The Price paid for the High Note

This is a topic which COMMANDOpera regards with extreme concern. Perhaps the correct way to begin such an article would have to be the words uttered by Miss Maria Callas early in the 1960′s regarding the performances of Miss Joan Sutherland under the auspices of her husband Sir Richard Bonynge. Miss Callas observed; “They’re single handedly ruining in two years the work I took an entire career to create”. For years I thought of this statement as mere sour grapes on the part of Miss Callas given the trajectory of Miss Sutherland’s career. Years later during the ’80s when Miss Sutherland had assumed the role of Anna Bolena and was singing it everywhere, she and Sir Richard gave an interview in Chicago. Here is the interview… begin to pay serious attention commencing at 3:15 and ending at 3:42:

Those 27 seconds represent the vindication of the words of Miss Callas, and a repudiation of the early work of Maestro Bonynge and Miss Sutherland.

Miss Callas is the most significant and influential post war artist in opera for a reason. She revived the masterpieces and revealed to audiences the great dramatic power each opera deservedly owned. In doing so, Miss Callas removed the acceptability of birdlike singing which had become rampant and considerably ruined the art form as it was meant to be. Enter Miss Sutherland in 1959 with brilliant high notes and fioriture to spare, and opera was once again brought to being a sport. Scarcely an art form, for when people came to the opera with the advent of Miss Sutherland, they came to be thrilled by the prospect of high notes and the possibility of an artist missing one….. rather than to be taken to another plane with the drama itself. It became a sort of warfare between the two ideologies. Dramatic interpretation versus vocal acrobatics.

Further evidence of the simplicity of listeners is that phenomenal artists such as Miss Leyla Gencer who directly followed Miss Callas and could have continued her work were simply ignored by the media. While it is true Miss Callas used high notes in virtually every early performance, this can be considered more of an instrument to gain attention to her work. Conversely however, she was raked over the coals for her ‘ugly’ (translation; not birdlike) voice during the same period. The media and subsequently opera goers who were giddy with the fioriture of Miss Sutherland found primacy of place for Miss Sills, and Miss Caballe (who did not own high notes, but had a unique use of pianissimo which was a histrionic of its own associated solely with this artist). Even as all of this was going on in the mid sixties, there were artists who vigorously attempted to follow the dramatic route by essaying hefty roles in the Callas manner. Miss Elena Souliotis and Miss Sylvia Sass for example gained a welcomed notoriety for a time, before the extremity of the task wore the young vocal instruments down to insignificance.

Miss Souliotis sings Abigaille’s cabaletta ‘Salgo gia del trono aurato’ correctly.  

Consider the strange career of  the Bulgarian soprano Miss Ghena Dimitrova, an artist with a vocal instrument of extraordinary volume, yet did not own any modest facility to imbue drama by virtue of colouring and shading. Miss Dimitrova had begun to make a name for herself singing the early dramatic works of Miss Callas in the same venues with the same raw intensity. More than any other was as Abigaille in Nabucco, at the Verona Arena where the performances are clearly identified with the early Callas period, as was the role of Abigaille (although Miss Callas only essayed the role once at the San Carlo in Naples). The reality that has become clearer today, is that Miss Dimitrova’s use of volume was yet another histrionic; unique in the same way as pianissimo was to Miss Caballe. The hidden story here though was that now, a histrionic (the use of extreme volume) was being applied to the heavier repertoire for the first time. Combine this with Miss Dimitrova’s ability to challengingly scoop at a high C , and guess who would be calling… ? As would be natural to take advantage of the moment, the Teatro alla Scala  determined to mount Nabucco given an Abigaille of Miss Dimitrova’s fame now existed. Maestro Muti was going to utilise the work as his own inaugural into the history of the theatre. However as the story goes, the Maestro paced the work in such a way and had the soprano revise her interpretation to such a degree, the artist could not accomplish the optional final C at the end of the cabaletta which follows ‘Ben io t’invenni’, the note that had made her reputation (a note by the way that did not come easily to the artist, but she knew what audiences bayed for). At the precise second directly after this occurs the eyes of the bass who is singing the high priest widen in shock, Miss Dimitrova looks at him breifly mouth agape, then the camera pans to Maestro Muti who is crashing the final chords of the scene and is obviously livid at the missed note. Needless to say, even the audience (loggione included) at the Teatro alla Scala was so stunned, no one booed but only mild applause could be mustered. The entire video of this opera can be found uploaded on YouTube in sections: however this single section was removed as it evidently so infuriated the uploader. The number of recordings where this note of Miss Dimitrova’s was missed and won has taken on a life of its own on YouTube, amusingly underlining the core of this article.

Miss Dimitrova (not in good voice) delivers the volume but not the note at Orange.

The long term and serious concern of the diminution of opera through the incautious use of histrionics does not rest solely within the dominion of the soprano range. The tenor Mr. Juan Diego Florez has made a similar career trajectory as Miss Sutherland, albeit without even a minor courteous nod to drama. Some lesser pundits would consider this artist as the next incarnation of Mr. Pavarotti. This parallel is as silly as suggesting Miss Callas and Miss Sutherland were of the same ilk. Mr. Pavarotti like Miss Callas imbued his work with the intention to compel the listener to feel the drama deeply; the high notes were there for dramatic purpose only. Perhaps Mr. Pavarotti’s associations with Miss Sutherland had a beneficial effect on the subsequent viewpoints regarding Miss Sutherland’s work, however this same association highlighted Mr. Pavarotti’s high notes to the peril of his intense dramatic work. Mr. Florez on the other hand is a confection clearly suited for those audiences who demand the fluff of high notes alone.

Mr. Florez performs 9 high C’s in thin voice.

Perhaps the best way to close this article is to offer the readers the final moments of Anna Bolena as portrayed by Miss Callas. Some would say taking a high note for the finale is the ultimate show of defiance. COMMANDOpera disagrees without reserve; if the entire scene is shaded correctly the high note could only detract from the tragedy at the final closing seconds. Miss Callas understood Anna Bolena as a woman and Queen known to all and judged by history. There could be no mistakes as she guided the heroine inexorably towards her death through beheading. Imagine the fear of anyone who knows they are about to die within minutes, yet on the other hand, recognises it is precisely the dignity one brings to the moment is all that will be recalled down the corridor of history. The gravitas in the unembellished colouring of this scene draws a portrait so completely harrowing it remains unmatched in the annals of opera to this day.