ELENA SULIOTIS - A Biography
by Charles A. Hooey
When I first heard of her passing, I thought, “Oh no,
another great one has gone.” "Great," yes, but quite different
from most who frequent my stories. She arrived in spectacular
fashion like a shooting star, thrilling ordinary opera lovers
and critics alike; they could hardly believe what they were
seeing and hearing. But, within ten years, this star had flamed
out and she was gone as a super soprano. Elena Suliotis peers
out from a 1967 record jacket, looking feline and those intense
eyes they haunt me still.
She made such a meteoric arrival that music journals, especially
the British-based Opera and to some extent Metropolitan Opera
News in New York, quickly assigned reporters to cover her progress.
By linking key elements of their reports, this career “portrait”
has been created. They reveal the intense initial excitement,
followed too soon by regret and decline.
Early Years
She was born on 28 May 1943 in Athens, the only child of a Russian
mother and a Greek father. At age 2 she had the misfortune to
contract meningitis that left her with impaired hearing in one
ear. Three years later the family moved to Buenos Aires to escape
post war turmoil. Here, her father’s engineering background
and business acumen led to the creation of a successful chemical
engineering enterprise that allowed young Helena to spend a
happy childhood in the outdoors, enjoying her favorite sports.
When Papa's affluence led to acquisition of a ranch, she could
swim whenever she wished and ride her favorite horse bareback
to her heart's content. Close your eyes and imagine her galloping
over the lush and endless pampas.
Initially she intended to imitate her father, but when she sang,
people would exclaim: "Helena you should do that for a living!"
So at sixteen, she decided to take a momentous step, to try
for a place in this most demanding of professions. After being
coached locally by Alfredo Bontà, Jascha Galperin and
Bianca Lietti, the choir director of Buenos Aires’ Teatro
Colon suggested she go to Italy for further study. Her parents
agreed and so, in 1961, at the urging of Maestro Gianandrea
Gavazzeni, she went to Milan to study with famous Mercedes Llopart.
In view of the trouble to come, this and earlier training did
not take hold, either due to the educators’ methods or
Helena’s inability to take it all seriously. At age twenty,
she was picked to sing important roles in student productions
as Italian houses sought her services and a year later in 1964
she made a professional debut at the San Carlo in Naples in
the demanding role of Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria
Rusticana. This prompted both a repeat in January 1965 and recording
moguls at London Records to make plans.
Records Nabucco
In a brilliant marketing ploy, Suliotis was signed in September
1965 to record Verdi’s Nabucco with equal billing to the
celebrated Italian baritone Tito Gobbi. Reviewing the set in
Opera the following July, Harold Rosenthal wrote: "The sensation
of the performance, however, is the young Greek soprano Elena
Suliotis. This is the most promising and exciting voice of its
type to have come our way since the young Maria Callas. It is
both easy and dangerous to make comparisons and prophecies,
but the dramatic fire and passion that she brings to the role,
the attack in the recitatives and the wonderful scales, are
more than just reminiscent of the Callas of the early 1950s.
Suliotis's top register is brilliant and the chest register
rich and vibrant but there is a lack of support in the middle
at the moment, and she has not yet succeeded in knitting the
voice together. On this recording, at least, her personality
comes right out and leaves the listener breathless with excitement."
Reports like this convinced canny Carol Fox of Lyric Opera of
Chicago that this singer belonged on her stage. "My dear,”
she wrote, “You can make your American debut in a role
that will be ideal for your voice.” Elena was invited
to make her first appearance as Helen of Troy in Boito's Méfistofélè
on October 8, 1965. Although heavyweights Ghiaurov, Kraus and
Tebaldi drew most of the plaudits, “the 22 year old Greek
soprano who lists herself, prematurely, as `dramatic' more than
held her own. If there is promise in the voice, there is pushing
behind it of a negative kind."1 Alas, already a reservation
is expressed.
Afterwards a parade of Verdi’s operas followed, mostly
in Italian cities. In Florence Un Ballo in Maschera in January
1966, ”success attended, when the indisposed Antonietta
Stella was replaced on the first and second nights by a very
young Greek soprano, Elena Suliotis, who lives in Buenos Aires
and was in Italy to sing Spontini's Olimpia at La Scala (a production
now postponed). She proved to be exceptionally gifted and entirely
captivated her audience. Her success placed Antonietta Stella
under considerable strain when she appeared to sing the third
and final performance.”2 When Olimpia went ahead later;
Elena was not in the cast.
