Sylvia Fisher

Sylvia Fisher was the ereigning dramatic soprano at London’s Royal Opera Home through the 1950s. She researched primarily in her indigenous Melbourne, producing her operatic debut within a creation of Lully’s Cadmus et Hermione in 1932. Strangely, she produced forget about stage performances for 15 years, focusing rather on recitals and oratorio and the casual radio functionality of such operas as Don Giovanni and Aida. After shifting to Britain in 1947, she produced her Royal Opera Home debut the next calendar year as Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio. Pursuing Fidelio, she made an appearance as the Countess in The Relationship of Figaro and in 1949 sang her initial Wagnerian function, the 3rd Norn in Die Götterdämmerung. Her warm and radiant voice was somewhat less heroic in proportions than those of Kirsten Flagstad or Astrid Varnay, but was adequate and gorgeous enough to earn high compliment from critics and general public as well. Her impulsive musicianship reminded a lot of Lotte Lehmann’s and, certainly, she arrived quickly to excel in three of her predecessor’s greatest tasks: the name part in Fidelio, Sieglinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre, as well as the Marschallin in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. When she undertook Isolde in 1953, there have been predictions that it could prove too demanding on her behalf, but she surmounted its imposing needs, not stinting for the score’s many high Cs. Dramatically, hers was a separate, womanly interpretation, the one that had listeners evaluating her to the very best of her predecessors. Fisher’s profession outside of Britain was limited, although she sang many Wagnerian functions in Italy, where she fulfilled her husband, vocabulary trainer Ubaldo Gardini. She loved greatest achievement in those functions showing positive, decisive character types. Her rather matronly physique worked well against her in functions of a far more unaggressive character. In 1956, she sang the challenging title function in Puccini’s Turandot and obtained yet another circular of acclaim. Nevertheless, the stress from the function, undertaken throughout a period of doubtful wellness, robbed her completely of the convenience in the very best register she got previously commanded. In the past due 1950s, she significantly pursued roles occasionally used by dramatic mezzos, like the implacable Kostelnieka in Leos Janacek’s Jenufa. She triumphed being a performing actress for the reason that function both in London and in Chicago. In 1966, she portrayed Elizabeth I in Benjamin Britten’s Gloriana. Her imperial, however vulnerable performance added considerably to a reevaluation of the task, badly received in its Coronation Season premiere 13 years before. When the same British National Opera creation journeyed to Vienna, Fisher was honored perhaps one of the most tumultuous receptions of her profession. Live shows and a 1964 Decca documenting of Britten’s Albert Herring beneath the composer’s path demonstrated a significant talent for humor. As the imperious Female Billows, Fisher taken to the chamber opera a still amazing voice (if right now with a fairly strident best register) and a faultless present for delivery of deadpan laughter. Appearances as Woman Billows in the Stratford Event, Ontario in 1967 verified that her stage existence was just as effectual as her vocal one. Fisher continuing to sing well into her sixties, showing up as the unyielding Aunt in Britten’s tv opera, Owen Wingrave — a job composed designed for her.