EVA
TURNER
(b.
March 1892 Oldham d. June 1990 London)
Soprano
drammatico raffinato e potente !
Eva
Turner in 1928
In
the world of Opera, it is a wide belief that recordings are
reflective of careers. Nothing could be further from
the truth, particularly in the era of the 78 rpm recordings.
Eva Turner is remembered by generations of record collectors
as one of the most famous singers of the last century; an
artist whose voice bespeaks grandeur and whose vocalism is
among the most exemplary of her time. Both statements
are true but her remarkable talent translated into a quite
modest career upon the stages of the world. It is futile
to speculate why.
Eva
Turner was born on 10 March 1892 at Oldham , England , in
the red rose county of Lancashire . At the age of ten,
she was pestering her musical parents for singing lessons
and at the age of eleven she was sent to Dan Rootham, the
teacher of Clara Butt, for her first formal lessons. In
1911, Eva enrolled at the London 's Royal Academy of Music
where she was the most prodigiously talented member of her
class. She stayed at the Academy until 1914 when she
decided to strike out on her own.
In
1921, Eva sang throughout England with the Carl Rosa Company
and added Elizabeth (Tannhauser), Freia, Elsa and Brunhilde
to her repertoire. In the following season she added Eva (Meistersinger),
Tosca, Thais, Nedda, Mistress Ford, Marguerite (Faust), Amelia
and Donna Anna to her impressive list of characters.
In
1924, she made her La Scala debut in "Das Rheingold"
in a cast that included Nazzareno De Angelis as Wotan, under
the baton of Vittorio Gui. She was reasonably well received;
the voice was described as full of volume with a brilliant
attack at the top of the range but impresarios did not rush
to her door so Eva contented herself with a tour of Germany
in the spring of 1925 where she sang Santuzza, Leonora (Il
Trovatore), Aida and Tosca.
1926
was a disaster year for Eva. She appeared at Trieste
in "La Gioconda" and at Genoa in "Aida"
but was not well received and it seems that Eva bore the brunt
of the criticism. She was replaced in mid-run by Linda
Barla Ricci, whose success was no greater but the opportunity
to sing "Turandot" at Brescia, Teatro Grande, was
offered to her. She rose from the ashes and made headlines
throughout Italy in December 1926 in a brilliant performance
of Puccini's new opera.
Her
debut at Buenos Aires in June 1927 was a triumph and although
all the principal singers received huge ovations it was plainly
Eva's evening. There were four sold-out performances
which were followed by triumphs in Rio de Janeiro and Sao
Paolo and Eva returned to Italy in good spirits. Unaccountably,
for the next three months, there was nothing and it was not
until December 1927 that she sang at San Carlo, Naples, once
more as Turandot.
In
June 1928, Eva sang "Turandot" at Covent Garden
and received a standing ovation after the riddle scene and
again at the opera's conclusion. One review stated "she
sang the extortionately difficult music with an extraordinary
powerful and ringing tone. There was not a blemish,
not a qualm." Her partners, Aroldo Lindi and
Rosetta Pampanini, shared in her triumph although the evening
was clearly hers.
Among
the comments for her "Aida" was: the way her
glittering tone soared triumphantly over all in the finale
of Act 2 was extraordinary", then "from
the purely vocal standpoint there is no better singer of the
role" and " the exciting effect of her
singing tone might have been enhanced by periods of more reposeful
singing." Audiences were more positive
and she along with Pertile, Minghini Cattaneo and Borgioli
were given enormous applause at every performance.
Antonia
(Tales
of Hoffmann)
|
Countess
Rosina
(Nozze
di Figaro)
|
Princess
Turandot
(Turandot)
|
Brünhilde
(Die
Walküre)
|
In
November 1928, Turner made her American debut with the Chicago
Civic Opera as Aida and received a resounding ovation from
a capacity audience. Her time in the USA was in the
company of operatic luminaries such as Ulysses Lappas, Cesare
Formichi, Virgilio Lazzari, Richard Bonelli, Alexander Kipnis,
Luigi Montesanto, Antonio Cortis and she was successful beyond
expectation.
Amelita
Galli-Curci visited her and in a lengthy conversation said,
" May I compliment you on the extraordinary manner
in which you were able to preserve a most beautiful singing
tone throughout the performance." The eminent
critic Eugene Stinson made the following observations: "
she is unique as an exponent of tragedy through melody..........she
is the greatest singer known to Chicago.....pure singing is
the basis of her claim to distinction........ her phrasing
is not quite so perfect.....nevertheless she remains isolated
in her greatness."
