Midwest Bookworm: autobiographies

I love reading autobiographies, particularly those of opera singers. They all seem to have led such fascinating lives, especially the older ones from the fifties and sixties and seventies - the "Golden Ages" of opera - which many people believe will never be matched by modern opera companies and singers. One of my favorites is Marilyn Horne's autobiography. Now there is a crazy life. Married to a black conductor in the height of the Civil Rights Movement, later divorced and had a long-standing affair with a married Greek (I think he was Greek - I can't quite remember) tenor. My favorite story she tells is of the party she went to where she got drunk with Judy Garland. They were rolling around on the floor singing, apparently.

Another of my favorites is Renee Fleming's. It's very inspiring, and often times when I'm feeling low about the biz, I remind myself that Renee was a temp once, too. Not that I want to have a career like hers (well, maybe a tiny part of me does), but it's nice to remember that the big guns started from nothing and got where they are because of hard work and a lot of luck, not because daddy had the cash to pay for their training and keep them from heinous day jobs.

Anyways, yesterday I picked up this little gem:

This is the first I've read from a foreign singer (she's Swedish) and so far it's fascinating. She seems to be the calmest, sanest of all opera singers I've ever read about or met. Except maybe Kirsten Flagstad, who Birgit says used to knit sweaters and drink cognac backstage before she went on to sing Isolde. I'm always hearing these stories about the crazy things people do backstage or on the day they have to sing a *ginormous* opera, like play eighteen holes of golf, or drink milk and eat cookies backstage. I guess at some point you just stop worrying yourself into a frenzy and get on with it. Can't wait 'til I reach that point.

Last, and sadly, I want to say that I am thinking about the family of Jerry Hadley, an extremely successful and famous opera tenor who apparently attempted suicide in his home in upstate NY on Tuesday evening. I met and worked Mr. Hadley a few years ago, and he is a very nice and talented man, and it is a real tragedy that the world lost a great person at such a young age.