Dame Joan Sutherland

Biography

The following biography is a snapshot of Dame Joan's life and career. I would urge anyone who is interested in finding out more to buy her autobiography,"A Prima Donna's Progress", or Dame Norma Major's excellent book "Joan Sutherland: The Authorised Biography". Both are highly recommended and readily available online from both www.amazon.com and www.ebay.com.

Small Beginnings

Dame Joan Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE, was born on the 7th of November 1926 in Sydney, Australia. Her mother, Muriel, was a talented mezzo-soprano who was taught by Burns Walker, a pupil of the illustrious music teacher Mathilde Marchesi. Unsurprisingly, Joan was introduced to opera by her mother at a very young age and would often imitate her vocal technique.

Joan's first real breakthrough in her training came in 1945 when, aged 18, she won the John and Aida Dickens scholarship. John Dickens immediately recognised that she was in fact a dramatic soprano and not a mezzo soprano as previously assumed. Much work was done to lift the voice and to overcome her natural shyness and reticence. For a time the young singer was having trouble accepting the idea that she was destined for the great roles of Wagner and Verdi. However, this soon changed as she imagined singing the same repertoire as that of her idol, the great Kirsten Flagstad. It was also during her time with the Dickens, that Joan joined the Affiliated Music Clubs of New South Wales and met for the first time, whilst singing at the Queen Victoria Club, the man who would have the single biggest impact both on her life and her career, Richard Bonynge.

In these "music clubs" Joan would sing selections from La Gioconda, Aida and Tristan und Isolde, amongst others, whilst being accompanied on the piano by Richard. Joan's official public debut came on the 12th December 1946 where, at the Sydney Town Hall she sang in Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Joan also entered some of the numerous vocal competitions which, were being held throughout Australia to try and find the next great operatic hope, perhaps a Melba or an Austral in the making. The most significant of these competitions was the "Mobil Quest" run by the Vacuum Oil Company. Having come fourth in 1949, Joan entered once more in 1950 and this time emerged victorious."May laurels crown thy brow"(Ritorna Vincitor), from Aida by Verdi. Sydney, 1949. Now armed with the winner's prize, her savings and a generous gift from her cousin John, Joan and her mother set sail for London and ultimately Covent Garden

Covent Garden: The Early Years

Upon arrival in London, Joan and Richard become reacquainted (they were later to be married in 1954). She was also introduced to Professor Clive Carey of the Royal College of Music, who advised her to join the Opera School. During these early years in London, Richard noticed that Joan often sang around the house with a different voice to that of her moulded dramatic soprano; it was both more free, natural and placed higher than she would usually sing. Up until now Joan assumed the top of her voice was a rather hard-won top C, and that the bel canto repertoire was one best left to the lighter voice types like Galli-Curci and Pons. Maria Callas showed that it was possible to embody the ideals of bel canto and yet deliver the coloratura pyrotechnics with a voice normally associated with the heavier repertoire, such as Verdi's Aida.

Armed with the knowledge that she did not have perfect pitch, Richard would often get Joan to sing away from the piano. Consequently, she began singing notes far higher than she had ever thought possible. High D's, E's, F's and once even an F#in altissimo. This moment in Joan's life has now entered operatic folklore, but it also marked a break between what she assumed she was and what she was to rightly become, namely the leading soprano in the bel canto revival.

Joan had several auditions at Covent Garden, but although they were impressed by the quality and size of the voice, they found it very difficult to place her voice type. She would often sing both a dramatic aria followed by a coloratura standard, such as "Dich teure halle" and "Qui la voce". Eventually she was offered a contract for the 1952/1953 season at ten pound per week, where she was viewed as a suitable understudy/successor to the dramatic soprano Sylvia Fisher. Her first performance at Covent Garden was as the First Lady in "The Magic Flute", followed closely by the High Priestess in Aida"Possente"from Aida by Verdi. Covent Garden 1953 and Clotilde in Norma. From 1952-1959 Joan sang a variety of different roles at the Garden which, along with its supportive, almost family-like atmosphere, allowed Joan to progress to an artist of the first rank. Her roles both at the Garden and on tour ranged from Aida, Amelia in the Masked Ball, Desdemona in Otello, the Countess in Figaro and Antonia in the Tales of Hoffmann, to those which required a bravura coloratura technique. These included the fiendishly difficult role of Jennifer, in Michael Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage, Gilda in Rigoletto and Olympia in Hoffmann.

