Interview with TERESA BERGANZA

[joanabanyeres]

te quiero, grandisima..quelle grande artiste..

[olgamariaramosmadrid]

Qué señora tan sabia. Da gusto escucharla hablar. Me la presentaron en cierta ocasión y me dedicó una fotografía.

[maiiah1]

Elle est extraordinaire . Avec cette voix impossible a confondre ,avec cette gloire propre a ceux de sa culture et cette générosité que l'on ne trouve que chez les grand.

Voyez,même quand elle ne chantera plus, elle chantera avec la voix des autres,car elle st capable de la même joie lorsque elle observe les autres chanter.

[MYBLUECAT69]

j'aime sa voix exceptionnel ,sa simplicité et son humanité .. BRAVO

[jessfanaticfirst]

TE QUIERO TERESA,SIEMPRE...JORGE DE BUENOS AIRES.

[gogetassj4able]

teresa sos una gran mezzo,la mejor,pero fundamentalmente una hermosa persona.soy argentina y me da orgullo que cantes canciones nuestras.

[VeronicaSantander]

divina!

[izarob]

(6) world, not so many as I would like to.

I.: Where is the voice secret?

T.B.: Mine?

I.: How did you made so it is heart all around the world?

T.B.: I think we are born with a... I allways say that voice colour is something... something hormonal. We have more female hormones, less female hormones, more male´s, and one sings as contralto; if you have more female hormones you sing as light soprano, and if you are in the middle like me, hahaha, that´s mezzosoprano.

[izarob]

(5) ..", but I already, since... Victoria was older than me, I don´t know how how many years, but enough

for, when I was stufying, Victoria was already singing, she was going out, and in that radio that we had after the war, my father said to me

"Notice how sings that catalonian girl", and he said to me "she is an angel", and we heared. And afer, it happened that she was Victoria de los Ángeles,

and when I began to sing, I hear her, I went to hear her, and we met in many places of the...

[izarob]

(4)

I.: Victoria and you have been always very near, very close, how has she influenced in your carreer?

T.B.: Well, Victoria influenced very much, because I didn´t thought... I never thought I would be a singer. I war studying, I mede my eight years of piano,

I studied chamber music, I studied cello, I studied composition, I studied... everything... everything, and I thought I will be, I don´t knok, maby a pianist,

and it seems that everybody said "with that voice you have...", ...

[izarob]

(3) She sang him very much -Toldrá- and also I, for putting three of his songs, and then I have put argentinan songs that I am singing now very much; Guastavino an Piazzola, because... I knew Guastavino, many people knew him, but

Piazzola... doesn´t really now him... people now him, but they know him with pop singers, and singers... other kind of singers, not liric singers.

So I have ordered some arrangement that I think Victoria would have liked.

[izarob]

(3) than to sing with 30. I don´t sing the same repertoire than then. And now, I have a repertoire... as I know that she liked frech music very much, and she sang it very well, I have chosen a group of french music, I have chosen a grup of old... -I have learnt this of her,

because she made recitals that way-, of baroc music, then french, then Toldrá because... well I could have put Montsalvatge too, but I think that Toldrá... both, we love them very much...

[izarob]

(2) ... it´s a concert absolutely one and special; an moved, very much, very much, very moved because... hummm... well, I never thought that one day I will pay tribute singing to the singer that more have I admired.

I: How should we imagine this concert? Because you say that you have make it with a repertoire much to your way, ¿isn´t it?

T.B.: Yes, I have made a repertoire very, naturally much to my way that I can sing today, because it is not the same to sing with this age...

[cantanteporsiempre]

I speak spanish, but translate everything is hard.

[acitipo]

Maravillosa!!!! estupenda!!!!! humilde!!!!!inteligentisima!!!­!!!por eso seras SIEMPRE GRANDE TERESA!!!!!!!

[leprincebeaumont]

Adoro Teresa Berganza! Come tutte le vere grandi, è umile e simpatica! Grandissima!!!!

[Signifer82]

She doesn't say that both of them liked Toldrá and Montsalvatge. She says they always loved both Toldrá and Montsalvatge.

[Griwhoolda]

kraber, thank you for the translation!

[lochness11]

Teresa Berganza thankyou for saying so nice things about Victoria. You too are a great singer.

[victoriamorera]

This is a tribute to Victoria de los Ángeles.Teresa sang to Victoria in January 2008.She loves Victoria and she always says that Victoria was her favorite singer.Thank you Teresa

[leoperarm]

I would have joyfully translated it, but kraber was faster... Any other thing to translate from sapnish, call me :))))

[BravaBerganza01]

OK, THANK YOU :)

[micioamilano]

"Me encanta ser la primera en muchas cosas!!!" Estupenda!!!

[rao633]

Berganza and Horne are the best mezzosopranos ever! And Caballe is the best soprano!

[belcantomania]

è recente quest'intervista?

[signorinaermione]

I love Teresa Berganza.

[BravaBerganza01]

me too :)

[chepurociel620]

And me! :))

[MisZing]

Thank you Brava for posting!! And Thanks a whole lot Kraber, for the translation!!

