Which of today's greats are tomorrow's legends?
It's fascinating to wonder how many of today's leading singers will be revered by our children
James Inverne 2:41pm GMT 22nd June 2010
Reading the various obituaries of the great Maureen Forrester this week, a thought occurred. When I was a boy - and still now, actually - my father would regale me with stories of the legendary singers he had seen, actually witnessed with his own eyes and ears, on stage. Callas, Gobbi, Vickers, Di Stefano, I knew the parade of glory well, and was suitably awed.
And often I used to see singers myself and would think, "This is an occasion I can tell my children about." But I wonder if that is the case in quite the same way. Callas, Gobbi, Vickers, these legends are known to many as much as anything through their many big opera recordings. Devotion was built up, set by set, over years. The luckiest new stars would be seized upon, and in part created, by a record company - and not just tenors and sopranos. For every Callas (EMI's resident Italianate soprano) vs Tebaldi (Decca) duel, there were other rivalries elsewhere - Sherrill Milnes, Renato Bruson and Piero Cappuccilli among the baritones, Grace Bumbry, Fiorenza Cossotto and Shirley Verrett among the mezzos, and so on.
So the question is - with fewer opera sets being made by major companies, with all the attendant hype and marketing budgets that majors traditionally commanded, how many of today's crop of singers will be remembered and revered by future generations? Who are the legends of today? Will my children be awed to hear, say, that I saw Leiferkus's Scarpia, or Kaufmann's Don José, or Finley's Onegin, or Furlanetto’s Philip II? Who else? Gheorghiu? Fleming? Villazón? Bostridge? Keenlyside?
Who do you think will stand the test of time?
Comments
After this year's extraordinary production of Billy Budd at Glyndebourne, it's hard to imagine that future generations will forget John Mark Ainsley. It was exciting to realise that a singer whose performances I have been enjoying for nearly 20 years had made the step from compelling singer to great artist, and that as an enthusiast I had been there to see the gradual transformation.
Recently in Berlin had thrill of seeing Ruggero Raimondi at the Deutsche Oper reprising his famous Scarpia at age 68! I still have an advertising poster for the release of the late 70's Karajan Tosca recording and recall that Raimondi was at that time regarded as a surprise choice in reviews. Since then he also featured on Pappano's film version now preserved on DVD and although fewer studio recordings are made much more is preserved on film, not just in the opera house but for example Robert Dornhelm's cinema Boheme with Villazon and Netrebko takes opera to a wider audience.
The evolution and establishment of reputations is a mysterious process, not easy to predict. Having seen Pavarotti play to half-full houses when he was close to his peak in the mid-70s, later to sing before ecstatic tens of thousands when he was long past his best, I’ve realized fame is a kind of self-feeding and partially subjective phenomenon. To take one controversial example, the sanctification of Kathleen Ferrier is a mystery to many people outside the U.K.. Yet to me, growing up in England, she was the best-known classical singer of my generation, perhaps with Callas not far behind.
One thing that seems very likely, and this is brought to mind by mention of Ainsley and Keenlyside earlier, future reputations will be based on more than vocal quality and technique. As much as I like the voices of both these singers, watching them perform adds a whole new dimension. Both are excellent actors with magnificent stage presence. In future far more people will have watched today’s singers, either via some sort of video or in person, than actually saw Callas or Flagstad or Supervia or Gobbi. Perhaps the pendulum will swing too far the other way. For instance, Netrebko’s appearance and acting ability seems to have blinded some people to the possibility that her voice and personality don't suit every single role she attempts.
For me, today’s singers that my son’s children will likely listen to include, Fleming, Florez, Domingo and Terfel. But I wouldn’t bet against at least a dozen not far behind. I’m certainly not one who believes the golden age of singing is behind us. Quite the opposite in fact.
I just noticed there's an aspect of James's original blog that I hadn't quite picked up, i.e. a reference to legendary performances as opposed to legendary singers, not quite the same thing to my mind although the two often coincide. I'd put Terfel's Scarpia in the legendary category, together with the Fleming Marschallin and Rusalka, and the Florez Tonio (perhaps the Ciofi Marie too). Hawlata's Wozzeck strikes me as being absolutely right. But the two performances that seem to me to be just about perfect in every way are the Hvorostovsky Onegin and (although it's now more than ten years old) the Schafer Lulu. I cannot imagine anyone more naturally suited to the role of Onegin in appearance and manner and the singing is spectacular. As for Schafer, her 1997 Glyndebourne performance marries ogre-ishness to a kind of devilish innocence and sheer sexuality, all shaded absolutely perfectly and sung beautifully. Probably my all-time favourite single performance.
Some interesting thoughts. I've never been able to quite get on with Terfel's Scarpia - the voice seems inherently noble of spirit to me. The role seems to need the seediness that a Leiferkus brings to it or, of course, the merciless bark of a Gobbi. But I agree that Terfel will probably be one of those names to bore the young relatives with - for me, though, it'll be his Gianni Schicchi or his Flying Dutchman. And of course quite possible his Hans Sachs. I'm seeing him do that at the Proms, but hear it's sensational!
Somehow, I feel that the stage is changing as we move into an increasingly technologized era, where everything an anything can be found online. It would be great if the works of legends are preserved in digital form and their journeys and exploits recorded forever on the internet.