G E N C E R & C R I T I C S
- When you
sing, you have to feel what you are saying.... I actually cried on stage. Once
in a while a note would issue forth that was not orthodox. That’s why the
American critics don’t like me. But I don’t care. They want a music with water
and soap. (Leyla Gencer)
- I gave more
bad performances than good ones. (Leyla Gencer)
Along with reviews such as “brilliant, perfect, extraordinary” Gencer
also received negative reviews such as “a complete disaster, wrong casting, not
her role” regarding her interpretations. Yet she didn’t
take them seriously.
QUOTATIONS
© Translation:
Ayşen Zülfikar
In the “Gencer and Critics” section; you can find the English
translations of some reviews gathered both from Turkish and foreign press. You
can also find the same articles in the opera performance section.
I’ve paid special attention to put each review below the related topic.
For example, if a review is about an Aida performance that took place at La
Scala Theater in 1966, the related articles shall be found right below the page
dedicated to that production.
Meanwhile, the articles that are not about Gencer’s performances, but
contain general information on her life can be found in the “Press Clippings”
Section.
Here are some of the reviews and anecdotes that I’ve gathered from press:
IL MATTINO
(05.1954)
Madam Butterfly (Naples / Rapola)
San Carlo management
made a right choice of inviting Leyla Gencer- who was the revelation of the
previous season’s “Cavalleria Rusticana”, to sing the role of Cio-Cio-San.
Thanks to her artistic sensibility and her noble interpretation, Gencer has
been a remarkable Butterfly. With her unique style, the young yet famous
soprano conquered the audience. After a big round of applause, Leyla Gencer
sang once again the famous aria.
IL PICCOLO (13.07.1955)
G. Del Basso
La Traviata (Palermo / Serafin)
Leyla Gencer often
excels herself and her voice comes to a level which many “singing artists”
can’t reach. With the deep, shadowy and soft frequencies of her voice, she
definitely “sings”. Her inexplicable and indescribable ascents and descents of
the voice excite the public immensely. Leyla Gencer’s voice and personality
reach the public within deep emotionality and yet she never sounds artificial.
The sympathy that she receives from the public is undeniable. Leyla Gencer is a
unique, extraordinary personality of the opera world.
OPERA Magazine
(09.1955) Libera Danielis
La Traviata (Palermo / Serafin)
It’s been a long
time since I saw a La Traviata of this high quality. And that also includes the
performance of Maria Callas at Arena di Verona that I saw three years ago.
HAKİMİYET Newspaper (04.11.1955)
Sadi Gürel
Un ballo in maschera (Ankara / Alnar)
It’s become a
national right to boast about Leyla Gencer who performs enthusiastically even
in her smallest concert. The praise and
the fame that she has deservedly obtained abroad in the artistic countries is rather
immense.
IL GIORNALE (13.07.1955)
La Traviata (Palermo / Serafin)
The young Turkish
soprano Leyla Gencer has an outstanding voice and a very powerful breathing
technique. She interpreted La Traviata perfectly in accordance with
Italian tradition.
SICILIA DEL POPOLO
(13.07.1955)
La Traviata (Palermo / Serafin)
Leyla Gencer is
not only Turkey’s but also the Europe’s best soprano.
TIME Magazine (10.1956)
Francesca da Rimini (San Francisco / de Fabritiis)
Leyla Gencer who
is a 29-year-old graceful lady, took the rehearsal stage after the Italian
artists who have charming smiles and inviting glances. She was engaged in this production
of “Francesca” by Adler, when Tebaldi was no-show. San Francisco audience found
this opera rather boring and stagnant, despite its abundant arias. But they considered
Gencer as an artist worthy of listening. The voice of Gencer is strong, sweet,
beautiful and capable of arousing emotions. America will definitely be hearing
her voice more in the future.
SES Magazine (05.03.1956)
Sadi Gürel
La Traviata (Ankara / Alnar)
“Spectacular
Traviata”
YARIN PAZAR Magazine
(10.03.1956) Müjgan Kutucular
La Traviata (Ankara / Alnar)
Thanks to her
voice and technique, Leyla Gencer’s operatic talent is approved even by the
most picky music enthusiasts.
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICILE
(1957) Alfred Frankenstein
Lucia di Lammermoor (San Francisco /
Molinari-Pradelli)
If Leyla Gencer
continues to be as successful as she was in Lucia, then she clearly will earn
the right to be extremely proud as the famous primadonnas of whose names will not
mentioned in these columns for the first time. Her vocal artistry, which
possesses a robust and smooth tone quality of a lyric soprano and the
lightness, agile qualities of a coloratura soprano must be appreciated and taken
into serious consideration. She sang the bright lacy music warmly with
considerable ease and control. In addition
to her extremely potent vocal mastery, her acting skills made the performance
even more appealing. To sum up, Leyla Gencer absolutely won her case.
OAKLAND TRIBUNE (1957) Cifford Gessler
La Traviata (San Francisco / Curiel)
Gencer found
herself in an extremely difficult situation as she had to substitute the
legendary and highly beloved singer Maria Callas. But she was so successful
that she nearly made the audience forget about the presence of the great artist
Umberto Berghi- a baritone with a rich timbre and personality who also made his
debut before San Francisco audience. Gencer who had attained almost the same
level of success singing La Traviata a week before, might as well be described
as “one of the most credible and most suitable Violettas”. La Traviata is
Gencer’s opera from the beginning until the end.
