0:00:11 > 0:00:14There are seven billion people on our planet.
0:00:14 > 0:00:19Every one of us has a voice that is unique and an expression of us.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22And it's the only musical instrument that comes built-in.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28I'm Antonio Pappano
0:00:28 > 0:00:31and as a conductor, I've had the great good fortune to work with
0:00:31 > 0:00:33some of the best singers in the business.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42I'm on the stage of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden -
0:00:42 > 0:00:48my musical home - and home to all the great operatic stars,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50past and present.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54HE SINGS NESSUN DORMA
0:00:54 > 0:00:57In this series, I'll be looking at some of the finest singers
0:00:57 > 0:01:01there have been since recording and moving pictures began.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04What unique qualities put them on their pedestals?
0:01:06 > 0:01:10What new insights did they bring to the classic roles?
0:01:11 > 0:01:15And what made them stand the test of time?
0:01:19 > 0:01:21Soprano, mezzo-soprano,
0:01:21 > 0:01:24tenor, countertenor,
0:01:24 > 0:01:26baritone, bass -
0:01:26 > 0:01:30which one of these vocal categories do you fit in?
0:01:30 > 0:01:33Well, yes, you do fit into one of these.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Imagine them as colours - as the composers would -
0:01:36 > 0:01:40matching the colour of the voice to the role.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45These voices express, and reflect back to us,
0:01:45 > 0:01:47all shades of our humanity.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52I'll be talking to some of the great singers of today,
0:01:52 > 0:01:57working with them, in fact, to find out some of the tricks of the trade.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00- Sing a bit.- Get off! - Let me feel that.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03How does the throat work? How does the breathing work?
0:02:03 > 0:02:05The body? The soul?
0:02:18 > 0:02:21SOPRANO SINGS ARIA
0:02:36 > 0:02:40The soprano is the highest female voice, her thrilling top notes
0:02:40 > 0:02:44amongst the most exciting sounds in opera and song.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47But also expressing every facet of femininity.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01I think the soprano voice is perhaps the most flexible voice of all.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04It comes in all shapes and sizes.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10Music that is sweetly lyrical and poetic,
0:03:10 > 0:03:13to gutsy and dramatic.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Loving, suffering and usually dying -
0:03:21 > 0:03:25there's a soprano at the heart of practically every opera.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27From fearsome warriors...
0:03:29 > 0:03:31..to feisty servant girls.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35To murderous divas...
0:03:36 > 0:03:37..and scheming wives.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00To sing one of the classic soprano roles you'd better bring
0:04:00 > 0:04:02something new to the table -
0:04:02 > 0:04:03and something YOU.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40Lady Macbeth is kind of harsh.
0:04:40 > 0:04:41- It's very... - SHE GRUNTS
0:04:41 > 0:04:44it's very focused, it's very aggressive singing.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47When I'm preparing something, I'm listening to 20 different
0:04:47 > 0:04:49versions of the role
0:04:49 > 0:04:53and then I'm finding the one which is closer to me.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13I think the personality is so much an important part
0:05:13 > 0:05:16of you as an artist.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20- Contrast is so important to avoid monotony.- Absolutely.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23That's why some of the singers are geniuses
0:05:23 > 0:05:26and you're listening to them and you don't understand why I like
0:05:26 > 0:05:30so much this singer, why I listen to this again and again.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35And why another one has a beautiful voice and I don't like it.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39I think because of that, some of them can find these colours and
0:05:39 > 0:05:44make the whole palette of the music and the others are just plain.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53- Miss Callas? Miss Callas? - I'm sorry, I'm in a terrible hurry.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56- Miss Callas.- Sorry.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59I have no thoughts, except I'm catching a plane.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03Our modern idea of the soprano was stamped by La Divina, Maria Callas.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07The most famous soprano and possibly the most controversial soprano
0:06:07 > 0:06:09of the 20th century.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13Miss Callas, have we dismayed you with the intensity of our journalistic welcome, today?
0:06:13 > 0:06:18- Well, I would much rather you let me go in and out as I please without any attention!- OK.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25Callas's genius made her a one woman cult -
0:06:25 > 0:06:27idolised by her legions of fans.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33I consider myself privileged because I have been capable of...
0:06:33 > 0:06:36How can I say it? ..giving it to the public
0:06:36 > 0:06:41and being received by the public. Not everybody can do that.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43SHE SINGS IN ITALIAN
0:07:03 > 0:07:07It's rare that a singer's interpretation of a role transcends
0:07:07 > 0:07:10its underlying quality.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14Finding more meaning, more nuance,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17more drama than the composer
0:07:17 > 0:07:19perhaps even imagined.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23Maria Callas raised the bar for all singers.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26SHE SINGS IN ITALIAN
0:07:35 > 0:07:38Such was the intensity of Callas's powers, as both singer
0:07:38 > 0:07:42and actress, that her fame spread far beyond the opera house.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45The very symbol of soprano as diva.
