{"id":2516,"date":"2023-11-10T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/der-bussard.de\/en\/?p=2516"},"modified":"2023-11-12T17:15:34","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T16:15:34","slug":"victoria-de-los-angeles-an-angelic-voice-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/der-bussard.de\/en\/2023\/11\/10\/victoria-de-los-angeles-an-angelic-voice-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles: An angelic voice (1.)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Part one<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are two great Spanish opera singers of the 20th century: Montserrat Caball\u00e9<\/a> (1933 \u2013 2018) and Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles (1923 \u2013 2005). Both were born in Barcelona, but there was a ten-year age difference between them. Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles, the older of the two, was born in the same year as Maria Callas<\/a> and would also have turned 100 in 2023. Despite all the differences between the two Spanish women, both great opera divas had one thing in common: Their Catalan origins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles grew up in an academic environment, so to speak \u2013 but this environment was different to what one might initially assume: her father worked as a caretaker at the University of Barcelona. The university library was therefore never far away and the young Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles developed a penchant for the world of books and art at an early age. De los \u00c1ngeles’ father must have left a lasting impression on the students: When the singer travelled around the world on her tours later in her life, it frequently occurred that a former student from the University of Barcelona came to the singer backstage to talk about her father. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

De los \u00c1ngeles completed her training in three years. <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Successful debut on the radio<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles developed a penchant for the arts at an early age: but at the time, a musical education was anything but a matter of course for a daughter from a humble background. Her parents, who were musically inclined themselves, nevertheless wanted to give their daughter a musical career \u2013 after the Spanish Civil War (1936 \u2013 1939), Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles began to study at the Conservatori del Liceu in Barcelona. Among the most important influences during her time as a singing student were the Spanish mezzo-soprano Dolors Frau and the guitarist Graci\u00e0 Tarrag\u00f3. It was originally planned that her studies at the conservatory would take six years \u2013 de los \u00c1ngeles completed her training in three years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to her parents, the young singer was greatly supported by her sister Carmen in her endeavours to become a celebrated singer: One day, the young de los \u00c1ngeles received a proposal from her sister Carmen to take part in a singing competition organised by R\u00e0dio Barcelona. This move turned out to be extremely successful \u2013 with the two arias S\u00ec, mi chiamano Mim\u00ec <\/em>(La Boh\u00e8me<\/em>, Puccini) and Un bel d\u00ec vedremo <\/em>(Madama Butterfly<\/em>, Puccini), the young opera singer won the favour of the jury and emerged victorious from the competition. This competition also marked the birth of her stage name Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles: instead of her real name, the young singer entered her “new” name on the R\u00e0dio Barcelona registration form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Lama\u00f1a<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Before Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles had even come close to completing her training at the conservatory, she already enjoyed the status of a celebrity in the local scene \u2013 it was not unusual for winners of radio prizes to be engaged for various works, but these engagements rarely took place in an opera house or a comparable institution: It was not unusual for the winner of such a competition to sing a few times on the radio or at smaller events, but then disappear into insignificance again. What Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles needed at this point was a kind of “musical godfather”, as Peter Roberts writes in his biography of the opera singer, who would agree to take the young singer under his wing and support her. As fate would have it, just such a patron was sitting in the audience of one of Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles’ end-of-semester concerts: the industrial engineer and musicologist Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Lama\u00f1a had the opportunity to get a precise impression of Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles’ voice at a concert on 14 May 1941. Lama\u00f1a contacted Dolors Frau, young Victoria’s singing teacher, and discussed the young singer’s situation with her. The situation was anything but favourable for a singing career: Victoria’s family simply did not have the means to finance further vocal training for their daughter and Frau even remarked that she suspected that the young singer was getting far too little to eat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under no circumstances would Lama\u00f1a allow Victoria to “burn out” her voice.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ars Musicae: <\/em>\u201cUniversity years”<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The engineer Lama\u00f1a, whose father had been president of the conservatory before him, must have seen enormous potential in the voice of the young Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles: He agreed to pay for her education in full and arranged recordings with the chamber ensemble Ars Musicae<\/em>, which he had initiated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles later described her years with Ars Musicae<\/em> as her \u201creal university years”: The experience she gained as a singer with this chamber ensemble formed the basis for her later career as an opera and lieder singer. The Ars Musicae<\/em>‘s concerts often took place in a private setting, which provided the young opera singer with the ideal basis for gaining experience. Her patron Lama\u00f1a made sure that his prot\u00e9g\u00e9e Victoria did not accept any offers during her training period where she was simply earning money: under no circumstances would he allow Victoria to “burn out” her voice, as many young singers did at the time who needed to make money quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 1940s, the promoter Lama\u00f1a, who worked full-time as an engineer, was given the task of managing his prot\u00e9g\u00e9e’s career: His work with her quickly bore fruit \u2013 Victoria was soon given the opportunity to record a vinyl record with Ars Musicae<\/em> on one of the biggest record labels of the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key: self-confidence <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In many ways, her \u201cuniversity years” at Ars Musicae<\/em> formed the basis for her later career: unlike many other singers, Victoria was not thrown in at the deep end and had to assert herself among countless other competitors. She was given the opportunity to develop a solid repertoire and confidence as a singer right from the start. She later said herself: \u201cWhen the day came for me to make my opera debut, it all came to me quite naturally. (\u2026) I felt that it was just a continuation of the singing I had always done. I do not mean to imply that I took opera for granted. But I never thought \u2019I must win tonight. I must conquer them.\u2019 That was never my way of thinking. (\u2026) I had the voice and I loved the music so for me it was what it always had been \u2013 communication with others. (\u2026) I suppose I was not nervous because I was sure of myself and was not afraid of being ridiculous.\u201c <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is exactly what Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles acquired during her \u201cuniversity years” with the chamber ensemble Ars Musicae: self-confidence. Self-confidence that she would definitely need, looking ahead to the long and demanding career as an opera singer that lay ahead of her…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon von Ludwig<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part two.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Main source: Roberts, Peter: Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles 1982 Weidenfeld and Nicolson <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cover picture: Victoria de los \u00c1ngeles 1963 at Amsterdam Schiphol airport
Picture credit: Fotograaf Pot, Harry \/ Anefo, Nationaal Archief, CC0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More stories from Der Bussard<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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