About a year ago I had the pleasure of hearing Heinz Fricke talk in the
German Embassy (informally and casually as seems to be his style) about
what precedes an opera's premiere performance

This evening (11/16/2000), the German Language Society's monthly program
again favored us with Heinz Fricke talking in the Carl Schurz Auditorium
of the German Embassy in DC, this time, about whether voice alone was
determinative in opera. Having been General Music Director of the Berlin
State Opera (1961-91), as well as of the Norwegian National Opera, he is
currently the Music Director of the Washington Opera.

I need hardly remind anybody that I have credentials neither as an opera
expert nor as a reporter and my notes consisted of key words, mostly in
English, jotted down on the fly from his presentation in German.  Some of
you may nevertheless be interested in them.

A knowledgeable speaker, and a delightful raconteur, he must have held our
attention for close to two hours w/ his presentation which was continually
punctuated by anecdotal digressions often coming back to elaborate on
previously mentioned ideas. He doesn't like speaking from a lectern (he
spends enough time behind one when he works) and preferred to stand and
pace at the audience level.

He spoke of the voice as requiring much more classification than the
conventional one of soprano, mezzo, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass.
There are, for example, lyric sopranos, as in Magic Flute, dramatic
sopranos like Donna Anna, "highly dramatic" sopranos like the Queen of the
Night (these unfortunately are becoming increasingly rare), and youthful
dramatic soubrettes, which are also becoming rare, resulting in the decline
of operetta performances.  And among tenors, there are the Heldentenoren,
the youthful Heldentenoren, lyric tenors, and the "Mozart" tenor.

A recurring feature in his talk was the distinction that must also be
made between opera singers and concert singers.  The days are gone when
opera singers could simply stand costumed on the stage, maybe holding a
spear, and sing their lines, however beautifully; they need to act.  A
concert singer must know how to project his or her song's story.  And the
capabilities of one may on occasion be required in the other.  The first
part of the first act in *Parsifal* is essentially one long narration by
Gurnemanz.  There is no action.  If the "story" is not projected by the
singer, the whole act is lost on the bored listener.

As I understood him, singing alone (possibly w/ the emphasis on "alone") is
not most important to Heinz Fricke.  A splendid singer standing motionless
isn't good enough.  It would seem HF is not that excited about opera
recordings.  Later on in his presentation, he acknowledged the worth of
recordings for one hearing.  After that the suspense goes away.  And he did
say he doesn't watch opera on TV, preferring crime and Western programs.

Another recurring theme in his talk was what he termed the lottery
feature of casting an opera.  The requirement of a fine voice is of course
a given, necessary, but not sufficient.  One proceeds from there.  But
how?  At least in the Washington Opera today, not too much is known about
contemplated singers if they're not super stars like the Three Tenors.  A
singer is expected to know what he sings.  But how to tell?  By rehearsal
time it's already too late.  Recordings aren't always a good guide as
they've been subject to adjustments by the engineers for balance between
voice and orchestra, etc.  And as Heinz Fricke comically acted it out,
some singers have their high C's on tape in their pockets which they take
out and play instead of actually singing them during such recordings.  Nor
do auditions indicate stage presence. There's also a language problem.
Specifically he explained the difficulties in getting the chorus in
*Parsifal* to sing "Wehe" with the German "eh" sound and not the American
"Oy vey"!  Ability to remember lines is also important of course,
especially as, according to HF, the prompter is usually asleep.  (He says
that he himself recites the opera's text while he conducts. But he no
longer sings it.)  And singers for certain roles are hard to find.  Where
does one find a Salome, who has to look 16 years old and yet be able to
outsing the orchestra?  Singers are hard to find not only for Wagnerian
roles, but for Berlioz, Bellini's *Norma*, and Mozart.  Also, replacements
who suddenly take ill are easier to obtain in Germany, where distances
between opera houses are shorter than in the USA.

He noted that we've been spoiled by films where the characters, even in
operas, are svelte and photogenic.  He feels that certain voices require
a certain fullness of the body.  (Nobody asked, and he did not comment on
whether Maria Callas' voice suffered from her dramatic loss of weight.)
Voices tend to drop over time and this should not be resisted.  He
described how, under his guidance, a former Sophie started a new career
as the Marschallin.

But aside from considerations of weight and appearance, there are
the more serious concerns about the voice itself.  No cold beer before
a performance.  Stay away from drafts.  Don't eat too soon before a
performance or wait too long after eating before you perform.  And it's no
easier for the conductor for five hours.  Actually he considers *Rheingold*
Wagner's longest opera because it has no intermissions.  It's the feet that
really hurt and during a performance in England he simply took off his
shoes and he kept looking for cool areas to stand on the podium while the
singer's were staring at him incredulously.  Indeed, Heinz Fricke called
opera a "shitty" occupation.  But he smiled when he said it.

As for the singing itself, Heinz Fricke maintained that it wasn't necessary
to understand every word that was sung, though every sentence, or at least
the sense of the text, should be understood.  German, even more so than
Russian, but much less so than Italian, is burdened with consonant sounds
that break up the flow of the song unless subdued if not suppressed.  HF
is not happy with surtitles requiring people's heads to bob up and down
between text and stage resulting in neck pains and interfering with the
absorption of the opera's action.  He would prefer performances to be
preceded by a commentator, describing the opera with musical illustrations
of the critical scenes.  He distinguished the perhaps traditional operas of
Verdi and Puccini, during which youcould relax in your chair and just drink
in the arias, from later operas, even Wagner and Verdi's *Falstaff* from
the 19th century and Wozzek and Lulu from the early years of the 20th
century, which don't permit such relaxation and require you to stay on the
edge of your seat if you want to appreciate them.

As in his earlier lecture, Heinz Fricke again had praise for the
Washington Opera.  Aside from the enthusiasm and dedication of the
artists who purchase their own CDs to learn new works on their own time
(something almost unheard of in Europe) he welcomes the "good" and
"normal" traditional productions it presents and contrasted them with the
sensational productions in Europe in which the story is often distorted.

New operas often require voice acrobatics.  And they are now identified by
their producers rather than by their composers.

He mentioned attending a performance of *Figaro* where the singers wore
microphones and announced that if that ever becomes the norm, he'll stop
conducting.

Wrapping up his presentation (which wasn't really divided up into topics
the way I've attempted to present it here) he stated that the voice alone
was not determinative for an opera but that the music was primary.

Walter Meyer