0:07:47 > 0:07:53She was intimidating, in a way, because of her clarity
0:07:53 > 0:07:56of what she wanted and what she represented.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01I remember, one day I was in the elevator and she came in and the
0:08:01 > 0:08:06doors closed and she turned to me and said, "Well, it's Willard White.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08"Hello, Willard. How are you?"
0:08:08 > 0:08:10And the elevator's going up and then the elevator stopped
0:08:10 > 0:08:12and I'm going...
0:08:12 > 0:08:14VOICELESS
0:08:14 > 0:08:16..I never actually...
0:08:16 > 0:08:19"Goodbye, Willard," and she was out!
0:08:22 > 0:08:27Callas could be difficult - her tantrums were gleefully reported.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31But her high-handedness, she once said, was a form of self-protection
0:08:31 > 0:08:33for timid people.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37She was commanding onstage,
0:08:37 > 0:08:39a bundle of anxieties off it.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46She was one of the most nervous performers I've ever come across.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48She needed support all the time.
0:08:48 > 0:08:53And I had it here with...particularly with Gertie, her dresser.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55When Gertie used to say, "Look at what she's done to me,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59"I've got bruises all the way up my arm," and this was Maria clutching.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Increasingly, Callas lived her life - not least her love life -
0:09:10 > 0:09:12in the public gaze.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16The lines between woman and performer became blurred.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21But whatever her private fortunes, her honesty, conviction
0:09:21 > 0:09:24and seriousness shone through on stage.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52You can't persuade the public of a preposterous thing.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Give it the most credibility possible.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56And to persuade the public,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59I try to find truth in the music.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10She was a great actress.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14And that voice - how do you describe that voice?
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Unconventional in every sense.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22Dark, light, alluring, disturbing.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28Nowhere did artist and woman collide more poignantly
0:10:28 > 0:10:32than in the role of the diva, Tosca.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34Confronted with the choice of sleeping with the brutal
0:10:34 > 0:10:40chief of police, Scarpia, or seeing her lover die, she appeals to God.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42Many saw this as her personal testament.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14She creates pathos. She's totally into herself.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35When you want to find how to act on stage,
0:11:35 > 0:11:41all you have to do is listen to the music.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44If you take the trouble to really listen, with your soul
0:11:44 > 0:11:47and with your ears, you will find every gesture there.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03She has her eyes shut most of the time, as you notice.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11There seems to be a growing intensity in this aria.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18Even though here she pulls back the voice,
0:12:18 > 0:12:20almost sounding like a young girl.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25It's a very intelligent use of the dynamics - of loud, soft.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45But let's go back in time.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47CHORAL CHANTING
0:13:47 > 0:13:50In the church, there was a totally different tradition
0:13:50 > 0:13:52with regards to the soprano voice.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56But it wasn't the soprano we think of today.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00Its soaring, keening intensity has been exploited by composers
0:14:00 > 0:14:03since the early Middle Ages.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05CHURCH CHOIR SINGS
0:14:09 > 0:14:14The soprano voice would have been heard in this guise.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17But they're not females. They are young boys
0:14:17 > 0:14:21singing the soprano parts.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25A voice that is particularly angelic, pure...
0:14:26 > 0:14:31..and free of extraneous vibrato.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35YOUNG BOY SINGS SOPRANO
0:14:42 > 0:14:46Thanks to St Paul, women were banned from singing in church
0:14:46 > 0:14:50and singing in public for money was seen as disreputable.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57But in late 16th century royal courts,
0:14:57 > 0:15:01bona fide professional female singers began to emerge.
0:15:05 > 0:15:20# In darkness let me dwell
0:15:22 > 0:15:33# The ground, the ground shall sorrow, sorrow be... #
0:15:33 > 0:15:37Now, in a love song, a distinctively female sensibility
0:15:37 > 0:15:39could colour the emotions.
0:15:39 > 0:15:40This was new.
0:15:40 > 0:15:56# The roof despair, to bar all, all cheerful light from me. #
0:15:56 > 0:15:59- There is nothing quite like that. - It's an amazing song.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02I think it's one of the great songs ever written.
0:16:02 > 0:16:07- But you're using vibrato and non- vibrato...- Yeah.
0:16:07 > 0:16:08..for expressive purposes.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12Now vibrato is the natural undulation of the voice.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15But what does it do to the expression?
0:16:15 > 0:16:17SHE SINGS VIBRATO
0:16:17 > 0:16:22# In darkness... #
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Hear the undulation.
0:16:25 > 0:16:33# ..Let me dwell... #
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Now, it's not unattractive, it's very natural, it's very beautiful.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Warm, even, I would say.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42Now show me non-vibrato and how it colours the text.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44SHE SINGS NON-VIBRATO
0:16:44 > 0:16:51# In darkness... #
0:16:51 > 0:16:53See, the voice is straight.
0:16:53 > 0:17:01# ..Let me dwell... #
0:17:01 > 0:17:06Now, I've spoken to many singers and they keep bringing up the word colour.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08What does colouring mean?
