Opera singing

Vocal folds

2007-10-03T08:27:00.000-07:00

The vocal folds, also known popularly as vocal cords, are composed of twin infoldings of mucous membrane stretched horizontally across the larynx. They vibrate, modulating the flow of air being expelled from the lungs during phonation.
Open during inhalation, closed when holding one's breath, and vibrating for speech or singing (opening and closing 440 times per second when singing A above middle C); the folds are controlled via the vagus nerve. They are white because of scant blood circulation.

The larynx is a major (but not the only) source of sound in speech, generating sound through the rhythmic opening and closing of the vocal folds. To oscillate, the vocal folds are brought near enough together such that air pressure builds up beneath the larynx. The folds are pushed apart by this increased subglottal pressure, with the inferior part of each fold leading the superior part. The natural resilience of the folds brings them back together. Under the correct conditions, this oscillation pattern will sustain itself. In essence, sound is generated in the larynx by chopping up a steady flow of air into little puffs.
The pitch of a person's voice is a [percept] that is determined by a number of different factors, but largely by the fundamental frequency of the sound generated by the larynx. A person's natural fundamental frequency is influenced by many factors, including the length, size, and tension of the vocal folds. In an adult male, this frequency averages about 125 Hz, adult females around 210 Hz, in children the frequency is over 300 Hz.

Men and women have different vocal fold sizes. Adult male voices are usually lower pitched and have larger folds. The male vocal folds (which would be measured vertically in the opposite diagram), are between 17 mm and 25 mm in length.
Matching the female body, which on the whole has less muscle than the male, females have smaller folds. The female vocal folds are between 12.5 mm and 17.5 mm in length.
The folds are located just above the trachea or the windpipe which travels from the lungs. Food and drink does not pass through the folds but is instead taken through the esophagus, an unlinked tube. Both tubes are separated by the tongue and an automatic gag reflex. When food goes down through the folds and trachea it causes choking.
Folds in both sexes are ligaments within the larynx. They are attached at the back (side nearest the spinal cord) to the arytenoid cartilages, and at the front (side under the chin) to the thyroid cartilage. Their outer edges (as shown in the illustration) are attached to muscle in the larynx while their inner edges, or margins are free (the hole). They are constructed from epithelium, but they have a few muscle fibres on them, namely the vocalis muscle which tightens the front part of the ligament near to the thyroid cartilage. They are flat triangular bands and are pearly white in colour - whiter in females than they are in males. Above both sides of the vocal cord (the hole and the ligament itself) is the vestibular fold or false vocal fold, which has a small sac between its two folds (not illustrated).
The difference in vocal fold size between men and women means that they have differently pitched voices. Additionally, genetics also causes variances amongst the same sex, with men's and women's voices being categorised into types.
The term vocal cords is occasionally misspelled 'vocal chords', possibly due to the musical connotations or to confusion with the geometrical definition of the word "chord".

The vocal folds discussed above are sometimes called 'true vocal folds' to distinguish them from the false vocal folds. These are a pair of thick folds of mucous membrane that sit just above, and protect, the more delicate true folds. They have minimal role in normal phonation, but are often used in screaming and the death grunt singing style.
The false folds are also called vestibular folds and ventricular folds. They can be seen on the diagram above as ventricular folds.
False vocal folds, when surgically removed, can regenerate completely.

Puccini: La Bohème I.

2007-09-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

Henri Murger stories: Scènes de la Vie de Bohème (1846)

Henri Murger (b. Paris 1822; d. Paris 1861) was a French novelist, who served for a while as secretary to the Russian novelist, poet and dramatist Count Aleksey Tolstoy (not to be confused with Leo Tolstoy!), and who was among the first artists to depict the Bohemian lifestyle.
He began writing poems depicting Bohemian life in Paris, and himself became part of the world. He lived in poverty and with poor health. His Scenes of the Bohemian Life were written and published as a series of separate episodes over the period 1847-49, in which the writer himself featured as Rodolphe.

The Librettists of Puccini's La Bohème
Puccini's partnership with the playwright/librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa was one of the most successful in the whole history of Italian opera -- a meeting of great artistic minds akin to Verdi's association with Boito and Bellini's with Romani. Although Illica and Giacosa are best remembered for their work with Puccini, each had an active career of his own.
Luigi Illica (1857-1919)

Luigi Illica had a rough beginning: at an early age he ran away to sea and in 1876 he found himself fighting the Turks. Three years later, however, he moved to the relatively peaceful enclave of Milan Italy and there began his literary career. In 1882 he produced a collection of prose sketches, Farfalle, effetti di luce, and the following year wrote his first play, I Narbonnier-Latour. His greatest success in this field of playwriting was a comedy in Milanese dialect, L'eriditaa di Felis (1891).
He began writing librettos in 1889. While his work on three of Puccini's operas is recognized as his chief contribution to the field, he also wrote librettos for several other composers, including those for Giordano's Andrea Chenier (1896--the same year as La Bohème), an opera still popular and performed today, and two operas of Mascagni.
Giuseppe Giacosa (1847-1906)

Giuseppe Giacosa began his professional life, not as a writer, but as a lawyer. He graduated in law from Turin University and immediately joined his father's firm in Milan. He moved permanently into the literary world, however, when his one-act verse comedy, Una partita a scacchi, became a popular success. From 1888-1894 Giacosa held the chair of literature and dramatic art at the Milan Conservatory.
The Puccini/Illica/Giacosa partnership was organized by the publisher Giulio Ricordi in 1893. The head of the most powerful publishing firm in Italy during the 19th century, Ricordi had the ability to make or break any young composer who came along, much in the same way that a CEO of a major record label can do today.
Having taken Puccini under his wing, Ricordi was intent on hiring the best writers to work with the young composer on his La Bohème -- he found them in Illica and Giacosa. The three had a very clear division of responsibilities when working together: it was Illica's job to plan the scenario (i.e. the opera's plan, and division into acts and scenes) and to draft the dialogue; next, Giacosa transformed the prose into polished verse; finally Puccini set this verse to music. This collaboration was such a success that the three worked together (dividing the responsibilities in the same way) on two other operas: Tosca (1900) and Madama Butterfly (1904).
The collaboration ended with the death of Giacosa in 1906. Puccini continued to discuss the idea of translating the story of Marie Antoinette into an operatic setting with Illica, but this project never came to fruition. For his final operas, Puccini turned to other librettists.

A Selection from Puccini's letters

November 20, 1900 To Giulio Ricordi
... The more I think of Butterfly the more irresistibly am I attracted. Oh, if only had it here, that I might set to work on it! I think instead of one act I could make two quite long ones: the first in North America and the second in Japan. Illica could certainly find in the novel everything that is wanted.
I do not understand how Mr Maxwell [Ricordi' representative in New York] has still not answered.

