The Black Callas

Shirley Verrett, a luminous opera singer who's been a professor at Michigan's School of Music since 1996, was the highlight of our musicology class yesterday. She's 73 but doesn't quite look it. Every inch of her is glamor, grace, and confidence.

She was one of the first African-American singers to achieve success in the world of opera. My own professor sought her as special guest for our class so we could learn firsthand about the difficulties of being an "Other" while playing lead roles that aren't ethnic. We began by introducing ourselves; everyone in the class is a music student except me, and I was the last to announce myself. When I said "creative writing," I suppose that made her easier to notice me and my name. I felt a little embarrassed about my non-music field, so I added that I studied in Italy where I got to watch my first few operas. Prof. Verrett brightened immediately and asked wherabouts. She said she'd made her debut in Florence so the city is dear to her as it is to me. Because her role was Queen Elizabeth, I asked her how the makeup process went; they had to put fat layers of foundation on her since Queen E. wasn't just Caucasian, she also wore that ghastly white paste on her face.

Prof. Verrett also spoke of her debut - Carmen - at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She prepared for each role by reading books about the time period and viewing paintings from that time and place. Acting is equally important, she said, which reminded me of a comment my professor once shared - "Park and bark." It refers to the old-style opera singers, who were also pretty large and refused to move around a lot so they would stand in one spot and just sing.

What I liked best was hearing about how she came into singing. She'd been singing since she was a small child, and her parents had always wanted her to be a singer. But she never felt she was ready until she was in her twenties. She went to college, took Law 101, Economics 101, and worked in her businessman father's office, handling the book-keeping and taking notes in shorthand. Later, she sold real estate around California. When she began to tire of making sales pitches, it occured to her that she should be singing instead of selling houses. She found herself a voice instructor and eventually got a place at Julliard, won several competitions, then went on to a wonderful career that saw her working with Placido Domingo, Zubin Mehta, and other great singers and conductors.

Unfortunately, she didn't sing anything for us. She did show us her "limp" for one of her roles and her manly stride that she used when she played Leonora in Fidelio. I truly enjoyed listening to her speak. She's incredibly eloquent and vivacious. When she mentioned how people accused her of singing "white," that she didn't sound black enough, she became a tad indignant at the memory. To this she said, "I don't care. I sing with a voice God gave me. This is a country that's a melting pot, and our voices are influenced by all kinds of people and cultures."

When the class ended and she left the building, the place seemed poorer for it.

Posted by Monoceros at December 8, 2004 2:34 PM