Joan Sutherland Interview (1985)

[@craigmills3583]

The most wonderful down to earth woman, imagine having that voice and being that respected and still keeping your feet so firmly on the ground! Remarkable woman Dame Joan.

[@stevetatchell5571]

When you are that outstanding you don't have to put on airs.

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

I love her so much. And Richard too...😊

[@roberthanff4354]

Down to Earth, honest and humorous Joan. Not sure how many great artists would speak so frankly about what they have, what they don’t have and how they had to work to develop a natural gift.

[@piustwelfth]

Charming interview. Dame Joan was lucky to always have Mr. Bonynge by her side. I think he gave good honest advice and helped her career tremendously. He was also an advocate for her.

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

Marvelous interview with Joanie and Richard. Joanie is so right about the benefits of starting singing late. She started lessons and 18 and sang until she was 64.

[@barbaranorthwood]

She had singing lessons from her cradle. Her mother was her first teacher.

[@orion8835]

She had a hoch dramatic soprano voice. She gave a lot of joy angling it in a repertoire that was faintly smaller than her voice. She brought an extraordinary agility, virtuosity and scale. It was a shame the diction was often veered off to a fog. Nevertheless live she was overwhelming and penetrating. Totally clarion.

[@user-highbaritone]

Beautifully writing.

[@user-me8kr6mv5l]

Greatest primantona in my repertoire! utube Ένα χρυσόψαρο μέσα στη γυάλα JOHN BAVAS

[@xjAlbert]

A great conversation with Robert Jacobson, whose obituary from May 11, 1987 reads: Robert M. Jacobson, the editor of Opera News magazine, died Saturday night at St. Vincent's Hospital. He was 46 years old and lived in Manhattan. He died of respiratory failure resulting from acquired immune deficiency syndrome [AIDS], according to Rocci Genova, his longtime companion. During his 12 years at Opera News, Mr. Jacobson became a nationally prominent advocate for opera and the arts through his frequent lectures and television appearances. Mr. Jacobson's career in music journalism began in 1963 with review assignments for Musical America. Over the following decade he wrote for numerous publications and edited the program booklets for Lincoln Center. He was also a regular program annotator for CBS Records. In 1974 he became editor of Opera News, and also edited its sister publication, Ballet News, from 1979 until it was discontinued last year. During his editorship Mr. Jacobson moved Opera News, which is published by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, away from its image as a house organ. He served as the magazine's chief New York critic as well as editor, and reviewed performances at the parent house. Organized AIDS Benefit Mr. Jacobson also served on numerous panels and competition juries, and appeared regularly on ''Live From Lincoln Center'' telecasts and on syndicated radio programs. He was a frequent host for benefit concerts, and in September 1985 organized a fund-raising gala for AIDS research that took in more than $250,000. He was the author of three books: ''Reverberations,'' a collection of interviews; ''Opera People,'' a collaboration with the photographer Christian Steiner, and ''Magnificence: Onstage at the Met,'' a retrospective of performances at the Metropolitan Opera. Mr. Jacobson is survived by his mother, Frances Barr, and a sister, Barbara Greenbaum. A memorial service is to be held tomorrow at 1 P.M. at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, 1076 Madison Avenue, at 81st Street.

[@joshuamcpherson007]

I had no idea he passed in the 80's...and just two years after this interview? Terribly sad. Thank you for sharing the details of his life and accomplishments.

[@detectivefiction3701]

Personally, I think Bonynge was a very underrated conductor.

[@crazyorganist1609]

He really is.

[@wotan10950]

Correct. The proof is that his ballets remain some of the most highly recommended recordings in the catalogue. He was able to bring these scores to life through his feeling for rhythm and rubato. A personal anecdote: I had purchased his Swan Lake as a birthday present for my wife. When I met him backstage, I brought it with me and he autographed it to her. He seemed very touched that we thought so highly of it.

[@ahogbin2644]

@@wotan10950 Although he learned his craft "on the job" as it were he was an extraordinary musician by instinct and had a natural theatrical flair. I think a lot of the early criticism was pure jealousy. He did have some coaching sessions with Serafin in the very early days when they went to Venice just before Lucia and Henry Lewis gave him a few pointers too. He also only conducted music he loved - it makes a big difference! Ultimately, he would not have lasted if he hadn't been able to do his job! But of course, he would probably not have been asked initially if it hadn't been for Sutherland. He was not allowed to study conducting at the Royal College of Music he always claimed as he had wanted alongside his piano studies and I think only lasted 1 year before he left in disgust.

[@wotan10950]

I remember this interview from the intermission of the New York Anna Bolena. I saw Sutherland in nearly all of her roles (and recitals) after 1973. And I met them backstage twice. To my surprise, Bonynge was very pleasant and chatty; Dame Joan was rather cool and very much the diva, despite her down to earth reputation.