April 23, 1902 To Giulio Ricordi
My dear Signor Giulio,And so, Hosanna! We must shout it open-throated (if it is true)! I awaited the arrival of the fruit of the great travail, part of a toilsome structure whose completion is still remote. For my part, I am laying stone on stone and doing my best to make Mr F.B. Pinkerton sing like an American.
... Illica writes me to interview that Japanese [actress] Sada Jacco. If you think it worth while I could take a run over to Milan when she comes. But an interpreter will be necessary; she is sure to speak some European language. Please put me down for two shares in the Scala.
May 3, 1902 To Giulio Ricordi
...I am working (and glad of it) at Act I, and am getting on well. I have composed the passage for the entry of Butterfly, and I am pleased with it
Apart from the fact that they are slightly Italian in character, both the music and the whole scene of this entry are very effective. I am going slowly, as usual, but working carefully and with deliberation.
[no date] To Giulio Ricordi
My dear Signor Giulio, I have had a visit today from Mme Oyama, wife of the Japanese Ambassador. She told me many interesting things and sang some native songs to me. She has promised to send me some native Japanese music. I sketched the story of the libretto for her, and she liked it, especially as just such a story as Butterfly's is known to her as having happened in real life.
She does not approve of the name Yamadori, on the ground that it is feminine and otherwise not appropriate; because in Japan they are accustomed in their plays to use names which suggest, or are suitable to, the various types and characters. The uncle's name of Yaxonpidè is wrong too. Similarly the names Sarundpiko, Izaghi, Sganami, etc. are all wrong. Mme Oyama is at Viareggio, where I shall go to see her and takes notes of what she sings to me, She is very intelligent and, although plain, is attractive.
[no date] To Giulio Ricordi
... The wife of the Japanese Ambassador has called upon me again several times. She has written to Tokyo for some folk songs, but it will be three months before I can have them! They will be useful for the other scenes.
November 16, 1902 To Giulio Ricordi
My dear Signor Giulio, For two days I have been in an absolutely miserable state of mind. Why? Because the libretto, as it stands, is not good from the end of Act II onwards, and the realization of this has been very painful. Now, however, I am convinced that the opera must be in two acts! Don't be frightened!
The Consulate was a great mistake. The action must move forward to the close without interruption, rapid, effective, terrible! In arranging the opera in three acts I was making for certain disaster. You will see, dear Signor Giulio, that I am right.
[no date] To Giulio Ricordi
... If you only knew how I am racking my brains! The work to be done is not great, but it is essential to bind the whole story together with a closer logic than there is in Belasco's play.
February 17, 1904 [the day of the first performance at La Scala] To Rosina Storchio [the soprano who sang the part Cio-Cio-San]
Dear Rosina, My good wishes are superfluous! So true, so delicate, so moving is your great art that the public must succumb to it. And I hope that through you I am speeding to victory. Tonight then - with sure confidence and much affection, dear child.
[After the disastrous performance, Rosina Strochio swore that she would never sing Madama Butterfly again in Italy]
February 22, 1904 To Rosina Storchio
... And so, my Butterfly, the love-sick maiden, would leave me. You seem in your departure to be taking away the best, the most poetical part of my work. I think that Butterfly without Rosina Storchio becomes a thing without soul. What a shame! After so many anxious fears, after pouring out such riches of your keen and delicate intelligence, to receive the reward of brutality. What a disgrace it was! But I am sure that this horrible impression will soon be wiped out of our minds, and so, with warm affection and confidence in the future, I wish you good luck.
May 4, 1904
Dear Rosina [Storchio] I leave here today for Brescia. May God give me good fortune. I think of you so much. I am always seeing you in your charming presentment of Butterfly and hearing again the sweet little voice which has such a sure way to the heart.
June 11, 1904 To his sister Dide
Dear Dide,It went exactly as I had wished: a real and unqualified triumph; the success is greater every evening.
November 14, 1906To his sister Nitteti
... Butterfly continues her triumphal career: Washington, Baltimore, Boston, and yesterday New York - always in English. In January I am going to New York for Manon [by Massent], Butterfly, Tosca, and then Butterfly in Italian at another theater, the great Metropolitan.
But first I shall return to Italy if only for a few days. I have to come, besides, for clothes. I must get a fur-lined coat because it is very cold in New York.

Giacomo Puccini

2007-09-18T13:52:00.000-07:00

Puccini was born in Lucca in Tuscany, Italy into a family with five generations of musical history behind them. His father died when he was five years old, and he was sent to study with his uncle Fortunato Magi, who considered him to be a poor and undisciplined student. Later, Puccini took the position of church organist and choir master in Lucca, but it was not until he saw a performance of Verdi's Aida that he became inspired to be an opera composer. He and a friend walked 18.5 mi (30 km) to see the performance in Pisa.
In 1880, with the help of a relative and a grant, Puccini enrolled in the Milan Conservatory to study composition with Amilcare Ponchielli and Antonio Bazzini. In the same year, at the age of 21, he composed the Messa, which marks the culmination of his family's long association with church music in his native Lucca. Although Puccini himself correctly titled the work a Messa, referring to a setting of the full Catholic Mass, today the work is popularly known as his Messa di Gloria, a name that technically refers to a setting of only the first two prayers of the Mass, the Kyrie and the Gloria, while omitting the Credo, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei. Puccini's work is, in fact, a Messa.
The work anticipates Puccini's career as an operatic composer by offering glimpses of the dramatic power that he would soon unleash on the stage; the powerful “arias” for tenor and bass soloists are certainly more operatic than is usual in church music and, in its orchestration and dramatic power, the Messa compares interestingly with Verdi's Requiem.
While studying at the Conservatory, Puccini obtained a libretto from Ferdinando Fontana and entered a competition for a one-act opera in 1882. Although he did not win, Le Villi was later staged in 1884 at the Teatro Dal Verme and it caught the attention of Giulio Ricordi, head of G. Ricordi & Co. music publishers, who commissioned a second opera, Edgar, in 1889. Puccini and Fontana were to become life-long friends.

From 1891 onwards, Puccini spent more of his time at Torre del Lago, a small community about fifteen miles from Lucca situated between the Tyrrhenian Sea and Lake Massaciuccoli, just south of Viareggio. While renting a house there, he spent time hunting but regularly visited Lucca. By 1900 he had acquired land and built a villa on the lake, now known as the "Villa Museo Puccini". He lived there until 1921 when pollution produced by peat works on the lake forced him to move to Viareggio, a few kilometres north. After his death, a mausoleum was created in the Villa Puccini and the composer is buried there in the chapel, along with his wife and son who died later.
The "Villa Museo Puccini" is presently owned by his granddaughter, Simonetta Puccini, and is open to the public.

Operas written at Torre del Lago
Manon Lescaut (1893), his third opera, was his first great success. It launched his remarkable relationship with the librettests Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, who collaborated with him on his next three operas, which became his three most famous and most performed operas. These were:
La bohème (1896) is considered one of his best works as well as one of the most romantic operas ever composed. It is arguably today's most popular opera.
Tosca (1900) was arguably Puccini's first foray into verismo, the realistic depiction of many facets of real life including violence. The opera is generally considered of major importance in the history of opera because of its many significant features.
Madama Butterfly (1904) was initially greeted with great hostility (mostly organised by his rivals) but, after some reworking, became another of his most successful operas.
After 1904, compositions were less frequent. Following his passion for driving fast cars, Puccini was nearly killed in a major accident in 1903. In 1906 Giacosa died and, in 1909, there was scandal after Puccini's wife, Elvira, falsely accused their maid Doria Manfredi of having an affair with Puccini. The maid then committed suicide. Elvira was successfully sued by the Manfredis, and Giacomo had to pay damages. Finally, in 1912, the death of Giulio Ricordi, Puccini’s editor and publisher, ended a productive period of his career.
However, Puccini completed La fanciulla del West in 1910 and finished the score of La rondine in 1917, a piece he reworked from an operetta he had attempted to compose, only to find that his style and talent were incompatible with the genre.
In 1918, Il Trittico premiered in New York. This work is composed of three one-act operas: a horrific episode (Il Tabarro), in the style of the Parisian Grand Guignol, a sentimental tragedy (Suor Angelica), and a comedy (Gianni Schicchi). Of the three, Gianni Schicchi has remained the most popular, containing the popular O mio babbino caro.

habitual cigarette chain smoker, Puccini began to complain of chronic sore throats towards the end of 1923. A diagnosis of throat cancer led his doctors to recommend a new and experimental radiation therapy treatment, which was being offered in Brussels, Belgium. Puccini and his wife never knew how serious the cancer was, as the news was only revealed to his son.
Puccini died there on November 29, 1924 from complications from the treatment; uncontrolled bleeding led to a heart attack the day after surgery. News of his death reached Rome during a performance of La bohème. The opera was immediately stopped, and the orchestra played Chopin's Funeral March for the stunned audience. He was buried in Milan, but in 1926 his son arranged for the transfer of his father's remains to a specially-created chapel inside the Puccini villa at Torre del Lago.
Turandot, his final opera, was left unfinished and the last two scenes were completed by Franco Alfano based on the composer's sketches. Some dispute whether Alfano followed the sketches or not, since the sketches were said to be indecipherable, but he is believed to have done so, since, together with the autographs, he was given (still existing) transcriptions from Guido Zuccoli who was accustomed to interpreting Puccini's handiwork.
When Arturo Toscanini conducted the premiere performance in April 1926, (in front of a sold-out crowd with every prominent Italian with the exception of Benito Mussolini in attendance), he had chosen not to perform Alfano's portion of the score. The performance reached the point where Puccini had completed the score, at which time Toscanini stopped the orchestra. The conductor turned to the audience and said: "Here the opera finishes, because at this point the Maestro died". (Some record that he said, more poetically, “Here the Maestro laid down his pen.”).
In 2001 an official new ending was composed by Luciano Berio from original sketches, but this finale is performed infrequently.

