Dame Kiri retires

[Ted Quanrud]

The renowned New Zealand soprano, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, has announced that she is through singing in public.

Here is a fine account from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/ ... ade-career

[John F]

I thought she'd sung her last somewhat more than a year ago, certainly hadn't heard anything from her or about her for some time, but there it is.

No doubt predictably, the Guardian's story is parochial about her rise to fame. It does not mention her breakthrough Metropolitan Opera debut in 1974, when she replaced Teresa Stratas as Desdemona in "Otello" at a few hours' notice in a performance broadcast around the world. But then, the article is about as lowbrow as such a piece can get. It mentions her career in opera and classical music only in passing, with much more to say about everything else she's don: "Her crossover appeal saw her record the theme song for the 1991 Rugby World Cup, held in the home nations and France. World in Union, which reached number four in the UK charts, became synonymous with the competition as Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma had with the football World Cup a year earlier." Rugby World Cup? Give me a break!

[maestrob]

Dame Kiri has been singing long past her due date, due to personal problems which I won't go into here. Her appearance on Downton Abbey was a wonderful moment, but her last appearance at a MET Gala singing Korngold was embarrassing. I've adored her for many years, and actually bumped into her one night as she was leaving the MET and I was with a composer friend exiting class at Juilliard. She fluttered politely, not knowing who I was, but I let her go without asking for an autograph as she looked like she was in a hurry to catch a plane. A great artist for sure.

[jbuck919]

Then there is this (advance to 27 minutes)

[Belle]

I thought she'd sung her last somewhat more than a year ago, certainly hadn't heard anything from her or about her for some time, but there it is.

No doubt predictably, the Guardian's story is parochial about her rise to fame. It does not mention her breakthrough Metropolitan Opera debut in 1974, when she replaced Teresa Stratas as Desdemona in "Otello" at a few hours' notice in a performance broadcast around the world. But then, the article is about as lowbrow as such a piece can get. It mentions her career in opera and classical music only in passing, with much more to say about everything else she's don: "Her crossover appeal saw her record the theme song for the 1991 Rugby World Cup, held in the home nations and France. World in Union, which reached number four in the UK charts, became synonymous with the competition as Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma had with the football World Cup a year earlier." Rugby World Cup? Give me a break!

"The Guardian" IS lowbrow! Posing as highbrow. That's its schtick. And with a reading age of about 13. But people find it useful for quick reference, like Wiki.

Dame Kiri possessed a beautiful, mellifluous voice, but it didn't strike me as particularly powerful. Her day is long past but I'm sure she'll be remembered in the operatic world as a significant individual. The "West Side Story" recording sessions didn't bring out the best in her and it didn't do the music any service either because the part of Maria is not meant to be an operatic one but a theatrical role. There's a distinct difference. I seem to remember her forays into 'crossover' in the deep past!! Some opera singers can pull it off, others cannot.

Thank you for the music, Kiri Te Kanawa.

[John F]

The Guardian, previously the Manchester Guardian, used to have good writers about classical music - Edward Greenfield, Neville Cardus, Philip Hope-Wallace. But since Greenfield retired in '93, I don't know who they've got. Nobody much, it seems.

[jbuck919]

The Guardian, previously the Manchester Guardian, used to have good writers about classical music - Edward Greenfield, Neville Cardus, Philip Hope-Wallace. But since Greenfield retired in '93, I don't know who they've got. Nobody much, it seems.

This is way off topic, but once at grad school (Yale I have to admit) I was in the great reading room of the Sterling Library and was approached by two young boys with British accents, clearly sons of a visiting professor. Only the Lord God knows why they came up to me, but they asked how they could find "foreign" newspapers, particularly the London Times and the Guardian, which they named without identifying the city. I happened to know this. They were hanging on the wall behind me in alphabetical order by city. So I told them to go to L for the Times and to M for the Guardian. If only I could be that helpful to the young people I still encounter by substitute teaching in the North Country.

[John F]

And I forgot Ernest Newman, also of the Manchester Guardian, who was the doyen of English music critics in his time.

[Belle]

And I forgot Ernest Newman, also of the Manchester Guardian, who was the doyen of English music critics in his time.

All is forgiven!!!

With reference to the 'West Side Story' clip, a friend presented a program just recently to our music group on that musical, going back to its beginning in the 50's. Ian had studied Theatre Production at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama decades ago and has worked on most of the major British musical productions - principally as Stage Manager (and proudly talks about about "Cats" and his role on that show ). He also appeared in a small part when still a child in Fred Zimmerman's film, made in Australia, "The Sundowners".

