Sherman, come on! He might have asked her the obvious question, why did it it take her so long to get to the Met? She was 38! Did she wait or did they?
Both?; did she address the issue in her book? She did decide to take a sabbatical from opera for a while. The MET probably offered her "normal" parts which she didn't want to do there at that stage, waiting for the more unusual things she could do without being compared to other divas of the day? I got your question about the interviewer for Lotte/Maria but it doesn't appear on the site now, did you delete it because you figured out who it was? I had no idea! I was going to suggestion posting that question on Parterre to see if any of the "old timers" might recognize the voice!
@@JussiTTvanVickTheOperaAddict My point was, Sherman should have asked, for inquiring minds. (The book was a while later, I believe.) As for the other, I've forgotten if I took it off. Probably because it was snarky. :-)
Jessye never had metal ie squillo in her voice because she was never properly trained. She was unfortunately one of a myriad of talented singers who dedicated their lives to this art form, but weren’t taught the proper mechanics of bel canto singing. Somewhere along the line the essence of this tradition was lost in translation. Gone were the days of singers learning from other singers, replaced by well meaning academics who unfortunately had no clue how to train a voice. I always wondered why she was so often flat and her upper register so thin. Had she learned to properly utilize chest voice in her singing I have no doubt she could have conquered all of the principal dramatic soprano roles just as Birgit Nilsson, Kirsten Flagstad, Renata Tebaldi, Gina Cigna and Maria Callas had before her.
@@cliffgaither You’re splitting hairs. The point is that Jessye never sang any of the major dramatic roles, some of which Renata did. Whatever issues Renata may have had she was never consistently flat as a board like Jessye.
@omar505 :: I'm _splitting hairs_ ? 😏 It doesn't matter that J.N. _never sang [ the standard ] "dramatic" roles._ ( She did sing _Aida_ in the 70s. ) R.T. never sang _Carmen_ or Wagner. R.T. never sang in a variety of languages or different styles of different composers. J.N. chose her rep. very carefully and with that meticulous care, she had a highly-respected, international career ; far-more prestigious than R.T. whose top notes dare not go too high ; otherwise, risking her upper-voice slapping her in the face instead of flowing out to the audience.
@omar505 :: When you find a recording of Renata Tebaldi singing Haydn's _Armida,_ get back to me ; until then, it would be better to stick to singers, not in Ms. Norman's class, especially Tebaldi. _[When you improve your listening skills you will hear Norman's chest-voice in Ariadne's Monologue.]_ In your fruitless search, try looking for Tebaldi's recordings of Brahms, Chauson, Berg, _Senta's Ballad_ and Tchaikovsky. _( Blue Beard's Castle ? or Brunnhilde's Immolation ?_ ) You might have better luck --- oh, oh, I know ! --- Strauss ! Yeah ! Try Strauss !
@@cliffgaither Jessye’s recording of Aida was awful, she was flat the whole time. She quickly took that role out of her rep. Her recording of Carmen was also awful. She sounded like Carmen’s grandmother and that slow tempo didn’t help. I don’t debate opera fans so carry on.
Sherman, come on! He might have asked her the obvious question, why did it it take her so long to get to the Met? She was 38! Did she wait or did they?
Both?; did she address the issue in her book? She did decide to take a sabbatical from opera for a while. The MET probably offered her "normal" parts which she didn't want to do there at that stage, waiting for the more unusual things she could do without being compared to other divas of the day?
I got your question about the interviewer for Lotte/Maria but it doesn't appear on the site now, did you delete it because you figured out who it was? I had no idea! I was going to suggestion posting that question on Parterre to see if any of the "old timers" might recognize the voice!
@@JussiTTvanVickTheOperaAddict My point was, Sherman should have asked, for inquiring minds. (The book was a while later, I believe.) As for the other, I've forgotten if I took it off. Probably because it was snarky. :-)
Jessye never had metal ie squillo in her voice because she was never properly trained. She was unfortunately one of a myriad of talented singers who dedicated their lives to this art form, but weren’t taught the proper mechanics of bel canto singing. Somewhere along the line the essence of this tradition was lost in translation. Gone were the days of singers learning from other singers, replaced by well meaning academics who unfortunately had no clue how to train a voice. I always wondered why she was so often flat and her upper register so thin. Had she learned to properly utilize chest voice in her singing I have no doubt she could have conquered all of the principal dramatic soprano roles just as Birgit Nilsson, Kirsten Flagstad, Renata Tebaldi, Gina Cigna and Maria Callas had before her.
omar :: Renata Tebaldi was not a dramatic soprano ; she, too, had problems with her upper-voice.
@@cliffgaither You’re splitting hairs. The point is that Jessye never sang any of the major dramatic roles, some of which Renata did. Whatever issues Renata may have had she was never consistently flat as a board like Jessye.
@omar505 ::
I'm _splitting hairs_ ? 😏
It doesn't matter that J.N. _never sang [ the standard ] "dramatic" roles._
( She did sing _Aida_ in the 70s. )
R.T. never sang _Carmen_ or Wagner.
R.T. never sang in a variety of languages or different styles of different composers.
J.N. chose her rep. very carefully and with that meticulous care, she had a highly-respected, international career ; far-more prestigious than R.T. whose top notes dare not go too high ; otherwise, risking her upper-voice slapping her in the face instead of flowing out to the audience.
@omar505 ::
When you find a recording of Renata Tebaldi singing Haydn's _Armida,_ get back to me ; until then, it would be better to stick to singers, not in Ms. Norman's class, especially Tebaldi.
_[When you improve your listening skills you will hear Norman's chest-voice in Ariadne's Monologue.]_
In your fruitless search, try looking for Tebaldi's recordings of Brahms, Chauson, Berg, _Senta's Ballad_ and Tchaikovsky. _( Blue Beard's Castle ? or Brunnhilde's Immolation ?_ ) You might have better luck --- oh, oh, I know ! --- Strauss ! Yeah ! Try Strauss !
@@cliffgaither Jessye’s recording of Aida was awful, she was flat the whole time. She quickly took that role out of her rep. Her recording of Carmen was also awful. She sounded like Carmen’s grandmother and that slow tempo didn’t help. I don’t debate opera fans so carry on.