New Statue

He would have been fifty-seven today, had cancer not taken him in 2017. It still hurt to think about it. 

A statue of Dmitri Hvorostovsky was unveiled in Novodevichy Cemetery today. It's amazing how much of an icon he is over in Russia. But here in the U.S., he's hardly known at all unless you're a Russian immigrant or an opera geek. 
        I really have no words to describe just how much Dima meant to me, but it was through his performance over the radio of Eugene Onegin that I fell in love with opera to being with. With that dark velvety voice, that piercing dark eyes, and that white mane, what women wouldn't be swept off her feet by him? 

What makes his loss all the more painful is that he was fifty-five when he passed. Now that shouldn't be too unusual, but we all had the hope that Dima would sing until he was eighty. So it does feel like he went too soon.

Art Is Calling For Me

I really wish I could find a full synopsis of The Enchantress, because I want the context for this song. It was written in 1911 but the lyrics are such that I would swear it was written by the musical comedienne Anna Russel. 

The song is your typical "I Want More" piece sung by a young lady (Stellina) who has everything but is not satisfied. She wants to be the next Adelina Patti and sing on the stage. Lines such as "I hate society,/ I hate propriety!" highlight the lady's rebelliousness. As I do not know the story, I would say it is open to interpretation whether or not this is a woman with genuine talent who could conceivably make it on the stage, or else a wannabe who's just bored with high society. 
      As it was written in 1911, most of the references are to singers who were around at the time (Luisa Tetrazzini, Nellie Melba), and who are unfortunately not as well-known in our culture today unless you're an opera geek. 

The music is surprisingly easy—relatively speaking, of course—but it is also very high, going up to a high B-flat. But then this piece also allows for a lot of ornamentation. Given what this song is about, it works perfectly. In my own practice, I have ended the song on an E-flat about High C. I have heard other recordings of sopranos going into cadenzas. 

Art Is Calling For Me is fast becoming a favorite of mine, if for no other reason than it is fun. This is a song that I would recommend to other sopranos, and maybe even the daring mezzo.

Double Whammy 2

Two great opera singers died this past week, soprano Jessye Norman at 74, and tenor Marcello Giordani at 56. I had only seen Ms. Norman in a few clips of Die Walkure, but I remember seeing Signor Giordani in the encore simulcast of Verdi's Ernani in 2012. But they were both really awesome singers who were adored by opera lovers everywhere. 

They will be greatly missed.