Anyway, he talked about when "West Side Story" was brought to London with the original cast and production team. In his hand he had a leather bound script which was actually the one used by Jerome Robbins and he asked me if I'd be interested in looking at it!!! He also had black and white photographs of Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins and one or two of the principal players. Holding that script in my hand and flicking through its pages to see the handwritten notes of Jerome Robbins was very moving indeed. How lucky to have a friend such as this!! Ian only recently returned to live in Australia after nearly 40 years in the UK.

[Lance]

Well, Dame Kiri has certainly given the world much pleasure with her extraordinary voice. Singers are not always too sure when they should step down, some shouldn't have as early as this did (Rosa Ponselle), and others kept going that shouldn't have (Helge Roswaenge) for example. I applaud Dame Kiri making her decision and understanding why.

[barney]

I thought she'd sung her last somewhat more than a year ago, certainly hadn't heard anything from her or about her for some time, but there it is.

No doubt predictably, the Guardian's story is parochial about her rise to fame. It does not mention her breakthrough Metropolitan Opera debut in 1974, when she replaced Teresa Stratas as Desdemona in "Otello" at a few hours' notice in a performance broadcast around the world. But then, the article is about as lowbrow as such a piece can get. It mentions her career in opera and classical music only in passing, with much more to say about everything else she's don: "Her crossover appeal saw her record the theme song for the 1991 Rugby World Cup, held in the home nations and France. World in Union, which reached number four in the UK charts, became synonymous with the competition as Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma had with the football World Cup a year earlier." Rugby World Cup? Give me a break!

Give you a break? Which arm, John? Typical American arrogance. No need to be rude about a genuine world competition when you have your own world series which features America, America and occasionally Canada. The US enters the rugby world cup, though it is not very good.
Re Kiri and crossover, I remember a delightful parody in Private Eye in the 1990s, headlined "Kiri sings the Sex Pistols".
I interviewed her years ago - she was very regal. But I think she had a lovely voice, especially in Mozart. Her 4 Last Songs was pretty good too.

[Belle]

I'm sure John can speak for himself, but I interpreted what he meant as singing at a world sporting event is hardly commensurate as the benchmark for the success of an international operatic career. I don't think he was putting down the sport of rugby necessarily!!

And I agree with your comments about the elegant and classy Kiri Te Kanawa. That little nation of New Zealand punches well and truly about its weight in the international arena, IMO.

[jserraglio]

A wonderful, moving memorial to the notable American violinist, Eudice Shapiro (1914-2007). Found on another forum, it seems to have originally appeared in 2007 as a letter in that most elegant of publications, The Guardian.

Farewell to a friend
A cultural treasure, musical pioneer and a great violinist, Eudice Shapiro's life was packed full of infectious enthusiasm.
Sasha Abramsky
The Guardian

My friend Eudice Shapiro died last week. I say friend, but really she
was an extra grandmother, a warm, happy person in love with life and
determined to live that life to the full.

Eudice first met my grandfather nearly 80 years ago, at the Curtis
Institute for Music, in Philadelphia, where they both studied violin
and she gained a reputation as a teenage prodigy. Afterwards, my
grandparents and many of their friends moved west to Los Angeles - the
studios offered tempting employment for young musicians struggling to
break in to the big time in New York - in the years surrounding the
second world war. Eudice was among them.

For as long as I can remember, that generation of musicians has been a
centerpiece of my life. When I was young, I'd sit on the steps at my
grandparents' house, listening to impromptu quartets, watching these
elderly men and women - many of them political radicals who had been
scarred by the McCarthy witchhunts - conjure magic from their fingers.

When they weren't playing music, they were talking, arguing, telling
jokes, discussing politics. They were, perhaps, the last generation of
true kibitzers. Some had been Communists in their younger years,
during the depression; others had never accepted the rigid - and, with
hindsight, stultifying - party orthodoxy but nevertheless attached
themselves to left-leaning political causes. By the time I knew them,
with a couple of exceptions, they had all gotten pretty comfortable
with the fact that destiny had thrust them into the bourgeoisie.

Some of these men and women, most of them children of Jewish
immigrants who had grown up in the crowded cities of the east coast in
the early years of the century, had been called to testify before the
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in the late 1940s and
1950s, when McCarthy turned his attention on Hollywood, and, refusing,
they'd lost their jobs and their careers. Others, like my grandparents
and Eudice, had not been called before HUAC but had watched in horror
as their friends' lives were ruined.