0:17:08 > 0:17:14Colouring is the way we choose to say the word,
0:17:14 > 0:17:16to sing the word, the sound.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Whether I sing...
0:17:19 > 0:17:22- SHE SINGS RICHLY - # In darkness... #
0:17:22 > 0:17:24..you can really go WUGH...
0:17:24 > 0:17:27- SHE SINGS LIGHTLY - # In darkness... #
0:17:27 > 0:17:30- ..and they just have a different effect.- Exactly.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Once a female soprano singing in public became socially
0:17:40 > 0:17:45acceptable - femininity, in all its guises - seduced male composers.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49SHE SINGS IN ENGLISH
0:18:06 > 0:18:10By the time of Handel, the rise of the soprano gave composers
0:18:10 > 0:18:14the chance to write bravura arias to convey - what they thought, at least -
0:18:14 > 0:18:17were definitive feminine traits.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Such as vanity, in this instance, with the mythological Semele.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32You have fantastic flexibility in your voice,
0:18:32 > 0:18:34you have amazing coloratura.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38Coloratura means when the notes are quickly following each other.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41So florid writing for the voice.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45- Quick notes, if you like, the simplest.- Yeah. It's just having this...
0:18:45 > 0:18:47SHE SINGS SCALES IN COLORATURA
0:18:49 > 0:18:53- ..and it's just such a joy! - Now go up to the high note!
0:18:53 > 0:18:58SHE SINGS IN COLORATURA
0:19:21 > 0:19:25The female soprano expanded music's emotional range.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29By the end of the 18th century, the term prima donna
0:19:29 > 0:19:31had entered the English language.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34Soon to mean more than just a soprano's role.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38APPLAUSE
0:19:43 > 0:19:48In 1951, a gutsy Australian set sail from Sydney Harbour
0:19:48 > 0:19:50for Tilbury Docks.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53After a six-week voyage, she arrives in London with only one
0:19:53 > 0:19:55thing in her sight...
0:19:58 > 0:20:01..the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08'I knew that I would probably end up doing secretarial work and I didn't
0:20:08 > 0:20:13'start to really sing professionally until I was about 19.'
0:20:13 > 0:20:17But that was my one ambition, I had nothing further, that was it.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20I just wanted to sing in Covent Garden.
0:20:21 > 0:20:26The feeling wasn't mutual. Joan Sutherland failed two auditions.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32I had no background of being on the stage at all and I couldn't relax.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36My inability to feel free, to move easily,
0:20:36 > 0:20:41tended to inhibit my singing, it sort of tied me in knots.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49I felt, shall we say, rather large,
0:20:49 > 0:20:52and very much out of place on the stage.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56Because there were a few relatives who thought it was rather shocking,
0:20:56 > 0:20:58if you can believe that!
0:21:02 > 0:21:06Over six foot tall, uncomfortable in her own skin as an actress -
0:21:06 > 0:21:09the odds were against Sutherland.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11But she and pianist and conductor Richard Bonynge,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14whom she later married, persevered.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21This time they put her on the main stage and she decides to sing
0:21:21 > 0:21:27repertoire where she has an opportunity to use uncommon ornamentation...
0:21:34 > 0:21:36..and decoration...
0:21:39 > 0:21:41..and flash, if you like!
0:21:45 > 0:21:49Three auditions must have meant something - I don't know what -
0:21:49 > 0:21:53but I found myself with a contract and I was delighted!
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Sutherland's breakthrough came because Richard Bonynge had
0:22:06 > 0:22:10encouraged her to switch from the music of Verdi to an earlier,
0:22:10 > 0:22:12lighter-voiced repertoire.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15I do believe that all singers should learn the classics.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18And when I say the classics, I mean the great vocal classics.
0:22:18 > 0:22:19Rossini, Bellini...
0:22:19 > 0:22:21So, the bel canto school.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24The bel canto. If you can sing bel canto properly,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27which very few people can, you can sing anything.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38The vocal music of early 19th-century composers,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41such as Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti - nowadays referred
0:22:41 > 0:22:47to as bel canto - is characterised by purity of tone and agility
0:22:47 > 0:22:50and replete with mad scenes.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53Here, for example, the mad scene from Lucia di Lammermoor.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56Lucia, forced into a political marriage,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58murders her husband on their wedding night.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22The demands of the singer in this repertoire are enormous.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26Now, in this section, the expectations were that the singer
0:23:26 > 0:23:30would use their art, their imagination,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33to ornament this simple melody.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35- So what was... - HE PLAYS THE MELODY
0:23:35 > 0:23:38..becomes - and I'm not going to give it all away
0:23:38 > 0:23:40because I want you to hear her do it, but...
0:23:40 > 0:23:42HE PLAYS MELODY WITH FLOURISHES
0:23:42 > 0:23:45Do you hear that little, that little scale?
0:23:45 > 0:23:47Another time she'll do this...
