100 Singers - FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS

Florence Foster Jenkins, Soprano

Johann Strauss II DIE FLEDERMAUS
The Laughing Song
Accompanied by Cosme McMoon

My personal opinion: Wikipedia explains: Unintentional humor is the act of making other people laugh without actually meaning to. Unintentional humor is tragic and funny at once. Should we laugh or should we cry? If a singer fails and the serious becomes a comedy, what should we do? Some years ago, a former famous mexican tenor sang LES CONTES D´HOFFMANN in Paris, but already in the Giulietta act, his voice was exhausted. The drinking song after the Barcarole was only gasping for breath - it´s painful to hear the recording of this performance. Painful and in a strange way also shameful for both: Artist and audience. This is what some call "The Florence Foster Jenkins Effect". A reviewer once wrote: "We don´t laugh about Florence Foster Jenkins, because she sang so bad and flashy, but because she really thought, she is serious!" The career of this stunning diva was bizarre. "A dumpy coloratura soprano, her voice was not even mediocre - it was preposterous! She clucked and squawked, trumpeted and quavered. She couldn't carry a tune. Her sense of rhythm was uncertain. In the treacherous upper registers, her voice often vanished into thin air, leaving an audience with its ear cocked for notes with which she might just as well have never taxed her throat. One critic dolefully described her as the first lady of the sliding scale!" (Daniel Dixon). After a taxicab crash in 1943, Madame Jenkins found she could sing "a higher F (!) than before", and instead of a lawsuit against the taxicab company, she sent the driver a box of expensive cigars. Another diva with similar self-confidence was Zinka Milanov, who once said in earnest to the children of Jussi Bjoerling after a recording session in Italy: "This must be an unforgettable moment for you - to drive with the great Zinka Milanov in a coach through Rome!"
Florence Foster Jenkins inherited a sum of money which allowed her to take up the singing career that had been discouraged by her parents and former husband, obviously a wise man. Nevertheless she took lessons and began to give recitals in 1912: Money made it possible. Soon she became famous in insider circles because of her complete lack of rhythm and tone. She compared herself to Frieda Hempel and Luisa Tetrazzini, and thought, that laughter in the audience came only from evil troublemakers, some philistines. But in her unconventional way, she became very popular. People who hated operas loved her, she was the personified symbol of all clichés, the prototype of an old-fashion prima donna - or: Foster Jenkins was admired for what she actually really was. Her most famous quotation: "People say, I can´t sing. But no one can ever say, I did not sing!"
Jenkins restricted her rare performances to a few favorite venues, sometimes dressed with wings on her back (see the well known LP-cover). A critic wrote the hilarious line: "Madame Jenkins was not scared by the intentions of the composer!" Her fame grew more and more, and at the age of 76 (!) she gave a concert in Carnegie Hall (Can you imagine, the show was sold out and 2,000 people were turned away?). One month later, she died at the Seymour Hotel in Manhattan. For 36 years she had lived with actor and manager St. Clair Bayfield. In her own mind, she always was a wonderful singer - and I believe in fact she was. Or should better I say: A wonderful entertainer? That is the most important criterion: Entertainment. In an old song, british songwriter Marc Almond sang: "Entertain me, and then I like you to see!"
How could I ever miss out Florence Foster Jenkins in the phalanx of outstanding divas, especially on April fools´ day?

Iocus dum optimus est cessandum.

THE COMPLETE OVERVIEW: GO TO ALL SINGERS IN THE LIST with this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHJ9YvWjPGM

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Florence
• Foster
• Jenkins

[lornabegbie]

"It is difficult to sing badly and easy to sing well! " (Dame Nellie Melba)

[noneisbetter]

Ms Foster Jenkins could not be forgotten in this site!!!! Thanks for sharing. I always have a great laugh listening to her and Olive Middleton.

[AsiaMs]

Her singing the Laughing Song makes me laugh

[flaze3]

Her voice isn't all that bad. She just has no idea how to sing properly, lol.

[valdengo1]

...the worst voice on earth, by still an ageless curiosity for mankind

[ingriddoppler]

Nice laugh Mike, what a bizzar character... however who could deny that she certainly had a lot of COURAGE !!

[petelovesbevsills]

Coloratura soprano without peer!! Brava Diva!!

[Herur22]

I believe even I could be better than this

[AnastasioFranco]

You must be joking!!!! hahahahahahahahahahah

[AnastasioFranco]

You must be joking!!!!