Jessye Norman
Jerry Logan
Hello everyone, I am new to this group. I am a dramatic baritone and
perform full time in the local opera company in my city. I just have
one question. Jessye Norman is one of my favorite sopranos. I don't
hear much about her any more. Does anyone know what is going on with
her?
-Jerry
Sergio da Silva
That I know of only two recitals:
03/12/2005 - Tampa
and
04/02/2005 - Los Angeles
If she shows up, of course :-)
"Jerry Logan" <jerry...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:2267-421...@storefull-3257.bay.webtv.net...
Stephen Jay-Taylor
runnings around, though no more opera appearances.
SJT, who wonders if he's alone in thinking "personal" issues prevented her
from fulfilling her true potential; great and famous as she is, she could -
and should - have achieved a whole lot more on the musical front than she
actually did.
Leonard Tillman
>She'll be 60 later this year : cue orgy of
> re-issues and celebratory runnings around,
> though no more opera appearances.
>SJT, who wonders if he's alone in thinking
> "personal" issues prevented her from fulfilling
> her true potential;
Always a possibility, and certainly the case with many a "might've been
famous".
>great and famous as she is, she could - and
> should - have achieved a whole lot more on
> the musical front than she actually did.
Agreed, and still, it's fortunate she recorded what she managed to.
Jessye's always been one of my favorite "crossover" artists, as well.
Great charisma and fantastic voice to match.
Leonard Tillman
Jerry Logan
potential, who knows to what she was referring IF she said that.
I have many of her recordings and I have always wanted to hear Jessye
do some of my favorite arias. Much of what I hear is unfamiliar even
though I spend 40 plus hours a week rehearsing and studying opera. I
feel this could have held her back a bit.
As far as "personal issues". I think in the beginning Jessye may have
struggled. However, once her immense instrument was discovered she has
continued to be successful.
To the Gentleman that mentioned her crossover. I love them all and
adore her spirituals.
Anyone heard of Angela Brown....She is amazing!!!!!!
Regards,
Jerry
Valfer
her, I had a tiny part in the show. The day of the dress rehearsal, I
was walking to the theater in a heavy downpour. All of a sudden, a
taxi stopped next to me, and she opened the door and let me in. If she
had not stopped, I would have never known she was in that cab. It was
a very generous thing to do. This was more than twenty years ago, and
I still remember her warm and friendly manner towards everyone in the
cast.
Valfer
Fred
Fred
Danielpour's "Margaret Garner," in Detroit, May 7. I imagine this will
be a supporting role -- the title role is taken by Denyce Graves.
Mitchell Kaufman
> I agree, Jessye SHOULD have done more. As far as reaching her true
> potential, who knows to what she was referring IF she said that.
>
> I have many of her recordings and I have always wanted to hear Jessye
> do some of my favorite arias. Much of what I hear is unfamiliar even
> though I spend 40 plus hours a week rehearsing and studying opera. I
> feel this could have held her back a bit.
Exactly. I think it was her affinity for offbeat repertoire that held
her back. Not that she wasn't famous, but if she'd regularly done things
like Aida and Ballo, she could've had a wider appeal. In this respect,
her limited top probably was a determining factor.
MK
REG
octave, g to G, which doesn't make her either a good soprano or a good
mezzo. I think the column of sound was generally undistinguished, but
because she "looked" magesterial, and because she opened her mouth wider and
larger to sing low notes than anyone I ever saw except Lauretto di Franco, I
think she got away with the illusion that it was a major voice. I could
never see a real legato in her singning, and not all that much dynamic
range. Interpretively, she seemed a semaphoric.
I don't know how much of her repetoire choices were dictated by the fact
that she couldn't sing much of the standard rep, and would have suffered in
comparision to many who would have sung the same material. It's not as if
she brought, in my mind, special flair to the choices she did make. The only
flair I was really aware of was the one at her late recitals at Carnegie
Hall, when she actually had herself followed around stage with a spot light.
Or was that a lighthouse light, I'm not sure. But it's really true.