0:23:49 > 0:23:54..with a little staccato. So the whole panoply of vocal techniques.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Born just three years after Callas,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47down to earth, rather than highly strung, different in vocal texture,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51Joan Sutherland was christened La Stupenda.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57'Your celebrated nickname, La Stupenda.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00'Surely, that must have knocked you headways, mustn't it?'
0:25:00 > 0:25:03It was very flattering - and it still is actually.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05I was never quite sure which way they meant it.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09Whether it was either the sound, or the size of me!
0:25:09 > 0:25:11SHE GIGGLES
0:25:33 > 0:25:35SHE SINGS SCALES
0:25:37 > 0:25:40To sing in a big opera house without a microphone,
0:25:40 > 0:25:45takes the kind of training and dedication that an Olympic athlete puts in.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Fail to train and nurture your voice
0:25:50 > 0:25:52and you will fail as an opera singer.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56It's very early in the morning,
0:25:56 > 0:25:59so the sound still needs to be woken up.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04The whole upper half of our body is involved in singing.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09The power source is the lungs, so you have to have strong chest
0:26:09 > 0:26:13and stomach muscles to control the breath you push out.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19What makes the sound worth listening to is
0:26:19 > 0:26:22then down to the singer's throat.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27We have Anna Siminska in an MRI scanner
0:26:27 > 0:26:32and she is going to be singing
0:26:32 > 0:26:35while being scanned.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38I can't tell you how curious I am, I've been looking forward to this.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42It's just something really, really crazy. But here we go!
0:26:44 > 0:26:46SHE SINGS
0:26:58 > 0:27:02- That's great, Anna. But isn't it higher than that?- Oh, much higher!
0:27:02 > 0:27:04THEY LAUGH
0:27:09 > 0:27:12Whether on stage or in an MRI scanner,
0:27:12 > 0:27:15the Queen of the Night's famous aria needs a vocal acrobat.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38The muscles in the larynx involved in producing sound
0:27:38 > 0:27:40are the smallest in the whole body.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45The vocal cords themselves are only around 15 millimetres in length.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50We've taken a section just through the middle,
0:27:50 > 0:27:54so we've included the parts of the oral cavities - so the mouth -
0:27:54 > 0:27:58the back of the throat and the laryngeal structures - the voice box.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04As the breath travels up through the larynx, it passes through
0:28:04 > 0:28:09the tiny vocal cords, which then vibrate to produce the sound.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11The higher the note,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14the more the vibration - up to around 1,000 times a second.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21You need to create as much space as possible in the mouth
0:28:21 > 0:28:25and the back of the throat, so the sound is amplified.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29The soft palate, tongue and lips shape the notes.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34Wow! OK. So, this is a short segment.
0:28:34 > 0:28:39The lips are parting, the oral cavity is nice and wide
0:28:39 > 0:28:42and the tongue is pushed to the back of the throat to control all
0:28:42 > 0:28:44of that movement of air.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48And the number of muscles that are involved in all of that is just phenomenal.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50And in the larynx alone, you've got about 20 muscles that
0:28:50 > 0:28:54are just controlling the intrinsic movement of the vocal cords.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58I'm just amazed how it looks. When I sing, I'm so concentrated on the thing I'm doing,
0:28:58 > 0:29:02I had no idea I moved so many muscles I use.
0:29:03 > 0:29:05Wow. That's amazing, really.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11Now let's move on to a vocal heavyweight.
0:29:11 > 0:29:16A soprano needs stamina to tackle the music of Richard Wagner.
0:29:16 > 0:29:21She competes with a huge orchestra, often singing for long stretches.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25She needs a big, resonant voice. And a personality to match.
0:29:25 > 0:29:26SHE WHISTLES
0:29:28 > 0:29:29Ah, ooh.
0:29:31 > 0:29:36Born in 1918, the dramatic soprano Birgit Nilsson grew up
0:29:36 > 0:29:37on a farm in rural Sweden.
0:29:40 > 0:29:45She was required to milk the ten cows even before
0:29:45 > 0:29:48her audition at the Swedish Royal Academy of Music.
0:29:50 > 0:29:51Well, she got in.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58My parents, they thought I should, you know, being a practical girl,
0:29:58 > 0:30:01I should take over the farm, I should marry a farmer.
0:30:01 > 0:30:06MUSIC: Aspakerspolska by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger
0:30:06 > 0:30:09I sang before I could walk, they told me.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12I walked very late, I was rather heavy.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26My father always had me to sing at parties
0:30:26 > 0:30:28and we had a lot of people coming to our house.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32And sometimes I was singing six, seven, eight hours a day, you know,
0:30:32 > 0:30:34and they said, "You are killing the girl
0:30:34 > 0:30:37"because, you know, she will ruin her vocal cords."
0:30:37 > 0:30:39But finally, I think it made it...