For her fourth Verdi role, she went to Naples to appear in La
Forza Del Destino with the San Carlo Opera Company. “Leonora
was sung by the young Elena Suliotis. There was much curiosity
about this Greek soprano. Her exceptionally powerful voice,
with a very wide range, needs more control; if she goes on studying,
in a couple of years she could become a leading soprano.”3
Meanwhile her Nabucco recording was causing a great stir so
anticipation was at fever pitch in Lisbon when the exponent
herself arrived. "As Abigaille in Nabucco at the San Carlos
on March 20, Elena Suliotis seemed to have decided, rather prematurely,
to become a lung-charged exhibitionist Amazon - which may well
be to the satisfaction of the gallery, but which hurts those
who realize the great potentialities of the voice. Heights,
depths, power, runs are all there, but it is a pity she is apparently
reluctant to command subtlety or artistry."4
In Florence, the reaction was more promising: "The 29th Maggio
Musicale Fiorentino opened on May 7 1966 with a new production
of Luisa Miller, starring Helena Suliotis in the title role.
As Luisa is `a star's opera' Miss Suliotis proved exciting and
dominating in the part. She was especially thrilling in the
last act (which also contains the opera's best music.) During
the earlier part of the evening, I found the voice occasionally
edgy, but this effect may have been partially due to my seat,
near the back of the stalls. The Comunale's acoustics are notoriously
treacherous."5
She continued to excel in Verdi’s music. In Genoa for
Il Trovatore late in May, she “obviously aroused great
expectations after her success in Genoa last year in Un Ballo
in Maschera. Let me say at once, having also heard her in Florence
in Luisa Miller, that in my opinion she is not the phenomenon
that some fanatics claim, and it is even less appropriate to
compare her with Callas who she continually tries to imitate.
At the moment the 23 year-old Greek singer is basically a lyric
soprano with a voice lovely in timbre, from time to time impressive,
but unhomogeneous in color and so far from being technically
impeccable that her intonation often suffers. Yet Suliotis appears
to possess remarkable vocal resources and clearly interesting
possibilities, and it is not difficult to predict a brilliant
future for her, providing she can resist the relentless wooing
of General Administrators and Artistic Directors and curb her
ambition for glory. But the news that she is to sing Abigaille
in the opening of the next La Scala season is hardly reassuring."6
Animal Lover
Before that event could happen, she had another recording date,
this involving Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana together
with several arias and scenes. A young writer named Paolo Tosi,
an instant fan when he heard Elena sing in Mantua in 1965 as
Amelia in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, was now assigned
to write liner notes for her upcoming album. Naturally Tosi
was eager at last to meet Elena and he did so when London Records
producer Erik Smith brought them together over lunch at a Milan
restaurant. Soon they became friends. “Blonde, attractive
intelligent face, beautiful eyes, casual dress, marvelous black
mink,” he observed, “Elena Suliotis seemed the very
prototype of the ‘anti-diva.’” She was not
interested in discussing colleagues but her eyes lit up when
Tosi mentioned his dog, Rosa, a tiny black ‘griffon du
Brabante’ that was a companion in his modest flat. Right
away Elena had to see this animal, so off they went. Captivated,
Elena made Tosi promise to give her one of Rosa’s puppies.
It was revealed that Elena adored animals and at one time had
eleven cats, seven dogs, one snake (not poisonous) and one tarantula
(very poisonous)!
Reaction To Her London Album
After the release of her solo album it was reviewed. After commenting
on the Callas connection, HDR wrote, “That Miss Suliotis
possesses a most thrilling, beautiful and well schooled (!)
voice is not to be denied; she also possesses dramatic temperament
and musical intelligence; what she does not possess at the moment
- though it may well come - is the ability to colour phrases,
to maintain dramatic tension throughout a long scene, and make
one believe that they are hearing the pieces for the first time.”7
If there is an opera lover who hasn’t heard the Suliotis
voice, then this album, now available on CD, is your opportunity
to hear her early glory.
Returning to Buenos Aires in La Gioconda in June 1966, she was
a revelation, “though trained in Buenos Aires, (she) had
never sung in the Colon before. In its richness, range, and
colours, her voice has no rival among singers of the younger
generation. Besides she is a fine actress with a volcanic temperament.
If experience gives her the necessary control to get the best
from what she has, she will be altogether exceptional.”8
In September, when the Dallas Civic Opera visited Mexico City
to present Don Giovanni, Elena was Donna Elvira with Eberhard
Waechter as the Don and Montserrat Caballé as Donna Anna.
She remained to sing Aida on October 4th with Pedro Lavirgen,
Elena Cernei and Giangiacomo Gulefi.