Although garnering many ecstatic press notices throughout these years, it was a performance of Handel's Alcina at St Pancras Hall for the Handel Society, which really caused the critics and the public alike to realise that here was a very special and rare singer indeed, one who could sing the taxing vocal line of Handel's Sorceress, complete with trills, high notes and mind boggling divisions and yet always ensure that her voice remained exquisitely beautiful. This "baroque ideal" was realised again as the Israelite Woman in Handel's Samson at Covent Garden. Here Joan would bring the house down at the end of the evening with a staggering performance of "Let the Bright Seraphim", complete with an exultant high D to cap the aria. "Let the bright seraphim"from Samson by Handel. Covent Garden 1959.

Sutherland Arrives - Lucia di Lammermoor 1959

Following the sensational Alcina, Lord Harewood, David Webster and Richard began campaigning for Joan to have a new production especially mounted for her. It was deemed that the perfect opera for Joan would be Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. After much procrastination and persuasion the production was mounted. The director was Franco Zeffirelli and the conductor Tulio Serafin. Opening night was the 17th of February 1959, a date now famous in operatic history. Her debut as Lucia became a watershed moment in the annals of opera, launching her upon a glittering international career as a top flight soprano. In every sense of the word, her debut was a tumultuous triumph. John Steane in his book "Voices, Singers and Critics", described how the house "blazed with enthusiasm" greeting the arrival of this new and extraordinary star. What made the evening so momentous was that rare combination of deeply serious dramatic commitment to the drama of Donizetti's opera, and the flawless expression of some of opera's most demanding and technically virtuosic music."Quando rapito in estasi"from Lucia Lammermoor by Donizetti.Covent Garden 1959.

Dame Joan Sutherland has from time to time been accused of being too cool on stage, for not showing enough fire and emotion in some of her portrayals, yet one has only to listen to the live recording from this debut run, to realise that Joan’s portrayal penetrated to the very heart of poor mad Lucy, and that this could be achieved whilst maintaining a pure and perfect vocal line - something which often eluded other performers in this same role. Following her debut as Lucia, the world's operatic citadels began to fall one after the other, Paris; Venice; Milan; Vienna; San Francisco; Chicago; and finally the Metropolitan Opera New York. Invariably she sang Lucia and the result was always the same, a complete and unadulterated triumph. Whether she was shattering records for ovations at the Met, or being hailed "La Stupenda" after giving La Fenice her Alcina, Joan was consistently delivering a standard of singing hitherto considered extinct. This was all the more remarkable when one considers that she was continually battling with various ailments during the 1950's and early 1960's, ranging from chronic sinusitis, to severe and debilitating back and leg pains.

La Stupenda: The Glory Years

During the 1960's Dame Joan Sutherland added many new roles to her repertoire, including Beatrice di Tenda, Amina in La Sonnambula, Elvira in I Puritani, Marie in La Fille du Regiment and Violetta in La Traviata. However, it was the addition of two very demanding roles during this period, which proved to be amongst her most notable successes. Firstly, there is Joan's assumption of the Babylonian Queen Semiramide, at La Scala in 1962. It had long been out of the repertory primarily because the vocal line for all the roles required a command of bel canto long since gone. Joan revelled in the taxing tessitura, bringing the house down after "Bel raggio lusinghier"."Bel raggio lusinghier"from Semiramide by Rossini. La Scala 1962. The other great role which Joan undertook in the 1960's was Bellini's Norma. Often considered to be the pinnacle of bel canto achievement, it has a reputation for exposing the flaws in a singer's technique and vocal stamina. Lilli Lehmann famously declared it more demanding than all three Brunnhilde's combined! Whilst some considered Joan wanting in temperament in this role, there is no doubt that she embodied the musical aspects in a way which was to become peerless. Whether interpolating an unwritten sustained high E-Flat in the duet "In mia man", singing the great aria "Casta Diva" in the original higher key of G, or bringing the house down in her duets with that other paragon of vocal brilliance, Marilyn Horne, Joan's performances were undeniably impressive. Her interpretation of this role, one which she sang more often than any other soprano of the 20th century, grew in depth over the decades, culminating in two wonderful, albeit very different recordings with Decca.

