Thursday, December 6, 2007

FOOT-FACED JOAN










As a young college grad slowly realizing exactly how much his liberal arts degree is worth, I’ve been spending copious amounts of time holed up in my parents’ house watching opera clips on that big daddy of all time occupiers: youtube. For those of you who aren’t aware, you can find clips of almost every well-known or well-liked vocalist and most operas on youtube, each followed by pages of comments made by various queens, opera aficionados, and idiots who take themselves too seriously. The last category is of course the largest and most inclusive. Recently I came across a clip of Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne, two of the opera’s best and most accomplished singers (at least since the popularization of recording devices), performing the famous flower duet from Delibes’ Lakme.



Beneath the clip, Sutherland fans are out in full force. One post by icuguyz says “Joan Sutherland has the face of a foot, but by God, her voice is positively heavenly...Truley magnificent.” Spelling errors aside, icuguyz is right. Joan’s faces does look surprisingly like a foot. Of course the outraged Sutherland fan HeathsGyrrrl responds immediately, “what a stupid and ignorant thing to say.” First off, this is a totally run-of-the-mill youtube rebuttal… redundant and reactionary. Secondly, who the hell cares? Older Joan Sutherland has a large square chin which makes her face look like a foot. Her hair is out of control, and I won’t even get started on that crazy gown. Also, she doesn’t even sound that great. She is one of those operatic miracles who took amazing care of her voice throughout her career and never lost it. However, even La Stupenda (as she’s called) is going to develop a looser vibrato and a more covered or “full” sound by the age of 60. Just compare this 1964 performance of ardon gl’ incensi – a piece of the famous mad scene from Lucia di Lamermoor – recorded just 6 years after she burst onto the scene with an amazing performance of the same role at the Metropolitan Opera.



Everything is clearer, her vibrato is quicker, and she sounds nicer. She’s also a hell of a lot younger. The thing Sutherland fans don’t get is that just because we think Joan’s a little funny in her old lady phase doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate how amazing an artist she really was. Also as a side note, Marilyn Horne is to me a much more impressive example of a great voice aging well. I’m tired of seeing comment after comment of people oooing and ahhhing over Sutherland’s mastery in her later years. Yeah she’s great for a senior citizen, but that doesn’t mean I want to watch her play the role of a young mechanical doll



I know her admirers want to love everything she ever did, but I think it’s just as important to be able to lighten up, take a step back from fanaticism, and recognize the outline of a foot.

-- Mike P