The lost art of subtlety?

Posted 2 years, 7 months ago at 9:31 pm. 1 comment

As I prepared for my past weekend in NYC (hopefully doing an agent audition – which I made my own: see my next blog post), I worked like CRAZY on the subtleties and nuances of each aria.  Where exactly within the beat did that [r] go?  What’s the difference in vocal style between Flotow and Cherubini?  How do I best translate the text so as to get the most nuance and understanding of it?

I sat in the Gari Foundation Competition Winner’s Gala and heard some amazing singing.  I also heard some singing that I know would be found lacking by my teacher and several of my recent coaches.  Now, I’m not saying that I am the best singer in the world, but if I’m singing at a Gala with some very important people in the audience and receiving a check for several thousand dollars, wouldn’t I choose to sing the piece that shows me off the best, rather than accentuating my flaws?

There were some stellar performances, there were some stellar voices.  There was rarely a combination of the two.  The singers who REALLY performed their texts and made me feel they had an opinion on the music were not generally the best singers.  Those who sang amazingly were slightly wooden.  Has it come down to a choice between the two?  We either get great singing or great acting?

The other thing that I noticed is that the Italian diction (the MOST basic of all singing diction – even though it has an amazing amount of detail that is often lost on American singers) was lacking in many of the singers.  I speak Italian (much more fluently when I’m IN Italy, but I think relatively well…) and there was much of the diction that I didn’t understand.  This lack of nuance and attention to detail is discouraging to me.  I am working so hard and being told by those whom I respect and trust that these are the details that I need to master, yet I hear a competition such as this and only hear the details from two of the ten singers.

Am I wrong?  Is this NOT needed?  Is it different with different singers, not just because of voice type (there were NO mezzos, only one tenor – the rest were sopranos and baritones, one bass) but because of who they know and connections?  I know that I need to keep going and doing what I am, as I am also positive that I’m improving.  But, it’s discouraging.

Then, I return to Arizona and hear some amazing singing in opera rehearsal, but also hear singers singing an aria that I KNOW I sing much better and with better attention to musical, dramatic and diction detail.  It’s discouraging and yet encouraging at the same time.  I KNOW that I can do a better job, which means that I DO have a chance to get hired in a situation similar to this – if they’re getting hired, I too WILL be.

Then, I just was twittering with @chrisfoley (The Collaborative Piano Blog) about the possibility of the lost art of Art Song – I think it’s also this lack of appreciation of finesse.  We see several dancing shows on television, but the “Gene Kelly” elegant and reserved approach is lost in the “flash and dash” numbers that draw audiences to their feet.  It takes so much time and control to master the art of the nuance.  Do we HAVE to get there now?  Yes, it’s disheartening to work so hard and not be appreciated, but it is the ART that we are getting at.  Now, let’s present that art to the audience so that THEY understand the difference between acceptable and AMAZING.

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