The African-American soprano Jessye Norman was the prima donna assoluta of opera houses throughout the world in the 1980s and 1990s. Because of her scrupulous musicianship, coupled with an immense voice that was beautiful throughout its range, her repertoire was perhaps the widest in history, ranging from 20th-century operas by Béla BARTÃK, Igor STRAVINSKY, and Arnold SCHOENBERG, to recitals of the African-American spiritual. Her voice was sufficiently ample to do justice to the heroic roles of Richard Wagner’s operas, but at the same time had the warmth and intimacy needed to convey the songs of Maurice RAVEL, Franz Schubert, and Robert Schumann. Her reputation for professionalism and consideration for her colleagues stands in marked contrast to the popular conception of the tempera-mental “diva” (principal female singer).
Jessye Norman was born in Augusta, Georgia, on September 15, 1945. From age five she sang in the children’s choir at the Mount Calvary Baptist Church. She began vocal lessons at age 15 and earned a bachelor’s degree in music at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She continued vocal studies with Alice Duschak at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and obtained a master’s degree from the University of Michigan, where her teachers were Pierre Bernac and Elizabeth Mannion.
Like many other American singers, upon graduation, Norman went to Europe to begin her vocal career. After winning the Munich International Music Competition in 1968 she made her operatic debut in Berlin, taking the role of Elisabeth in Wagner’s Tannhäuser Engagements in Rome and Florence soon followed.
Norman made her debut at La Scala in Milan, performing in Verdi’s Aida in 1972. That same year, she also debuted at London’s Royal Opera House, in Covent Garden, as Cassandra in Hector Berlioz’s Les Troyens. The following year she reappeared there as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser. Further engagements followed with the Vienna State Opera and other prestigious houses throughout the world. Norman’s status as a world-class operatic singer of astounding vocal resources was now firmly established.
In 1983 Norman was invited to the Metropolitan Opera in New York for the opening of the company’s centennial season. Appearing once more in Les Troyens, she was originally cast as Cassandra but later took on the lead role of Queen Dido when the principal soprano became ill. Norman continued to sing regularly at the Met, and in 1988 her dual performances of Schoenberg’s Erwartung and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle were televised throughout the U.S.
Norman’s Sieglinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre at the Metropolitan Opera was also televised. Her other roles at the Met included the title role of Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, and as Kundry in Wagner’s Parsifal The 1981 movie Diva, directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix and starring Wilhelmina Wiggins Fernandez in the role of the opera singer, was a fictionalised treatment of an encounter between Norman and a French fan who followed her throughout Europe to hear her sing.
Jessye Norman’s splendid, large soprano voice had extraordinary refinement of nuance and dynamic variety, and was especially vibrant in the lower and middle registers. She continued to appear in operas and on the concert stage throughout the world, delighting audiences with her opulent voice.
Jane Prendergast
SEE ALSO:
OPERA; VOCAL AND CHORAL MUSIC.
FURTHER READING
Greenhalgh, John. “Jessye Norman talks to John Greenhalgh” (Music and Musicians, Vol. xxvii, no. 12, 1979, p.14).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9; Bruckner: Choral Music Selections; Fauré: Penelope; Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde; Mozart: Marriage of Figaro; R. Strauss: Four Last Songs; Wagner: Lohengrin.