As of: January 28, 2024, 1:34 p.m
By: Markus Thiel
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“I have never sung a role more than 50 times,” says mezzo-soprano Elîna Garanča.
© Deutsche Grammophon
She is one of the reigning regents in the mezzo department.
Also because Elīna Garanča has developed a clever and logical career with her mixture of self-confidence and reflection.
A few weeks ago the Latvian was applauded for her Eboli in “Don Carlo” at the Scala, and she is currently touring with a program of arias and songs.
What costs more nerves? An evening of arias like now or three big scenes as Eboli like recently in “Don Carlo” at La Scala in Milan?
Phew.
Every time you step in front of an audience, no matter what form it takes, my knees shake.
Smaller rooms with fewer people are the worst.
The bigger the room, the better for me.
You like to talk about setting eight-thousanders as your goal. You climbed a few of them – Amneris, Eboli, Kundry, Judith in “Bluebeard’s Castle”. Do we now have to learn to cope permanently on the summits?
Exactly.
To enjoy the view.
And also to go down again to prepare for new eight-thousanders.
For example, Ortrud in “Lohengrin” appeals to me.
Just because so many people say it ruins my voice.
I want to prove them wrong.
Also: 2023 was so intense with the debuts, the season openings, and I also had a new cruciate ligament inserted in my knee.
I'm now enjoying the fact that things won't continue at this extra turbo level in 2024.
Speaking of Ortrud or Kundry – many of your colleagues sing such parts in a drastic and hyper-dramatic manner, but not you.
I sang many different parts, including very technically oriented ones like in bel canto.
And if you have learned a few things in bel canto, it makes Wagner, for example, easier.
You just have to train your endurance and how to use colors differently.
How do you define drama for yourself?
I think it's about accents, pronunciation, body tension, phrasing.
Many people confuse drama with volume.
In Wagner or in verismo roles like in the Santuzza from “Cavalleria rusticana” there are plenty of quieter places where you could take a step back - if the orchestra plays along.
With all of this in mind, a blast with a high note or long phrase is much more effective than shouting the entire evening.
Have you ever hurt your voice?
Every preparation is tricky.
It's like being in the gym.
Training takes time and there is regular muscle soreness with new exercises.
Stomach, butt and legs hurt.
In the same way, you have to get every part down your throat - until I know where it could be dangerous.
It's like a game, a puzzle with lots of little moving pieces that have to come together at the right moment.
In 2005 you told me in an interview: “Getting to the top is easier than staying there. Development doesn't always keep up with what fame suggests." Did you have a lot to learn here?
I think I'm a slightly cynical realist who can also handle irony very well.
Since I am down-to-earth, I also became a mother in 2011 and 2014 and lost my own mother in 2015, I was never driven by my career.
There were certainly moments when you lost yourself.
At some point you realize how fleeting fame can be and how quickly you can get burned out.
I always kept my ears and eyes open.
Nobody forced me to go anywhere, my ambition was big enough.
Furthermore: whether it was in Meiningen back then, later in Frankfurt, then in Vienna, I always started from a very young age.
That showed me: You can get to the top, but when in doubt you have to start over.
Now I think to myself, especially after the great year of 2023: What else can I lose other than my voice?
Do women have to struggle with stereotypes more than men on the opera stage?
Women have to struggle more with the appearances that society demands.
Men can be chubby, have pimples on their faces, or have a red nose.
But the topic also depends on the tone of the voice.
We mezzo-sopranos are better off than the sopranos.
We have a much wider range of games, so physicality doesn't play such an extreme role.
Besides, I don't want this pressure of the soprano prima donna.
I'm incredibly happy with the fact that I'm running around on stage as number two or three and can unsettle one or another character.
And what about the role clichés? Everyone thinks they know what Carmen is supposed to be like.
Oh, you know, these know-it-alls are everywhere.
You think you know everything, but you can't put your finger on it.
Of course there are clichés.
On the other hand, a director comes along all the time and thinks he has rediscovered America.
Christian Gerhaher says that he tries to accept or at least tolerate everything during rehearsals with a bad director, because otherwise the whole thing would cost too much nerves.
We are all subject to Stockholm Syndrome.
We come to the thousandth conception meeting, but we have already learned the game and thought about it.
And then you have two chances: cause a scandal, run away, lose money and cause big problems for the theater.
Or you join in.
Every rehearsal day you get the director's opinion injected drop by drop for ten hours.
In the end you believe that everything is great.
And you take the fee as compensation for pain and suffering.
That too. Ten, 15 years ago I was much more combative.
Now I stand on stage and think to myself: It's enough that I show the audience what I have to say in my own way and with my voice.
After 25 years on stage, you know when it's worth rebelling against something.
Plus, as artists we are exhaustible.
I was lucky enough to be able to develop through Mozart and Bel Canto to the dramatic.
I haven't sung a role more than 50 times.
At some point it gets boring, I don't mean that in an arrogant way.
You can sing a phrase sometimes loudly, sometimes quietly, take a break there or sing through it, standing up or remaining seated.
I just don't want to repeat myself over the long term.
And before I lie to the audience with routine, I'd rather look for a new task.
The interview was conducted by Markus Thiel.