I've been rambling on in my head about language study,
and thought I'd pour it all out here and see what
everyone else thinks of the issue.
Which language is best to study (with the given, as in
most of my posts, that the goal is a good career
singing opera in large international houses)? I would
say, as an immediate response, that Italian is the one
to pick. However, I'm not so sure that's the best
choice. Certainly, most of the rep is Italian... but
which is the best language to *master*?
One must study the basics of all singing languages, of
course. Two or three years of French, German,
Italian, and possibly Russian if your voice suits that
type of music, is mandatory for a good career. So I'm
not saying that any language should be shunted in
favor of another -- being able to speak, understand,
write, and pronounce well is the first step. I'd say
three years of each as a minimum.
So, you put in your ten years there (whew). But
beyond that, which language should you choose to
attain absolute, second-nature, dream-in-it fluency
in? If you tried to master all three, I think, you
would have no time left for singing -- or you'd be
bouncing around the world too much to settle down and
learn anything. So I'm guessing that, after the
basics, you can choose one language to really
understand inside and out.
Italian pronunciation is more forgiving than French or
German. If you can speak and understand fairly well
(let's say you could pick up a newspaper and read the
articles, and then have an intelligent conversation
about them with your neighbor on the train to
Florence), and have your Americanisms (like diphthongs
and consonants) coached out of you, you should be
fine. Most non-Italian singers on the Met broadcasts
sound just this way -- quite excellent, but there is a
tiny, subtle difference between them and the native
Italian speakers.
The French are horribly picky about their
pronunciation. If you intend to sing French opera in
France, and are not French, your accent will probably
be derided (this is my understanding of the French --
Alain is free to correct, seeing it first-hand). They
seem to prefer native speakers in French opera more
than other countries. Moreover, French opera is the
smallest segment of works contributing to the standard
rep, so a mastery of French wouldn't get you the
biggest gain unless your goal is to live and sing in
France all your life. I'm not saying that's not a
valid career choice -- Fleming concentrates in New
York and Paris, and has her daughters enrolled in
schools in each city (or did as of that 60 minutes
interview).
If you are an American singer and want to get your
start abroad, you go to Germany (Italy and France, I
believe, both have laws making it difficult to hire
unknown non-nationals). Also, it is often said that
the linguistic intricacies of both lieder and Wagner
are such that every nuance of the text must must must
be understood, interpreted, shaded, etc., with fluent
facility This would imply that the German language
requires the most complete understanding in order for
a non-native speaker to do justice to the music.
So, I guess my personal conclusion (and I want to know
what others think), is... hmmm. That the language to
master depends on your fach? If you have a
Wagnerian-sized voice, the kind that would be
ridiculous trying to sing Donizetti or Mozart, and you
are destined to sing Wagner and Strauss for 80% of
your career: obviously German. Or if you know that
your career plan is to gain your small-house
experience in Germany before returning to the US in
the big houses, I guess. That's not a bad way to
launch a career, I don't think, except that it seems
much harder now than it used to be. Did people see
the NY Times article on how singing in Germany has
changed? If Graham is still with us, maybe he has
insight into how the enviornment has changed in the
last ten years.
But then, I still suspect that Italian is the one to
study for the bulk of singers. Of course, you will
never be able to *completely* match the accent of a
native Italian speaker -- or can you, with years of
diligent adult study? After all, even Italian
speakers have a zillion different dialects. Will you
ever be able to erase your American accent in any
language, given that most of us probably started
studying these languages in our adult years? Italian
seems more forgiving of bad accents -- whether because
more Italian rep is performed so the comparison pool
is larger, or because the music is often more
important than the text (as opposed to some German
composers, where the text is more crucial), so maybe
Italian isn't the one to focus on most, if it's the
least picky...
I just don't know. I'm still working on that
newspaper-train thing right now, but am wondering
which language to really dig into after that. I
suspect Italian, but German is also compelling.
Also: Is the only way to achieve this fluency to live
in the country, or can it be done at home -- with a
daily native tutor, maybe?
Of course, if you spend your ten years and become
knowledgeable in FrenchGermanItalian (which includes
coaching for pronunciation), you could specialize in
some strange language like Russian or Czech, thus
blowing away your fellow non-native competition in
your interpretation of slavic operas.
But then, they make up such a small part of the
standard rep that it seems like a waste. I doubt an
American singer will ever make a huge career based on
slavic command.
Or, you could dedicate yourself to American
repertoire, and carve out a niche there (a la Dawn
Upshaw). I just don't know.
Isabelle B. (who wonders how many of the big-house
American singers actually got beyond the ten years of
three-language study in the first place... maybe they
picked up the mastery while travelling, after their
careers got launched... or maybe they don't have that
extra degree of mastery, and it's not needed)
=====
Isabelle Bracamonte
San Francisco, CA
ibracamonte@y...
__________________________________________________
|