[@ahogbin2644]

Indeed. It was all part of the image they constructed. She certainly could play the diva when required - I encountered it big time once in London after she'd retired.

[@ktrewin23]

@@ahogbin2644 In what way was it constructed? It always seemed to me that Bonynge had a tough time of it with the media.

[@ahogbin2644]

@@ktrewin23 Her image as prima donna, not the voice. Bonynge was responsible for "glamourizing" her image and projecting more of a "grande dame" manner off stage once she became an international star. She herself said she was a "very ordinary person with a rather extraodinary voice".

[@johnpickford4222]

@@ahogbin2644 What was the situation and why did you believe there was the big diva attitude.

[@ahogbin2644]

One thing which I think is not really acknowledged is the influence of Clive Carey on her technique. He was her professor at the Royal College of Music (1951/2) and had studied with Jean de Reszke. Carey helped her with her top notes. Bonynge was never a singing teacher but I gather he used to go along to her lessons and outline his ideas. Essentially though I think it was a once in a century natural phenomenon.

[@wotan10950]

And John & Aida Dickens were her first teachers. They taught her how to produce her sound with correct intonation by NOT listening to herself. She described them as hard taskmasters, and Bonynge never forgave them for training her to be a dramatic soprano. One almost never hears about them, as if they’d been erased from her early education.

[@ahogbin2644]

@@wotan10950 Yes, I guess the Dickens were her first formal teachers and taught her in the fashion of the time to sing Wagner/Strauss. She learned a basic bel canto technique from her mother though who sang her vocalises everyday. A lot of mythology grows up around star singers but Sutherland's voice was essentially a natural phenomenon and could probably have gone in any number of directions. Bonynge did say though that it was pretty flexible by nature and she herself said that she never really needed to learn how to trill which is of course one of the most difficult attributes to acquire. How many singers today can even come close to an adequate one?

[@wotan10950]

@@ahogbin2644 That’s true, Sutherland was born with sterling material, and the influence of her mother was paramount. If she had followed the Dickenses, she likely would have had a distinguished Wagner career. But certainly she would not have had the celestial career that Bonynge engineered. Yes, her trill was rightfully legendary, but I’ve heard many others who were equally good - and not always the most famous ones: Johanna Meier, for one. And if you see any Handel or Rossini opera nowadays, the women and men can all produce quite outstanding trills. Fleming and Te Kanawa were no slouches! On a personal note, I can whistle a perfect full or half-tone trill; a few musical friends have asked how I do it. I said, it’s all in the tongue. They replied, your wife is very lucky!

[@ahogbin2644]

@@wotan10950 LoL. Yes, Te Kanawa and Fleming had very good trills but I was thinking of the latest crop of singers. DiDonato has one but she never prolongs it which makes me think it is a bit fake as my old singing teacher used to say - she was a coloratura and when I asked her how she produced an excellent trill she said she had it by nature!

[@TheVaughan5]

Joan Sutherland’s voice can at her worst be boring, mushy, and droopy. At her best her voice can be the most extraordinary, breathtaking and thrilling, possibly in all operatic history. We shall never hear her like again.

[@markdarenvillanueva7740]

poor Joan, still being compared to Callas

[@ambardelpuerto2131]

It is the most ridiculous thing they can do, each one contributed something in a different way

[@ahogbin2644]

Very interesting. Funny how Sutherland and Bonynge disagree over certain things: "legato in the upper register"!

[@jefolson6989]

Bonynge was a great voice teacher, with only one ,live-in client

[@schneevongestern9898]

By no means he was a voice teacher. He was a highly skilled, intelligent musician. He didn't teach her technique. He did mental and stylistic work.

[@jefolson6989]

@@schneevongestern9898 he discovered her spectacular upper register, which she herself and other teacher couldn't. So call it what you will, he taught, she learned.

[@schneevongestern9898]

@@jefolson6989 no. calling him a voice teacher is wrong. that is no matter of opinion, sorry. he had a good musical sense and felt that her voice could do it. but the work he did was mentally. he tricked her. transposing arias and vocalises up without her knowing it is just a trick. she had the voice and technique before she met him. he was a mentor who tricked her into overcoming her inner inhibitions. no voice teacher. he did not show her how to sing high. he tricked her into just doing it. that is a huge difference.

[@jefolson6989]

@@schneevongestern9898 as you wish

[@jimbuxton2187]

@@jefolson6989 ... her husband was west i would call a musical coach.

[@juliapereira629]

cara chato deixa ela responder

[@Skipbo000]

She was a big ole homely thing wasn't she? I guess he fell in love with her talent. He was known to have many mistresses, no surprise.