Julia Werthimer wrote:

>>To which I would add: any black opera singer performing negro spirituals.
>>I can see that they would regard them as "their" music - but they have no
>>understanding of how to sing them IMHO.

And Kevin Sutton dissentd:

>Tell that to Marian Anderson, Julia.  I am afraid that I must respectfully
>disagree.  Most of the major black opera singers grew up in Southern black
>churches singing this very literature from their birth.

Well, I have heard some singing in black churches, and it does not sound
at all like opera singers' renditions: it is much more jazzy and gutsy.

>I think that they know the style better than most.  They have, indeed
>polished the edges a bit,

To me, that is exactly the problem: it all sounds so smooth and reverent.

>but you can't tell me that Anderson, Norman, Battle, Price and Graves,
>Donnie Albert, W. Warfield, Paul Robeson among others don't know how to
>sing spirituals.  That's just silly!

I'm sorry, butI simply can't stand the way Battle and Norman sing
spirituals.  I know you are an expert on church music, Kevin; but I would
plead that spirituals are not simply church music: they are a form of folk
music as well.  And I don't think opera singers can do justice to that
aspect of the spiritual.

Paul Robeson is a special case; I grew up loving his records as a child.
But I don't think one should overlook the contribution of Lawrence Brown
(have I got the name right?).  He brought a more rhythmic element into
those recordings from which Robeson benefited IMHO.

Julia Werthimer <[log in to unmask]>
California, USA