On Friday afternoon, Ms. Marilyn Horne presented a masterclass as a part of the Jesse Norman Masterclass series. A master of her craft, she worked with four immensely talented students earning their Master of Music or Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance.
Master classes typically follow a standardized routine. Each student is given a set amount of time to work with the instructor (typically 15, 20 or 30 minutes) in which they sing through a song or aria in its entirety and then work through specific sections with the instructor.
While the masterclass followed the set routine, there was nothing ordinary about this masterclass. Held in Stamps auditorium, attendance was extremely high including the entire Vocal Performance department, SMTD faculty, and numerous members of the public. Arriving 15 minutes early I still faced a limited choice of seats, but decided to sit in the very first row a few feet away from where Ms. Horne would sit, rather than climb the stairs to the back half of the auditorium where seating was still available.
After a brief introduction by Professor Stephen West, Professor Martin Katz spoke about his 40 year collaboration with Marilyn Horne and welcomed her to the stage. With assistance from Professor Katz, Ms. Horne took her seat downstage stage left to a thunderous standing ovation.
Addressing the audience Marilyn Horne offered a simple disclaimer before the beginning of the class, stating that “this is all I know” and that if a voice professor should take issue with any of the comments she made that she would be unable to comment further.
The first singer of the evening was Katherine Calcamiggo singing Abscheulicher!…Komm, Hoffnung from Beethoven’s Fidelio. Fidelio was Beethoven’s only opera and is notoriously difficult for singers. Abscheulicher!…Komm, Hoffnung is one aria which is considered by many a true test of a soprano. This was a test which Katherine Calcamiggo passed. With great stamina, Ms. Calcamiggo filled the room with her sound and provided beautiful contrasting colors throughout the aria while showing her technical prowess. Following Ms. Calcmiggo’s performance of the aria, Ms. Horne began work on specific sections of the piece sighting a need for a quicker, consistently steady breath and reminding the audience to “get your buns in order” (squeezing your gluteus maximus) when running out of air to get a few extra beats of supported tone.
Anthony LaFrinier sang Pace non trovo from Ertes Sonett von Petrarca by Lizst. He gave a strong musical performance, but lacked the resonance to fill the hall and his time with Marilyn Horne was spent trying to find a good, bright, resonant sound which originally only appeared in his high register. To find this brighter sound he was disallowed from using his chin and jaw to form and manipulate the sound. Instead of relying on the “resonators” located behind the cheek bones Mr. LaFrinier used the chin to support the sound as well as intense air pressure, and pushing from the chest. With greater support from the lower diaphragm the low notes began to have the same beautiful resonance which his top notes so easily obtained.
The surprise of the evening followed Ashley Dixon’s performance of Meybeer’s Nobles seigneurs, salut! from Les Huguenots. Marilyn Horne sat in her chair beaming throughout the performance, mouthing “great” with arms raised in applause after the aria’s conclusion. Stating that she had nothing to say about that performance technically, dramatically or musically Ashley Dixon received no coaching for her aria from Marilyn Horne and was excused almost immediately. However, she was quickly called back for one comment: that her low cut, red dress (while completely tasteful) was probably more appropriate for when she sings Carmen and not when she sings a pants role (a role in which a mezzo soprano sings the part historically sung by male castrati and so is dressed up as a man).
Sarah Coit finished the program with a fabulous rendition of Una voce poco fa from Rossini’s Il barbiere di Sigviglia. Having performed Rosina in the university’s fall 2013 production of the opera, Sarah Coit was extremely comfortable with aria and the character which she was portraying. Marilyn Horne focused on bringing the youthfulness of the character into the sound which Ms. Coit produced, reducing the heavy power on the low notes which is appropriate in much of the repertoire but not when portraying a 15 year old girl.
The masterclass concluded with a brief Question and Answer session in which Ms. Horne stressed the importance of fluency in the languages which one sings. Additionally, Ms. Horne told stories about her time on Sesame Street, voicing Carmen Jones in the hit film and was even asked by a student “What is the most embarrassing story you have about Professor Katz?”
Following the masterclass students rushed to get photographs and autographs from Marilyn Horne, knowing the importance of her career and the knowledge which she had shared with us that afternoon.
