzo and Bacquier.
As the years went by, Vanzo extended his repertory to more dramatic roles, such as Arrigo in the original French version of I Vespri Siciliani, Adorno in Simon Boccanegra, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Robert in Robert le Diable, Raoul in Les Huguenots, Mylio in Le roi d'Ys, and became internationally renowned as one of best exponents of the role of Benvenuto Cellini and Werther.
Vanzo never officially retired, singing well into his 60s,
mostly in recital, and appearing frequently on French television. He left
relatively few commercial recordings, the most famous being Lakmé, opposite
Joan Sutherland, and conducted by Richard Bonynge.
Vanzo also composed, writing songs and two major works, the
operetta Pêcheur d'Etoile which premiered at Lille, in 1972, and the lyrical
drama Les Chouans, which premiered at Avignon, in 1982.
Alain Vanzo died in Paris on January 27, 2002 of
complications following a stroke. He was 73.
Finally, I think it makes sense to take a last look at Vanzo singing one of
his signature roles, and that is
Werther: “Why awaken me, oh sigh of
Springtime.” Although the quality of the
video image is poor, the audio is acceptable:
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Beverly Sills: A Great American Soprano
Beverly
Sills, (Belle Miriam Silverman) was born in 1929 in Brooklyn, New York. Her
parents were Ukrainian immigrants, and as a child Sills was exposed to many
languages at home, including French, Yiddish, and Russian, along with her native
English. This exposure gave her a very natural facility with foreign languages,
which was helpful in her later career.
Sills was precocious in the extreme as a child. Starting by
winning a child beauty contest at the age of 3, she began performing on the
radio at the age of 4 as "Bubbles" Silverman. She started taking lessons with
Estelle Liebling, and by 1937, when she was 8 years old, she had appeared in a
film, released the following year, which fortunately is preserved and viewable
on Youtube. Because it tells us so very much about her, I think that here is a
good place to see it. The film is called "Uncle Sol Solves It," and it is far
more than a vaudeville shtick because of the difficulty of the piece, and the
serious way Sills sings. Notice the extraordinary presence and charm of this
little girl! Also, watch the video to the very end and notice Uncle Sol's final
advice to her:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAz2HgSZaDs
Now how adorable is that!? The amazing thing is that she handles the fioratura quite well! Also, she has been taught, or naturally understands, what the great bel canto tenor Fernando de Lucía once told his student Georges Thill: "...per cantare bene, bisogna aprire la bocca!!" Which little Bubbles did! It's not hard to see why they called her "Bubbles," is it:-) Also, one other thing needs to be noticed. Did you notice Uncle Sol's advice at the end? Stay right here and study in this country., no matter how hanxious your hancestors are to do otherwise:-) .....we have great teachers here. That was one of the first things I noticed. It is important, because this was the grateful and patriotic attitude of so many at that time. The culture these Jewish immigrants, largely from Russia and Eastern Europe, brought to this country was enormous, beyond measure. You can see it in Sill's life-long attitude and work, and also in the attitudes of Jan Peerce, Roberta Peters, and many others. What they went on to contribute—and still do—is a story in itself, one of which every American can be proud, and for which all should be grateful.
Liebling encouraged little Beverly to appear on radio talent shows, which she did, and won a series of them, bringing increasing attention to herself. By age 16, she had joined a Gilbert and Sullivan touring company and began accumulating practical stage experience. Two years later, at 18, she made her operatic stage debut as the Spanish gypsy Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen with the Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company. By 1953, when she was 24, she appeared with the San Francisco opera as Helen of Troy in Boito's Mefistofele, and also sang Elivra in Don Giovanni with them the same year. From this moment on, her career virtually exploded. She went on, over the course of her career, to sing very many roles, in virtually all the major houses. Although she sang a repertoire from Handel, Mozart and Puccini, to Massenet and Verdi, she was known for her performances in coloratura soprano roles. Favorite operas were Lucia, La Fille du Régiment, Manon, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, The Barber of Seville, Roberto Devereux, La Traviata, and I Puritani.
Sills' life was music, from beginning to end: it never stops. The honors and accolades were extraordinary, as was her public relations work on behalf of music and charity, her administrative work at New York City Opera, and The Metropolitan. It is a vast biography, much too long to discuss here, but very easily consulted. Also, she has written an autobiography She was, without question, one of the most famous and respected figures in mid-twentieth century American cultural life.
Let us turn to Sills the artist. Here she is in her preferred repertoire, singing "Come per me sereno" from Bellini's La Sonnambula. It is a real coloratura tour-de-force. The trills, fioratura, and (very) high notes are simply stunning. It is a video of a certain length (nine minutes). If you have not the time to listen to it all now, skip the recitative. You don't want to miss any fireworks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuaGuKrq9fY
There simply can be no doubt about that technique. It is extraordinary, by any standard. The principles of bel canto singing have been thoroughly internalized, to the point where they simply come to define the singing. Few other sopranos of the twentieth century could match those trills. Sutherland could, but after that one starts to run down the list. Just amazing. And the speed of the coloratura is dazzling. This is a woman who was almost born singing, and was well taught from childhood. I would be so bold as to say that her technique was second to none.