We all love her, don't we?

[giulietta95]

Wonderful Lady indeed!

Many thanks for posting this video!

[kraber]

BravaBerganza01, here you have the translation of the interview. Thanks a lot for sharing these great videos!

Journalist - For the just started Auditori Theatre season, that will last till mid June, we'll start with a very special concert, Teresa Berganza will sing after Victoria e los Ángeles repertoire. Teresa erganza, welcome to San Cugat

Teresa Berganza - Thank you, thank you very much.

[BravaBerganza01]

THANK YOU, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, Kraber!! Great job :)

[kraber]

My pleasure. By the way, what she said that she is doing know, as she learnt from Victoria, was the music chosen for the concert (French and baroque music). Nothing to do with the hand's gesture (I didn't catch it in the first moment!)

[Phaidra69]

I have to say two things . The first is a Big " Muchas Grazias " to dear kraber who spent much of his time to translate this wonderful part from the interview and the second is that Tereza and Victoria were the two Great Ladies of the lyrical musical life of Spain !!!

[D9l3tt]

Thank you very much for translating. Wonderful singer.

[kraber]

J - How are you now? Ready? Excited for this Friday's concert?

TB - Ready? Oh yes, I've worked a lot. Just because this is being an absolutely unique and special concert. And very very excited, because I never thought that I was going to pay a singing tribute to the singer I´ve admired the most.

J - How must we visualize this concert? Because you´ve said that you are using a very personal repertoire.

[kraber]

TB - Oh yes, I've made a very personal repertoire according to what I can sing nowadays! Because it's not the same to sing at my age, than when I was thirty. I can't sing what I used to then. Since I know she loved French music, and she sang it very well, I've done a repertoire according to French and baroque music. I've learnt this gesture from her (referring to the hand's gesture), she used to do it in her concerts.

[kraber]

I've also chosen Toldrá's music, I could have chosen Montsalvatge too, but both of us loved Toldrá. Then I've chosen Argentinian music. Now I'm singing a lot Guastavino and Piazzola. Guastavino is well known by everybody, but not Piazzola. Well, Piazzola is known by people, but related to pop and other kind of music, but not to lyric singers. So, I've ordered some Piazzola's arrangements that Victoria would have loved for sure.

[kraber]

J - Victoria and you have always been very close friends. How has she influenced your career?

TB - Well, she was a most important influence because initially I never thought about being a singer. I accomplished eight years of the piano career, I studied chamber music, I started to study violoncello, composition,...everything! I thought that I was becoming a pianist, but people started to tell me: Teresa you must use that wonderful voice you have.

[kraber]

Victoria was older than me, I don't know how many years older, but when I was studying she had already started her singing career. Listening those old postwar radios, my father told me: Hey, pay attention to that catalonian girl, she sings amazingly well, she's an angel. And then she became Victoria de los Ángeles. When I started to sing, I listened to her, I attended her performances, and eventually we got together sometimes, few than I'd have liked to, all around the world.

[kraber]

J- What is your voice's secret. How have you managed to get it listened all over the world?

TB - We are born with the voice. I've always said that voice colors are a matter of hormones. More masculine or feminine ones. In such a way, one sings as a contralto, or if one has more feminine hormones sings as a light soprano. Or one can be halfway, like me, and being a mezzosoprano haha. One is born with a particular voice color, with a particular personality.

[kraber]

Everybody has their own speaking voice color . Apart, you must have a very well arranged mind, otherwise the artist gets down very soon, starts to sing, has a success very soon, and gets down very early. Furthermore, one must be a musician and an artist. But the artist can be improved more and more as years pass.

[kraber]

J - You did your first performance at twenty...

TB I'm debuting now! I'm debuting here!

J - Yes, you are debuting here in San Cugat. But you did your first performance in Madrid, at twenty, and then you did your first international appearance in France in 1957 ....

TB - Yes, in France, yes...

[kraber]

J - What kind of memories do you keep from those times?

TB - I keep such wonderful memories of those times! I remember that I was building new repertoires. I used to sing in Universities, student residences, I sang in movies, with Juanita Reina, Juanito Valderrama, Lola Flores, Carmen Sevilla.

[kraber]

That was the only way in those times in which I could earn some money to carry on with my studies. I've been very happy, I was a very happy kid, because I had so wonderful parents. They were absolutely a kind of themselves. I keep them always in my insides. If I wouldn't have had those parents, I don't know if I would have been who I've been.

[kraber]

J - In 1994 you became the first woman to be a member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Arts.

TB - Yes I've been the first woman. I like to be the first one in several aspects...

[lochness11]

A gracious Lady of Spain,similair to Victoria de los Angeles.

[balletamie]

Hola, subiras mas? la continuacion del interview ..

[balletamie]

Que lindo, siempre veo sus DVDs de opera y es un placer escucharla.

[troppofiato]

She is so charming, humble, and intelligent. One of the greatest artists of our time. Brava, Teresa!

[BravaBerganza01]

I absolutely ADORE her! :)