A Big Soprano

Ariadne auf Noxus; Richard Strauss; Jessye Norman, soprano

One of my most memorable visits to the White House occurred on New Year’s Eve of 1999. The Marine Band sent over, among other ensembles, a jazz combo, with me on piano, that played in a tent south of the east wing. The tent covered the entire sculpture garden. We had two jobs that evening:

1. We played for the cocktail party while all of the guests arrived.

2. We played “Unforgettable” while Miss Chelsea danced with the President shortly after 1 AM.

Our job began at 5:30 in the afternoon and finished at 4:30 the next morning.

I saw so many celebrities that evening that I can’t remember them all. I remember seeing Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro and Muhammad Ali. And for two hours soprano extraordinaire Jessye Norman held court in a chair three feet away from my high C.

I have been a fan of Ms. Norman for years. The first time I saw her on TV, PBS aired a live special from the stage of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, featuring the gala opening of the New York Philharmonic’s one hundred fifty-third season in September of 1995. She sang “Liebestod” (the great Love Death) from the opera “Tristan and Isolde” by Richard Wagner. At the end of her part in this opera’s finale, Ms. Norman stood stock still, absolutely transfixed while the orchestra played the concluding two minutes of instrumental music of Mr. Wagner’s masterpiece.

I saw a picture of her taken just a few years ago. I think that she has lost weight. Ms. Norman has been a big girl. Some people refer to her as “Just E. Normous”. If the story I heard is true, apparently she has a sense of humor. Someone saw her coming out through the revolving door of a store in New York. Well, she got stuck. Somebody nearby tried to help, saying, “Turn sideways.” To which she responded with a guffaw, “I haven’t GOT a sideways!”

“Ariadne auf Noxus” sat in the window of my favorite CD shop in Nice, France, daring me to buy it. I gave in. I liked Richard Strauss. I liked the colors on the cover of the CD. But I also knew that I liked Jessye Norman.

“Ariadne” holds a peculiar place in the world of opera. It evolved into an opera from a divertissement that was written to be performed following a play that had incidental music also written by Richard Strauss. The performance of the play plus the divertissement lasted six hours. So they made lemonade. The first part of “Ariadne” uses an opera prologue to explain why the audience will see a play and an opera at the same time. The second part uses opera to perform a play and an opera at the same time. Ah, life imitates art.

I remember when 60 Minutes did a segment on her with Morley Safer doing the interview. If you click here, you can watch that interview. You can see her zest for life right away. She brings to focus her formidable appetite for all things joyous when she shares her talent.

Credits: To Jessye Norman, for living the life of an artist in the world, rather than the life of an American in Europe.