Finally, from an American opera, the "Willow Song" from The Ballad of Baby Doe, by Douglas Moore. Sills distinguished herself in this opera, and was Moore's personal favorite in the title role (watch her, around 2:50, pick a D natural above high C out of the air!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNg8VGrIqls&feature=related
To a very great soprano, from a grateful American public—Thank you, Bubbles!
Sills was precocious in the extreme as a child. Starting by
winning a child beauty contest at the age of 3, she began performing on the
radio at the age of 4 as "Bubbles" Silverman. She started taking lessons with
Estelle Liebling, and by 1937, when she was 8 years old, she had appeared in a
film, released the following year, which fortunately is preserved and viewable
on Youtube. Because it tells us so very much about her, I think that here is a
good place to see it. The film is called "Uncle Sol Solves It," and it is far
more than a vaudeville shtick because of the difficulty of the piece, and the
serious way Sills sings. Notice the extraordinary presence and charm of this
little girl! Also, watch the video to the very end and notice Uncle Sol's final
advice to her:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAz2HgSZaDs
Now how adorable is that!? The amazing thing is that she handles the fioratura quite well! Also, she has been taught, or naturally understands, what the great bel canto tenor Fernando de Lucía once told his student Georges Thill: "...per cantare bene, bisogna aprire la bocca!!" Which little Bubbles did! It's not hard to see why they called her "Bubbles," is it:-) Also, one other thing needs to be noticed. Did you notice Uncle Sol's advice at the end? Stay right here and study in this country., no matter how hanxious your hancestors are to do otherwise:-) .....we have great teachers here. That was one of the first things I noticed. It is important, because this was the grateful and patriotic attitude of so many at that time. The culture these Jewish immigrants, largely from Russia and Eastern Europe, brought to this country was enormous, beyond measure. You can see it in Sill's life-long attitude and work, and also in the attitudes of Jan Peerce, Roberta Peters, and many others. What they went on to contribute—and still do—is a story in itself, one of which every American can be proud, and for which all should be grateful.
Liebling encouraged little Beverly to appear on radio talent shows, which she did, and won a series of them, bringing increasing attention to herself. By age 16, she had joined a Gilbert and Sullivan touring company and began accumulating practical stage experience. Two years later, at 18, she made her operatic stage debut as the Spanish gypsy Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen with the Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company. By 1953, when she was 24, she appeared with the San Francisco opera as Helen of Troy in Boito's Mefistofele, and also sang Elivra in Don Giovanni with them the same year. From this moment on, her career virtually exploded. She went on, over the course of her career, to sing very many roles, in virtually all the major houses. Although she sang a repertoire from Handel, Mozart and Puccini, to Massenet and Verdi, she was known for her performances in coloratura soprano roles. Favorite operas were Lucia, La Fille du Régiment, Manon, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, The Barber of Seville, Roberto Devereux, La Traviata, and I Puritani.
Sills' life was music, from beginning to end: it never stops. The honors and accolades were extraordinary, as was her public relations work on behalf of music and charity, her administrative work at New York City Opera, and The Metropolitan. It is a vast biography, much too long to discuss here, but very easily consulted. Also, she has written an autobiography She was, without question, one of the most famous and respected figures in mid-twentieth century American cultural life.
Let us turn to Sills the artist. Here she is in her preferred repertoire, singing "Come per me sereno" from Bellini's La Sonnambula. It is a real coloratura tour-de-force. The trills, fioratura, and (very) high notes are simply stunning. It is a video of a certain length (nine minutes). If you have not the time to listen to it all now, skip the recitative. You don't want to miss any fireworks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuaGuKrq9fY
There simply can be no doubt about that technique. It is extraordinary, by any standard. The principles of bel canto singing have been thoroughly internalized, to the point where they simply come to define the singing. Few other sopranos of the twentieth century could match those trills. Sutherland could, but after that one starts to run down the list. Just amazing. And the speed of the coloratura is dazzling. This is a woman who was almost born singing, and was well taught from childhood. I would be so bold as to say that her technique was second to none.
Finally, from an American opera, the "Willow Song" from The Ballad of Baby Doe, by Douglas Moore. Sills distinguished herself in this opera, and was Moore's personal favorite in the title role (watch her, around 2:50, pick a D natural above high C out of the air!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNg8VGrIqls&feature=related
To a very great soprano, from a grateful American public—Thank you, Bubbles!