They were proud, fiercely proud and, unlike McCarthy and his clique of
thugs, they were quintessentially American: they came from everywhere,
they struggled and made good, they dreamed about better worlds, and
they tried, in their own ways, to nudge the country along a path they
cared about. Perhaps most important, they were an extraordinarily
dynamic, zestful group. They worked not just at work but at having
fun.

Almost all of these people are now dead. Most of them have been dead
for years. Yet Eudice remained, seemingly ageless, defying time.

Until my grandmother passed away in 2002, Eudice and she would have
near-nightly "dates". They'd drink martinis together and polish off a
small dinner at one or another of several restaurants that they
frequented. They'd take the leftovers home for lunch the next day.
When I was in town, I'd tag along, driving them to the Wine Bistro,
proudly accompanying them as the maitre'd led them to their special
table.

They were two stylish, octogenarian widows, always careful about how
they dressed, always ready to smile and laugh, never quite ready to
act their age, whatever exactly that might mean.

Eudice made it to nonagenarian-status. She was 93 when she died. Until
the end she lived in a house halfway up Laurel Canyon, the part of Los
Angeles largely inhabited by "creative" types - musicians, artists,
film people - and immortalised a few years back by the movie of the
same name. It was an oasis, a house lined with books and records and
photos of famous musicians, a large grand piano dominating the soft-
carpeted living room, Eudice's enormous collection of cow memorabilia
- everyone's got to have a hobby - lining the mantelpieces. When I
stepped into her house, I stepped away from the cares of the world.

Eudice was a musician. But that doesn't really do her justice. It's
like saying Pavarotti was a singer. She was one of the twentieth
century's greatest violinists and was the first woman to head a studio
orchestra (RKO) in Los Angeles. Over her decades-long career, she
counted among her friends and musical companions legends like the
pianist Arthur Rubinstein, the violinist Jascha Heifetz, the cello
maestro Gregor Piatigorsky, and the composer Igor Stravinsky. She
performed around the world, gave workshops at music festivals, and,
for over 50 years, taught violin at the University of Southern
California. Last year, the prestigious university held a huge concert
in her honour, celebrating her half-century with the institution. That
same year, the city of Los Angeles designated her one of the city's
"cultural treasures".

Right to the end, Eudice had students driving out to her home in the
hills for lessons. She was a time-warp, a perfectly-coiffed 1950s
Hollywood society dame holding court in the first decade of the 21st
century.

When I would visit LA with my kids, I'd pick Eudice up from her house,
put her walker (its legs spearing two squashed green tennis balls) in
the trunk of my car, and drive over to have breakfast at DuPar's, an
old diner on Ventura Boulevard that five generations of my family have
now frequented. We'd sit on the vinyl seats and Eudice would play with
my children. It was a wonderful sight. Ninety years separated Eudice
from my daughter, but it didn't matter. Her enthusiasm was infectious
and Sofia adored her. I'm sure my infant son, who only met her once,
would have had just the same reaction if he'd been a little older.

I'll miss Eudice. And I'll miss the train of memories, the living
history, which she so effortlessly carried in her wake.

[lennygoran]

the elegant and classy Kiri Te Kanawa. That little nation of New Zealand punches well and truly about its weight in the international arena, IMO.

Belle we heard her 5 times live at the Met and she was wonderful each time! Regards, Len

Cosi Feb 6, 1982

Rosenkavalier Oct 2, 1982

Boccanegra March 22, 1986

Fledermaus Dec 20, 1986

Cosi March 26, 1988

[John F]

Typical American arrogance. No need to be rude about a genuine world competition when you have your own world series which features America, America and occasionally Canada.

Look, I know about rugby football from the inside, having spent a year at a grammar school in Leeds where rugger was the main autumn sport - and a rough and violent sport it is. That I have a very dim view of it is not arrogance, American or otherwise, but my personal opinion to which I am entitled. As for te Kanawa singing some pop ditty with a theme ripped off from "The Planets" at the Rugby "World" Cup - in 1991 only 40 nations entered the competition - what a mismatch. Which led to my comment, which I repeat. Give me a break!

[barney]

Typical American arrogance. No need to be rude about a genuine world competition when you have your own world series which features America, America and occasionally Canada.

