WAGNER WROTE 'BEL CANTO' - A.Materna, 1896

Amalie Materna nel ruolo di Isolde nel 1885 (a sinistra) - Incipit della morte di Isolde 'Mild un leise', parte conclusiva del 'Tristan und Isolde' wagneriano (a destra)

WAGNER WROTE 'BEL CANTO'

«When Tristan lies dead and Isolde sings her dying lament over him till her voice grows fainter and dies away, who can say that swan song is not bel canto?» - AMALIE MATERNA, Austrian operatic dramatic soprano, first perfomer of Brünnhilde ("Der Ring des Nibelungen") in 1876 and of Kundry (Parsifal) in 1882 at Bayreuth Festspielhaus!

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(...) "You ask," 'Does singing Wagner music wear out the voice?' I must answer 'no.' Twenty-five years ago, when I began to sing the master's music, all the people said to me, 'Oh! my dear Materna, in five years you will have no voice; you will have screamed it all away.' Well, that is twenty-five years ago, and my voice is as strong as ever and the high tones are clearer. I was a mezzo-soprano when Wagner first began to teach me his roles. His music wants very high and very low notes. At first I would say, 'Oh, no, not so high as that,' but he would say, 'That must be sung, try,' and always I found he knew best.
There is one mistake that many people who try to sing Wagner's music make. They think it is loud and strong, and that so they must always practice at full voice. That wears out their voices. I have always practiced MEZZA VOCE, for, if you can sing a thing with the half voice, to yourself, you can always sing it with the full voice when you are before the public.
Much depends unpon the conductor. A man who knows and understands Wagner subdues the orchestra so that the sound does not overwhelm the singer. How great poor Hermann Levy was for that. It was a joy to sing 'Parsifal' to his conducting. (...)
But anyway, a singer who produces her voice properly can never force her tones," continued Materna thoughtfully. "If she produces it so," and the disciple of Wagner gave a deep guttural roar, "her voice must wear out very soon, for she is straining the muscles of her throat: but if the sound reverberates so," and this time Materna emitted a tone that rang forward on her palate, after which she added complacently, "that sort of production does not wear out the voice. (...)
But I will tell you what is the first real essential for Wagner singing, and that is to have the BEL CANTO before you begin to study the music dramas. All the time I see poor girls going on the stage with only three or four tones in their voices and they sing Elsa and Eva and Senta. Poor little things; they are almost children and they have not studied half enough. In two years their voices are gone, but it is not singing Wagner that ruined them: oh, no it is because they began to strain their voices in difficult parts before they had acquired enough school to know how to use them. It is terrible nowadays how many unprepared young ladies go on the stage."
Frau Materna says that she attributes her own success in the music dramas largely to the fact that she understood bel canto and could sing Mozart's florid arias before she began to study Wagner's music. She scorns the idea that there is no bel canto in Wagner, however. "Elizabeth's role, is that not all singing?" she asked. "And Elsa, and above all Isolde. When Tristan lies dead and Isolde sings her dying lament over him till her voice grows fainter and dies away, who can say that swan song is not bel canto?" (...)

(from: "The San Francisco Call", Friday, March 13, 1896)

 

"Wagner wrote Bel Canto" (The San Francisco Call, 13 March 1896) - 'How Voices are ruined'