Next, imagine a young and inexperienced singer opening a La
Scala season! This was the Nabucco on December 7, 1966 of which
Gualerzi had such qualms: "For her debut at La Scala, Elena
Suliotis tackled the part of Abigail with courage equal only
to her bravura. Her career has only just begun and she has a
lot to learn, especially in the characterization of difficult
roles, as well as in the art of knowing when to spare herself;
but there is no doubt that she possesses outstanding gifts that
should ensure her a glorious future. Suliotis's voice is a fine
one and her technique remarkable. One cannot really ask more
of an artist who only recently has begun to follow in the footsteps
of Callas and who is already regarded by some as her legitimate
successor. Still, comparison with Callas at the beginning of
her career is not to Suliotis's advantage as the latter does
not appear to show the temperament to correspond to her positive
vocal talents."9
Traveling from Vienna Christian Springer found it all most unsettling:
“I myself heard Suliotis only once in Nabucco in the Teatro
alla Scala in Milan. I remember her screaming her head off as
well as decibel duels with Guelfi and Ghiaurov. It was one of
the loudest sung performances of Nabucco I've ever heard. I
always had the impression she was trying to imitate Callas -
mostly her faults. I was very surprised when Callas declared
Suliotis her successor, but this was perhaps not for her singing
but for her being a Greek soprano."
That was the evening Rosa chose to deliver her puppies so Paolo
Tosi missed Elena’s starring effort. He immediately set
aside the prettiest pup naming him “Nabucco.” “I
went to the second, third and fourth performances of Nabucco
and my admiration for the youngest prima donna of today’s
lyric world knew no bounds. She was magnificent.” Somewhat
later they took the dogs to a park for a run, “Elena,
in black corduroy slacks, black and white short, purple velvet
blazer, played with Rosa and Nabucco and seemed to be enjoying
herself like a child. I could not help thinking once again how
different she is from the traditional idea of what a prima donna
should be like. But there is no doubt she is a real prima donna.”
In those days she yearned to take up sport again, bareback horse
riding, tennis, basketball and swimming. But alas, these sports
had to be practiced regularly and not just once every few weeks.
This was the aspect of being an opera singer that distressed
her the most. After the Nabuccos, Elena developed a severe case
of tonsillitis and withdrew from opera for a while, returning
to South America to recover in recreational pursuits.
When her recording of Cavalleria Rusticana and a few solo items
was issued, the late Alan Blyth wrote: "Suliotis models herself
more and more on Callas, and, consequently, the intensity and
bite of her singing, for me, put her more equal-voiced rivals
in the spinto field today in the shade... The solo recital is
certainly the best thing Suliotis has yet done. She impresses
by the sheer daring immediacy and grandeur of her approach as
well as the delicacy of her phrasing. I liked especially `Madre,
Madre.' Here all traces of the sliding on her previous recital
have been eliminated. The octave jump at `Invan la pace' is
perfectly judged and the phrases after it are beautifully moulded
- a lovely performance of this difficult piece. `Suicidio' is
launched with bravura attack and the chest notes at `fra le
tenebre' are the real thing. Amelia's gallows aria is a little
less individual but here too the sense of situation, of allying
words to music is a sign of a young artist who knows instinctively
what singing is all about. Listen to `Deh! mi reggi in aito,
Signor.' It is a long time since we've heard such a poised,
eloquent line, a really breath-taking side, then."10
Because if illness, Elena was unable to fill engagements in
Trieste and Lisbon but she recovered in time to visit Madrid
on June 10th to sing Leonora in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino.
Then it was on to Mexico City where she sang “the first
Norma of her career on September 14 to inaugurate the 1967 International
Opera Season in Mexico City. Genoa and Trieste were to have
had Miss Suliotis's first two Normas last spring, but laryngitis
prevented her from keeping the dates. “I had been prepared
for some exciting singing, knowing this young artist's recordings,
but I was completely caught off guard by the depth of her artistry
and her marvelous commitment to musical drama. Frankly I do
not think her recordings begin to capture the range of color
and nuance in her voice or the remarkable ease with which she
sings. Her voice is quite large (close to the size of Birgit
Nilsson in fact) yet she can scale it down to suit her needs.
I am willing to go far out on a limb and say that excepting
Callas, Suliotis's Norma has no equal known to us today.
Miss Suliotis seems to have come into the world equipped not
only with all the right instincts for the most demanding of
parts, but the ability to endure and sustain every aspect of
the lengthy role. Vocally it came off without a hitch. She produced
flawless liquid scales, exquisitely moulded embellishments and
phrases, and flashing, full-bodied top Cs. Even `Casta diva'
with which a Norma must begin the evening, was well-nigh perfect
in shape and mood. And it was gratifying to see how nicely she
could lighten her voice when it came to the cabaletta of the
aria, making it an intimate expression. But the right instincts
are there and they come to the fore to raise the hair on one's
head. The actual quality of her voice is one taut and high gilded.
It has sinew and point to it, and it can on occasion roar with
a decided edge. Yet speaking purely personally, everything I
cherish in song and singing are embodied in her voice and in
her musical instincts."11
Sings At Expo 67, BBC, Carnegie Hall
The young diva next visited Canada for Expo 67 in Montreal.