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Instead of ruining them, it made them strong.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47Nilsson's supercharged vocal cords made her
0:30:47 > 0:30:50perfect for the commanding, dramatic roles.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10The voice, fire and ice,
0:31:10 > 0:31:14like a knife, cutting through the texture of the orchestra.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23Listen to her approach to the high notes now.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39Absolutely direct and fearless.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43You see how clean and what a gleam on that sound.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51Now, common wisdom would say that you should join
0:31:51 > 0:31:54the lower note to the higher note.
0:31:54 > 0:31:55HE PLAYS LOW AND HIGH NOTES
0:31:55 > 0:31:58But no, she stops in between...
0:31:58 > 0:32:00# Quelle...qui... #
0:32:00 > 0:32:05And it really does pin you to the back of your seat, believe me.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08People have told me who have heard her live
0:32:08 > 0:32:11and said, "My goodness, this was an event."
0:32:21 > 0:32:23LAUGHTER
0:32:24 > 0:32:27Oh, wonderful. Whose cat is it?
0:32:29 > 0:32:30Birgit Nilsson played
0:32:30 > 0:32:33larger-than-life characters ON stage.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36Off it, she was pretty formidable too.
0:32:36 > 0:32:37An intimidating force
0:32:37 > 0:32:40if she felt she was battling an immovable object.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Do you regard yourself as temperamental?
0:32:44 > 0:32:47I know I have a very strong temperament.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50And when I get people which, you know, don't care so much,
0:32:50 > 0:32:53then I can be very difficult.
0:32:53 > 0:32:57Well, I expected that you would install a spotlight for me tomorrow.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01Was this no good? It's very important.
0:33:04 > 0:33:09I don't like people - conductors, singers, stage directors - who...
0:33:10 > 0:33:15..always, in their back head, try to bring through their egos, you know?
0:33:17 > 0:33:20An artist who cannot forget themselves in the moment
0:33:20 > 0:33:23when they are creating art, they are no artist.
0:33:38 > 0:33:43One must always consider what the Wagnerian singer is up against
0:33:43 > 0:33:46when it comes to the size of the orchestra.
0:33:46 > 0:33:51You have to find the maximum resonance without shouting
0:33:51 > 0:33:55because, by shouting, you will just become hoarse
0:33:55 > 0:33:59and the orchestra will win every time.
0:34:02 > 0:34:04In Gotterdammerung,
0:34:04 > 0:34:06a soprano has to contend with a hundred-piece orchestra.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10Nilsson rises defiantly to the challenge.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37Now, those gleaming high notes we expect from her
0:34:37 > 0:34:39but if you listen to the middle of the voice,
0:34:39 > 0:34:45it's as if the middle voice is as projected as the high notes are.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01They say in a studio, when you sing a high note,
0:35:01 > 0:35:02go three steps back...
0:35:03 > 0:35:06SHE SINGS A HIGH NOTE
0:35:06 > 0:35:11..and when you sing a low note, take one step to the microphone.
0:35:11 > 0:35:12SHE SINGS A LOW NOTE
0:35:15 > 0:35:18You have to have a certain stamina for Wagner
0:35:18 > 0:35:20but I think I was born with that.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23I felt very strong when I was singing.
0:35:23 > 0:35:28And when I started to take lessons, I felt really like
0:35:28 > 0:35:31some sort of boxer or a wrestler or something like that.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33So it must have been in my nature.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02With such command, force and vocal heft,
0:36:02 > 0:36:09Birgit Nilsson defines exactly what is the dramatic soprano.
0:36:10 > 0:36:15But at the other end of the spectrum is the light, lyric soprano.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20Now, these voices played characters who were lovely,
0:36:20 > 0:36:23often down to earth,
0:36:23 > 0:36:27witty and certainly loquacious,
0:36:27 > 0:36:31as in the operas of our beloved Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
0:36:38 > 0:36:43The Bavarian soprano Diana Damrau has a voice ideally suited
0:36:43 > 0:36:45to Mozart's sparkling, knowing heroines.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56When we go back to Mozart, timewise,
0:36:56 > 0:37:00the orchestra was much smaller, the orchestration was smaller,
0:37:00 > 0:37:02that means members of the orchestra were less,
0:37:02 > 0:37:05so the voice has to adapt to all this.
0:37:06 > 0:37:12You are far more exposed, you can't relax yourself on top of
0:37:12 > 0:37:14a beautiful and full orchestra sound,
0:37:14 > 0:37:17where you can hide a lot of things.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32In singing Mozart, you're almost always accompanied
0:37:32 > 0:37:35by a solo wind instrument.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39It's a wonderful device but requires the singer, therefore,
0:37:39 > 0:37:44to have an instrumental quality of their own, a purity of tone.
0:37:44 > 0:37:49The intonation, the pitch, must be just so.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02You always think, "Yeah, the most power we need is for a high note."
0:38:02 > 0:38:03No.
0:38:03 > 0:38:10I think you need as much power for a pianississimo note...
0:38:11 > 0:38:13..floating somewhere.
0:39:01 > 0:39:06Mozart singing, you need all the colours, all the technique,
0:39:06 > 0:39:10all the flexibility but you have to have the control
0:39:10 > 0:39:13and then Mozart's music can take you anywhere.