Look, I know about rugby football from the inside, having spent a year at a grammar school in Leeds where rugger was the main autumn sport - and a rough and violent sport it is. That I have a very dim view of it is not arrogance, American or otherwise, but my personal opinion to which I am entitled. As for te Kanawa singing some pop ditty with a theme ripped off from "The Planets" at the Rugby "World" Cup - in 1991 only 40 nations entered the competition - what a mismatch. Which led to my comment, which I repeat. Give me a break!

Your opinion, as you say, you are entitled to, and I'm entitled to think it Trump-like myopia. Or, as the immortal Dorothy said, you can lead a whore to culture but you can't make her think! Anyway,that's probably enough whacks with the metaphorical baseball bat - we can agree on the more important matter, that Kiri was a fine singer.

[Belle]

For a minute there, Barney, I thought you'd said 'haute couture"!! When I looked closer it was "whore to culture". This distinction is small, I admit, but nonetheless significant!!

I don't think JohnF can be accused of myopia, since he knows a lot about Clive James, Robert Hughes and many fine British writers and artists!! Not to mention UK television programs.

[barney]

For a minute there, Barney, I thought you'd said 'haute couture"!! When I looked closer it was "whore to culture". This distinction is small, I admit, but nonetheless significant!!

I don't think JohnF can be accused of myopia, since he knows a lot about Clive James, Robert Hughes and many fine British writers and artists!! Not to mention UK television programs.

Fair points. Just myopic on rugby, based on an English school experience 5 decades ago. I bet he's shed many other 50-year-old opinions. He probably hasn't reconsidered this one since, and why should he? Until challenged, that is. I used to be a sports reporter in the 1970s and shared his opinion at the time, but I think the game has changed enormously for the better in the past 20 years. But this is not a rugby thread, and this is my last word on the subject (unless provoked!).

[jserraglio]

Scholastic rugby is well-regarded and flourishes here in Ohio. My school (with several others in this region) has had a successful 3-level varsity and developmental rugby program for about a dozen years now, inaugurated by a teacher from New Zealand. Students seem to love the sport and participate enthusiastically.

Re: the lowbrow tune sung at a violent rugby match. As an opera singer, Te Kanawa associated herself with an art form that also thrives on depicting ritualized aggression.

[jbuck919]

Scholastic rugby is well-regarded and flourishes here in Ohio. My school (with several others in this region) has had a successful 3-level varsity and developmental rugby program for about a dozen years now, inaugurated by a teacher from New Zealand. Students seem to love the sport and participate enthusiastically.

Re: the lowbrow tune sung at a violent rugby match. As an opera singer, Te Kanawa associated herself with an art form that also thrives on depicting ritualized aggression.

The Catholic high school where I taught in Maryland had an incipient rugby notion but nothing came of it for the simple reason that it is a dangerous contact sport without protective equipment. As far as I'm concerned, they could abandon American football for the same reason, in spite of its alleged protection. It's always nice to know that there are survivors. Even those from the world wars ended up being the only ones able to talk about it.

[jserraglio]

Who better to talk about a war, be they willing, than those who fought it?

Those that play rugby speak highly of the experience and some have even parlayed it into scholarships.

I played and loved no-equipment, unsupervised, rough. violent flag football, thin cloth strips tied tightly into pockets the better to justify tackling the ball carrier.

Rugby is a dangerous contact sport with no protective equipment? Really? When can we sign up?

[jbuck919]

Who better to talk about a war, be they willing, than those who fought it?

Those that play rugby speak highly of the experience and some have even parlayed it into scholarships.

I played and loved no-equipment, unsupervised, rough. violent flag football, thin cloth strips tied tightly into pockets the better to justify tackling the ball carrier.

Rugby is a dangerous contact sport with no protective equipment? Really? When can we sign up?

Don't get me started now on the hockey team, whose kindly coach tried desperately to prevent fighting on the ice, an impossibility with that sport even at the high school level. Incidentally, there is no such thing as a non-dangerous team sport. As George Will, whom I generally detest, said years ago, baseball is a dangerous game played by great athletes. I have known huge high-school injuries from that, also.

[jserraglio]

there is no such thing as a non-dangerous team sport.

Doubles badminton. Doubles ping-pong. Lawn bowling. There must be others.

[jbuck919]

there is no such thing as a non-dangerous team sport.

Doubles badminton. Doubles ping-pong. Lawn bowling. There must be others.

Give me a break. You know what I meant.

[jserraglio]

Give me a break. You know what I meant.

Yes I do. It is far from unhealthy for kids to join team sports that sublimate their aggression even if in doing so they incur some risk of injury.