Opera Conducting: A Firm Foundation for the Symphonic
Why is it that for much of the second half of the twentieth century, the American classical music scene has tended to divide the symphonic world and the operatic world into two distinct arenas never (or rarely) to meet. There are exceptions, of course, particularly in our larger cities. But I can't count the number of times I have heard people in the symphonic field say about a conductor, "oh...he's an opera conductor." This is unfortunate.
Of the truly great conductors from the first half of the twentieth century, a very small handful were only symphonic conductors. Mengelberg, Koussevitzky, and (for the most part) Stokowski perhaps fit into that category. But we also had Toscanini, Furtwängler, Klemperer, Walter, Bernstein (his early La Scala performances with Callas are true treasures of the operatic underground), Leinsdorf, Monteux, Reiner, Szell--the list goes on and on of conductors whose art was actually built on a foundation of the opera house. And this was the case for Wagner, Mahler, and Strauss before them.
The basis of music is singing. Cavemen sang before they invented instruments. Church music began with the voice. The best instrumental and orchestral music still comes out of the world of the voice, no matter how complex it may be. Additionally, operatic conducting teaches flexibility, quick reaction time, support of soloists. It seems to me that the best thing one can say about a conductor is that she works a lot in opera. And yet when I've been advising orchestras on music director searches, I have time and again encountered negative reactions to those conductors who have primarily been involved in opera.
I hope that can change. I truly believe that there is no experience more helpful for any symphonic conductor than a firm foundation of conducting opera. Such a foundation is something to be treasured, not reviled.
The basis of music is singing. Cavemen sang before they invented instruments. Church music began with the voice. The best instrumental and orchestral music still comes out of the world of the voice, no matter how complex it may be. Additionally, operatic conducting teaches flexibility, quick reaction time, support of soloists. It seems to me that the best thing one can say about a conductor is that she works a lot in opera. And yet when I've been advising orchestras on music director searches, I have time and again encountered negative reactions to those conductors who have primarily been involved in opera.
I hope that can change. I truly believe that there is no experience more helpful for any symphonic conductor than a firm foundation of conducting opera. Such a foundation is something to be treasured, not reviled.
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