Tagged: opera
I Never Walked Alone by Shirley Verrett
(Cover picture courtesy of AfriClassical.)
An inspiring self-portrait of a world-renowned African American vocal artist.
This is a fascinating account of a gifted woman’s coming of age and rise to success at a time when black classical musicians faced barriers at every turn. Shirley Verrett possessed a talent and ambition so dazzling she could not be denied and she became one of the most celebrated artists of her time. I Never Walked Alone draws the reader into the world of this graceful, fiery artist, dramatically telling the story of her childhood and her brilliant international career.The book is filled with behind-the-scenes tales of this diva’s great performances, roles, and collaborations, offering insight into her stormy personal relationships as well as her private struggles and critical decisions. Featuring forewords and afterwords by such figures as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Zubhin Mehta, and Claudio Abbado, this richly detailed book paints a vivid picture of a magnificent survivor and an indelible artist known around the world as the black Maria Callas.
Shirley Verrett (Ann Arbor, MI, and New York, NY) is currently Professor of Voice at the University of Michigan School of Music.
Christopher Brooks is a biographer and award-winning musicologist.
Okay, in all fairness this was written by both Shirley Verrett and Christopher Brooks. But I like to keep my titles relatively simple, so there.
The autobiographies of celebrities and other public figures tend to be vapid and self-aggrandizing, but Shirley Verrett’s autobiography is none of that. She freely speaks of the incidents she had with other singers where she was at fault, reflects on her rocky relationships with others at times and speaks frankly about her vocal problems in the 70s. Maybe it was just excellent editors, but Ms. Verrett strikes me as a very humble woman in her writing. She doesn’t brag and admits her ego problems when she was young; truly she sounds like she was a down-to-Earth person.
I Never Walked Alone is not just a collection of amusing incidents, but a full chronicle of her childhood and career. Ms. Verrett speaks for at least a paragraph on almost all of the productions she was in and it really gives you a great picture of such a talented woman. With an introduction by both Luciano Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo, this autobiography really is a treasure.
I don’t often read celebrity autobiographies, but I’m so glad I got my hands on one of my hero’s. Even if you don’t know much about opera, I Never Walked Alone is a fascinating read and paints a picture of the turbulent times of the civil rights movement in America.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
(Cover picture courtesy of Lauren Oliver’s website.)
They say that the cure for love will make me happy and safe forever. And I’ve always believed them. Until now.
Now everything has changed. Now, I’d rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.
And now since opera usually says things best, here are some lines from Verdi’s La Traviata:
Love is a heartbeat throughout the universe,
mysterious, altering,
the torment and delight of my heart.
It sounds better in the original Italian, but you get the point. Love is important; it’s in our everyday lives and it is one of two main forces that motivate people’s actions. (The other is greed.) But what happens if you remove one of those forces from the entire adult population of a country? You get Delirium, that’s what.
The main character, Lena (short for Magdalena) lives in a world where love is called amor deliria nervosa and is the only recognized mental illness anymore. That’s why when people turn 18 they must get an operation to ‘cure’ them. After that, they are safe from love and all the nasty consequences that usually come around because of it. But they never get to feel the ecstasy it brings either.
You can probably guess where this is going, right? You’d be right if you said that Lena will fall in love with a mysterious boy who is originally from the rebel movement but snuck his way into the city. Yes, I totally saw that coming as I was reading Delirium, but there are a few plot twists and Lauren Oliver at least tells the story well.
She does rely on the forbidden love factor a little too much if you’re reading this as an adult, but teens will love it. Lena is going through her first love, which is both awkward and amazing at the same time. For a teen that just experienced love for the first time or has yet to experience love, this is the perfect description of what it is like. So although I rolled my eyes at some parts of Delirium, on the whole it’s a well written story. It’s well written enough that I’ll be reading the sequel, Pandemonium, at any rate.
And for those of you that forget what love is like to the young, go see what Mozart says about it in his classic opera Le Nozze di Figaro:
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Round One: No Winner
No one guessed the answer to ‘What is my favourite operatic aria?’ I honestly don’t blame anyone for the less than enthusiastic response because opera is pretty obscure and my clues weren’t exactly great. So for Round Two of my giveaway, I’ll be asking two questions and there will be two winners!
For those of you that are curious, my favourite aria is ‘Una Furtiva Lagrima’ from L’elisir D’amore by Donizetti. It’s both heartbreaking and hopeful and is probably the saddest part of the entire opera. Especially when it’s sung by The King himself, Luciano Pavarotti.
This isn’t a great recording, but the sheer power and raw emotion of Pavarotti’s voice shines through. For those of you that don’t speak Italian, here’s a link to the English translation. It’s a rough translation and the lyrics are much more beautiful in the original Italian, but you get the basic idea. Even if you aren’t a huge opera fan, this is one heck of a beautiful song sung by the greatest tenor of the modern era.