Here is his email to me:
'Dear Herbert Burtis,
As a present i, again, got a cd of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, how wonderfull. I always am amazed by her vocal ease. As you were her teacher what, besides being an exceptional musician, was it she did? Was it a technical feature? Did she do everything you write about singing right? What were her strongpoints and did she have any weakness?
Maybe a nice idea for a post.
Your aw-breath has done wonders for my singing, thank you for that.
Greetings,
Robert'
It has been nearly ten years since Lorraine died. July 3, 2006. She had been ill for a long time with the affects of cancer but kept singing wonderfully right up to the last few months of her life. I heard her sing The Neruda Songs by Peter Lieberson, her husband (who died several years after she did) in March 2006 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Somehow, she was able, although in poor health, to bring everything together in the performance, as she always did. It was wonderful to hear her sing these magnificent songs, written for her by her husband, who loved her beyond belief. I believe her very last performance was the Mahler Second Symphony with the Chicago Symphony.
To answer Robert's questions-
1. Yes, she was an amazing musician. In every way. She had also been a professional violist before her singing career took over her life. She said that at one point her viola was stolen and she took that as a sign she'd better stick to singing.
2. Technically she learned to use her amazing instrument with great ease and, of course, incredible musicianship. When she started working with me, twenty years before her death, she had been having trouble with high notes. At that point she was being billed as 'Soprano-Mezzo-Soprano' by Colbert, her then agent. Most of the soprano roles she sang were in Baroque music and were sung at low pitch. After we had worked together for several years, she had to sing a Messiah with the San Francisco Symphony; the soprano role. Singing with her in that performance was Nathaniel Watson, who had sent her to study with me. Nat has also worked with me for many years and has a busy career as a baritone in Canada and the USA. This performance was to be performed at modern pitch, which is almost a half step higher than Baroque pitch. We spent a lot of time working on it so that she could perform it with ease. I did not hear the performance, but she was unhappy with the way it went and Nat agreed that she was not at her best. Shortly after that we had a talk and I told her 'I think you need to decide what you are. I think you are a Mezzo.' She replied 'So do I!'. And that was that. As she matured her voice became larger and darker while still retaining the high C. It was after that time she had her greatest successes.
3. As far as doing everything I have written about, I guess she did. In lessons if she was having a problem, we would stop and I would suggest an easier way to sing the passage. If my first suggestion didn't work, we'd try another one. Once the problem was solved, she would repeat the new method many times in a row immediately. Later, when hearing her sing the passage in a performance, she would sing it exactly the same way. In this way any weakness she was exhibiting would be corrected. She had the ability to try a new technique, a new way of singing something, and make it her own.
As far as I am concerned, there is no other mezzo-soprano of the current generation who can compare to her.
But I may be prejudiced.