It was truly memorable for me as I was Commissioner of the Western
Canada Pavilion. Though on the small size, our popularity led
to line-ups that stretched for blocks and kept me too busy to
notice La Scala Opera was participating as well. "Nabucco proved
that Elena Suliotis is one of the few sopranos who can today
do justice to the difficult role of Abigail. From her rich lower
register to her steely top, she was fully in command and sang
the entire performance with all stops out. But one wonders just
how long she will endure in this way. There is little subtlety
and, surprisingly for one attempting to grasp the mantle of
Callas, she has little idea how as yet to act."12
With all the publicity engendered by her recordings and appearances,
the BBC in London decided to showcase her via television on
October 20, 1967. The special labeled, “Suliotis Sings”
saw her display a voice of much variety (even singing extracts
from Norma - the great Callas role) but again some detected
a reckless abandon with regard to nurturing her voice. Indeed
some of the unscripted histrionics went a touch too far. Conductor
Sir Edward Downes, a shrewd judge of a voice, commented on camera
that she ought to be careful what she sang.
For her second turn with the American Opera Society in Carnegie
Hall on November 9, 1967, she appeared as Norma, now "miscast
(or cast prematurely) in the title role; she displayed her exciting
stage presence and no understanding of
Bellinian style or bel canto. She and Nancy Tatum, the Adalgisa,
came to grief as Act 2 began, when their voices became entangled
in the complex cabaletta “Si, fin all’ore extreme.”
When she reached for a High C, she missed it, and covered her
face in shame. The audience began booing as she stormed off.
When a spotlight was shone on two earlier Normas (Maria Callas
and Zinka Milanov) and a former Pollione (Giovanni Martinelli),
this made matters worse. Callas went backstage and after forty-five
minutes of cajoling, Elena returned and with eyes flashing,
delivered a rafter-lifting finale.
Complaints Mount
In Florence she tried the role of Norma again in December still
with little success, "singing the first and third performances
(when her vocal estate was precarious) relinquishing the role
for the second and fourth to the Yugoslav artist Radmilla Bakocevic
who barely coped with the tremendous difficulties of the part."13
Then for something different she sang the title role in Catalani’s
opera Loreley when it was presented at La Scala, Milan on February
13, 1968. Unheard in this theatre for many years, a passionate
rendition by Elena, Gianfranco Cecchele and Piero Cappuccilli
did little to spur a general revival.
For her next venture, she essayed Anna Bolena on March 16th,
1968 in Naples. "The work calls for outstanding vocalism, and
Elena Suliotis made an impressive if not unqualified claim to
the title role. From a technical viewpoint, her voice is better
controlled nowadays, and she has learned to spin out finer lines,
but she remains insecure in coloratura and has not mastered
the trill. In interpretation, she has achieved interesting moments
rather than a fully drawn characterization, and regal presence
was lacking,"14
Chicago experienced her Norma on 2 October 1968 and on four
subsequent evenings but again there were problems. “Elena
Suliotis was evidently, at intervals painfully, a tyro in Druidic
Gaul of Caesar’s time. She is a lyric soprano, with a
chest register of freakish resonance carried up into the middle
voice. Her technique is imperfect: she cannot trill; she cannot
sing an even scale; swell nor diminish volume a phrase has begun;
or act; or dress suitably for the occasion. All this promises
shortly to be the ruin of a potentially viable instrument.”15
Elena gave English audiences their first taste of her unique
talent in live opera when she sang in Nabucco in London’s
Drury Lane Theatre on 3 November 1968. "She alone of the soloists,
dispensed with a score. But this concert performance, giving
little opportunity for the display of her stage personality,
exposed her vocal limitations all too clearly. Certain notes
were thrilling; among the very opening, almost baritone-sounding
low B; the notes accurately pitched and forceful (without being
forced) throughout the range; and a natural temperament lent
the proper passion to the great confrontation between Abigail
and Nabucco in Act 3. But, time after time there were jolts
between registers, poor phrasing, and a want both of beauty
and subtlety. The voice is a remarkable instrument but poorly
`finished' and poorly used."...16
Even harsher memories are held by Canadian basso Don Garrard,
the High Priest of Bel on this occasion. “I’m afraid
that it was an excruciating evening for her. Whether or not
she was having a bad period, those runs are very testing even
when one is in good form. She, alas - was not. I remember thinking
that she sort of threw her voice at the notes and missed most
of them! She had recently performed it, (I think with Gusella)
and was singing from memory, - not really a good idea in a concert
if you’re feeling rough. At one point she gestured to
Christoff that she would like to borrow his score, whereupon,
he pushed her hand away, plunked his score down and sat on it.