Plácido Domingo

2007-09-13T02:45:00.000-07:00

José Plácido Domingo Embil KBE (born January 21, 1941), better known as Plácido Domingo, is a world-renowned operatic tenor. He is known for his versatile and strong voice that possesses a ringing and clear tone throughout its range. He is also admired for his operatic acting ability, his keen musical intellect, and the impressive number and variety of opera roles that he has mastered. In addition to his singing roles, he has also taken on conducting opera and concert performances, as well as serving as the General Director of the Washington National Opera in Washington, DC and the Los Angeles Opera in California.

Plácido Domingo was born in the Barrio de Salamanca section of Madrid, Spain, and moved to Mexico at age 8 with his family, who ran a zarzuela company. In Mexico City he studied music at the National Conservatory. He provided backup vocals for Los Black Jeans in 1958, a rock-and-roll band lead by César Costa. He learned piano and conducting, but made his stage debut acting in a minor role in 1959 (May 12) at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara as Pascual in Marina. It was followed by Borsa in Rigoletto (with Cornell MacNeil and Norman Treigle also in the cast), Padre Confessor (Le dialogue des Carmelites) and others. He made his operatic debut acting as a leading role at Monterrey as Alfredo in La Traviata and then in 1962 spent 2 and a half years with the Israel National Opera in Tel Aviv, singing 280 performances of 12 different roles.
On September 19, 1985, the biggest earthquake in Mexico's history devastated the whole Mexican capital. Domingo's aunt, uncle, his nephew and his nephew’s young son were killed in the collapse of the Nuevo León apartment block in the Tlatelolco housing complex. Domingo himself labored to rescue survivors. During the next year, he did benefit concerts for the victims and released an album of one of the events.
In what has been called his 'final career move', Placido Domingo announced on January 25, 2007 that in 2009 he would switch ranges to baritone by taking on one of Verdi's most demanding baritone roles, as the Doge of Genoa, Simon Boccanegra, in the opera of the same name.

In 1966, he sang the title role in the US premiere of Ginastera's Don Rodrigo at the New York City Opera, with much acclaim. He first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on September 28, 1968, in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, singing with Renata Tebaldi. (Since then, he has opened the season there 21 times, surpassing the previous record of Enrico Caruso by four.) He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1967, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1968, at both La Scala and San Francisco Opera in 1969, and at Covent Garden in 1971, and has now sung at practically every other important opera house and festival worldwide.
Perhaps the most versatile of all living tenors, Domingo has sung 124 roles onstage to date (and as many as 128 roles when also counting recorded roles), ranging from Mozart to Ginastera. His main repertoire however is Italian (Otello, Il Trovatore, Don Carlo), French (Faust, Werther, Don José in Carmen, Samson in Samson et Dalila), and German (Lohengrin, Parsifal, and Siegmund in Die Walküre). He continues to add more operas to his repertoire, such as recently Tan Dun's The First Emperor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Throughout the years, Domingo has also turned his hand to conducting opera (as early as La Traviata on October 7, 1973, at New York City Opera) as well as, occasionally, symphonic orchestras.
On July 30, 1991, he performed in Otello, Verdi's operatic version of Shakespeare's Othello, as the Moor of Venice in Vienna. After 101 curtain calls, the applause had lasted 80 minutes non-stop - a world record.
In 1981 Domingo gained considerable recognition outside of the opera world when he recorded the song "Perhaps Love" as a duet with the late American country/folk music singer John Denver. In 1987, he and Denver joined Julie Andrews for an Emmy Award winning holiday television special, The Sound of Christmas, filmed in Salzburg, Austria.
In 1993 he also founded Operalia, an important international competition for young opera singers.
He is the General Director of two opera companies, the Washington National Opera and the Los Angeles Opera. His contracts in both Los Angeles and Washington DC have been extended through the 2010–2011 season.
Domingo has been instrumental in giving many young artists encouragement, (and special attention) as in 2001, when he invited New York tenor, Daniel Rodriguez to attend the Vilar/Domingo Young Artists program to further develop his operatic skills.
Domingo supports the Hear the World initiative as an ambassador to raise awareness for the topic of hearing and hearing loss.

Giving him even greater international recognition outside of the world of opera, with José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti, he participated in The Three Tenors concert at the opening of the 1990 World Cup in Rome. The event was originally conceived to raise money for the José Carreras International Leukemia Foundation and was later repeated a number of times, including at the three subsequent World Cup finals (1994 in Los Angeles, 1998 in Paris, and 2002 in Yokohama). Alone, Domingo again made an appearance at the final of the 2006 World Cup in Berlin.

He has made well over 100 recordings, most of which are full-length operas, often recording the same role more than once. Among these recordings is a boxed set of every tenor aria Verdi ever wrote, including several rarely-performed versions, in different languages from the original operas, which Verdi wrote for specific performances.
In August 2005, EMI Classics released a new studio recording of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in which Domingo sings the title role of Tristan. A review of this recording, headlined "Vocal perfections", that appeared in the August 8, 2005 issue of The Economist begins with the word "Monumental" and ends with the words, "a musical lyricism and a sexual passion that make the cost and the effort entirely worthwhile". It characterized his July 2005 performance of Siegmund in Wagner's Die Walküre at Covent Garden as "unforgettable" and "luminous". The review also remarks that Domingo is still taking on roles that he has not previously performed.
New recordings that have been released in the first half of 2006 include studio recordings of Puccini's Edgar, Isaac Albéniz's Pepita Jiménez, as well as a selection of Italian and Neapolitan songs, titled Italia ti amo (all three with Deutsche Grammophon).
Amongst many television appearance in many countries over the years (a large number for charitable purposes), Domingo appeared as the star act in the New Orleans Opera Association's A Night For New Orleans with Frederica von Stade and Elizabeth Futral, in March 2006. The concert was to raise funds for the rebuilding of the city.

Domingo has received numerous awards and honors, including:

Grammy Award
1971 - Principal Soloist for Best Opera Recording for Verdi: Aida
1974 - Principal Soloist for Best Opera Recording for G. Puccini: La Bohème
1983 - Principal Soloist for Best Opera Recording for Verdi: La Traviata
1984 - Principal Soloist for Best Opera Recording for Bizet: Carmen
1984 - Best Latin Pop Performance for Always in my Heart (Siempre en mi corazon)
1988 - Principal Soloist for Best Opera Recording for Wagner: Lohengrin
1990 - Best Classical Vocal Performance for Carreras-Domingo-Pavarotti in Concert
1992 - Principal Soloist for Best Opera Recording for Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten
2000 - Best Mexican-American Performance for 100 years of Mariachi

Latin Grammy Award
2000 - Best Classical Album for T. Breton: La Dolores
2001 - Best Classical Album for I. Albéniz: Merlin

Government and organization honors
France
Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur
Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur
Commandeur Arts et Lettres
Grande Medaille de la Ville de Paris
Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur – March 2002
Spain
Isabel la Católica
Premio Prinicipe de Asturias de las Artes - 1991
Gran Cruz de la Orden del Mérito Civil – September 2002
USA
Kennedy Center Honors – December 2000
The presendential Medal of Freedom – July 2002
Austria
Österreichisches Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst 1. Klasse
Kammersänger und Ehrenmitglied der Wiener Staatsoper
Goldenes Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um das Land Wien – 2007
Other countries
Aguila Azteca (Mexico)
Capo dell’Ordine "Al Merito della Repubblica Italiana" Grande Ufficiale (Italy)
Grã Cruz da Ordem do Infante d’Henrique (Portugal)
Cavalliere di Malta (Malta)
Knight Commander of the British Empire (Great Britain) – October 2002
Order of the Cedars (Lebanon) - 2004
NPO
Unicef Socio de Honor (UNICEF)

Honorary Doctorate
Royal Northern College of Music, England (1982)
Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, USA (1982)
Oklahoma City University, USA (1984)
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain (1989)
University of New York, USA (1990)
Georgetown University, USA (1992)
Washington College of Chestertown, USA (2000)
Anáhuac University, Mexico (2001)
Chopin Music Academy, Poland (2003)
Oxford University, England (2003)

Other entertainment awards and appreciation
A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – 1993 (Location: Domingo, Placido LT 7000 Hollywood Blvd)
Sociedad General de Autores Española (Best Lyric Singer of the Year 1997) for his role in the world premiere of "Divinas Palabras" - 1997
Association of Argentinian Music Critics (Best Male Singer in 1997) for “Samson and Dalila" - 1997
Baltika Grand Prix for Outstanding Achievement - June 1998
American Latina Media Arts (ALMA) Awards (Outstanding Performances By An Individual or Act in A Variety) - 1998
Hispanic Heritage Award for Arts - September 1999
Great Prize of the International Music Press - September 2000
The Ella Award - 2002
Classical BRIT Awards - 2006 (Critics' Award for Tristan and Isolde and Lifetime Achievement Award)
Others
On August 21, 2007, as recognition to his support to 1985 Mexico City earthquake victims as well as his artistic works, a statue in his honor, made in Mexico City from keys donated by the people, was unveiled. The statue is the work of Alejandra Zúñiga, is two meters tall, weighs about 300 kg (660 lbs) and is part of the "Grandes valores" (Great values) program.

