Singers Roundtable with Milanov, Merril and Tucker (Mar 1973)

[@richardmccowenclark2412]

This is truly a gem!!!! Three operatic Gods being interviewed and also giving great advice for young singers. I wonder what they would say about the present state that the Opera world is now in, and about our young singers today.

[@OperaMyWorld]

3:10!!! What a High C!!! And the diminuendo at the end is from another Planet!!! Zinka 😍😍😍

[@judasiscariot6133]

@mariano barbieri You are cancer.

[@Ruffiello]

@opera revenger Most singers would prayer to God for such a "flat, fisso, and colorless" note!

[@jeffreymiller4814]

@@RuffielloAre you saying you hear her high C at 3’10” “fissa, flat, and colorless”? Oh dear. What a pity. It’s actually buoyant, dead-center pitched, and gorgeously colored, so I hope I’m reading your post about “praying for…” wrong.

[@stephengrimm907]

My father-in-law Giovanni De Surra sang Scarpia to Zinka Milanov's Tosca at the old Philharmonic Hall in downtown Los Angeles. I wish I could have heard them together.

[@allenjones3130]

Zinka, Dick and Bob--three operatic legends!

[@shicoff1398]

Yes they where!

[@michaelroberts6894]

Miss such singers talking about their art !

[@chembaliszt484]

My God!!! What a gem! It’s such pleasure to hear Milanov, Tucker and Merrill together, especially with Zinka’s interrupting quips! Thank you so much for this!

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

Fabulous interview. And how true, their thoughts on young singers doing too much too soon. Joanie used to say as advice: 'Hasten slowly!' Bless them.

[@rakellcolotta3675]

3 of the greatest.

[@Ruffiello]

Oh, God…no! She was glorious! I was fucutung that she could only do this in the studio. Those who heard her in the opera house could attest to the beauty of her top notes. I was only saying that as she got older the top tones got tougher to produce and she would sometimes avoid them. This happens with many singers as they age, but it usually comes with some added depth on the bottom of the range. Milanov’s high notes were spectacular!

[@shicoff1398]

She sang into her early 60's in 1966 and so lasted longer the many of soprano's , even later if she wasn't always as good, but she held up for years very well . RIP.

[@UMVELINQANGI]

This is a tremendous gift. I enjoyed it immensely. We may never see the likes of these three great artists again in our lifetime. Thanks for sharing.

[@shicoff1398]

true!

[@juanjosedubal]

Very relaxed interview!

[@germanoehlke4179]

Milanov....great ! Sublime ! The best !

[@equinox6651]

What a gem! Thank you so much.

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

I really enjoyed that!

[@karenkim3377]

This is such a treasure. What titans!

[@larrychan622]

This interview is delightful, although I can't believe there are actually ashtrays set out on the table. Zinka Milanov , Merrill and Tucker give the same wise advice I've heard other seasoned singers have given, unfortunately we are now witnessing the consequences of singers who burn out like a matchstick.

[@emitch9213]

Callas smoked, a chain smoker. Caballe smoked, menthols tips not to harm her chords. They are the generation of smoking was a way of the life, generally. Pipes cigars etc. Once the Surgeon General effected the cigarette smoker purchase on the carton or package with WARNING to One's Health per Food Drug Admin...the choice to cancer or smoke made an impact decision. I remember ash trays disappearing over the decade; the smoke car of the trains was one memory of the times. Adult smoking everywhere w/ ashtrays every table restaurant/bar/lounge, as well as auto...even smoking in a checkout grocery lines, movie theatre, ballet & dancers before/after class, rehearsal, performance, butts in the sands of beach, on the streets...yep, a way of life. Singers were smokers!

[@MrQwerty88]

(What info is there for this being recorded in March? They mention that this is during a broadcast intermission feature of La Fille du Regiment. The only broadcast of La Fille du Regiment from 1973, is January 6th. It is also mentioned that the concert for Tucker and Merrill is "tomorrow night" and we know that also happened on the 7th January.)

[@JoanSutherlandFan]

Yep. It occurred a Fille broadcast in March, but in 1972. My mistake.

[@GoranVONKarkin]

Thank you!

[@MrQwerty88]

So much great info in this interview. Thanks so much. Do you have the broadcast of Fille du Regiment that was part of?

[@BellaFirenze]

Zinka Molotov was a hoot.

[@dramaturge231]

Who sang in this Fille du Régiment?

[@liedersanger1]

Look it up on the Met database.

[@davidhansel4198]

Marie: Joan Sutherland Tonio: Enrico di Giuseppe Sulpice: Fernando Corona Marquise: Monica Sinclair Hortensius: Andrea Velis Duchess: Ljuba Welitsch Richard Bonynge, conductor Di Giuseppe was scheduled for this performance and was not substituting for Pavarotti.