After the interval, he didn’t show because he had not
been paid! We continued eventually but it was an abysmal evening,
all round.”17
In Naples she repeated the pattern of her Abigaille on December
7th. "Elena Suliotis showed once more that a singer with a beautiful
and powerful voice is not necessarily a great artist; on this
occasion her performance was patchy and cool, except for some
good and impressive moments in the third act."18
Again in Naples she tackled Desdemona in Otello on February
1st, 1969. "I have always said that she really has an interesting
and beautiful voice with great possibilities. Lack of musicality
is her only deficiency - and this she could overcome by intensive
study and by avoiding the tendency to attack some notes from
above (which makes her intonation a bit uncertain.) Her resources,
however, are exceptional, and often just when you don't expect
it, she provides astonishing and superb singing. On this occasion
it came in the fourth act where she created a memorable atmosphere,
full of emotion and pathos."19
For Anna Bolena in Dallas, "Taking the title-role in her local
debut was soprano Elena Suliotis. She is a different singer
than the one I cheered in Mexico City over a year ago. Frankly,
not only has she not progressed as an artist, I find her singing
less assured, indeed quite precarious at times. She is now unquestionably,
supremely gifted but unless she comes to grips with her gifts
through hard, objective self-appraisal, I doubt seriously if
she will fulfill the destiny that seems to be within her grasp.
She is just not equipped, at present, to cope with her sensational
rise to fame. Her singing is too uneven, too unformed both vocally
and interpretively. Self-criticism is the demon behind all great
artists, the thing that keeps them from trading conscience for
complacency. Evidently, this is not the demon pursuing Miss
Suliotis at the moment."20
Despite the adverse opinions, Decca decided a recording of Norma
was feasible with a number of cuts to contain it on two LPs:
"Elena Suliotis has some very impressive moments and some less
so. The voice is an exciting one, occasionally beautiful, firm
at the top, a chest register which is reminiscent of Callas's,
and a certain monotony in her way of singing. `Casta diva' comes
off rather better than one would have expected though Miss Suliotis
does not seem to possess a trill".21
She sang Aida in Lisbon on March 9, 1969. "I noticed an overall
improvement in technique as if further study had produced beneficial
results. Yet there are still faults. Just four or five years
ago in her debut, she fluffed the close of
`Ave maria' in Otello, she did likewise this time at the end
of `O patria mia' - most disconcerting in any singer, let alone
one of today's potential stars."22
London Macbeth Proves Faulty
Her next venture was her first Lady Macbeth at Covent Garden
on June 26, 1969. "Suliotis gave a much subtler, more refined
performance than she had done with the London Opera Society
last year. The voice still sounded to be in three very separate
unwelded registers, and there were the consequent changes of
gear between each, but once within one or t'other she could
produce arresting results - menacing richness below the stave,
many nuances in the middle, especially in the Brindisi, and
fearless attack at the top.
She always attempted something unusual in the set-pieces even
when her imperfect technique hindered her good intentions. `La
luce langue' was begun musingly, in rather veiled accents, but
then the intensity evaporated because one was too conscious
of the singer's uncertainties, emphasized by her constant side-glances
at the conductor. Before that `Vieni! t'affretta' was taken
too slowly; in its cabaletta a delicately executed piece of
fioritura would be followed by a vague, clumsy phrase. In the
Sleepwalking scene her excellent enunciation and the intelligently
conceived, disembodied quality she brought to the piano phrases
were occasionally vitiated by the dangerous lack of support
in the middle of the voice.
Dramatically, less generously equipped singers have made more
of a mark but perhaps with the discipline of an Ebert or a Rennert
- if Miss Suliotis would be willing to submit to such discipline
- her performance might have made twice the effect it did achieve.
She was at her most convincing in the splendid first act duet
with Macbeth and in the asides to her husband in the Banqueting
Hall where she really personified the iron will driving on or
supporting Macbeth's weaker one."23
-------------------------------
In August and September that year, when the San Carlo Opera
visited Rio de Janeiro, Elena appeared on September 5th: "Elena
Suliotis was superb in the name part of Gioconda. Gone were
the attempts to imitate Callas, vocally or otherwise. It is
true that the voice is uneven, with a slight tendency to go
out of tune in the upper reaches. But the total dramatic and
vocal involvement in the part was really wonderful, and the
sum decidedly favorable. With a little more care and patience,
she could be one of the truly greats."24
Next in Philadelphia on November 14th she sang in Nabucco: “In
a score bursting with eruptive energy, Elena Suliotis achieved
her local debut as Abigaille. Though my ears had to become adjusted
to the vehement style and brutal chest tones of an individual
voice that can hardly be called beautiful, this soprano had
projection by the bushel as she dominated the stage. But her
gift for acting seemed as unformed as her vocalism. That Miss
Suliotis can sing when she so desires was demonstrated in the
andante of the second-act scena ‘Anch’io dischiuso
un giorno’ an oasis in a desert of hard sounds.”25
“Of course it was good to hear La Gioconda (Drury Lane
on November 30). She showed intermittent signs that she had
studied Callas in a role without having the wherewithal, stylistically
speaking, to equal her famous predecessor. However, in the last
act her interpretation not only came to life but she also gave
much vocal pleasure. Suicidio was predictably and rightly forceful
and melodramatic, the final encounter with Enzo and Barnaba
full of excitement and pathos, and the little monologue before
Barnaba arrives, ending with ‘Vergine Santa, allontana
il demonio’, as Gioconda distractedly thinks of her mother
and the dreaded spy, was truly tragic, compensating for much
that had been ugly, untidy, lazy earlier on, with the famous
baritonal chest register.”26
In view of her variable Lady Macbeth at Covent Garden in June,
it is somewhat surprising that the Metropolitan Opera signed
her to debut in this role on December 13, 1969. However, due
to a labor dispute, the season did not open so Elena did not
appear, nor did Macbeth when the season finally got underway.