SAN FRANCISCO NEWS
(1958)
Don Carlos (San Francisco / Sebastian)
She represented
Queen Elizabeth in all her splendour.
SAN FRANCOSCO CALL-BULLETIN
(1958)
Don Carlos (San Francisco / Sebastian)
A rare beauty on
the stage, a rich voice and perfect pianissimos.
SAN FRANCISCO
CHRONICLE (1958)
Don Carlos (San Francisco / Sebastian)
She interpreted
the Spanish queen perfectly thanks to her perfect vocal technique and great
musical approach.
Concert (Ankara / Camozzo)
During an interview in USA with a famous critic she had following dialogue:
“You are Italian, right?”
“No, I’m Turkish.”
“What? Turkish? You must be a Christian Turk I
suppose.”
“No, I’m a Muslim Turk.”
“I wish you had told me this before I wrote about you.
I used to have sympathetic feelings and admiration for you. Now, not any more.”
And Gencer
answered like this:
“I don’t need the sympathy of such a narrow-minded
person.”
Un ballo in maschera (Verona / Gavazzeni)
Gencer’s interpretation of Amelia's role was
first-class.
Gerusalemme (Venezia / Gavazzeni)
It seems to me that Leyla Gencer has now reached to a
very high level of technical knowledge, confidence, dramatic capacity and
competency. She can use her voice with an elegant and brilliant clarity. She can
accentuate nuances between dark and light tones and has an agile, clear way of transitioning
between passages. She renders her roles lively and passionate through her
interpretation. In addition to her
aestethic and noble gestures, she renders a monumental appearance to the
protagonist especially in the white costume that she wears in the last
act.
Roberto Devereux (Napoli / Rossi)
Gencer interprets the personality of Elizabeth with
full mastery by expressing the queen’s sharp edges as well as the delicate
conjunctions of lightness and darkness in her character.
Anna Bolena (Glyndebourne / Gavazzeni)
Glyndebourne has succeeded in reviving this opera and
undoubtedly Leyla Gencer deserves the most credit among all the artists.
Anna Bolena (Glyndebourne / Gianandrea Gavazzeni)
After a rather shy entrance, Leyla Gencer interpreted
a long memorable character with her mastery in her voice and acting skills.
Macbeth (Venice / Gavazzeni)
Leyla Gencer who sang Lady Macbeth, is the best Lady
Macbeth that Verdi could have wished for.
Macbeth (Venice / Gavazzeni)
It’s the first time that the world sees a such a
magnificent Lady Macbeth after Maria Callas. Gencer’s interpretation exceeds Birgit
Nilsson, Leonie Rysanek and Inge Borgh’s performances.
Alceste (Torino / Capuana)
Anyone who wonders why this Turkish lady whose voice
isn’t even beautiful, has become indispensable for the Italian opera in only ten
years, whose name is found on the opera posters that vary from Cherubini to
Donizetti and Verdi operas and without whom it seems like all will collapse; should
come here and listen to her. In the dramatic high notes, her voice vibrates
like an over revving engine and gives us the feeling that it’s likely to burst
but however, her low tones are extremely beautiful, warm, thrilling, sweet and
soft. Yet she sings passionately as if she possesses a beautiful voice, she
pushes the boundaries and since she has all the rest such as musical and
dramatic intelligence; she succeeds…Gencer touches the audience deeply: she
presents Gluck’s classical image in such a natural and up-to-date way, far from
the intimidating cultural manipulation. She presents it as if it comes from an antic
or mythological memory of common knowledge.
Elisabetta, Regina d’Inghilterra (Palermo / Sanzogno)
A few days after his article was published in Le
Combat, Eric Dechamps wrote another article for Le Monde where he stated
similar comments and gave the title of “Is the Massimo Theater of Palermo a
rival to La Scala Milano?”. And at the end of the article he advised the opera
enthusiasts to go visit Sicily to witness “The Miracle of Palermo”.
Alceste (Milano / Gavazzeni)
“The Voice that makes the choir cry”
Recital / Scalera (Athenée Theatre / Paris)
Her interpretation is proper: The perfection of the
phrases, the right usage of the voice colours and nuances, intelligence of the
singing. Gencer knows how to emphasize the perfecty dramatic effects of the Bel
Canto, to interpret melodic phrases sensitively like noone else.
An anecdote from New York Times
If a music critic’s passions run high, the passions of
his readers can run higher still, as Mr. Porter learned — vicariously — after
an incident in Milan. The scene was La Scala, and the time was not long after
he had written a review criticizing the Turkish soprano Leyla Gencer, whom
opera fans around the world revered with a proprietary zeal.
In La Scala’s lobby that night was a man who had the
spectacular misfortune to resemble Mr. Porter. As the real Mr. Porter recounted
in the Opera News interview, a crowd of operagoers seized the man, threw him to
the floor and, shouting, “How could you say what you said about our Leyla
Gencer!” commenced kicking him.
“I’m not Andrew Porter!” the man cried in self-defence.
“I’m not Andrew Porter!”