Tuesday,
May 23,
Retired and Revered
Italian Tenor Carlo Bergonzi at 82, Still Teaches
The
ANNOTICO Report
Carlo
Bergonzi was born
By 1955, he was making his first appearance in the
Bergonzi now teaches at his Academy in
Los
Angeles Times
By
Chris Pasles
Times Staff Writer
May 20, 2006
In an upstairs room of a rental house on the grounds
of a posh Pasadena hotel, a talented young tenor is singing an aria from a Bellini opera. To most listeners, he would probably sound pretty good.
But Carlo Bergonzi, the revered Italian tenor who
will turn 82 in July, detects a few flaws.
Bergonzi urges the singer not to scoop into his notes
— and especially not to belt out the highest with an explosive squeeze.
Under Bergonzi's guidance, he repeats the phrases,
and this time he sounds like a singer of another class entirely, one who can
convey afresh the beauties and subtleties of the bel
canto style.
Bergonzi has been giving such instructions in
operatic finesse this month in a two-week series of workshops for the newly
minted, Long Beach-based Angel's Vocal Art Center. They will culminate Sunday
in a recital at the Nate Holden Performing Arts
Center.
Nine singers were chos! en to participate by Angel's
center's founder and artistic director, Deng Xiaojun,
himself a tenor who studied with Bergonzi for nearly
a decade at Bergonzi's academy in Busseto,
Italy, which was also the home of Giuseppe Verdi. Xiaojun
says he founded the nonprofit Long Beach center to preserve what he considers a
vanishing vocal style embodied by his former teacher.
Bergonzi was born July 13, 1924, at Polisene, near Parma, Italy. He made his debut as a
baritone in 1948, singing Figaro. But three years later, he made a second debut
— this time as a tenor, singing Giordano's Andrea Chйnier.
By 1955, he was making his first appearance in the U.S., on a double bill at
the Chicago Lyric Opera, and the following year he debuted at the Metropolitan
Opera as Radames in Verdi's "Aida."
Altogether, he sang 324 performances at the Met, closing his stage career there
in 1988 in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor"
and returning to sing at a gala for Met music director James L! evine in 1996, when he was 71.
Critics said he sounded just fine.
These days, despite considerable added poundage, Bergonzi
still carries himself like someone used to the spotlight. Although he uses a
cane occasionally to steady his balance, it might be a treasured stage prop.
Its handle is a small silver bust of Verdi.
Though his professional singing days are over, the kind of vocal longevity Bergonzi had remains uncommon. It's founded on sound
technique and an awareness of what repertory to sing and what to avoid. These
are some of the lessons he's been aiming to pass on in the Pasadena workshops.
"We still have the great voices, good basic material," he said this
week, speaking through a translator. "It's the teaching now that is
different."
When he arrived here, he said, he found "basic material," but "I
was very surprised because I couldn't understand even a word. I had a baritone
who sang with mushy diction. But in four days, this singe! r
changed. Of course, two weeks is not that much time. But I'm very impressed
because in one week, all the singers have understood how to sing. I believe
this will be a good concert."
Another major problem, he said, was a lack of breath control.
"I hear hundreds of students — Americans, Chinese, Japanese, English
— from all over the world at my academy. Not one — not one —
can breathe properly. They sing from the throat — a tight throat —
as opposed to supporting from the diaphragm."
Phrasing presented yet a third challenge.
"After three or four years of study, they sing 'Una
furtiva lagrima' " —
a famous aria from Donizetti's "Elixir of Love" — "by the
beat: One-two-three-four! What is that? Nothing."
Proper phrasing, he said, is a lesson he learned directly from celebrated opera
conductor Tullio Serafin
when a young Bergonzi was singing his first "Forza del destino" in 1951
with a cast that included Renata Tebaldi, Giulietta Simionat! o, Ettore Bastianini
and Cesare Siepi. (Now that was a golden age.)
At the first rehearsal, Bergonzi pumped out his first
aria, singing everything in strict tempo. Serafin
stopped the rehearsal, asked the others to leave and told Bergonzi
to stay.
"I was expecting Serafin to tell me, 'I'm sorry,
but you can't sing with these great singers.' "
Instead, he said, the conductor told him that he had "a wonderful Verdian voice" and would be "one of the greatest
Verdi singers in the world."
" 'But,' he added, 'music is not only one-two-three-four. It breathes. It's one-two-three and … four.' "
What does Bergonzi think of the current crop of opera
stars — say, Deborah Voigt?
"She's a voice, but she's not appropriate for Tosca. Her voice is not
dramatic enough. She's a good singer, but not at the same level of the great
sopranos of the past."
Tenors?
"[Roberto] Alagna is a good lyric tenor, but he
can't sing 'Pagliacci.' He! is
forced to push the voice. So the voice is not natural." (For the record, Alagna sang "Pagliacci"
with Los Angeles Opera last year.)
Juan Diego Flуres?
"He's a good tenor in his repertory — Rossini, Bellini,
'Fille du rйgiment.' I had my 80th birthday party at the
Waldorf Astoria in New York, lunch with 150 people. And there was also Flуres. He came up to me and said, 'I don't know what
to give you for your 80th birthday. I can only sing an aria for you.'
"I said, 'Please,' and he sang from 'Daughter of the Regiment.' Beautiful. A rare voice.
"There were all these people sitting there from the Metropolitan. I said,
'Don't be fooled by these people. If they offer you roles like 'Lucia,' 'Bohиme,' say no. For now, don't accept them —
in two or three years, I don't know — because if you accept these roles
now, you are going to ruin one of the most beautiful light, lyric tenor
voices."
Refusing to grab the brass ring at the first opportunity m! ay
be the hardest lesson of all for ardent hopefuls. But, said Bergonzi,
"The important thing to tell young singers in Los Angeles is that singing
requires sacrifice. Otherwise you have to give up.
"It's better to give up. I've been singing for 53 years, and I've been
studying for 53 years."
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