Montserrat Caballé

2007-09-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepción Caballé i Folc, better known as Montserrat Caballé (born April 12, 1933), is a Spanish operatic soprano renowned for her bel canto technique and her interpretations of the roles of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti.

Caballé was born in Barcelona. After studying music at the Liceu Conservatory and singing technique under Eugenia Kemmeny, she was awarded with the gold medal; then she joined the Basel Opera in 1956, where she made her professional operatic debut in 1957 as Mimì in La bohème. For the 1960–61 season, she was engaged by the Bremen Opera, where she developed the foundations of her wide repertoire. In 1962 Caballé returned to Barcelona and made her debut at the Liceu, singing the title-role in Richard Strauss' Arabella.

Caballé's international breakthrough came in 1965 when she substituted for an indisposed Marilyn Horne in a semi-staged performance of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia at New York's Carnegie Hall. While she had to learn the role in less than one month, and considering this was her first engagement in a bel canto score, her performance created a sensation and made her famous throughout the opera world. The day after the New York Times quoted "Callas + Tebaldi = Caballé". Later that year, Caballé made her debut at Glyndebourne singing her first Rosenkavalier and at the Metropolitan Opera as Marguerite in Gounod's Faust. In December 1965 she also returned to Carnegie Hall for her second bel canto opera, singing the tremendous part of Queen Elizabeth I in Donizetti's recently rediscovered Roberto Devereux.
In 1966 she made her debut at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Trovatore (and Pirata in 1967). In 1969 she produced an astonishing performance as Elisabetta of Valois in an all-star cast (including Domingo and Cappuccilli) of Don Carlo at the Arena di Verona. Her A (La) on the final "ah" at the very end of the opera has become famous, lasting for more than 20 bars up to the final accord from the orchestra, driving mad an audience of more than 10.000. In these performances she had to act on crutches because an accident occurred earlier that year in New York City. In the same period she also appeared in one of the most remarkable recitals of her career at the Teatro Corallo, also in Verona.
In 1970, she made her delayed "official" La Scala debut in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia and in 1972 her Covent Garden debut as Violetta in Verdi's La traviata. 1974 was probably the year when Caballé reached her peak, with a number of astonishing performances: Aida at Liceu in January, Vespri at the Met in March, Parisina d'Este at Carnegie Hall in March, 3 Normas in one week at the Bolshoi in Moscow, with Adriana Lecouvreur at La Scala in April, Norma in Orange in July (her top single performance, filmed in video by Pierre Jourdain), the recording of Aida under Muti in July, and the Duets recording with Giuseppe di Stefano in August.
In September she underwent major surgery to remove a huge but benign tumoral mass from her abdomen. She recovered quite well and was again on stage for Norma in early 1975.
Having lost some of her earlier brilliance and purity of voice, Caballé made up for it finding a more dramatic utterance and expresive singing in roles that demanded it. Thus, in 1978, another great year in her career, she sung a magnificent Tosca in San Francisco, with Pavarotti, and in Madrid a sublime Norma. A video exists of this performance, for some even better than her legendary one in Orange.

Although best known for her bel canto roles, Caballé eventually sang over eighty operatic roles, from baroque opera to Verdi, Wagner, and Puccini, including the Marschallin in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier and the title role in Salome.
Caballé is also a noted recitalist, particularly of songs of her native Spain.
Her voice is noted for its purity, precise control, and power. She is admired less for her dramatic instincts and acting skills than for her superb technique, vocal shadings, and exquisite pianissimos, which were inspired by Miguel Fleta. Caballe is one of the most exemplary examples of the preservation of the Ancient Vocal Method.

Caballe is notable in that she recorded both the title role in Bellini's opera Norma (for RCA in the 1970s) and later the role of Adalgisa (to Joan Sutherland's Norma) in the 1980s studio recording conducted by Sutherland's husband Richard Bonynge (for DECCA), a feat not equaled by any other soprano on record. Caballe's performance as Adalgisa is the only one yet to have a soprano in that role - it helps her sound very youthful compared to other singers on disc and is maybe the finest of her 1980s recordings, a triumph for a soprano well into middle age at the time.
The result of one of her brief excursions to the world of pop music, Caballé's duet with rock singer Freddie Mercury of Queen, "Barcelona," was a hit single in 1988, accompanied by an album of the same name. The title track later became the anthem of the 1992 Summer Olympics which was hosted by the city, and appeared again in the pop music charts throughout Europe. Caballé also performed the song live, accompanied by a recording of the deceased Mercury, before the 1999 UEFA Champions League football final in Barcelona's Nou Camp stadium.
Caballé has dedicated herself to various charities. She is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and she has established a foundation for needy children in Barcelona.
Caballé does not appear to have retired from the stage. She continues to assume new roles: in 2002, Catherine of Aragon in Saint-Saëns's Henri VIII; in 2004, the title role in Massenet's Cléopâtre, both at the Liceu. At the age of 73 (2006), she still maintains a busy schedule of recitals and concerts, mainly in Germany. She has appeared as The Duchess of Crackentorp in La fille du régiment at the Vienna State Opera in april 2007.
Caballé married the tenor Bernabé Martí in 1964. Her daughter, Montserrat Martí (Montsita), is also a soprano and the two occasionally perform together.

Entertainment - Opera

2007-09-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

Trying to get your 16 year old acid rocker son to go to an Opera is like trying to get President Bill Clinton to admit that he had sex with that Lewinsky gal. You've got one big fight ahead of you. The truth is, if we didn't have the opera, we wouldn't have some of the other great music of our time as ultimately every form of music, especially Broadway musicals, comes from the classics. And there is no more classic than grand opera.
There's a reason that most operas are sung in Italian. Most of the great writers of opera were Italian. The few English language operas we have, like "The Barber Of Seville" don't compare to the old grand Italian operas. And it is those operas that have given us some of the greatest singers in the history of music.
Great singers go back many years. Keeping this discussion to the 20th century, one needs to go no farther than the incomparable Jussi Bjoerling, as he was called. Bjoerling lived from 1911 to 1960. He actually wasn't even Italian but Swedish born. But he was one of the greatest of our time. He was the leading tenor at the New York Metropolitan Opera for more than 20 years. Some of this most memorable performances however were not done at the Met but at the Rome Opera House under the direction of Jonel Perlea where he appeared in some of the greatest operas ever written, including "Cavalleria Rusticana" and "Tosca" and "Carmen", just to name a few.

In the opera world, many people were constantly comparing Bjoerling to another great tenor by the name of Enrico Caruso. Caruso actually came long before Bjoerling, having been born in 1873. At the time he was considered the greatest tenor of all time. After the arrival of Bjoerling, the debate began. Most opera lovers are torn between the two as to who is the greatest. Caruso actually had technical problems early in his career that he did not overcome until the turn of the century when he was finally able to move away from resorting to falsetto or transposition. Caruso gave many memorable performances during his all too brief career which included probably his most popular role in "I Pagliacci" where he sings what has become his most famous aria, "Vesti La Giubba".
The opera world did not just belong to the men. There have been many great women who have come to the opera stage over the years. One of the most famous of these is Leontyne Price who was born in 1927 and still lives today, though she has long stopped her operatic career. Price had many victories in her career. Her biggest was probably on January 27, 1961, when she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera House while playing Leonora in the Verdi classic "Il Trovatore". Her performance was so incredible that it resulted in her getting a 42 minute standing ovation. This was one of the longest in the history of the Met. The critics reviews of her performance labeled it as "flawless".
These few greats only scratch the surface of what opera has given us. If you've never been to the grand opera, by all means go. Even if you have to leave your 16 year old acid rocker home.

