The Musical Lives of Opera Singers and Operatic Music History
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Course
Music History (MUSC3HAH1)
Institution
University Of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)
Book
In My Own Voice
In the operatic music world, there are many famous vocal works that music enthusiasts will run to theatres to hear. Opera singers like Joan Sutherland and Christa Ludwig had voices to fill a music hall. The vocal prowess of opera singers in history is an inspiration to music as we know it. The essa...
, Two of the greatest Classical singers of the 20th century were Dame Joan Sutherland and Frau
Christa Ludwig. Their unique wielding of their individual voices created a standard hard to beat
among opera singers. These women differed in their vocal range, however, they shared similar
inspirational stories worthy of note.
Joan Sutherland, a dramatic coloratura soprano singer, was born on 7 November 1926 in Sydney
Australia. She passed away at age 83 in Switzerland on 10 October 2010. Sutherland inherited
the musical gene from her mother who was an opera singer. Her mother, Muriel Sutherland, was
a mezzo-soprano who would sing around their house and Joan Sutherland would copy her. Even
though her mother never intended to be a professional singer due to a case of stage-fright, Joan
Sutherland was destined to be one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Her nickname was
‘La Stupenda,’ as she truly was a stupendous prima donna.
When she was 18 years old, she began to take singing seriously. She studied voice with John and
Aida Dickens. In 1947, Sutherland made her concert debut singing Henry Purcell’s “Dido and
Aeneas.” In 1949, she had won a prestigious competition in Australia, the Sun Aria. Her first
stage debut was in 1951, where she sang in Eugene Goossens's “Judith.” To extend her voice
education and career, she studied at the Royal College of Music’s Opera School where Clive
Carey took her under his wing. A year before she went to London, her soon-to-be husband,
Australian pianist Richard Bonynge also made his journey to pursue his dreams in England.
When they married in 1954, they became an inseparable dynamic duo. Sutherland was engaged
by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, at the time and performed in many roles.
Her vocal range expanded from G3 to F#6 which meant she had a huge voice that was rare for a
coloratura soprano singer. One of her biggest influences was Kirsten Flagstad, a Norweigian
opera singer that mastered the Wagnerian way of dramatic soprano singing. In 1952, Sutherland’s
first leading role at the Royal Opera House was Amelia in “Un ballo in maschera” which is the
role for a spinto soprano. She went on to play lyric and dramatic soprano roles such as Agathe in
Der Freischütz, Desdemona in Otello, Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Pamina in
The Magic Flute.
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