When the mezzo engaged for the role of Jane in the premiere of Franchetti’s Germania proved unreliable, Toscanini’s remedy was to send for Bathori. Not that verismo opera was her scene, nor indeed, for most of her career, was opera in any form. In the early years of the century she was the indispensable singer of French song, particularly of the modern school. She gave as many first performances as most of us (in the quaint old phrase) have had hot dinners - only there was nothing, one imagines, of the hot dinner about her singing. A light luncheon maybe, or a deliciously cool supper, all of it fare for the refined palate, but not for the musical gourmand.
Her few records (or the solos collected here) date from 1928 to 1930, in which year she was 53. Her voice remains true and steady, with a very little wear showing through in the last of the series. A pleasure probably reckoned incidental by her contemporaries lies in the skill with which she makes an even, legato line out of non-lyrical phrases without losing the sense of a speaking voice behind the singing tone - a good example is the first song (‘The Peacock’) of Ravel’s Histoires naturelles.
More remarkable, perhaps, is the success of her self-accompaniment. She trained first as a pianist, and was obviously a very good one. Delicacy, precision and clarity are her characteristics, and in songs of this intimate nature the unanimity of voice and piano is a special asset. In the songs by Milhaud and Germaine Tailleferre the respective composers accompany, which of course adds to the historical importance of the recordings. A complete collection has not, as far as I know, been issued before, and the originals are extremely rare.
Conspicuously missing are printed texts: in many ‘historical’ issues they are merely a desirable bonus, here a necessity. Invaluable, however, is Victor Girard’s essay on the singer. Readers may also like to note that a recital in memory of Bathori is to be given at the Wigmore Hall in London by Dawn Upshaw on February 14, 2000.
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