Re: Heppner forced to halt performance in Toronto

The message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
from [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Muriel Cooper) contains these words:

{snip}

>  Yes of course ,I had always wondered why this was said of Wagner's
> music being hard on the voice.I have heard and read this often but
> have always felt that a well trained singer could sing anything.Every
> role must have it's challenges .
> Another music myth exploded.

Well, it has been exploded many times, but, as you've found, it still
endures -- perhaps because he's still a convenient scapegoat for
ill-prepared or inadequate singers. And certainly they need to treat
Wagner carefully, like anything difficult, and not dive in too early.

Philip Joll, who sang Wotan in the last Seattle Ring, originally took on
the role for the Welsh National over twenty years ago, when he must have
been barely past 30 -- encouraged, no doubt, because he had not only the
voice, but the intelligence, the stature and the looks, to a striking
degree, plus Goodall's coaching. It didn't destroy his voice; he's had a
good successful career. But undoubtedly -- as he showed in Seattle --
his voice has aged prematurely, so while he still sounds pretty good, 
excellent diction, fiercely committed acting etc., he often runs out of
steam too readily. A later start might have made him more successful
now. Helga Dernesch is another example, taking on Brunnhilde and Isolde
not just in small theatres, but in the terrifying expanse of the
Salzburg stage. Result, premature problems in that pinging top register
and retraining as a mezzo, albeit an excellent one. A hostile person
could claim that Wagner destroyed their voices -- but it would be truer
to say that they broke them against him. Whatever poor old Heppner's
problems, I wouldn't say he's been careless or precipitate. 

Admittedly it's hard to blame younger singers, insecure, hungry for a
career break, afraid of offending the powerful -- imagine turning down a
role Karajan said you were ready for! But of course he meant ready for
*him*......

Cheers,

Mike

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