Training Your Voice to Sing

2007-09-09T05:32:00.000-07:00

The first step in voice training is awareness. I have heard some colleagues say that unless one has a specific speech problem, voice training is something solely for singers and perhaps actors. In summary, voice training is, most importantly, getting the performer to think outside the box. I learned how important breath control acquired through voice training is in music. So, how do you know if one on one voice training is for you, and how do you find a coach suited for your voice. In some cases formal voice training is valuable. Voice training is tedious. Proper voice training is essential so that you can learn to utilize this natural instrument without damaging it. Classical voice training is a plus factor.
The goal of this study is to define the long-term influence of vocal hygiene education and the effectiveness of voice training. This network provides a variety of high-quality vocal coaching and voice training tools. Vocal coaching for all levels and styles - pop, rock, urban, dance, music theatre and opera. Focus on breath control and expanding vocal range. Look for "vocal stress-busters" sprinkled throughout the internet. These are short songs to sing. Respect your vocal limits. So what makes you think that you do not need vocal lessons? Everyone can sing, but it is difficult to sing well without vocal training. Voice care is important for vocal health. Even a slight change in your vocal cords can render your voice unrecognizable.
With a music tutor, the performer may see whether he/she is singing at the correct pitch and how high the musical quality of his/her voice is. You will need to train to release the full potential of your voice. You can try books on singing, speech training and voice training. If you want to try it alone then I recommend the singing programs: 'Singing Success' or 'The Ultimate Voice Training for Singers'. If you are already singing professionally, then it is vital that you take up voice training to separate you from the crowd. You will need excellent, safe techniques for singing, speaking, and acting. The skill of directing the sound and holding it there during singing creates the artistry of proper voice training. Learn the same technique used by popular singing stars. A song based method for developing the singing voice. Performance training, group singing can help you project your singing voice. Start training and singing today.
Voice training is complex. To reach your full potential it takes a lot of practice. You will need to be dedicated to the art of singing. Make sure you take care of your voice and don’t over do it.

Hints And Tips For Those Learning To Sing

2007-09-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

Whether you are training your voice to join the ranks of professional singers or wish to cultivate your amateur talent, there are numerous aspects of singing to take into consideration. No matter how famous a singer is or how beautiful a voice, there will always be critical influences lurking in the shadows. They whisper about flat notes, put down song choices and even grimace at what a singer is wearing. All of these criticisms are fleeting.
It is up to the singer to learn from and embrace the good and the bad that comes with sharing his or her voice with the world. As long as you are confident and satisfied with your voice, the sky is the limit. Even the most popular vocalists of today have room for improvement.
When you’ve decided to embark on the path to develop your voice for singing, there is a certain level of respect regarding your craft to adhere to. As you enter the wonderful world of learning how to sing, there are many different concepts to embrace and aspects to consider when you are ready to take your potential to the next phase.
Choosing the Song That is Right For You
Although you may croon Frank Sinatra in the shower or hum Cher in the car, this doesn’t mean their songs are the right ones for you to take on while developing your voice. When singing, your vocal capabilities will fall into a specific vocal range, which are based upon the sex of the singer and the tonal quality they have in their voice.
Females are deemed a soprano (highest vocal range), contralto (lowest singing voice) or mezzo-soprano, which sits between soprano and contralto. The highest vocal ranges for a man include soprano and alto, which is also a term used to express the lowest singing voice of a female. Males have a wider assortment of tones associated with the range of their voice.
A tenor has a high vocal range that enables the singer to reach dramatic high notes. In opera, this is one of the more popular ranges of voice. The lowest vocal range for a man is referred to as bass. Typically, men with deep-speaking voices accomplish this vocal range. In the middle, there is the baritone (a cross between bass and tenor) and bass-baritone (a cross between bass and baritone).
Knowing your vocal strengths and capabilities, as well as limitations, will help you choose the kind of songs that will bring out your natural talent. Surely, if you have a deep voice, you will not benefit from tackling high-pitched songs that torture and strain your vocal cords.
Caring For Your Voice
When you make it a habit to practice healthy voice techniques and care, you will experience an improvement in the quality of your voice. These habits also ensure that your voice will continue to function in top working condition for many years to come. Singers should drink at least 6-8 glasses of water per day. This will keep the throat well hydrated. Proper breathing techniques will aid an individual in learning how to sing. Singers-in-training should avoid shouting, yelling and talking loud. All of these actions can lead to a hoarse voice, which affects your ability to sing.
Did you know that what you eat and drink affects your voice? Spicy foods weaken the throat, alcohol irritates the vocal cords and throat, even mouthwash contains irritating ingredients. Smoking cigarettes, as well as surrounding yourself with second-hand smoke, also causes breathing, throat and voice issues. As a rule of thumb, a healthy body creates a better atmosphere for a healthy voice.
Gaining Confidence Through Preparation
When you feel ready to share your singing talent with others, you may select an amateur performance night or create a demo. Preparing for this moment means that you have gone through all of the proper channels of training your voice. This means participating in singing exercises and voice training sessions, as well as visiting a voice coach or singing teacher. These are all ways to build up confidence in your singing. When enlisting the help of a professional, you will also benefit from constructive criticism.
Another way to gain confidence in your singing is to develop your ear. This will allow you to hone your craft as a singer by identifying when a note, tone or pitch is off. This will lead you to efficiently self-correct your voice if it should waver. Additional preparation techniques also involve practicing breathing exercises, phrases, vowel sounds and scales. Even the slightest effort towards preparation goes a long way and over time, you will strengthen and build your vocal capabilities.
Why Are You Singing?
When it comes to singing, there are many different reasons why an individual wishes to tackle this challenge. Perhaps, you have always had the pipes, but really didn’t know how to control your talent. Maybe someone told you that you had a beautiful voice and you should pursue it as a career. You might even want to follow in the footsteps of a family member or person you admire.
Anyway you look at it, the best music comes from those who have passion for song. Singing should not be forced and if your heart is not into it, you might not last long in the business (if this is what you desire). There are also numerous styles of singing to choose from, including jazz, opera, pop, soul or theatre. You might want to experiment with a few if you already haven’t fallen in love with a particular genre.
By following healthy voice care, preparation and training, in no time, you should be singing to your heart’s content, whether in front of peers, on a stage or still in the mirror.

