R.I.P. Jessye Norman

[+ Charlie]

The first of several times I saw her she was in her 20s, singing Elisabeth in Tannhauser at Covent Garden. The sound was glorious, but she just stood there like a statue most of the time. A friend of mine had interviewed her in Paris a short time before, and she admitted to him that she was frightened of staged opera performance, and it showed. She got better over the long career, but she was always better to listen to than to watch.

[+ g56whiz]

Reste en paix grand Cassandra!

[sydneyboy]

I heard her once in recital at the Sydney Opera House. A very pure voice but surprisingly not a large voice, or at least that is the way it came across to me. I recall the program was Alban Berg’s Early Songs and Richard Strauss Lieder. I might add she was rapturously received. At a time like this one should concentrate on her greatness as an artist but it is not too disrespectful to point out from informed sources that she could be difficult and highly temperamental. There are some great youtube clips of her artistry in particular Senta’s ballad from the Dutchman. Glorious.

[bostonman]

So sad that she is gone. Also this week, opera critic Martin Bernheimer passed away. May they both rest in peace.

[+ azdr0710]

my quickie news check website, nbcnews dot com (yes, I do look at others), did not mention this at all on their homepage......only a special search at the site brings it up........nbcnews does, though, have room for articles on Harry and Meghan suing a tabloid and on a woman entering a lion enclosure near the top of their homepage........

[sydneyboy]

One question for me about Jessye Norman was how to characterise her voice. She once famously said that she refused to be pigeonholed and that pigeonholes are for pigeons. She was a dramatic soprano that strayed into mezzo roles and has been categorized as a ''falcon'', that rare voice type that is on the threshold of dramatic soprano and mezzo. Her staged repertoire was limited to roles like

Berlioz's ''Cassandre'' and ''Didon'', Gluck's ''Alceste'', Strauss's ''Ariadne'' and Wagner's ''Kundry'', ''Senta'', ''Sieglinde'' and ''Elisabeth'' as well as some 20th century roles by Schoenberg, Janacek, Stravinsky and others. Earlier in her career she sang some Mozart as well as ''Aida''. The question for me is to what extent her operatic repertoire was determined by her voice type, the limits imposed by her substantial physique or personal choice. In regard to the latter point she is on record as saying she was ''attracted to the unusual.''

Could she have made a career centred around dramatic Verdi roles (eg ''Lady Macbeth), more Wagner (eg Brunnhilde and ''Isolde'') and Richard Strauss (eg ''Electra'' which she recorded) if she did not have her physical limitations or the other factors mentioned? She sang excerpts from some of these roles in concert. Although I have not heard it, from reviews one serious error in judgement was her recording of ''Carmen''. I recall one of my favourite reviewers Hugh Canning in ''Opera'' magazine giving it the most scathing review imaginable.

I should end on a positive note. After her Sydney recital the review in the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' was headed ''A rare and superb artist.''

[sydneyboy]

Bump. The thoughts of Opera lovers appreciated.

[+ Charlie]

She was certainly aware that her physical appearance simply was not suited to some roles that required at least a resemblance to the dramatic character, or that required realistic movement, e.g., she didn't perform a staged Carmen. She knew that people came to hear her, not to watch her, so she was most comfortable on a concert stage, but discovered she couldn't make a profitable career out of concerts, so she tried to choose operatic stagings in which she could be relatively static physically. She also preferred concerts because she liked to sing music that was rarely staged. I think she would have been bored with a career of singing the same roles over and over.

 

Like you, I was also surprised that the voice was beautiful but not as overwhelming as one might have expected from her physique, much like the late Rita Hunter.

[+ g56whiz]

For me her voice was a force of nature. My first Jessye Norman was an Ariadne at The Met. I recall the vibrato being so deep (not wide but deep) that my whole body trembled with it. During the Met live in HD broadcast of Turandot Saturday (highly recommended) they paid tribute to Ms Norman with a snippet from her Ariadne. But she could also move you in silence as well as when she turned her back to the audience in Blue-beards Castle or contemplated her doom as Casandra in Les Troyen. I think she guided her career with curiosity and intelligence. She knew she was never going to be a Callas or Tabaldi so she did what she damn well pleased. With that voice and elegant presence I think she would have been a phenomenal Marshallin. [sigh]