I always thought I was drawn towards strong personalities, women and men who possess impressive intelligence, strong character, great talent, and immense dedication. I believe this is the reason why, upon listening to the mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča for the first time, I immediately liked her. Now, I am not saying (or writing) that I knew all the above mentioned aspects about her or anything about her life only from listening to her singing "Mon coer s'ouvre a ta voix" on YouTube, but my point is that there are things you can tell just by listening to a singer (that being said, don't ask my opinion on Adele or any other trendy pop icon out there). Elīna impressed me from the first audition, because I realized as I was listening to her sing each song, that she had relentlessly studied the respective musical piece, had practiced each song note for note until it sounded good. Being an opera singer and opera fan myself, these things were obvious to me.
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| Photo by Paul Schirnhofer from http://elinagaranca.com/ |
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| Book cover |
One thing you should know right off the bat is that Elīna is from Latvia and she learned German all by herself as she was working on her first engagement in Germany at the Opera in Meiningen, with a dictionary and while listening to the German TV talk shows, which makes her endeavor in writing her first book in German all the more impressive. She wrote this book as she was pregnant with her second daughter, Christine, and tells the story of how she grew up in a highly musical family and then decided to choose a career in music, as an opera singer nonetheless.
Elīna's voice type is categorized as a mezzo-soprano (middle soprano). This means that her timbre is lower and deeper than that of a soprano. The roles usually given to mezzo-sopranos are supporting roles and in some operas not as impressive as the ones of the soprano. This is the reason why she decided to accept the opportunity to work at an opera outside of Latvia, in Germany. Germany has a tradition of classical music and opera. I believe this is also the reason why Elīna decided to write her autobiography in German.
The things I loved about the book were the honesty of her discourse (when she explains how she studies every piece note by note, how she wants to understand every character she embodies, how she explains that she is no coloratura mezzo-soprano), the diplomacy with which she talks about her colleagues, and even about those which whom she didn't have the best of relationships, and the full disclosure of the realities of an opera singer (although full of musical drama, there are a lot of mundane aspects an opera singer needs to resolve from healthcare to performance gowns).
One thing that stayed with me is her anti-diva attitude: she wants to be honest to her public by understanding the director's view of the specific opera, by understanding and acting her characters fully (from ingenue young boys, to fiery gypsies and classy ladies) and by delivering the best role possible. Yes, she is a perfectionist and she is very hard on herself, but at the same time she said one thing that Anna Netrebko said at one point, "Nobody will notice and support you in this business if you can't sing, you don't have the talent". She feels that opera will stand the test of time, because of the subjects based on the feelings that the singers deliver to the public and the public's reaction and resonance to these feelings.
The title refers to the fact that as an opera singer one needs to pay attention to a lot of things as one performs on stage, and she prefers to feel comfortable in the shoes she will perform, so that she can feel comfortable and act her part freely.
Finishing this book, I realized that I was instinctively drawn to her not only for her great singing, but also for all her qualities as a strong minded, willed and hard working singer. If you know German and like the music, I recommend you read it.
What are your favorite auto
biographies?
What did you read recently?
Cheers,
Alex.
Snapchat alex-andreea.
