100Singers's video: 100 Singers - CORA CANNE MEIJER

Cora Canne Meijer, Mezzo-soprano (1929-2020) Rossini: IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA (1816) "Una voce poco fa" / Conducted by Alexander Krannhals (1954) Donizetti: LUCREZIA BORGIA (1833) "Il segreto per esser felice" / Conducted by Pierre Michel Le Conte (1972) My personal opinion: With regard to opera, the Netherlands has often been considered backward, possibly due to the fact that in none of the large cities there can be found an opera house of international standing. Even the "Nederlands Opera Company DNO" in Amsterdam has never achieved in the public eye a status comparable to other European music theaters. This makes easily overlook the fact, that the land of tulips and windmills has produced a great amount of first class singers, of which a few are mentioned here: Elly Ameling, Gré Brouwenstijn, Cristina Deutekom, Aafje Heynis, Erna Spoorenberg, Jan Derksen, Robert Holl, John van Kesteren, Adriaan van Liempt and last but not least the historic heroic tenor Jacques Urlus, who sang himself hoarse as Tristan on his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1913, but was soon able to redeem himself. Not infrequently, however, the careers of many Dutch singers remained confined mainly to their homeland, and so it's not surprising their names became hardly known beyond their national borders - especially since they were very rarely, if ever, deployed in full opera recordings. Also the name of Dutch mezzo-soprano Cora Canne Meijer (1929-2020) is probably no longer known to many. It's all the more regrettable because she was a very ambitious singer who made it to national prominence in her home country. After her vocal studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory and in Vienna and Paris, she made her debut in the small role of Annina in LA TRAVIATA (1950), soon followed by increasingly larger tasks. Already in 1954 she took part in a now widely forgotten recording of Rossini's IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA, played by the Philharmonic Orchestra Amsterdam, led by Swiss conductor Alexander Krannhals. It was precisely this production that brought Canne Meijer some years ago to my attention. Although in poor mono sound, it's a performance full of vitality and vocal presence: More relaxed, more playful and more trenchant than many high polished BARBIERE recordings under the baton of so-called star-conductors. Cora Canne Meijer's Rosina is a fun-loving eccentric with a flare for live and a razor sharp wit, but first of all a bouncy girl unlike some well-known prima donnas who've made vocally a matriarch out of this cunning teenager. Unfortunately, this dynamic BARBIERE is slightly abridged. Two years later, Cora Canne Meijer focused mainly on the intimacy of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera House, singing Mozart's Cherubino in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, the second Lady next to Joan Sutherland in ZAUBERFLÖTE and Angelina's wicked stepsister in Rossini's LA CENERENTOLA. In the 1960s, as her voice grew in weight and resonance, she also took on roles such as Verdi's Amneris in AIDA and Ulrica in BALLO IN MASCHERA or sly Marina in Mussorgsky's BORIS GODUNOV. The sovereign mastery of her vocal technique also allowed her to sing the difficult alto coloratura repertoire. A good example is her virtuoso portrayal of the Maffio Orsini trouser role in Donizetti's still neglected opera LUCREZIA BORGIA, captured in a 1972 live recording with a very young José Carreras. To my mind, her interpretation of the two great scenes "Nella fatal di Rimini" and the stirring Brindisi "Il segreto per esser felice" are both on a par with Shirley Verrett in the 1966 recording under Ionel Perlea (with Caballé as Lucrezia) and even more sincere to that of Marilyn Horne (1977 under Bonynge with Sutherland), who used (as so often) the music for excessive showmanship garnished with quirky deep chest tones. CARMEN is as popular as elusive. Many ladies have sung this seductive role and not a few of them have failed because of its complexity. Bizet's magnum opus formally belongs to the Opéra-comique, and the most credible interpreters were always those who did not inflate the role to heavy operatic size. Cora Canne Meijer brought CARMEN to life during her career more than 160 times and she participated in a recording with highlights too. It's a version of refreshing directness: Straight, unaffected in expression and of surprising colorful lucency just as IL BARBIERE some years earlier. Here's an assimilated embodiment with zeal, not a synthetic product as for instance created by such greats as Callas, Price, Norman or de los Angeles who recorded, but never performed (and lived) CARMEN on stage. Cora Canne Meijer makes the difference audible. All in all: An exquisite but (once more) underrepresented singer ...