Neither was the soprano invited to sing another role at the
Met.
Reports now were often ominous as critics who had enjoyed her
days of triumph watched sadly as she quickly declined. In Naples
"On January 25, 1970, Norma showed again that big names in a
cast do not guarantee a first-rate performance. Elena Suliotis,
repeating her interpretation of the title role at the Teatro
San Carlo, had more serious vocal trouble than before: both
high and low notes gave her cause for concern. Her interpretation,
however, could have been interesting: she sees Norma more as
a sad abandoned woman than as a vengeful priestess."27
That summer Elena married the Florentine pianist-conductor Marcello
Guerrini and they took up residence in a sumptuous villa in
that city. They would have one child, a daughter, Barbara. At
this juncture she decided to spell her surname in future as
Suliotis ... apparently, as some thought, to show she had soul.
"Returning to Dallas (on November 1st) as Aida a deeper, more
involved artist than the season before in Anna Bolena, her singing
again was uneven, but when it was good (as in the Nile scene)
it was very good." (John Ardoin in Opera, March 1970.) Earlier
he offered a more positive view writing "Her Aida sounded warmly
human and beautifully colored, and it had a ring of importance."28
In Genoa, another Lady Macbeth on 15 March evolved into a true
fiasco. Annoyed by the whistling and booing that had greeted
her unfortunate opening aria, Elena, according to Gualzieri,
"promptly turned her back on the audience and swept off to her
dressing room, leaving poor Mario Zanasi, who had just begun
the duettino preceding the arrival of King Duncan, alone on
the stage. After fifteen minutes conductor Patane was able to
convince her to return. The opera did in fact end but with little
satisfaction to the ear which was assailed by Suliotis's grotesque
and steamwhistle top. She was also inclined to sing flat. Apart
from the temperament and residual beauty in the middle of her
voice, Suliotis is now a mere shadow of the promising singer
of a few years ago."
Home again in Buenos Aires, she entertained locals with Anna
Bolena on June 12, 1970 before going off to Mexico City for
two operas. Denied the chance to sing Lady Macbeth at the Met,
she did so now in Mexico City in September 1970 along with La
Gioconda. “In both she exhibited her usual uneven singing
but scored points in climactic moments. Her `Suicidio' came
over particularly well because of the feeling she poured into
it; the conclusion of La Gioconda also made it clear that she
can sing lyrically if she tries."29
Then, back in Italy, she performed in Rome her signature role
of Abigaille on November 16, 1970. At least nine major cities,
including Milan and Naples in Italy, had experienced her in
this role. Now it was the Romans’ turn. “Apart from
a certain unevenness between the dead, vibrato-less low notes
and her splendidly luminous top register, Elena Suliotis gave
an exemplary interpretation of the ambiguous Abigail.”30
Following a Cavalleria Rusticana in Florence on 2 January 1971:
"This interesting singer, who began so promisingly only a few
years ago, is dismayingly uneven. In Nabucco, opening the Rome
Opera Season last November, she seemed in better form than she
has displayed for some time. This Santuzza was distressingly
unsteady; the voice was at times inaudible, at other times wobbly,
and she abused her chest notes in a throaty parlato as if to
compensate for the other defects.31
The year produced a couple of highlights. On March 10th, she
made her German debut, via television singing arias from Cavalleria
Rusticana, La Forza del Destino, La Gioconda, and Nabucco as
well as duets from Il Trovatore and Aida with Canadian baritone
Norman Mittleman. Then in September she took part when an Italian
company went to Tokyo where she sang Norma with Gianfranco Cecchle,
Fiorenza Cossotto and Ivo Vinco as Oliviero De Fabritiis conducted.
Once issued, the Macbeth recording prompted a scathing review:
"In all honesty how can one recommend a recording of Macbeth
in which the part of Lady Macbeth is so disastrously sung? The
performance of Miss Suliotis marks yet another stage in the
downward development of this initially talented artist. Her
performance is excruciatingly painful."32
Paying little heed, Elena plunged on. In Naples she sang Manon
Lescaut in May 1971, "Since her first appearance on this stage
her singing has become uneven, and indeed that seems to be its
chief characteristic. On this occasion, she had troubles of
intonation at the top of her range. However, her low, chest
notes sounded more powerful and beautiful than in the past.
