Great Performers: Joan Sutherland
It seems you have to be a star in the operatic firmament to earn a nickname. La Divina? Maria Callas. La Superba? Montserrat Caballé. And La Stupenda? Joan Sutherland. The Australian soprano was most identified as a bel canto specialist in a long career that was launched – so the story goes – with an overnight success in 'Lucia di Lammermoor' at Covent Garden in 1959. Her coloratura (her ability to produce a rapid stream of pinpoint high notes) was indeed both legendary and breathtaking, but that wasn't quite the complete story.
Read more…Born in Sydney in November 1926, Sutherland listened to her mother singing as a child before taking voice lessons herself. She won the 1950 Sun Aria competition and travelled to London to study at the Royal College of Music. She was soon engaged by the Royal Opera House, making her debut as the First Lady in 'The Magic Flute' in 1952, over six years before that "overnight success" in 'Lucia'. Sutherland had trained in heavier repertoire than she became famous for later: she sang Amelia ('Un ballo in maschera'), Eva ('Die Meistersinger') and Desdemona ('Otello'). She also created the role of Jenifer in Michael Tippett's 'The Midsummer Marriage'.
So what changed? In 1954 she married conductor and fellow Australian Richard Bonynge and he convinced her to explore the bel canto repertoire. In 1957, she sang 'Alcina' with the Handel Opera Company, then in 1959 came that call from The Royal Opera to sing in Franco Zeffirelli's new production of 'Lucia', conducted by Tullio Serafin. It was a triumph and set Sutherland on course for a stellar career down the bel canto path. She had Wagnerian power (there are some fascinating excerpts from later in her career included here) and the incredible ease of her top notes made her a dramatic coloratura soprano the likes of which we've not heard since.
This playlist contains fine examples of Sutherland in her bel canto roles, including Lucia, Lucrezia Borgia, the tom-boy Marie in 'La Fille du régiment' (her favourite role) and two of Donizetti's Tudor queens: Mary Stuart (in a fierce encounter with Elizabeth I, whom she calls a "vile bastard") and Anne Boleyn, heading to her execution.
Sutherland excelled in French repertoire and recorded many operas. 'Lakmé', the story of the daughter of a Brahmin priest, contains the famous Bell Song which captures Sutherland's coloratura at its most sparkling. Sutherland's final stage role was Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots for Opera Australia in 1990.
Perhaps the most surprising role she took on – in the recording studio only – was Puccini's ice princess, Turandot, opposite the Calaf of Luciano Pavarotti. The Italian tenor was an almost constant companion on stage and on disc and their partnership is represented here by examples from 'L'elisir d'amore' and 'La traviata'. Marilyn Horne was another frequent collaborator, heard together here in Rossini's 'Semiramide'.
It was with Pavarotti and Horne that Sutherland sang in her farewell to Covent Garden on New Year's Eve 1990, when they appeared as surprise guests in 'Die Fledermaus'. Sutherland closed with "There's no place like home", a touching tribute to the house that had truly been her home base.