[@dramaturge231]

@@davidhansel4198 Cool, I hadn’t heard of him!

[@dramaturge231]

Interesting that even in the Golden Age of opera, older singers were bemoaning the young generation. Were they saying that Domingo, Arroyo, Horne and Caballé didn’t take good care of their voices? Whom were they speaking of exactly??? I honestly think the 70’s had singers with technique and longevity as good or better than the singers in the 50s.

[@ER1CwC]

Well it was 1973, let’s see... of those who sang at the Bing gala a year before, probably Tucci, Crespin, and McCracken, who were all over the hill relatively young. Probably Domingo too (who was going to sing Otello in a couple of years, despite having a much lighter voice than Caruso, whom they mention here), as well as Arroyo (would the territorial Milanov have approved of her Leonora?). Maybe even Konya. Of those who didn’t participate in that gala, Scotto was starting to venture into heavy repertory, and Ricciarelli was already singing stuff like Boccanegra, Trovatore, and Ballo. Horne, well... we’ve all seen that video of Milanov following Horne’s performance of the Dalila aria! So there are a lot of candidates. I’ve read Milanov say good things about Freni and Pavarotti. I think everyone at that point respected Caballe, who had not yet entered her ‘sing-whatever-she’d-like’ phase, greatly. And of course no one challenged Nilsson’s standing.

[@ThomasDawkins88]

@@ER1CwC And in the 50s, they were saying that the singers were better in the 20s and 30s. Because of the recording quality that far back, we kind of have to take their word for it. By that time of the gala, Milanov looked like she approved of nobody at all, which is not at all fair.

[@ER1CwC]

@@ThomasDawkins88 Perhaps. But although I would completely agree that Milanov did have a diva complex, I’m inclined to say that she really knew what she was talking about when it came to vocal technique. Her career lasted a long time at a very high standard. A lot of singers respected her greatly, and many explicitly sought her advice. So was it golden agism, or just stubbornly high standards? Maybe a little of both. I think that if we transported ourselves back to 1973, we could make compelling arguments for both viewpoints. Certainly, though, I think what they are reacting to here partly is how big voices capable of singing big repertory were beginning to become rarer. Given where we are today, with hardly any genuinely big, well-trained voices left, that observation was probably correct.

[@TimothyJonSarris]

@@ER1CwC... and Milnes

[@tcewmg3430]

Very Interesting point!!

[@Tkimba2]

Zinka really had a very high opinion of herself. Too high actually.... Meh

[@ransomcoates546]

That fabulous C was produced by Milanov in the studio, and is totally unattested in any live tape.

[@Ruffiello]

That's crap. I have friends who heard Milanov in the flesh. She had not problems with the 'C''s in Aida, or anywhere else.

[@ransomcoates546]

@@Ruffiello I repeat. That perfect C is nowhere to be found in any tape of a live performance. Both it and the C in the ‘Ballo’ aria were apt to come out as desperate shrieks. And in the second ‘Ballo’ aria all recorded performances show her altering the cadenza to avoid the C flat.

[@Ruffiello]

@@ransomcoates546 Yes, she did avoid the C flat in the Ballo aria, on occasion. Certainly, more than once! I have friends, however, who heard her live and commented on how beautiful the C was in the Nile aria. I have no reason to doubt them. It's not uncommon for singers to start their careers with easier high notes than when they end their careers. And only a small number of performances in a singer's career are recorded. And that for the lucky few.

[@shicoff1398]

@@Ruffiello in her best days years ago she could float out the sustained piano top like nobody else, especially in her Gioconda. Richard Tucker told me " She was our Prima Donna "

[@ER1CwC]

​@@ransomcoates546 Trovatore too in D'amor sull'ali rosee. I do wonder though how she sounded in the Nile Scene when she first arrived at the Met. Her high Bs and Cs were much more secure then, including the high C in Trovatore. Yes, the vibrato was faster, but I don't mind that. What a pity her earlier Aidas weren't recorded.

[@EmilyGloeggler7984]

Three lackluster bland performers who failed to learn from the greats of old of how to delivery as well as healthily sing. Oh come back Battistini, Ponselle, and Slezak!

[@walterharper79]

and the brain dead come to the forefront

[@emitch9213]

A good thing you were NEVER a critic for the N.Y. times or Post or Chicago Tribune or Opera News. You would have ruined many of new careers that built into a unique time of opera's history. Because sadly, YOU would HAVE MISSED or maybe you did MISS to hear of the GREATEST SINGERS of the Golden Age of Opera. A time we will never see, again. Perhaps, your self-centered opinion of yourself reveals just how jealous you really are of the youth and the pain you experience to change and your years passed.