The Druid Duo

Joan Sutherland's partnership with Marilyn Horne is the stuff of legend. It is hard to conceive of a more brilliant pair of vocalists within the recorded history of opera. They first met in New York in 1961 when Joan made her American debut in the title role of Beatrice di Tenda and Marilyn sang the role of Agnese di Main. They performed together frequently in the 1960's and made some extraordinary recordings, most notably Semiramide and Norma. Horne demonstrated time and time again a formidable technique which included a powerful and resonant chest voice, smooth legato and an excellent command of coloratura.

Another illustrious colleague often associated with Dame Joan, is Luciano Pavarotti. Blessed with a beautiful, smooth tenor with ringing high notes, Luciano was in turn to have a truly great and exceptionally popular career. They first met in 1965 when singing together in Lucia di Lammermoor in Miami. Suitably impressed, Sutherland and Bonynge engaged Luciano for the now famous "Sutherland &Williamson" tour in Australia later that year. However, his big splash on the opera scene did not come until he sang Tonio to Joan's Marie in Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment at Covent Garden in 1966.

During the 1960's Joan's standing with the critics was often a mixed affair. They marvelled at her clarion high notes, power and command of coloratura, yet were unhappy at the smoothing of consonants, interpreting it as a quest for the perfect beautiful sound. This approach was to change considerably in the 1970's. Not only did Joan's diction markedly improve, but it was accepted time and time again that she was indisputably the supreme technician. The voice also acquired a darker hue at this time, giving the interpretation of the music a grander sense of scale and more dramatic purpose. It also led to Joan taking on some heavier roles, including Lucrezia Borgia, Maria Stuarda, Leonora in Il Trovatore and even (on record only) a fabulous assumption of Puccini's Turandot. Perhaps her most significant role during this period was that of Massenet's extraordinary Esclarmonde.

Esclarmonde calls for an almost inhuman combination of attributes. The lead must have the power of a dramatic soprano to ride Massenet's lush Wagnerian style orchestration, the sensuousness of a lyric soprano for the more tender moments in the opera and a coloratura technique to cope with some of the score's more hair raising demands. "L'espirit de l'air"from Esclarmonde by Massenet. Metropolitan Opera 1976. Perhaps more than any other role in her repertoire, it is nigh on impossible to think of another soprano who could command all of these attributes quite so well as Joan.

The Final Years

During the 1980's Dame Joan consolidated her position as the great prima donna of our time. Her "time at the top", was perhaps even more impressive than that of her great Australian predecessor, Dame Nellie Melba. Further roles were added to her repertoire including Adriana Lecouvreur, Anna Bolena and Amalia in Verdi's I Masnadieri, to name but a few. She also continued to record frequently with Decca and performed with more and more regularity at the Sydney Opera House, a venue with which she has become so closely associated since her debut there in 1974.

After 1697 performances, Joan decided to retire from the operatic stage in 1990 so as to leave her fans with a memory of a voice that would be the envy of many other sopranos. Officially, her final performance was that of Marguerite de Valois in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots at the Sydney Opera House in 1990, a role she first performed at La Scala in 1962, opposite Corelli, Simionato and Cossotto. It was both an emotional and suitably resplendent occasion, with the end of her career marked by a wonderful celebration at the end of the opera. Joan however, was to still perform one last time. As befitting the house which launched her international career, Joan gave her final farewell at Covent Garden on New Years Eve in 1990 as a guest in the party scene from Die Fledermaus. Joined by her husband in the pit, Joan sang duets with both Marilyn Horne and Luciano Pavarotti. But Dame Joan's final notes were reserved for "Home Sweet Home" whereupon she received a rapturous ovation. Rarely, if ever, has a diva been given such a farewell. But then, few sopranos have achieved such a staggeringly successful career or been blessed with a voice that can rightly be described as a phenomenon. In addition to this, Joan has avoided the whims and caprices of many of the other sopranos labelled correctly or not, as divas. Instead she has shown us that greatness can arrive through a combination of undeniable talent, humility and generosity of spirit. She is La Stupenda indeed.

www.la-stupenda.com