Opera legend Pavarotti dies

2007-09-06T04:05:00.000-07:00

"The great tenor Luciano Pavarotti died today at 5am (3pm NZT) at his home in Modena," Pavarotti's manager Terri Robson said in a statement.
"The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life.
"In fitting with the approach that characterised his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness."
The rotund, black-bearded tenor known as "Big Luciano" helped bring opera to the masses and performed to vast stadium audiences round the world.
Pavarotti was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July last year, forcing him to abandon a 40-concert farewell tour to undergo radiotherapy.
He was sent to hospital for several weeks with a fever last month. His health deteriorated quickly after being released on August 25.
"He remained optimistic and confident that he would overcome the disease and had been determined to return to the stage to complete his Worldwide Farewell Tour," the statement said.
He is survived by his wife, Nicoletta, their four-year-old daughter, Alice, and three daughters from Pavarotti's first marriage.
The news saddened Italians, particularly those in Modena, Pavarotti's hometown. Police stood watch outside Pavarotti's villa as television crews gathered.
"For Modena, it is a enormous loss. Modena is known to the world thanks to Pavarotti," said Antonio Dibiccari, 39.
Pavarotti, the son of a baker and a factory worker, was born on October 12, 1935. He developed a keen interest in singing at the age of nine after he joined the local church choir with his father.
At 19 he began formal operatic training, but failed to find recognition and employment for the next six years.
The struggling tenor's parents agreed to support his career choice on the condition he would move out of home at the age of 30 and support himself.
Pavarotti quit singing in 1960 due to a throat nodule, but a rapid recovery saw him return to the stage.
He wrote of this time in his autobiography, "Everything I had learned came together with my natural voice to make the sound I had been struggling so hard to achieve."
Finally, the tenor's profile began to grow, his performances warmly received throughout Italy.
Pavarotti's breakthrough performance came when a tenor took ill on Australian Joan Sutherland's 1965 US tour. Pavarotti filled in at short notice to great critical acclaim.
His fame grew with triumphant performances in London, Rome and Sydney, which had critics gushing about his voluminous voice.
The impassioned performances drove audiences into frenzy - one performance at the New York Metropolitan Opera inspired a record 17 curtain calls.
Pavarotti's signature prop - a white dinner cloth - came about by chance in 1973. Anxious and perspiring before his international recital debut in Missouri, he asked for a hankerchief and was handed a dinner cloth instead.
As Pavarotti's profile as a singer grew, so did his celebrity. In the 1980s he was consider the world's third highest selling musician, behind Madonna and Elton John.
The tenor was known for his democratic approach to music - in 1988 a duet with Vanessa Williams saw him become the first and only opera singer to star on Saturday Night Live.
Perhaps Pavarotti's biggest gift to the music world was when he clubbed together with Spanish stars Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras at the 1990 soccer World Cup and introduced operatic classics to an estimated 800 million people round the globe.
The Three Tenors recording still holds the record for the most classical albums sold. The trio's brand continued to grow with performances at soccer World Cups in 1994, 1998 and 2002.
Throughout the 90s, Pavarotti embarked on a series of massive concerts that raised the profile of classical music and his own status as a bearded icon of opera. In 1993 he performed to crowds of 150,000 in Hyde Park and 500,000 in New York, with millions more enjoying the shows on television.
Pavarotti's march into the mainstream music charts continued with his collaboration with U2 on their 1995 song Miss Sarajevo.
He was unabashedly thrilled by fame, telling Newsweek magazine, "I want to be famous everywhere. I tell you, the time spent signing autographs is never enough."
Pavarotti developed a close friendship with Princess Diana after he joined her campaign against landmines.
He declined an invitation to perform at her funeral, saying he could not sing well with "grief in his throat".
In 1998 Pavarotti became on of only 15 artists to receive the Grammy Legend Award since it began in 1990. His most recent release was the pop-flavoured Ti Adoro, in 2003.
While his private life was marred by tragedy, Pavarotti appeared to have found happiness in recent years.
He married Adua Veroni as an unknown at age 26, but after the birth of three daughters the partnership dissolved.
In 2003 he married long-term partner and assistant Nicoletta Mantovani. The pair had two children, however, due to complications at the time of birth, only one, Alice, survived.
Over 40 years on the stage, Pavarotti developed a reputation for hitting incredibly high notes - but also for unreliability.
Known in some circles as 'The King of Cancellations', he was famously banned from performing at Lyric Opera of Chicago after pulling out of 26 of the 41 scheduled performances in an eight-year period.
Other controversies dogged Pavarotti's career. In 1992 he was sued by the BBC for selling the broadcaster a lip-synched concert.
Pavarotti become embroiled in allegations of tax fraud in 2000, agreeing to repay $12 million in taxes after it was determined his home was in Italy, not Monte Carlo as he had claimed.
Luciano Pavarotti's lasting legacy, however, will be his opera. While purists objected to his commercialisation of classical music, audiences could not get enough of his perfectly pitched high Cs and flamboyant performances.
Regarded as the greatest tenor since Caruso, Pavarotti harnessed the power of television to communicate his music to a global audience. His flexibility as a recording artist is credited with helping to restore opera to the musical mainstream and finding the genre fresh audiences.

Acknowledging the Team

2007-09-05T06:37:00.001-07:00

This article is for you if you’re a behind-the-scenes kind pf person: the administrative assistant who gets the presentation ready for the guys in marketing but doesn’t get to go to the meeting; the PR pro who writes all the CEO’s speeches and answers all the complain letters; the at-home mother who makes sure the concert pianist practices; the deputy chief whose job description is doing all the things the chief doesn’t like to do or can’t do; or the paralegal who prepares all the pleadings, knows all the codes, and does all the licking and stamping.
This article is also for you if benefit from the work of one of those people.
Temistocle Solear, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Henri Meilhac, Jules Barbier, Michael Carre, Giuseppe Giacosa,
Luigi Illica, Renato Semoni, and Nicola Haym all know what this is like.
Who on earth are these people?
Well, even if you’re not an opera fan, I bet you’ve heard of the composers Verdi, Bizet, Mozart, Strauss, Gounod, Handel, Donizetti and Puccini. And I’m sure you’ve heard of some of their operas: Aida, Carmen, Cosi fan Tutte, Madama Butterfly, Faust and Don Giovanni, for instance.
Did you know that these composers wrote the music for their operas, but not the lyrics? Solear, Ghislanzoni and the other individuals in the list are what’s called “librettists.” It is they who wrote the words (the libretto) the opera singers sing, without which you would be listening to a symphony, not an opera. And we never hear their names! In most cases, the words were written first, and then the composers whose names we know so well, wrote the music.
Like Gilbert and Sullivan, they worked together in pairs. The inimitable Richard Wagner was the only one to compose all his own operas entirely by himself, creating both music and lyrics, which may account for why they are so powerful, so Wagnerian. This is quite a feat because composing music and writing words require different parts of the brain.
Sometimes the composer and librettist met in person, while other times they worked via correspondence. Strauss worked exclusively with one librettist, after writing his own lyrics for his first opera and finding out he wasn’t good at it, but most other composers switched around, finding the right librettist for the job, or one who was available. It’s not unlike the way many of us work these days, long-distance and by contract.
What an incredible collaboration an opera is. It takes costume and set designers as well, because an opera is as much visual as it is auditory, and it is what makes Grand Opera, grand. In the Santa Fe opera’s production of “Turnadot,” when the moon appeared, she iwas personified and costumed in a magnificence that seemed to dominate the stage for half an hour. Another opera I hope to see one day is Verdi’s “Aida,” I mean Verdi and Ghislanzoni’s “Aida,” on stage at the Bath of Caracalla in Rome. The Triumphal March of Rhadames features live elephants and horses on stage. Now that’s entertainment!
What we don’t see at an opera is the orchestra, a crucial element. They’re listed in the program, of course, and given their bows at the curtain call, but we only hear them, seated below in the orchestra pit.
Many elements go together to produce the opera as see that bears the name of one man only. Take “Turnadot” for instance. It was librettist Semoni who gave Puccini the suggestion for the opera in the first place, telling him about Turandotte, a play written by Gozzi, based on a fable from the Arabian Nights.
Puccini had been searching for two years for a suitable plot for an opera, and at the age of 61, began “Turandot,” instructing his librettists, Adami and Semoni, to “pour great pathos into the drama.” Puccini, of course, is know for the most beautiful melodies in opera. He was also know for being extremely demanding, requiring endless rewrites from his librettists. From his point of view, however, the librettists were difficult. We can read his letters begging them to do their work. Semoni was in charge of Act III, and Puccini’s letters beg, “The third! The third! The third!”
At one point, he confessed to a friend “Music disgusts me,” as he evidently had periods of self-doubt and composer’s block. Toscanini paid him a visit and gave him the encouragement to keep going.
Every team has their Toscanini; or should.
Puccini was justified in urging completion of the opera as he died before the completion of the third act. The collaboration continued, as Toscanini found a composer named Franco Alfano, whose name is rarely mentioned, to complete it. The world premier took place on April 25th, 1926, the work of one guiding genius and many hands, hearts, and minds. It isn’t that teamwork and collaboration is new, it’s that it’s newly being recognized. Most of us realize we couldn’t accomplish anything alone, while those behind the scenes who work long and willing hours, long for some recognition. “Appreciation,” after all, top the list when employees talk about what they want at their job. It’s number one so consistently, it’s a wonder it isn’t heeded more.
Richard Montuori, town manager of Bellica, Massachusetts, knows and appreciates his team. I love [my] job, he said in a newspaper interview. “Every day is different and presents new challenges. Finances are a daily and yearly challenge, but no one person ever accomplishes anything alone. We have excellent department heads and town boards that help keep the town moving in the right direction.”
Isn’t it nice to hear someone publicly acclaim the team that makes them shine? I hope your boss or manager does this for you, and that if you’re the boss or manager, you appreciate and acknowledge and sing the unsung heroes in your midst.
But how do you praise everyone? There are always so many.
Here’s a leadership trick I learned from a pro. At the culmination of a fundraising banquet engineered by many, and funded by many more, the director of the benefited-agency rose and thanked everyone who helped make it possible. Then he added, looking around the room, “and I’d especially like to thank someone – you know who you are – who made this happen.”
I thought it was me! So did many other people, I’m sure, and that was what the director had in mind, he told me later when I asked him whom he had in mind, because his glance around the room was professionally ambivalent.
It works. And it’s always, always true.

