800 Words
I have my parents to thank for introducing me to classical and Broadway music. Saturday afternoons were spent listening to the Texaco Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast with hosts Milton Cross and later Peter Allen. I recently discovered a baby book of mine and in it was a ticket stub dated October 8, 1966 for a matinee performance at The MET of Verdi’s La Traviata. I was five years old when I experienced my first opera. The cast that afternoon featured Anna Moffo, Bruno Prevedi, and Robert Merrill. While I do not remember anything of the performance, The MET has always been a musical and spiritual home for me.
Growing up in New York City the opportunity to experience and enjoy musical theater was ever present. Broadway musicals of the 1960’s and 70’s had a permanent place in the recordings at our home. My sisters and I would listen for hours to celebrated shows like Camelot, Fiddler on the Roof, I Do! I Do!, Cabaret, On the 20th Century, A Chorus Line, and Jesus Christ Superstar to name but a few. But the album that impacted my life was the 1964 recording of Hello Dolly! Carol Channing starred in the title role, with a supporting cast that included David Burns as Horace, Charles Nelson Reilly as Cornelius, and Eileen Brennan as Irene. Late in the Second Act, Cornelius and Irene sing the enchanting song, “It Only Takes A Moment”. There is something about Jerry Herman’s lyric and poignant melody that moves me every time I listen: “It only takes a moment for your eyes to meet and then…. Your heart knows in a moment you will never be alone again.”
At Manhattan School of Music, while I studied classical music during the day and attended performances at night, I listened to performers like Mel Tormé, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra while commuting to and from the city. Tormé's style shared much with that of his idol, Ella Fitzgerald. Both were firmly rooted in the foundation of the swing era, but both seemed able to incorporate bebop innovations to keep their performances sounding fresh and contemporary. Nobody had better breath control than Mel Tormé: examples would include songs like Walter Donaldson’s, “You’re Driving Me Crazy”, and Cole Porter’s, “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye”.
Every Saturday night, WYNY FM 97.1 would play three hours of the music of Frank Sinatra. The first two hours were up tempo with pieces of history about the Sinatra. The last hour was nothing but ballads. His phrasing of a musical line and that perfect diction brought out the emotional content of the lyrics. Sinatra opened my musical world to Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and the incomparable Nelson Riddle. Most importantly, there was the music of Cole Porter with his masterful unrivaled lyrics and those generous and gorgeous melodies.
“Would anyone like to turn pages tonight at Carnegie Hall?”, the Dean of Students at Manhattan announced. I jumped at the chance not knowing who was performing and little did I know it would be one of the greatest musical evenings of my life. Dame Janet Baker was near the end of her public career and performing with her beloved accompanist Martin Isepp. The recital featured songs from the Baroque, Johannes Brahms, Gerald Finzi, and finally the five ''Wesendonck'' Lieder of Richard Wagner. To be able to be that close and experience two artists’ flawless musicianship, elegance, refinement, and thoughtful understatement was revelatory. I discovered that evening that lieder singers can draw audiences to them with magnetic force once it is clear to everyone that the song is the point, not the singer.
Opera is the pinnacle of all musical experiences for you have the music, the drama, the spectacle: all of these things are shared in this art form. Since my first encounter, described above, to watching a livestream yesterday of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, opera has dominated my musical preference for six decades. But, which opera has impacted my life?
“Billy Budd” by Benjamin Britten has been performed at the Metropolitan Opera since 1978. The opera is a masterpiece of the struggle between good and evil set on the high seas. I was fortunate to be present at the premiere on September 19 which featured an amazing cast: Richard Stillwell as Billy, James Morris as the evil John Claggart, and the 68-year-old Peter Pears, lending his unmatched authority to Captain Vere.
Over the years while studying the score and libretto, I have determined that there is a difference between being a musician and being an artist. It is not just about making a pretty sound; it is about finding out what there is to say. As the light comes up on an aged Vere in the Epilogue, Peter Pears’ artistry is at its height, as his character finds peaceful acceptance of the long-past events.
…. For I could have saved him, I could have saved him. He knew it, even his shipmates knew it, though earthly laws silence them. O what have I done? O what, what have I done? But he has saved me, and blessed me, and the love that passeth understanding has come to me. I was lost on the infinite sea, but I've sighted a sail in the storm, the far-shining sail, and I am content. I've seen where she's bound for. There is a land where she'll anchor for ever. I am an old man now, and my mind can go back in peace to that faraway summer of seventeen hundred and ninety-seven, long ago now, …. years ago, …. centuries ago….
The opera concludes with the haunting line of the solo voice:
…. when I Edward Fairfax Veer, commanded the Indomitable….
