Jessye Norman (1945 - 2019)

[DracoM]

'Today' played out to a JN and bit of Wagner!

[Conchis]

I have dipped in and out of R3 this morning in order to hear tributes to Ms Norman. At one point around 11 I had to listen to a rendition of a Radiohead song for cello and piano.
Jessye Norman was one of THE great voices of our times.
R3 should be devoting a day to her.
Listening to this drivel reminds me why I rarely listen to R3 today.
Where do serious music lovers go these days, especially if we need to mourn a legend?

I'm not sure whether anyone would get a day devoted to them in the current climate.

Tbf, JN's profile dipped considerably over the last decade. She retired from opera quite some time ago and I don't think she did that many recitals, either.

Ironically, if it had been a current diva (there's only really one, isn't there?) it would have been all over everywhere.

[Conchis]

I think Regine Crespin will always be 'top Seiglinde' for me, but JN came very close to challenging her.

[Orphical]

I have dipped in and out of R3 this morning in order to hear tributes to Ms Norman. At one point around 11 I had to listen to a rendition of a Radiohead song for cello and piano.
Jessye Norman was one of THE great voices of our times.
R3 should be devoting a day to her.
Listening to this drivel reminds me why I rarely listen to R3 today.
Where do serious music lovers go these days, especially if we need to mourn a legend?

Let me be first to say thank you to Sean on R3 at 17.15 for what sounds like the kind of tribute programme Jessye Norman deserves.

[Bella Kemp]

As a young, aspiring musician of colour myself, Jessye Norman was important to me. I remember decades ago in the sixth form our careers adviser – a kindly old fellow, actually – arranged an interview for me at the local carpet factory to do some sort of production line task after I had left school. I pointed out that I was studying three ‘A’ levels and Grade 8 in flute and piano and wanted to pursue a career in music, and he observed that, although classical music was a lovely idea, I wouldn’t be happy because the field was the preserve of ‘old white men and they can be very stuffy!’ (he used those words). But I had recently read (I believe in The Listener and the Daily Telegraph Friday magazine) of a new rising star in the world of opera and I already had one or two photos of Jessye Norman on my bedroom wall and her presence gave me the encouragement I needed to press on. Alas, I wasn’t good enough to take the positions of either Gareth Morris or David Butt (fellow flutists will recognise the names) that I coveted at the time, but I did at least go on to study English and Music at Uni and eventually became a teacher.
Incidentally, re. the ever-changing title to this thread. I had no objection to the re-naming of the thread ‘Jessye Norman R.I.P.’ It has a gentle, elegiac ring befitting the passing of a loved one and has ancient precedent. By contrast ‘Jessye Norman is dead,’ which was the original title, sounds more like a crude tabloid front page. Lately it seems we have become a less civilised nation, but it would be pleasant to hope that, in this small corner of this rough British field that is The Friends of Radio 3, a little old-fashioned civility remains.

[Petrushka]

I met Jessye Norman once, way back in 1985, after the Mahler 2 concert mentioned by LHC upthread. Both she and Abbado signed my programme book which I still have. It's also signed by Leonard Bernstein.

I saw her just once more, at a memorable Gurrelieder with Boulez at the 1987 Proms with the NYO.

Fantastic voice with an enormous compass, happy in soprano and mezzo roles.

[Padraig]

As a young, aspiring musician of colour myself, Jessye Norman was important to me....

Thank you for that story Bella. That, and the many glowing appreciations above of Jessye Norman have persuaded me that I should long ago have acquired her Four Last Songs.

I have also been pondering the difference between the titles of the thread, and note your preference. Someone who dwelt on Dead and Dying a lot had many thoughts to express, and one poem seems to have been made for the passing of someone who 'was important'.

We learn in the Retreating
How vast an one
Was recently among us -
A Perished Sun

Endear in the departure
How doubly more
Than all the Golden Presence
It was - before -

Emily Dickinson

[Bella Kemp]

Thank you for that story Bella. That, and the many glowing appreciations above of Jessye Norman have persuaded me that I should long ago have acquired her Four Last Songs.

I have also been pondering the difference between the titles of the thread, and note your preference. Someone who dwelt on Dead and Dying a lot had many thoughts to express, and one poem seems to have been made for the passing of someone who 'was important'.

We learn in the Retreating
How vast an one
Was recently among us -
A Perished Sun

Endear in the departure
How doubly more
Than all the Golden Presence
It was - before -

Emily Dickinson

Thank you Padraig. And that is a wonderful poem that really resonates in one's mind.

[ahinton]

Thank you for that story Bella. That, and the many glowing appreciations above of Jessye Norman have persuaded me that I should long ago have acquired her Four Last Songs.

I have also been pondering the difference between the titles of the thread, and note your preference. Someone who dwelt on Dead and Dying a lot had many thoughts to express, and one poem seems to have been made for the passing of someone who 'was important'.

We learn in the Retreating
How vast an one
Was recently among us -
A Perished Sun

Endear in the departure
How doubly more
Than all the Golden Presence
It was - before -

Emily Dickinson

Padraig, very many thanks for that.

[Maclintick]

Thank you for that story Bella. That, and the many glowing appreciations above of Jessye Norman have persuaded me that I should long ago have acquired her Four Last Songs.

I have also been pondering the difference between the titles of the thread, and note your preference. Someone who dwelt on Dead and Dying a lot had many thoughts to express, and one poem seems to have been made for the passing of someone who 'was important'.

We learn in the Retreating
How vast an one
Was recently among us -
A Perished Sun

Endear in the departure
How doubly more
Than all the Golden Presence
It was - before -

Emily Dickinson

Padraig, Thanks.

[Richard Tarleton]

Fine obit in today's Times

(I believe you're allowed a free article or two before hitting the paywall)

[gurnemanz]

It is a lasting regret (hence my being unable to resist recounting it) that we missed hearing Jessye Norman sing Vier letzte Lieder in annoying circumstances. In the early 80s we were visiting my wife's family in Leipzig - then DDR. My mother-in law had noticed that Jessye was due to be singing them at the Gewandhaus at the time we were visiting and booked us tickets. Great anticipation on our part and corresponding desolation when it was announced the day before that Kurt Masur (not Jessye) was indisposed and the concert was cancelled.

[DracoM]

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/oct/01/jessye-norman-obituary

[BBMmk2]

Oh how her voice and artistry will be missed. I played a Wagner opera excerpts CD of hers yesterday. My goodness!

RIP