What a 19th Century Opera Composer Teaches Modern Day Salespeople

2007-09-05T00:38:00.000-07:00

Most people are familiar with the old saying, "Easy come. Easy go." In the sales world we often observe that sales people who experience success quickly falsely assume that the sales profession is going to be easy. After a month or two, however, those fortunate few often reach a different conclusion. Without much sweat equity invested, they head off and look for the next rainbow. If only we could teach a new saying, "Easy come. Forget That." We may not have that saying, but we can look at a 19th Century opera composer who expressed it and set the example we may well want to copy.
After experiencing a degree of success with his very first opera, a young and unknown composer, Giuseppe Verdi, hit the big leagues by receiving a contract to compose two more operas for the most famous opera house in Italy. Talk about a winning sales presentation! One could certainly say that his success came quite easily. Verdi's next opera was to be an Opera buffa, a form of comedic opera, but the life events that preceded the opening night of that opera were anything but comical. In August 1838 Verdi's 16-month old daughter died suddenly. Just 14 months later, his 18-month old son died of bronchial pneumonia. Only eight months after the death of his son, Verdi's wife died after an illness of just five days. Within 22 months, Verdi's entire family was wiped out. Imagine trying to write a comedy while the family members around you are dying one after another.
Not surprisingly, Verdi's second opera was a complete flop. Easy come, easy go? Not on your life. Verdi's first success might have come easy, but the bad reviews he received from his second opera hardly sent him away crying. Instead he dug in his heels and decided never to pine for the approval of his critics. From that disaster he developed an intense emotional independence. Now there's something all sales professionals can use -- emotional independence.
In the sales business, it's easy to see our prospects and even our loved ones as the critics that hold our fortune in their hands. If our prospects tell us, "No," or if our loved ones tell us, "You will never be a successful entrepreneur," we think the die is cast. Time to let the 19th century composer, Giuseppe Verdi, teach you one of the great secrets of successful entrepreneurs... buck up, spit in the eyes of your critics (figuratively speaking, please!), and decide once and for all that the only opinion that matters is your own.
Verdi cared little about what the critics said and he learned to face failure and success with equanimity. One of his famous letters in its entirety simply said, "La Traviatta last night... a fiasco. Was it my fault or the singers? Only time will tell." Just in case you didn't know, time told all right. Verdi is considered by many to be the greatest of all the Italian opera composers. Regardless of whether or not your sales business has come easy for you, decide right now to face failure and success with equanimity, that is, with poise, with imperturbability, with (dare I say it?) confidence. Let failure be your instructor. Be willing to learn what you need to learn from each failure and then take three more giant steps forward.
It's not the approval of the critics that you need to succeed -- it's the approval of one infinitely more precious. It's the approval of someone who's been with you for every moment of every day of your entire life. End each day by giving yourself the critique you long for. It goes something like this, "You did the best job you knew how to do today. Well done!"

Maria Callas

2007-09-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

The American operatic soprano Maria (Kalogeropolous) Callas (1923-1977) was born in New York of Greek parents. She studied at Athens Conservatory and made her debut there in 1941. With a voice of fine range and a gift for dramatic expression, she excelled in opera. In 1947, she appeared at Verona in La Gioconda, winning immediate recognition. In 1949, she was married to Giovanni Battista Meneghini. She appeared at La Scala, Milan in 1950, at London's Covent Garden in 1952, and at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1956. Among her most famous roles were Bellini’s Norma in the title role, and Amina in La Sonnambula, while her magnetic stage presence as an operatic actress yielded memorable portrayals of Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata and in the title role in Puccini's Tosca. Callas sang with great authority in all the most exacting soprano roles, excelling in the intricate bel canto style of pre-Verdian Italian opera. Other operas include Madame Butterfly, Aida and Medea, and many more.
It’s more than twenty-five years since her death, and yet Maria Callas continues to ignite the imagination of a new generation of opera goers who never experienced her on the stage. I never did. My discovery of Callas is through my collection of her records, some almost warped to let go, perhaps no different from her recordings when she was just beginning to reach an international market, or when her career was still confined to Italy. Through the CDs, I came to love Callas's exquisite voice with all my senses engaged. Not that I don’t admire the likes of Kiri Te Kanawa, Ely Ameling, or Joan Sutherland, among others. I have Maria Callas's 'First Official Recordings', mono dated 1953. And as I compare this recording with a more polished production, a recent 1997 EMI recording of a lifelong favourite Bellini's Norma, I can feel the same intensity of feeling, the ever engaging sound of the voice itself.
I can go on and on and rave about this operatic diva, this legend whose greatest role was herself. For her life was an intense opera in itself – her tempestuous outbursts as sensational as her entrances and exits, as well as her doomed relationships. From 1959 until her death, she had intense relationship with the shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. But always, she remained the ever-consummate professional in her art.
While writing this piece, I'm up to Callas Rarities. and almost always, I end my listening satisfaction with her interpretation of my all-time favourite: "Casta Diva"(Chaste Goddess) from Bellini's Norma. Her exquisite voice lulls me to divine slumber: “Casta diva … tempra, o Diva, tempra tu de' cori ardenti, tempra ancora lo zelo audace …" Translated in English: “Chaste goddess, … temper thou the burning hearts, the excessive zeal of thy people.”
To experience the magical voice of Maria Callas, I need only listen and take pleasure in the solace of her recordings.

Beethoven's Only Opera

2007-09-04T09:04:00.001-07:00

“Fidelio” is the only opera that Beethoven composed. It is now considered to be one of the world’s best masterpieces. However, there were three releases of the opera. Each time the piece was treated and accepted differently. The great master revised his work three times. Each time it was like a new creation, so different, but yet so similar. Let’s take a closer look at each release of the opera.
Beethoven took his time over a span of years looking through libretto after libretto to write what he thought would be the greatest opera of the time. Though that sounds a bit arrogant, he was Beethoven; the greatest composer of western music to date, and that was his goal. Finally he stumbled across a libretto inspired by the French technique, which intrigued him, and he jumped at the opportunity. By November of 1805, the initial version of what was called at the time "Leonora," was ready to be premiered. A key fact to the reception of this piece however lies in history. In late October 1805, Napoleon's armies were bearing down on Vienna. By the 30th they had entered Salzburg, leading to the flea of most persons of wealth and nobility. These people were who would have normally made up the audience at a premier such as Beethoven's first and last opera. So it was under these horrendous circumstances that "Fidelio" was performed at the Theatre an der Wien. The usual audience had either fled or was unable to reach the theater as the city had been closed to the suburbs. The initial version of the opera was a very long, drawn out piece, consisting of three acts. Needless to say under the circumstances the first performance was not acclaimed by either the reviewers or the audiences. After three performances Beethoven withdrew the opera in disgust, for further review. It is safe to say the initial result was what no one expected as it was ridiculed by audiences and critics alike.
After the initial catastrophe, Beethoven went back to work importing a new librettist, shortening the work, and changing some music as well. By 1806 it was ready to be premiered again, and this time to the usual audience. The performance was extremely anticipated, however again failed in the eyes of the critics; however more importantly to Beethoven was the opinion of the audiences. The audience adored the re-release. The great Hector Berlioz states:
"Some time afterwards, however, it reappeared; modified in several ways, both as to music and text; and furnished with a new overture. This second trial was a complete success; and Beethoven, loudly recalled by the audience, was brought upon the stage after the first act, and again after the second act; the finale of which produced an enthusiasm hitherto unknown at Vienna. The score of "Fidelio" was, however, none the less subject to varying degrees of bitter criticism."
Although the second release of "Fidelio" was certainly better received than the first, and to the correct audience, Berlioz goes on to say, "The fact is that, of these three scores, the first is extremely weak; the second scarcely a work of talent; and the third a masterpiece of genius." This statement exemplifies the bulk of Reception Theory research found today. Though the second version of "Fidelio" was rather widely acclaimed and began to play all over Europe at different theatre companies, it was not until the third and final version, released in 1814, that "Fidelio" could be called an operatic masterpiece for the ages.
Many years and many works after the release of the second version of "Fidelio," with yet another librettist and more changes including the addition of an overture, the final version of "Fidelio" premiered on 23 May 1814. This form and performance catapulted "Fidelio" into a widely acclaimed masterpiece of opera. Critics and audiences alike would praise the work for years and years to come, as it is still acclaimed as one of the great opera's of the time today. Beethoven in response to the much awaited success wrote in his daybook, "It is certain that one writes best when one writes for the public." The Reception Theory combines a variety of thoughts on a piece with it's reception by the critics and general public at the time, and when the piece is widely acclaimed, which could be much later in time. Often time's works that are experimental in one era become hailed as masterpieces in another, that's the whole point of the Reception Theory, to determine when a work makes this crossover. Beethoven's "Fidelio" had the perfect timing as far as this approach states. With the final changes to the piece, it became praised as one of the all-time masterpieces almost immediately. "One can only guess at the depth of Beethoven's frustration upon being repeatedly told, by even the most well-meaning of his admirers, that he was writing for the future and that he could not be understood in his own day." What "Fidelio," accomplished upon completion and acclaim was prove to Beethoven that as often as his pieces were based on where music was going, he could still write for the people of the time, while moving in the direction of the future. What is found upon further research is that "Fidelio" has grown like a fine wine, though highly praised in 1814 at the conception of the final version; it has only grown in the public's appreciation over time. There is not exact date in which the work crossed over to a masterpiece, essentially from the final version's premiere it was a fact understood by the audience, that this was and would be a great opera for a lengthy period of time.

