Vocalist.org archive


From:  "Colin Reed" <colin-reed@l...>
"Colin Reed" <colin-reed@l...>
Date:  Tue Jan 16, 2001  6:08 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] 'All music is about sex' and other quotes from Barbara Bonney's lessons for amateur singers


Actually BB had a televised masterclass from Covent Garden recently. The
one she gave on Lieder she did quite categorically say that all lieder
singing was about sex. I think she said to one of the singers "I'm going to
talk about sex a lot. "

Colin


----- Original Message -----
From: <sopran@a...>
From: <sopran@a...>
From: <sopran@a...>
To: <vocalist-temporary@egroups.com>
To: <vocalist-temporary@egroups.com>
Sent: 16 January 2001 15:46
Subject: Re: [vocalist] 'All music is about sex' and other quotes from
Barbara Bonney's lessons for amateur singers


> While in some respects I think that it's unfair to comment on a few
remarks
> taken out of context, I think that perhaps what Ms. Bonney meant to say is
> that all singing has a sexual component. Obviously, it's not all about
sex,
> but we are such sexual animals and that fact influences so much of how we
> experience and respond to the world. I also believe that sex is so primal
a
> force that it energizes singing, adds a dimension of excitement to the
> voice--even in music that is not, in and of itself, sexual. The comment
> reminds me of advice from Maria Callas--"you must make love to the music."
>
> Oddly, though, I do not consider Ms. Bonney's singing (at least in art
song
> literature) to be very highly sexual. I've only heard her live once, at
> Carnegie Hall when she sang Schumann's Frauenliebe und leben, Barber's
Hermit
> Songs and some Britten and some Scandanavian songs, with Schumann's
Mondnacht
> (a favorite of mine) and Morgen by Strauss as encores.
>
> To my ears, her voice fully blossomed only in the Scandanavian songs, when
it
> took on a wonderful full and vibrant golden qualilty that was quite
stunning.
> The rest of the singing (particularly the German) I found to be oddly
> constricted and what may have been intended as virginal seemed downright
> sexless. There were also strange tempo choices (An meinem herzen was taken
at
> a frenetic gallop that would have made any infant spit up immediately).
She
> may be very different in operatic repertoire. I heard her Nannetta on the
> radio and thought it was lovely. But I've not heard much from this singer
> that I would consider highly charged sexually. Just my opinion!
>
> Judy
>
>
>
>
>


emusic.com