"Stephen Jay-Taylor" <sjayt...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
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La Bocca del Leone
was a large voice that never seemed to project and her French was the
type that reviewers love to praise and the French make fun of. She had
a lot of promise and with her limited equipment made a good career for
herself. I remember her first Carnegie Hall recital where her bearing
was regal but there was only a generalized interpretation of the song
literature. Her first act of Walküre in Carnegie as well showed a voice
much smaller than recordings would indicate. When she sang the roll
later at the Met I feel she had not developed beyond a generic
interpretation although she could in an occasional performance really
catch fire and carry the audience with her. I like her; however, I too
feel she never really fulfilled her potential. There often seemed to be
too much reserve holding back an innate interpretive ability.
Cheers, Mike
david...@aol.com
splendid as the Countess in that early (for her) Figaro with Colin
Davis, but I've heard very little from her since on the same exalted
level. The anti-Norman faction will chime in that she was no Della
Casa or De los Angeles, but there is a poise and dignity--not to
mention a scrupulous and conscientious display of musicianship--in that
Norman Countess that I should think would be the envy of any singer.
Not to mention what I personally think is a gorgeous sound. And the
performance is far from blank expressively, not that the Countess is
going to emote as directly as Mimi. Unfortunately, I think she became
less expressive as the years went by, more content to play it safe.
She also had a terrific ear and was completely unfazed by the
requirements of, say, Erwartung. The question is, was she really a
soprano? Or was she a very high mezzo?
-david gable
capa0...@aol.com
david...@aol.com wrote:
. The question is, was she really a soprano? Or was she a very high
mezzo?
>
> -david gable
Maybe we've discussed this point before, but I don't remember doing so.
Bumbry and Verret (sp?) also straddled the soprano-mezzo divide, - to
the extent that there is such a thing - didn't they?
I have often wondered if this double-edged characteristic stems from a
long apprenticeship singing church music -- in which, perhaps,
everybody is expected to sing everything. Just as many of the great
female singers of the first half of the nineteenth century transcended
the modern vocal categories.
Pat
Jerry Logan
bigger range than you are giving her credit for. If Jessye only had a G
to G range, there would be much that she has performed that would have
been impossible. I have a recording in which Jessye sings a solid low
E. She has an absolutely flawless chest voice. I agree with someone
that made a remark regarding Jessye's upper range being limited. I have
heard Jessye sing many high C's. There is just no flexibility or
subtlety in her upper range. However, Jessye's voice is consistent from
top to bottom with immense power.
You said she adds no flair to what she performs. I guess that would
just be a matter of interpretation. Personally, I think she has the
best stage presence I have ever witnessed and is extremely dramatic on
stage. It is always obvious that every inch of her is in to what she is
doing and she does it with style and grace. Needless to say, I adore
her....:)
-Jerry
Jerry Logan
Mitchell Kaufman
> Reg, I have to disagree with a few remarks you made. Jessye has a much
> bigger range than you are giving her credit for. If Jessye only had a G
> to G range, there would be much that she has performed that would have
> been impossible. I have a recording in which Jessye sings a solid low
> E. She has an absolutely flawless chest voice. I agree with someone
> that made a remark regarding Jessye's upper range being limited.
Yes, that was me.
>I have heard Jessye sing many high C's. There is just no flexibility
>or subtlety in her upper range. However, Jessye's voice is consistent
>from top to bottom with immense power.
I'd have to take issue with the "immense power" comment. I saw her
throughout her Met career (which I realize did not encompass her early
years onstage), and found the voice surprisingly small, or at least
incapable of real carrying power. I don't want to get into one of these
Leontyne Price "was she or was she not inaudible" discussions, because
she certainly was audible--just nowhere near as "immense" a sound as her
timbre (almost Flagstad-like) and repertoire would give one reason to
expect.
MK
alci...@aol.com
re. Flagstad: "A voice like Flagstad's is never happy above a B flat".
However long she may have had it, she did have a decent soprano
extension. Cassandra at the Met in the early '80s was for me one
performance that completely lived up to the hype. She was absolutely
grand - and there was a great B flat (I think) at the end of the
Chorebus/Cassandra duet. (Incidentally, I ran to the Met directly from
the matinee of the "gala" performance of A CHORUS LINE, which broke the
existing Broadway long-run record -- a friend quipped, "From Cassie to
Cassandra!").
