100Singers's video: 10 Years 100 Singers - Part 1: A LOOK BACK

Jussi Bjoerling, Tenor (1911-1960) De Curtis: "Gondolsang" ("Torna a Surriento") - First preserved recording as a tenor, recorded December 18, 1929, Stockholm Alfvén: "Jag längtar dig" - Last ever official recording of Bjoerling's voice, Gothenburg August 5, 1960. Conductor: Nils Grevillius My personal opinion: The old titans are dead. Opera in the 21st century is no longer what it used to be. Opera by now is degenerated with sets, costumes and stage directions light years away from a composer's intention. Modern times rape the cultural heritage. Once, people went to theaters to forget all the cruelty and dirt of reality. Today they find cruelty and dirt on the stages. After ten years of making "100 Singers", the result of my personal look back is disappointment. Since this series started out in November 2008, much has changed. Meanwhile the opera houses offer us absurdities en masse: Handel's GIULIO CESARE in the New York subway, Mozart's ZAUBERFLÖTE in the slaughterhouse, Verdi's RIGOLETTO in a bordello and Puccini's MANON LESCAUT in a junkyard. Venerable masterworks of music turn into bizarre freak shows full of mindless provocations (even naked singers showing off their genitals are no longer a taboo). Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but for me opera is still the greatest of all dramatic arts. It should create beauty through an appealing combination of music, song and drama. Opera should delight and not shock and repel the audience. It seems that the general global aggressiveness now also abuses classic music as a mode of expression ... We have lost a significant part of our asthetic senses. Most of today's young opera-goers have never experienced the magic of an authentic performance with a time-related scenography in combination with magnificent singing. Too often the so-called "Regietheater" destroys most projects since it's made by botchers with insufficient knowledge of music and opera in general. Of course, all this madness caused also a negative effect on the vocal art in its strictest sense - with all of its own complex grammatical rules ... For centuries, singing was a serious art, characterized by love for music and respect for the audience. Nowadays, singers appear on giant stages in sports arenas and event domes, supported by ultra-modern sound-technique. With all this brain-washing spectacles, the audience gets educated to be uncritical. The preservation of culture fails. It's only money-making in the worst way. History shows that true art was never produced on the assembly line and within a short time. Now careers bloom over night without any solid background and extensive experience. Opera became fast food ... My critical flashback after ten years with "100 Singers" is something like a personal soul purification. I have not forgotten that this series is about singers and their voices. Thus, let us once again reflect on the ethic of singing. I believe, a good definition was given by the American music critic William James Henderson already in the 19th century: "Singing is the interpretation of text by means of musical tones produced by the human voice. A non-beautiful tone isn't musical. The most important thing for singing students is, how to produce musical tones." It's alarming to see, how many singers with unattractive voices, inadequate technique and little musical sense enter the stages today. There is, for example, Mr. X, a North American tenor who has sung at the Metropolitan the role of Arnold in Rossini's GUILLAUME TELL - praised by the press as "the world's fastest rising star", "able to serve all the high C's in full voice." Several times I've tried to endure his CD with French arias - but no chance: The blurred phrasing, the sharp high notes, the unpleasant nasality (the tenor sings as if he is affected by a severe cold with swollen muscular membranes) - all this hurts in my ears. He attempts Meyerbeer's "Pays merveilleux", and I'm quite sure that I've never heard this splendid aria more horrible. But apparently, nobody cares about it. In such cases, reflexive applause is as sure as the day follows the night ... I have to admit that I must reconsider my opinions about Mario del Monaco (in spite of all stylistic quirks), Jon Vickers and Franco Corelli: Measured by today's standards, they were really titans. But, as I wrote, the old titans are no longer with us. Therefore please allow me to go back once again in time with this anniversary-video to the man, with whom this series began a decade ago: Legendary tenor Jussi Bjoerling, one of the most sublime voices ever. He is representative for all incomparable singers that time sadly has taken from us. In this frustration it's consoling to know that we still have old material which bring us back the echoes of a lost era. I'm sure, without these acoustic treasures, opera would be utterly dead since a long time ...