Can You Recognize An Operatic Voice?

2007-09-04T09:00:00.001-07:00

Does your son or daughter have a voice that is good enough for the opera house?
But before you answer that question, ask yourself another. Can you recognize an operatic voice before it has been trained?
There is little doubt the world of opera is an exciting place. It can bring fame and fortune to those who are good enough if they are prepared to work very hard for many years and then get the lucky breaks.
Like any other exacting profession opera singing is an art of discipline, even for the most gifted singer. Not only must the voice be properly trained, but music theory and ear training must be studied, roles learnt and memorized, foreign languages studied and acting perfected.
A parent wishing to guide their son or daughter into the world of opera should first consult with people in the business of opera. People whom they know and can trust. Those who really care. It is important to find the right people in the industry, get to know them and seek their professional advice. It is essential that you get expert opinions about the potential and prospects for your children from those whose comments and judgment you can trust.
Given the encouragement from such a person or persons, the next thing is to find a singing teacher. They are plentiful, but don't come cheaply. Look for a sympathetic teacher with clear communication skills. When you find one, outline a teaching program over a limited time frame and make sure this schedule is maintained. Some teachers take on sudents and just keep teaching without end goals in sight. Avoid them. They're looking after themselves, not your son or daughter.
The initial training period should cover the basic elements of voice production and building a limited repertoire. The early 17th and 18th century Italian arias are an ideal starting program and all reputable singing teachers should be aware of these songs which are readily available in albums, preferably with CD accompaniment discs for learning purposes.
For this part of the early training program, a maximum of two years should be adequate. If the student hasn't made sufficient progress in the first two years, perhaps they don't have the necessary commitment for such a demanding career. Be honest with them and yourself. But be firm. It's your money you are paying out!
After completing the initial part of the program students should then start the preparation for an audition at a recognized Music Academy. These are attached either to an Opera House or University, depending on where you live. Audition programs for entrance to these institutions can be accessed through websites quite readily, but take particular care to investigate entrance requirements, especially in the case of a University Music Academy.
In addition to preparing a singing program of classical songs, operatic arias and excerpts from oratorio, music academies require knowledge of music theory and ear training (solfege) for passing an audition. A six months program should be sufficient to absorb enough information from a recognized teacher of music theory to pass this test.
Additional training is probably optional, but could prove useful for the future. Many good singers study piano. It helps them to learn their music without teachers, or simpy to augment a teaching program with a teacher.
Students who enter a Music Academy and study for a first or second degree over a period of some years will derive considerable benefit from this formal tuition. It will pave the way for auditioning in opera houses and with impresarios around the world. In fact, the competition is so intense that many opera houses won't even bother to audition singers without formal training at a recognized academy.
So, how long is all this going to take? Probably not less than six years, possibly up to ten for a second degree at an academy. It's a long haul, but given the natural gift of your son or daughter, you owe it to them and yourself to ensure the voice is properly trained and equipped for the onstage debut.
Should luck play an important part in their career, students must have the ability to get up on center stage at a moment's notice and woo an audience. If they fail, that's probably the end of the road. But if they are ready and succeed, that a major step up the ladder to fame and fortune.
And that's exactly how some opera stars were born! Maybe luck played an important part, but they were ready and when that lucky break arrived, capitalized on their good fortune.
Granted, every parent thinks their son is another Enrico Caruso or their daughter a second Maria Callas. Don't delude yourself into thinking they are the greatest just because they are your children.

History of opera

2007-09-04T08:53:00.000-07:00

The earliest evidence of the construction of an opera was in circumstances of no very great importance, and only slightly connected with music. In 1579 Bianca Capello was married to Francisco de Medici, son of Cosmo, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The wedding took place in Venice and was grand occasion, and part of the festivities included dramatic representations accompanied with music.In the suite of the Grand Duke were several Florentines, who took a considerable interest in music, and these Florentine gentlemen were very unhappy with the music and entertainments they witnessed in Venice.This music was specially written for the occasion by two of the most distinguished composers of the time, Andrea Gabrielli and Luca Marenzio, one of the greatest of madrigal writers, so that it is probable that the Florentines had little to complain about as regards its technical excellence.What they objected to, however, was its lack of relation to the words and situations amidst which it was introduced and on their return to Florence, they formed themselves into a society for the improvement of music, more especially in connection with the drama.The problem with which these Florentines proposed to solve was not a simple one, and almost identically the same as that which confronted Wagner more than two hundred and fifty years later, to present a drama in which the music and words should be on an absolutely equal footing, and equally expressive of the sentiment of the moment.Passing over the first of the society's experiments in dramatic music, for the reason that there is little or no information still existing, we come to a work of real importance and interest, the Euridice of Ottavio Rinuccini and Jacopo Peri, Rinuccini furnishing the poem and Peri the music.True to the spirit of the Renaissance, which in all things studied to apply old principles to new requirements, the Florentine reformers looked to antiquity for guidance in their innovations. This was to be the start of a new kind of musical entertainment and maybe the birth of the opera.The opera is in three acts. The scene of the first is set in the country, where Eurydice and Daphne are discovered amid a group of nymphs. When they leave the stage, Orpheus enters with two shepherds. Daphne presently returns, and relates to them the death of Eurydice from the bite of a serpent, and the first act concludes with the lament of Orpheus for his lost Eurydice.In the second act, Venus leads Orpheus to Hades, in order that he may beg of Pluto the restoration of Eurydice to life. At first, Pluto is stubborn, but after much pleading, he yields, and the last act depicts the happy return of Orpheus with Eurydice.The orchestra consisted of but four individuals, Signer Jacopo Corsi, who played the harpsichord behind the scenes; Don Garzia Montalro, who played the chitarone, or large guitar; Messer Giovannibatista dal Violono, the viol da gamba and Messer Giovanni Lapi, a large lute.Thus, the orchestra in this early music drama amounted to the seventeenth century equivalent of a piano, two guitars and a cello. Throughout the opera there is not one spoken word, all the dialogue is expressed in recitative, and the airs themselves approximate somewhat to recitative, and of this a notable example is the pathetic lament at the end of the first act. The chorus is also handled in a manner very different from that of older writers, very apparent efforts being made to render it as spontaneous, seeming, and natural to the course of the narrative as possible.A further development of the music drama is displayed in another setting of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, by Glaudio Monteverde (1568-1643), under the title of Orfeo and after a brief sketch of this work; we must turn to other phases of Renaissance musical art.Monteverde's Orfeo was first produced at Mantua in 1607, and like Peri's Euridice, its production formed part of the festivities of a wedding, in this case that of the young Prince Francisco of Mantua.This was not Monteverde's first essay as a dramatic composer, for he had, earlier in the same year, produced a work entitled Ariadne, in which he gave strong proof of his originality. His Orfeo, however, affords us a more distinct idea of the advance which the new dramatic music had made within the comparatively short space of seven years.