Jocelyn Gooch wrote:
>I just saw Charlotte on the Jay Leno Show LATE last night. She is now 14
>years old, and sounds sweet, looks sweet, and wobbles like an opera diva
>put out to pasture. Poor thing!
Why "poor"? She may have had the "voice of an angel" (though I doubt it),
but if you read the liner notes to her records she always had the "ego of a
starlet." When she started all this, she said that she wanted to sing
Butterfly at La Scala someday. The classical music biz being what it is, a
commercial venture that rarely breaks even, she may get her wish, wobbling
jaw or no wobbling jaw.
There is a 12-year-old girl at my church who sang a solo last year. Same
sweet, breathy tone as Charlotte, but no wobble. Have heard literally
dozens of other juvenile soprani with similar soounds. Hers is a QUITE
unexceptional voice. Exceptional were Adelina Patti, Marion Talley,
Conchita Supervia, Deanna Durbin, Anna Maria Alberghetti and Julie Andrews,
all of whom were singing quite beautifully by the age of 14 (though Supervia
made her debut at 15 and Talley at 15 1/2, all of them were singing semi-pro
by 14). All but Patti made recordings as juveniles (pre-18), and every last
one of them sang better than Ms. Church.
But you gets what you pays for, and anyone willing to pay $150 a pop to hear
Charlotte the Charlatan does so with full foreknowledge that she cannot sing
and doesn't care. WE care because we care about vocal art.
Lynn
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