I recall a fabulous concert Act II from SAMSON around that time with
McCracken, where I was thinking, "NOW I have heard a real contralto!"
alci...@aol.com
That's the spirit!
Mitchell Kaufman
> I recall a fabulous concert Act II from SAMSON around that time with
> McCracken, where I was thinking, "NOW I have heard a real contralto!"
Gee, I don't know. Are you sure McCracken could go that low?
MK
REG
"La Bocca del Leone" <labocca...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:NHRSd.42734$W16.22043@trndny07...
REG
where I thought the quality of the voice way, not the range, and hope I
didn't mislead on that.
We all have out favorites, and there's no rationality in it for any of
us....much is a matter of perception and expectation, I think.
"Jerry Logan" <jerry...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:24493-421...@storefull-3253.bay.webtv.net...
REG
give time really "makes" the voice types that are available and find
themselves. I also think, that, hearing an interview once with Verett and
Bumbry when they listened to Miss Anderson singing at the Lincoln Memorial
and both said "She was a soprano", that they had some sense that black
female singers were to some degree kept back by cultural forces and
expectations.
<capa0...@aol.com> wrote in message
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REG
<alci...@aol.com> wrote in message
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REG
REG, ducking but absolutely certain he's right.
"Mitchell Kaufman" <forg...@iaint.disclosinit> wrote in message
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Dan
sopranos?
Dan
<alci...@aol.com> wrote in message
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stephenmead
<david...@aol.com> wrote in message
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> I don't think she ever lived up to her potential. I think she's
> splendid as the Countess in that early (for her) Figaro with Colin
> Davis, but I've heard very little from her since on the same exalted
> level.
I love her recording of Verdi's early Il Corsaro with Carreras and Caballe -
the final trio and chorus with Norman, Carreras and Caballe is stunning.
Although this is obviously not music on such an exalted level as Figor, it
is still sung with great musicianship and respect. This is also an early
recording of hers, and nothing subsequently that I heard her do
impressed/thrilled/moved me as much as that.
CHSIII
> grand - and there was a great B flat (I think) at the end of the
> Chorebus/Cassandra duet.
Actually a B natural.
Sergio da Silva
Norman was/is a highly sophisticated singer and does not sing full-volume
like Eva Marton or Ghena Dimitrova all the time for example. She only lets
it go when the moment demands it. I'll never forget that big, luscious sound
singing "Mon coeur ouvre a ta voix" and also the Carmen arias which were so
effective live but a disappointment in the studio.
"Mitchell Kaufman" <forg...@iaint.disclosinit> wrote in message
Mitchell Kaufman
> I saw Norman live as well and she had a huge voice.
Well, then we'll have to agree to disagree.
Perhaps she had several widely-separated bad days when I heard her.
MK
Jerry Logan
It has only ever been a very large instrument capable of wonderful
projection. Having a voice like Jessye's, one must use control and she
does. It would be boring if Jessye only sang loud all of the time. She
uses the power of her voice when it is needed. I have heard Jessye's
voice described many ways, but never small.
Regards,
Jerry
Leonard Tillman
>I'll never forget that big, luscious sound
> singing "Mon coeur ouvre a ta voix" and also
> the Carmen arias which were so effective live
> but a disappointment in the studio.
I liked that set, and though Shicoff is my reason for getting it, Norman
was stunning, IMO. Even the bass-baritone, Estes, seemed at his best as
Escamillo, - but certainly no Merrill or Van Dam.
Leonard Tillman
Stephen Jay-Taylor
Hmmm. Sounds like diva and her lunch to me...
SJT, contemplating a little post-Maryinsky "Oedipus" nibble himself.
gggg...@gmail.com
> Hello everyone, I am new to this group. I am a dramatic baritone and
> perform full time in the local opera company in my city. I just have
> one question. Jessye Norman is one of my favorite sopranos. I don't
> hear much about her any more. Does anyone know what is going on with
> her?
>
> -Jerry
http://lottelehmannleague.org/singing-sins-archive/
BH
> Hello everyone, I am new to this group. I am a dramatic baritone and
> perform full time in the local opera company in my city. I just have
> one question. Jessye Norman is one of my favorite sopranos. I don't
> hear much about her any more. Does anyone know what is going on with
> her?
>
> -Jerry