In
March 1929, Eva returned to La Scala for a single performance
of Turandot, which was warmly received but which was also
her final appearance at La Scala and it remained a bitter
pill for her from which she shied from discussing for many
years. She was welcomed back to Naples for "La
Forza del Destino" which left audiences gasping although
there was some equivocation about her "Italian Style"
and her tendency to over sing. In July 1930, she appeared
at the Verona arena, in Mascagni's "Isabeau" with
Hipolito Lazaro.
Theirs
was a fortunate collaboration and the eight performances were
sold out as Italian newspapers told the tale of a "miraculous
combination of beauty and power." Several
commentators observed that it was the first time in the opera's
history when both soprano and tenor were able to rise to the
impossible demands of Mascagni's music.
Eva
returned to Chicago with much the same cast as the previous
year. In January 1930, she appeared in Chicago at a
gala concert in the second act finale of Aida which "
brought the house to its feet.", but her performances
were exactly half of the previous season and she returned
to Europe reflecting unhappily on the pattern of a career
that simply would not take wings. The long awaited debut
at Rome became a reality. Mascagni conducted four performances
of his still popular opera "Isabeau" and Eva had
a tremendous reaction from the audience after each one.
Over
the next two years, Eva would continue to sing successfully
in Europe and England and, while she remained a star at Covent
Garden, 1933 became the year when Eva made the decision to
continue her career in her own country. Thoughts
of an International opera career were now behind her although
she frequently returned to Italy and Chicago for performances
and she was always well received. She devoted more time
to concert work although the operatic stage was not forsaken
and throughout 1934 and 1935 she remained a busy singer.
1936
was spent entirely in Great Britain where as Brunhilde, "the
great voice rose gloriously in the mounting intensity of the
music." and as Isolde she was termed as "magnificent”.
When Eva returned to Covent Garden in December 1937,
it was for a single performance of "Tristan und Isolde". The
Daily Herald reported "Eva Turner took seventeen
curtain calls after what can only be described as a triumph
that stands comparison with the incomparable Kirsten Flagstad,
who took eighteen."
1938
was a strange year. In June, Eva appeared at the Rose Bowl,
Pasadena, California, as "Aida" before some twenty
thousand spectators. A very long way for one performance;
perhaps there were others. She also appeared at Covent
Garden before leaving on another journey to the United States
for appearances yet again with the Chicago Opera as "Sieglinde",
"Turandot" and "Aida". Despite excellent
reviews and a very warm reception, these performances were
to close out her American opera career.
In
1939, Eva sang two performances of "Turandot" at
Covent Garden and her Company farewell in "Aida".
Her stage farewell to Italy took place at Bologna when once
again she sang "Turandot" with Galliano Masini and
Licia Albanese. World War II meant that there was very
little work to be found and in July, 1944, her apartment was
bombed and a lifetime of mementos was destroyed.
In
1949, Eva was offered the position of Visiting Professor of
Voice at the University of Oklahoma and a one year contract
became a nine year visit! She returned to London in
1959 where she was appointed Professor of Singing at the Royal
Academy, a position she held until well into her eighties.
This
sprightly old lady was always a frequent spectator at Covent
Garden as a well loved member of the audience well into her
nineties, and she died two years short of her centenary.
No one in her time gave more to music than she did and few
received, in turn, as much, though it was not until her twilight
years that she was able to fully realize the enormous love
and respect in which she was held throughout the world.
To her memory!
Audio
files
Audio
1 Il Trovatore
D'amor sull'ali
rosee sung by Eva Turner
Audio
2 Aida
O
patria mia
sung by Eva Turner
Audio
3 Turandot
In
questa reggia sung by Eva Turner
Note
The
source used in creating
Eva
Turner's biographical notes is the following:
www.mrichter.com/opera/
bob olink/ bob olink.htm
(g.m.)
Acknowledgment
– Feed back
submitted
by John Johnston on Sat Feb 19 02:02:57 EST 2005
---------------------------------------------------------
comments: Thanks for your reflection on Eva Turner.
For the record, her last Covent Garden performances were as
Turandot in May/June 1947. Interestingly the conductor was
Constant Lambert.
There is a live record of her 1937 Turandot at Covent Garden
with Martinelli as Calaf conducted by Barbirolli, but unfortunately
only In questa reggia and the Riddle scene, unsurpassed as
they are.
Reflections
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”There
is one thing to be said for glory - you can take glory with
you, when it is your time to go”