new jordan 2011 Joan Sutherland Early Years

Serafin found a great collaborator in his endeavour in the form of the extraordinary and extraordinarily controversial figure of Maria Callas, whose career peaked more or less as Sutherland’s began. They did sing together onstage - in 1952 Callas made her Covent Garden debut as Bellini’s Norma, with Sutherland singing the tiny role of Clotilde.
Though they excelled the same repertoire in their respective primes, the two women could not be more different. Callas [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], a Greek-American, was a fiery personality and ate up the stage with her enormous dramatic presence and commitment. She was a passionate and exciting singer at her best and drove herself and her co-workers to the point of exhaustion with her perfectionism.
Sutherland was of an altogether sunnier disposition and if she did not in fact have greater natural vocal gifts than her great predecessor [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], she certainly took better care of them. They did have something in common in that they both had voices that one might normally expect to be groomed for the heavier repertoires – Puccini, late Verdi and Wagner.
Joan Sutherland, the girl from Sydney, who eventually conquered the musical world, is known by the moniker bestowed on her by a rapturous Italian press, La Stupenda. She continued the work started by the only rival for the top honour as Soprano of the Century, Maria Callas, in reviving the neglected dramatic coloratura repertoire of the 18th and 19th centuries. This was known as the “bel canto revival.”
The “bel canto revival” began in the 1920s and 30s under great Italian conductor Tullio Serafin, who dedicated much of his career to exploring the dramatic aspect of coloratura singing, rather than the hitherto focus on its “nightingale” aspect.
Joan Sutherland Perfected Bel Canto Style.
Bel canto, which literally means beautiful singing, refers to both a vocal technique and a style of operatic composition. Sutherland’s husband, conductor Richard Bonynge describes the technical aspect: “it unites the three natural registers of the voice – the chest [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], middle and head – into one. It demands a seamless legato, a coloratura technique and absolute control of dynamics. It requires a beautiful sound. The size of the voice has nothing to do with it – all categories of voice are improved with training.”
Both Sutherland and Callas had voices very different from the usual coloratura voice - girlish, piping high notes and fragile, sweet warblings. Early in her career, Sutherland felt it would be ridiculous for her to sing all that “canary stuff.” She spent many years languishing at Covent Garden, while that company’s management and Sutherland’s family argued over what to do with her.
Joan Sutherland's Contemporary and Rival Was Maria Callas.
Sutherland Almost Became a Wagnerian Soprano.
Sutherland’s mother, a fine mezzo who had taught Joan, was certain she was a Wagnerian soprano, while husband Bonynge was determined she was a coloratura. Joan herself was uncertain of her own destiny. She was called upon to sing Wagner: one of the Valkyries in Die Walküre and Eva in Die Meistersinger. At the same time, the Handel Opera Society asked her to sing the role that in fact marked the watershed of her career, the title role in Alcina in 1957.
Read on
Lucia di Lammermoor
Maria Callas: Biography
Songs My Mother Taught Me CD Notes
Two of her great supporters at Covent Garden, David Webster and Lord Harewood eventually persuaded the Board of Directors to mount a production of Lucia di Lammermoor for her, two years later. Sutherland prepared the role with the great

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