Will she become a mezzo? The most convincing moments of her
Manon were during the first act (where she really was a girl
who loves life) and during the last act where her singing had
passionate and desperate accents."33
A series of Toscas in Naples in December proved interesting.
“Her voice is of first rate quality; yet the more I hear
her, the more I notice her technical deficiencies (particularly
the difficulty with intonation in the top register when singing
mezza voce). At the same time her stage magnetism cannot be
denied. At the first performance (December 18) she had such
serious trouble with intonation that the evening ended with
a failure: nobody applauded and the audience was silent and
on edge. At the third performance (December 28) things changed:
Souliotis not only sang in tune all the time, but also created
an outstanding Tosca. Her success was genuine and one again
understood what a great singer she could be.”34
She tackled another Nabucco in England, at Covent Garden on
March 23, 1972, prompting a mixed reaction: "And what of the
Abigail of Elena Suliotis? Vocally it was, as one has come to
expect of this singer, uneven; but she certainly was singing
far better than when I last heard her, and from the time she
displayed a true legato and was singing in real big Verdian
phrases. But, and it is big but, she still is inclined to exaggerate
by over-indulging her chest register, and by singing quite wildly
and off note in an undisciplined manner. I would be prepared
to accept these faults, or rather to put them in perspective,
if I could believe in her Abigail as a real character. However,
not for one moment does she convince me; she remained for me
throughout the evening, a 1972 young lady, dressed up in costume,
with a limited number of facial expressions and gestures, which
reminded me of some old films I have seen of Lilian Gish. It
just was not dramatically credible. A section of the audience
did not like Miss Suliotis, and she was booed - so was the conductor.
It was all very childish." So Suliotis had a triumph of sorts
despite the rather unconvincing production.35
The following year she returned to Covent Garden on February
23rd in Cavalleria Rusticana and showed she could still excel.
“Elena Souliotis is of course far better suited to Santuzza
than she is to either Lady Macbeth or Abigaille. Here there
was scarcely a trace of the insecurity that dogged her in these
roles. Instead she gave good, firm singing evenly placed and
an intense, intelligent dramatic interpretation. She thoroughly
deserved the warm ovation at her call, which happily effaced
those dismal memories of a year ago.”36
However she was not asked to return. Bookings in Italian opera
houses also began to dwindle. But late in 1973 on November 1st,
she sang Susanna when Mussorgsky’s Khovantchina was broadcast
from RAI studios in Rome.
1974 would prove to be her final year on the main stage. On
January 15th, in Palermo she returned to her signature role
of Abigaille in Nabucco. She sang also in two Puccini operas:
a disastrous Minnie in La Fanciulla del West in May and as Manon
in Manon Lescaut with Giorgio Casellato-Lamberti as Des Grieux.
Finally on December 23rd, she sang Lady Macbeth in San Severo
with Giuseppe Taddei as her beleaguered partner. Her top range
now in tatters and with a number of fine sopranos on the scene,
Elena decided early in 1975 to retire.
However, in New York at Carnegie Hall on Saturday evening, February
21, 1976, she made an appearance with tenor Rolf Bjoerling sharing
the event. A double recital, Elena sang after the interval accompanied
by husband Marcello Guerrini at the piano. It proved an ordeal.
“There was no announcement that either was ill, but the
tenor was coughing discreetly and the soprano not so discreetly.
She took to wiping her brow, shrugging her shoulders and letting
out little moans by the end. Miss Souliotis’s glory years
were in the mid to late 1960s. Her technique was wildly erratic,
but her intense phrasing recalled Maria Callas. Now the intensity
was largely gone and the technical problems have become even
more severe.”37
Mezzo Days And Decline
However, the call of the stage remained strong and so, re-fashioned
as a mezzo, she re-appeared in Florence on January 16, 1979
as the sorceress Fata Morgana in Prokofiev's The Love for Three
Oranges, repeating the role several times in Chicago that autumn.
"Vivid in colour and varied in texture, the settings (borrowed
from Chicago) made relatively simple drops and drapes seem endlessly
in motion, aided by all means of expression of the text's fantasy,
including wildly diversified costumes, and transparent bubbles
in which Fata Morgana and others appeared. One of these bubbles
was also guilty of causing the Fata Morgana, Souliotis, a bad
fall and serious injury to her right knee and foot; her powerful
stage presence and ever-sumptuous voice more than made up for
her stick, which, as a wand, was a perfectly valid (dare I say)
prop, in this, her return to the stage after several years."38
In 1991, when Decca decided to record Il Trittico, Elena came
back to sing Principessa in Suor Angelica and to enjoy her daughter
Barbara Guerrini as Gherardino in Gianni Schicchi. She continued
to fill mezzo support roles, such as the Grandmother in Florence
in Prokofiev's The Gambler, the Princess in Suor Angelica and
as the Countess in Tschaikovsky's The Queen of Spades. In this
role she strode the stage for a final time in Stuttgart in February
2000.