0:39:44 > 0:39:49Our visitor tonight is a famous American singer -
0:39:49 > 0:39:53the brilliant soprano Leontyne Price.
0:39:53 > 0:40:01# Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
0:40:01 > 0:40:09# Sometimes I feel like a motherless child... #
0:40:09 > 0:40:13Leontyne Price faced more than just a musical challenge
0:40:13 > 0:40:14to get to the top.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17She was born in 1927 in Mississippi,
0:40:17 > 0:40:20a racially segregated state.
0:40:20 > 0:40:27# ..A long way from home... #
0:40:27 > 0:40:33There were millions of things that were negative
0:40:33 > 0:40:36but it didn't get in the way.
0:40:36 > 0:40:41And I had nothing else on my mind except to be the best.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44# From home... #
0:40:44 > 0:40:46And she made it,
0:40:46 > 0:40:49her talent nurtured and encouraged by her family
0:40:49 > 0:40:51and the local Methodist church choir.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58Mother and Daddy told my brother and myself,
0:40:58 > 0:41:02"Achievement has nothing except what it's supposed to be.
0:41:02 > 0:41:07"It has no colour, it has no religion, it has you,
0:41:07 > 0:41:09"and your God-given talent."
0:41:09 > 0:41:11# In the scented bud
0:41:11 > 0:41:12# Of the morning, oh
0:41:12 > 0:41:14# When the windy grass
0:41:14 > 0:41:16# Went rippling far
0:41:16 > 0:41:19# I saw my dear one walking slow
0:41:19 > 0:41:23# In the field where the daisies are
0:41:23 > 0:41:27# We did not laugh and we did not speak
0:41:27 > 0:41:30# As we wandered happily to and fro
0:41:30 > 0:41:33# I kissed my dear on either cheek
0:41:33 > 0:41:37# In the bud of the morning, oh... #
0:41:37 > 0:41:42Her voice, well, she captured and kept your attention
0:41:42 > 0:41:46through the sheer seamlessness of her legato -
0:41:46 > 0:41:49a creamy, silken texture
0:41:49 > 0:41:54that...though able to express vulnerability,
0:41:54 > 0:41:57it was the sheer majesty
0:41:57 > 0:42:00and regal nature of her performances that impressed you the most.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30Leontyne Price made a speciality of singing
0:42:30 > 0:42:32the tragic heroines of Verdi.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1961
0:42:37 > 0:42:38as Leonora.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41APPLAUSE
0:42:41 > 0:42:44It was obvious to everyone present that a star was born.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48She received a 40-minute standing ovation.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53I can't even put that into words.
0:42:53 > 0:42:59I still see all of us marching from the wings of this great opera house.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03I felt that I had conquered the world that night
0:43:03 > 0:43:07and I will never ever, ever forget it.
0:43:10 > 0:43:17I sang in London, I sang in Berlin, I sang in La Scala.
0:43:18 > 0:43:23The word was out, here's a voice that may not be too bad.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47Leontyne Price's signature role was Verdi's Aida.
0:43:47 > 0:43:48Now, for a big voice,
0:43:48 > 0:43:52it's perhaps the most exposed role there is.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55It requires simply perfect singing.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59It's an unusual soprano lead - an enslaved African princess.
0:44:02 > 0:44:09Aida may be my operatic legacy because my skin was my costume.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12It was the way I felt as a human being,
0:44:12 > 0:44:15the way I was as a person,
0:44:15 > 0:44:17merged with me as a singer.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40This aria features one of the most difficult high Cs to achieve.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45Verdi had a way of approaching high notes stepwise, in other words,
0:44:45 > 0:44:50note by note by note, instead of a big jump to the note.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55This, for a singer, is like seeing impending doom
0:44:55 > 0:44:58instead of launching to the goal.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29Ah, Leontyne Price.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32For me, I literally sat on the subway
0:45:32 > 0:45:36when I was a Juilliard student and said,
0:45:36 > 0:45:38"I'm channelling her high C.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41"Please, God, let me have that high C."
0:45:55 > 0:45:59My big buddy, Giuseppi Verdi,
0:45:59 > 0:46:02fixed it so in the aria that I,
0:46:02 > 0:46:06shall we say, delivered, it was as if being anointed by him.
0:46:06 > 0:46:08That's the kind of fun I had.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20APPLAUSE
0:46:20 > 0:46:23Modern composers utilise a very different soundscape
0:46:23 > 0:46:25to that of Verdi, to say the least.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28LAUGHTER
0:46:33 > 0:46:36But the underlying vocal techniques are the same.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40This is the American soprano Barbara Hannigan, singing
0:46:40 > 0:46:47and conducting a piece by Hungarian composer Gyorgy Ligeti, from 1992.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53Barbara, you've sung all kinds of music, but it's
0:46:53 > 0:46:57in the contemporary repertoire where you've almost lived.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01You've done 80 - 80! - new pieces.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04- Yeah.- Why?!
