Quotes about
86 quotes
What you theatre people call your tradition is nothing but your comfort and sloppiness.
Original (German): Was Ihr Theaterleute Eure Tradition nennt, das ist Eure Bequemlichkeit und Schlamperei.
Gustav MahlerReported by Alfred Roller, his stage designer at the Vienna Court Opera (1920)
I remember when I began singing, in 1961, one person said, 'run quick, because opera is going to have at maximum 10 years of life.'
Luciano PavarottiOpera News, 1998 (quoted in The New York Times, 7 September 2007)
When I was working I went only between the house and the theatre, going out only to mass.
Carlo BergonziInterview in Avvenire, translated on Gramilano (12 December 2010)
It was the discipline of quiet that kept me in shape. I did very little vocalizing. I always read through the score the day of the performance, no matter how well I thought I knew the role, because there was always something in the previous performance that I had missed.
Joan SutherlandInterview, Classical Singer magazine ('The Joy of Singing'), at Cardiff Singer of the World
Singing as an art is usually not considered with enough earnestness.
Enrico CarusoCaruso and Tetrazzini on the Art of Singing (Caruso's section), Metropolitan Company, New York, 'Good Diction a Requisite', 1909
No two sopranos will be the same as each other, so you have to adapt your own ideas and be flexible. That doesn't mean to be subservient to the singer, it just means working collaboratively.
Speranza ScappucciInterview with Mark Pullinger, Bachtrack, 17 March 2026
I should say that in an opera the poetry must be altogether the obedient daughter of the music.
Original (German): Bey einer opera muß schlechterdings die Poesie der Musick gehorsame Tochter seyn.
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartLetter to his father, Leopold Mozart, Vienna, 13 October 1781
I think in the opera world the conductor has to love the words as much as the music.
Antonio PappanoInterview with Thibault Vicq, Opera Online, 19 August 2021
I lusted to sing Norma after being in those performances with Callas. But I knew that I could not sing it the way she did.
Joan SutherlandInterview, The New York Times, 1998
When a singer is singing, are they thinking? Can you see them really translating those words into song? That's my thing.
Antonio PappanoInterview with Mark Pullinger, Bachtrack, 4 June 2024
I admire Tebaldi's tone; it's beautiful – also some beautiful phrasing. Sometimes, I actually wish I had her voice.
Maria CallasTelevision interview with Norman Ross, Chicago, 17 November 1957
Verdi is unforgiving. If you use the wrong respirazione for Verdi, then you don't sing Verdi! You sing Verdi either well or bad; to sing Verdi well, it's the respirazione.
Carlo BergonziInterview with Bruce Duffie
If I rest, I rust.
Plácido DomingoInterview, Vitality Magazine
Times change, audiences change, so the important thing is to be faithful to tradition, but also be open to something new.
Speranza ScappucciInterview with Mark Pullinger, Bachtrack, 17 March 2026
It is not always a matter of wild ovations and legendary performances. Sometimes you are just happy to get through an opera without trouble.
Luciano PavarottiPavarotti: My World (with William Wright), 1995
On opera in Britain
Opera is a part of the cultural identity of this country as much as pop music is!
Antonio PappanoInterview with Mark Pullinger, Bachtrack, 4 June 2024
On singing opera highlights in concert
Instead of telling one story within three hours, you tell about 10 different stories, each in a nutshell.
Jonas KaufmannInterview with Jennifer Williams, Opera Australia blog, 29 July 2014
Certainly no singer can be called a great artist unless his diction is good, for a beautiful voice alone will not make up for other deficiencies.
Enrico CarusoCaruso and Tetrazzini on the Art of Singing (Caruso's section), Metropolitan Company, New York, 'Good Diction a Requisite', 1909
So Verdi, and not Shakespeare, is my precise point of reference.
Original (Italian): Verdi, quindi, e non Shakespeare, è il mio preciso punto di riferimento.
Giorgio StrehlerEttore Mo, 'Un Macbeth di rame alla Scala', interview, Corriere della Sera, 1 December 1975
Of course opera is a very old form of art. But I find it has an incredible power to open the doors to our hearts.
Jonas KaufmannInterview with Rosemarie Frühauf, The Epoch Times, 4 December 2011
For me, opera is dreams, and when I dream I create my own planet.
Franco ZeffirelliAs quoted in his Los Angeles Times obituary, 16 June 2019
A young voice is like a young tree – it will not grow up straight if you place a heavy weight on top of it.
Mirella FreniOpera News, 1990
It's not enough to have a beautiful voice.
Mirella FreniInterview with the Associated Press, 2002
On star-centred opera productions
What I do not like is when this is all about one singer.
Antonio PappanoInterview with Thibault Vicq, Opera Online, 19 August 2021