This phenomenon who had burst on the scene with such fanfare
reached the end in Florence. Elena Souliotis, at age 61 years,
died of a heart attack on December 4, 2004. Divorced, she was
survived by her former husband and their daughter.
John Standen, a regular opera attendee in London and elsewhere,
saw her in Macbeth, Nabucco, Cavalleria Rusticana and La Gioconda
and found her “flawed but exciting. I doubt if she ever
did enough study of voice production and so on. There was always
something about the vocal quality that limited one’s enthusiasm,
the exaggerated slow notes especially sticking in my mind.”
I have always wondered about the phenomenon of Elena Suliotis,
especially was there a psychological basis for her situation?
When I posed this question to Bill Russell, an opera aficionado
in Virginia, he replied, “I don’t think there was
any deep psychological reason about Suliotis. I’ve always
thought she was one of those whose dreams and ambitions (and
money offers) outweighed common sense. Another case of too big,
too much and too soon which is why a number of young singers
today don’t make it. Perhaps too, the voice didn’t
have the technique to recover once it was shot as well not having
someone close whose advice she respected.”
As a member of an affluent family, it would seem financial needs
can be ruled out as a factor but the pursuit of fame and glory
undoubtedly were influences. Did her family background ill suit
her for such a demanding career? The Callas association was
inevitable and encouraged by Elena, but was it a mistake? Most
singers seem wise enough to know when they have problems and
seek proper guidance in finding solutions. Did Elena ever attempt
any such cure? There is no evidence she did. Why? A tribute
in The Gramophone tells us not to be concerned about “the
why,” but to be glad we had her for a while. Is that enough
in our quest to understand the remarkable Elena?
Postscript
Just as the above article was being developed, a fascinating
account of the singer by James C. Whitson entitled “The
Short Happy Life of Elena Suliotis” appeared in the Metropolitan
Opera News of October 2007.
Sources
Reviews in Opera magazine and The Met Opera News,
as indicated.
Obituary notice by Alasdair Steven.
Liner notes by Paolo Tosi for Elena Suliotis’s 1967 recital
recorded by London Records.
1 Roger Dettmer, Opera, January 1966. p.53-5
2 Leonardo Pinzauti, Opera. April 1966, p. 314-6
3 Enrico Tellini, Opera, May 1966, p.343
4 Richard Crowther Opera, August 1966, p. 661
5 William Weaver, Opera Annual, 1966, p. 101
6 Giorgio Gualerzi, Opera, p.629-630
7 Harold Rosenthal, Opera August 1967, p. 666.
8 Oscar Figueroa, Opera, October 1966, p.812
9 Claudio Sartori, Opera March, 1967 p. 201-2
10 Alan Blyth, Opera December 1967, p. 994
11 John Ardoin, Opera, December 1967, p. 1006-7
12 Robert Jacobson, Opera, February 1968, p. 148-9
13 Herbert Weinstock in Opera, February 1968 p. 141
14 Enrico Tellini, Metropolitan Opera NEWS, May 18, 1968
15 Roger Dettmer in Opera December 1968 p. 966-7
16 Arthur Jacobs, Opera December 1968
17 Don Garrard writing to the author, September 11, 2007.
18 Enrico Tellini, Opera, March 1969, p. 1007
19 Enrico Tellini, Opera May 1969, p. 435
20 John Ardoin, Opera, February 1969 p. 121
21 Harold Rosenthal, Opera, July 1968, p.582
22 Richard Crowther, Opera June 1969, p.536
23 Alan Blyth, Opera, August 1969, p. 734
24 Antonio Jose Faro, Opera, November 1969, p.972
25 Max de Schauensee, Metropolitan Opera News, Dec. 27, 1969/Jan.
3, 1970, p. 40
26 Alan Blyth, Opera, January 1970 p. 82
27 Enrico Tellini, Met Opera News March 14, 1970
28 John Ardoin, Metropolitan Opera News, December 10, 1969,
p. 27
29 Leslie Frick, Met Opera News, December 5, 1970
30 Luigi Bellingardi, Opera, February 1971, p. 119
31 William Weaver, Opera May 1971, p. 439
32 Howard Rosenthal, Opera, November 1971, p.981
33 Enrico Tellini, Opera, August 1971, p. 732-3
34 Enrico Tellini, Opera, March 1972, p. 264-5
35 Harold Rosenthal, Opera, May 1972, p. 474-5
36 Rodney Milnes, Opera, April 1973, p. 370-1
37 John Rockwell in a New York newspaper.
38 Susan Gould, Opera, June 1979