0:47:04 > 0:47:07"Why?" It's my safe space, you know?
0:47:07 > 0:47:12I was intimidated by convention and tradition. I found it scary.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16But somehow the contemporary music, for me, was freeing.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20A lot of the music that I've heard you sing had a lot of staccato
0:47:20 > 0:47:22or detached notes.
0:47:22 > 0:47:23# Ba-ba-ba, bi-bi-bap. #
0:47:23 > 0:47:25Mm-hmm. It doesn't come from here.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27The staccato does not come from here.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30The mouth is just open, it doesn't open and close and open and close.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33But what I think of is, you know when you had the little
0:47:33 > 0:47:37electricity set when you were a kid and you connected the thing
0:47:37 > 0:47:39that made the light bulb go on and the light bulb went,
0:47:39 > 0:47:41"Wah, wah, wah"?
0:47:41 > 0:47:43So there's like...
0:47:43 > 0:47:46SHE SINGS A SCALE
0:47:46 > 0:47:49I feel like I'm singing a continuous line.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52- Here's the line and the notes just go, "Wah, wah, wah, wah..."- Ah!
0:47:52 > 0:47:54They're like little stars.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58Here's Joan Sutherland using the exact same technique.
0:48:07 > 0:48:11I think composers in today's world are looking for new ways
0:48:11 > 0:48:14to go beyond the traditional,
0:48:14 > 0:48:16so one of the things that is thrown at you
0:48:16 > 0:48:20in contemporary repertoire is this extreme vocality.
0:48:20 > 0:48:22Going from very low, to very high.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25Well, let's go to something that was written for you.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31# Nothing I
0:48:31 > 0:48:32# Ever eat
0:48:32 > 0:48:36# Nothing I drink... #
0:48:38 > 0:48:41A soprano needs to use the resonances created
0:48:41 > 0:48:44by different parts of her body to go from high...
0:48:44 > 0:48:46SHE SINGS A HIGH NOTE
0:48:46 > 0:48:48..to low.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51From the head voice to the chest voice.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54# Out of this body. #
0:48:54 > 0:48:56Wow.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58Now, what does chest voice mean to you?
0:48:58 > 0:49:01It's voce di petto, it's like, "Ugh," Ethel Merman, you know,
0:49:01 > 0:49:03that Broadway kind of...
0:49:03 > 0:49:06# There's no business like show business. #
0:49:06 > 0:49:07You know, that's chest voice.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13And as you make the transition into the higher register you can't
0:49:13 > 0:49:14carry it up.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16But what we opera people do
0:49:16 > 0:49:19is we try to make the transition very beautiful.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21Otherwise we'd be yodelling.
0:49:21 > 0:49:23SHE YODELS
0:49:23 > 0:49:25You heard it here, ladies and gentlemen!
0:49:25 > 0:49:27But anyway, the transition is something
0:49:27 > 0:49:29that we try to make very smooth,
0:49:29 > 0:49:31so we can mix the two.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33It's like making a salad dressing, you know?
0:49:33 > 0:49:35You don't want the oil and vinegar to be separate,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37you want to emulsify.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40And that's what we do, we make really good salad dressing.
0:49:57 > 0:50:02This is Mimi, the TB-stricken seamstress in Puccini's La Boheme.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06The opera is so popular that the role can often become cloying,
0:50:06 > 0:50:09unless you're a great artist, like this one.
0:50:30 > 0:50:35Renata Tebaldi had what I would call a glorious voice.
0:50:35 > 0:50:37But that's easy to say.
0:50:37 > 0:50:42It's this constant stream of pure tone
0:50:42 > 0:50:44that she was able to conjure up.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17Tebaldi shot to fame in the '40s.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21Only one year older, she became the main rival of Maria Callas,
0:51:21 > 0:51:24as far as the press were concerned, at least.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27But their voices and choice of roles were quite different.
0:51:45 > 0:51:50Puccini requires this sweetness in the tone, this dolcezza
0:51:50 > 0:51:54and this Tebaldi does like no-one else.
0:51:54 > 0:52:00Her phrasing, too, is very personal.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03Listen to how she delivers this with such a natural
0:52:03 > 0:52:05and disarming quality.
0:52:45 > 0:52:50It's a popular perception that opera is stuck in the past,
0:52:50 > 0:52:55that opera houses are museums, blah, blah, blah. Rubbish!
0:52:55 > 0:52:59I think opera is extraordinary because it has the ability
0:52:59 > 0:53:03to reinvent itself and it does move with the times.
0:53:07 > 0:53:11Contemporary operas are doing what operas have always done -
0:53:11 > 0:53:16laying bare our prejudices, assumptions, and hypocrisies.