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Renee Doria: Iron Woman
Renée Doria: Iron Woman
By Father Cornelius Mattei
Born at Perpignan on February 13, 1921
to a musical family, she studied both piano and voice, making her professional
début as a singer, age 18, in concert. A protegée of composer and conductor
Reynaldo Hahn, she stepped onto the operatic stage for the first time as Rosina
in the Barber of Seville at Marseille
in 1942. Not long ago there surfaced an air-check of a performance from Radio
Provence late that year: she sings Constanza’s ¨aria di salita,¨ under Hahn’s
baton, following their performances of ¨Abduction¨ at the Cannes Casino. Let’s
hear it:
A lyric ¨soprano d’agilità,¨ Doria was
soon singing in theaters in wartime France under the stressful conditions then
prevalent on both sides of the line of demarcation, eventually making her Paris
début as Lakmé at the Gaieté Lyrique in 1943, the same rôle serving for her
début on October 20 1946 at the Opéra Comique. From a contemporary radio
broadcast, here she is in that calling-cardrôle, with André Pernet as
Nilakantha:
Other rôles
followed: Rosina, Olympia, Philine, Manon, Leïla, Violetta. On January 4, 1947,
she made her début at the Opéra as the queen of the night in The Magic Flute, a rôle which she dropped
permanently after two performances only, thereafter preferring Pamina, another
of the eleven Mozart roles which figured in her répertoire, often in both the
original language, and sometimes in multiple French translations! Mme.Doria
performed at both Paris theaters until the dawn of the 1960s, amid an intensive
and extensive career in the then still very active theaters throughout France
as well as Belgium, in Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and
Britain. Listen to this unusual rarity from a RadioNetherlands broadcast, circa
1947:
Renée Doria
was the last ¨historic¨ Ophélie in Thomas’ ¨Hamlet,¨appearing with that American
prodigal son, Endrèze during his farewell to the rôle. She also sang, if memory
serves, two performances of Don Pasquale
with Tito Schipa, that artist’s only staged opera performances in Paris.
Married to the recording producer, vocal
connoisseur and collector Guy Dumazert, Mme. Doria recorded extensively, almost
always those things she sang on stage or in concert. One of the things which
needs be mentioned here is that through her recording of Thaïs...another of her successes onstage... she had an impact on
many, if not most, sopranos who listened to the following scene and have
thereafter attempted the high pianissimo...twice as long as the note in the
printed score:
As with LauriVolpi’s extended high B at
the end of ¨Nessun dorma,¨ or Vickers’ emendations in ¨Peter Grimes,¨ the
tailoring of the score to the talents, preferences and style of a distinguished
interpreter has an inevitable impact when it creates a memorable effect, as
here.
The other subject which needs, in my
opinion, to be mentioned, is the subject of vocal timbre. Although recorded ab extenso. Mme Doria’s voice was, as
with many crystalline soprano voices, from Melba and dal Monte to Luciana
Serra, not very faithfully captured by recording technology: the simple, clear
sound has never been favored by either horn or microphone. The rich aureola of harmonics which surround such
a sound...in the theater… a sound whose very top tones are set upon a solid
integration of chest resonance throughout the entire vocal range, thus ensuring
stability, longevity and retention of the top tones through a long career. What
sounds like a hard, shrill quality, to those who know such voices in person,
results from distortion excited and exacerbated by the microphones’ favoring of
dark or ¨rich’ sounds, the cultivation of which has demonstrably shortened the
careers of a number of prominent soprani,abridging
their high tones and introducing a ¨wobble¨ as a result of cutting the ¨head¨
resonancefree from anchoring in the ¨chest.¨ Here is Renée Doria, in a rôle which she did
not perform onstage, but recorded to critical acclaim on both sides of the
Atlantic-- Fanny in Massénet’s ¨Sapho¨:
That was in 1978, and was her last
complete opera recording. Continuing to sing in concert after her farewell to
the operatic stage in 1981, as late as 1993, she was still recording. Let’s
sample one of those last sessions:
Why ¨Iron
Woman?¨ Well, Renée Doria, over the course of her career, performed feats of endurance
which bear testament to her skill, determination and ironclad technique: three Manons
and three Mireilles during the course of single weekends at the Opéra Comique (Friday
and Saturday evenings, Sunday matinée)... her scheduled performances and
covering for indisposed colleagues. Two other memorable occasions of heavy
lifting also deserve mention: once, following a Thursday night Rosina at the
Comique, she sang Violetta at the Opéra on Saturday night, hopped on a night
train to Strasbourg and sang ¨Thaïs¨ en matinée the following afternoon. On
another occasion, she began her week singing two ¨Manon¨ in Geneva, passed, once
more through Strasbourg, singing all three heroines in ¨Hoffman,¨ and rounding
off the calendar week in two ¨Lucia di Lammermoor¨ appearances at Rouen.
Children, don’t try that at home! Lets
bid farewell, but not goodbye to her, as Louise :
Subtle,
discreet. A deeply felt performance free of eccentricity and self indulgence.
Father Cornelius Mattei
Father Cornelius Mattei
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