The legendary American soprano Jessye Norman, who died in 2019 at the age of 74, will forever be remembered as a trailblazing opera singer and champion of diversity in the arts. Not for nothing did we name Jessye one of the greatest American singers of all time. Indeed, she'd surely one of the first names on anyone's list for that particular title.
Who was Jessye Norman?
One of the few successful black opera singers in a predominantly white industry, Jessye Norman performed on the stages of La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera many times throughout her illustrious career.
Norman had a uniquely rich voice, which was close to a mezzo-soprano in tone, but with the range of a soprano. She was renowned for both her voice and her powerful stage presence, and embraced music from across the generations and genres, championing and performing works by composers from Wagner to Duke Ellington.
When was Jessye Norman born?
Norman was born in Augusta, Georgia on September 15, 1945. Growing up in a family of amateur performers, Norman sang in church from a young age, listening to weekly broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera. After winning a scholarship to Howard University in Washington DC, she went onto study at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and later at the University of Michigan.
Norman's career got off to a fine start when she won the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, resulting in a three-year contract with Deutsche Oper Berlin. Following her operatic debut as Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser with the company, she became as a major figure in the European opera scene.
Her career flourished in the following years, and she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York in Berlioz's Les Troyens in 1983. She went on to perform more than 80 times with the company.
Four Grammys, two Presidents, and one Queen
Norman sang at the presidential inaugurations of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, as well as at the 60th birthday celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II in 1986.
In 1997, she became the youngest person in history to receive the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor. This was far from her only accolade, with four Grammy Awards (including a lifetime achievement award) and the National Medal of Arts also to her name.
A celebrated recitalist and dramatic opera singer, Norman was particularly renowned for her interpretations of Richard Strauss's songs and operatic roles in Bizet's Carmen and Verdi's Aida.
Jessye Norman sings Strauss's Four Last Songs
In the latter part of her career, Norman extended her repertoire beyond operatic roles, performing music by Duke Ellington scored for jazz combo, string quartet and piano. She also released a jazz crossover album, featuring the songs of French composer Michel Legrand with a jazz trio accompaniment.
Director Robert Wilson spoke to BBC Music Magazine in 2001 in a profile of Jessye Norman, saying, 'One of the beautiful things about Jessye is that she's a formal artist. When I first saw her in the 70s in Paris, she was on stage with other singers, and the others looked like they were waiting for a bus.
'But Jessye, the way she stood was as beautiful as when she opened her mouth to sing. She's subtle, highly intelligent, has good ideas of what she wants and what looks good.'
In later life, Norman dedicated herself to giving disadvantaged children the opportunity of an arts education, opening the Jessye Norman School of the Arts in Augusta in 2003.
When did Jessye Norman die?
Norman died on September 30, 2019, at the age of 74.
From Georgia to Manhattan (via the Iron Curtain): a Jessye Norman timeline
1945: Jessye Norman is born in Augusta, Georgia. Her father, Silas, sings in a local choir and her mother, Janie, is an accomplished pianist.
1962: Returning home from the Marian Anderson Vocal Competition in Philadelphia she auditions for, and earns, a place at Howard University in Washington DC.
1972: A successful early career in Germany leads to her landing the title role in Verdi’s Aida at La Scala, Milan. The same year also sees her first appearance at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, among other high-profile engagements in Europe.
1983: She flies behind the Iron Curtain to East Germany to record Strauss’s Four Last Songs with the Leipzig Gewandhaus and conductor Kurt Masur. The disc soon becomes a best seller.
1997: Twelve years after singing at the second presidential inauguration of Ronald Reagan, she does likewise for Bill Clinton, having also sung at the opening of the Olympic Games in Atlanta the previous year.
2009: She curates Honor!, a multiarts celebration of African-American trailblazers, in several venues across New York City.
2019: She dies aged 74 in Manhattan as a result of complications from a spinal cord injury suffered in 2015.
Jessye Norman's best recordings: where to hear this stunning soprano at her best
Strauss: Four Last Songs
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra/Kurt Masur Philips 000943302
Jessye Norman was renowned for her interpretations of Strauss's sumptuous Four Last Songs. They are performed here with a wonderful depth of emotion by Jessye Norman alongside Kurt Masur’s Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, which we named one of the world's best orchestras. Strauss wrote his Four Last Songs as he was nearing the end of his life, conveying a sense of calm and acceptance towards death, a sentiment that is perfectly conveyed by Norman’s rich and mature tone.
Her phrases are beautifully smooth and expansive, and she seems to effortlessly glide up to the high notes. The slower-than-usual tempo gives the songs a real sense of space appropriate to the poignancy of the text.
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
Derek Lee Ragin etc; English Chamber Orchestra/Raymond Leppard Philips 416299
In this recording of Purcell’s masterpiece, recorded in 1986, Jessye Norman sings the title role of Dido. The opera tells the story of Dido, the Queen of Carthage and her despair upon her abandonment by the Trojan hero Aeneas with whom she has fallen in love. A somewhat indulgent interpretation, the expressive features of her vocal line are beautifully shaped to capture the stoicism and nobility of her character whilst equally capturing the underlying vulnerability.
This is especially notable in ‘Dido’s Lament’, where the full range of her vocal qualities are demonstrated and executed with absolute control, from the whispered final line of the opening recitative to the climactic and powerful high ‘G’ on her final utterance of ‘remember me’.
Traditional: Spirituals in Concert
Battle, Norman, Levine et Et Al; Orchestra/Chorus/James Levine Deutsche Grammophon 429790
Norman began her singing career at the age of four, singing gospel songs in her local church. In this recording from 1991, Norman teams up with soprano Kathleen Battle to play homage to African-American music in a concert of spirituals. The concert opens with a lively and uplifting duet, ‘In That Great Getting Up Morning’, showcasing the incredible vocal pyrotechnics of both singers alongside full chorus and orchestra.
In contrast, Norman’s soulful rendition of ‘Deep River’ is sung with a beautifully simple organ accompaniment. It is executed without vocal frills, capturing the purity of the music. The richness of her lower register is particularly impressive here.
Offenbach: La Belle Hélène
Charles Burles etc; Toulouse Capitole Orchestra/Toulouse Capitole Chorus/Michel Plasson EMI Classics 395108
Jessye Norman plays the title role in this recording of Jacques Offenbach’s opera buffa La Belle Hélène. The piece is a parody of the story of Helen of Troy’s elopement with Paris, which started the Trojan War. Norman’s portrayal of Helen is very much that of a ‘husky, smoky-voiced vamp’ (Ralph More), executing the dialogue with a fantastic sense of comic timing.
Vocal highlights include the arias ‘Amours divins’ (Divine loves) and ‘On me nomme Hélène la blonde’ (they call me Helen the blonde).
Schoenberg: Erwartung; Brettl Lieder (Cabaret Songs)
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra/James Levine (piano) Philips 4262612
This recording features two works that show off very different sides to Schoenberg. The first half of the disc features Schoenberg’s six Brettl Lieder (Caberet Songs) written in 1901, revealing an unexpected part of Schoenberg’s musical personality with influences from popular music of the time. In this recording, Norman shows a different side to her voice, performing the songs with a charming lightness of tone and airiness.
On the other hand, his one-act monodrama Erwartung is the epitome of musical expressionism, staged as a one-act female monologue. Norman’s performance in the monodrama in 1989 with the Metropolitan Opera marked the company’s first single-character production. Norman’s theatrical performance expertly demonstrates the full capabilities of the human voice, capturing a whole range of human emotions.