0:53:17 > 0:53:23# I wanna blow you all... #
0:53:23 > 0:53:25LAUGHTER
0:53:25 > 0:53:29# Blow you all
0:53:29 > 0:53:30# A kiss... #
0:53:32 > 0:53:36Anna Nicole is an operatic riff on the outwardly tacky life
0:53:36 > 0:53:39of former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45Infamous for her curves, her marriage
0:53:45 > 0:53:47to an octogenarian multi-millionaire
0:53:47 > 0:53:49and her early death.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek sings the title role.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02Nowadays, the stage director demands far more of sopranos
0:54:02 > 0:54:04than just their voices.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06# Facts, facts, facts, facts
0:54:06 > 0:54:08# Lah-di-dah di-blah-di-blah
0:54:08 > 0:54:10# Facts, fact, facts, facts
0:54:10 > 0:54:14# Well, here's where it all began
0:54:14 > 0:54:16# I was young, I was single
0:54:16 > 0:54:21# Flat-chested and intact... #
0:54:21 > 0:54:27In past years, opera was mainly a stand-and-sing affair.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29It's changed considerably
0:54:29 > 0:54:32and I think the demands made on you as Anna Nicole...
0:54:32 > 0:54:36- There was the costume, the... - I had sleepless nights.
0:54:36 > 0:54:41- ..the boobs...- I've never had more friends in my life, to be honest.
0:54:41 > 0:54:42The blonde hair and the boobs.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48I really love doing this diversity of things.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52And I love trying to get to the truth of everything,
0:54:52 > 0:54:57the truth of the text and the expression and the music, whatever.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59Just to really work, work, work on that.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03# You can fight
0:55:03 > 0:55:05# You can beg
0:55:05 > 0:55:11# You can plead, you can cry
0:55:11 > 0:55:14# But you need a little luck, girls
0:55:14 > 0:55:20# You need a little luck... #
0:55:20 > 0:55:25How do you write an opera, a modern subject, and use a singer who
0:55:25 > 0:55:28- sings Wagner and who sings Puccini...?- I know it sounds
0:55:28 > 0:55:29a strange thing to say
0:55:29 > 0:55:31but it really helped that she wasn't English.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34I've got a slight problem with posh English sung.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37But it's also to do with the quality of the voice because she has this
0:55:37 > 0:55:40warmth about her, it comes through in her singing but not just in
0:55:40 > 0:55:44the acting but in her as a person, I think she has this magnetism.
0:55:50 > 0:55:52These are real dramatic-soprano notes
0:55:52 > 0:55:55sung with an operatic technique.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06Most of the music is in a pop idiom,
0:56:06 > 0:56:10you have to drawl in American, Texas twang.
0:56:10 > 0:56:13- Singing those vowels must have been a nightmare...- That was hard.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16..because you were constantly trying to find the right place,
0:56:16 > 0:56:19- where to put the voice. - I personally always think
0:56:19 > 0:56:24that you have to have a sort of a roundness to your mouth.
0:56:26 > 0:56:27# I can drink you under the ocean
0:56:27 > 0:56:31# I'm dressed up to get messed up
0:56:31 > 0:56:36# And when I'm done I will just pass out
0:56:36 > 0:56:39# You've got to know your limits... #
0:56:39 > 0:56:41Anna Nicole is a modern morality tale.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46She rises from obscurity to celebrity, falls victim to
0:56:46 > 0:56:50addiction and depression and loses both her husband and her son.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58She was so charismatic, sensationally beautiful.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02And then to see her from that turn into this sort of...
0:57:02 > 0:57:07What she became in the end, it's just one of the saddest things.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12# Time now, Danny
0:57:12 > 0:57:16# Mama's nearly there
0:57:16 > 0:57:21# Nothing left for me
0:57:21 > 0:57:27# I guess I kind of blew it... #
0:57:27 > 0:57:30This opera now is so important
0:57:30 > 0:57:34because this is how we are with each other now, you know?
0:57:34 > 0:57:37How we are with famous people, that we want to see
0:57:37 > 0:57:41their cellulite and their divorces and their...
0:57:41 > 0:57:45You know, we all want to see the... We all want see them, ugh...
0:57:45 > 0:57:46- The grime.- Yeah.
0:57:46 > 0:57:48And it's horrible.
0:57:48 > 0:57:54# I want to blow you all
0:57:56 > 0:58:00# Blow you all
0:58:02 > 0:58:04# A kiss. #
0:58:07 > 0:58:11Sopranos have thrilled us for five centuries.
0:58:11 > 0:58:15They've vocally defined woman in all her varieties,
0:58:15 > 0:58:19making a specialty of the mad scene and the inevitable death.
0:58:20 > 0:58:24Vocal heft, lightness of touch, grace, power -
0:58:24 > 0:58:27the star sopranos have given us their supreme voices
0:58:27 > 0:58:31and their own personalities have shared their art.
0:58:36 > 0:58:40Next time, we take to the high Cs - the world of the tenor.
0:58:40 > 0:58:41MUSIC: Nessun Dorma by Giacomo Puccini
0:58:41 > 0:58:46From romantic lead to tragic hero and all the shades in between.
0:58:46 > 0:58:48The glamour boys of opera.