# Thoughts on Cheryl Studer?



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

The prime of soprano Cheryl Studer was before my time, but I've just started listening to her as Salome on DG's recording from 1990/1991 (it's the one with Bryn Terfel as Jochanaan). This recording and Studer's interpretation have been highly praised. Has anyone here actually heard Studer live or does anyone remember her in her prime? I ask because I've heard many negative things about her -- she declined early because she was technically insecure and was pushed by conductors like Solti; she was a "creation" of the record companies; she didn't live up to her hype, etc. Again, I don't actually remember Studer, but my impression is that she was a talented soprano who should have set her limits more firmly; it seems she sang everything from Mozart to bel canto to Wagner and Strauss and operetta! On the _Salome_ I find her timbre brightly attractive and girlish yet lacking in the lushness one might expect in Strauss, and she has the annoying (to me) habit of "straight-toning" (singing without vibrato) on her loud, sustained high notes, which also tend to sound slightly flat. Can anyone who actually remembers Studer give me some opinions on her? As a CD collector, I think it's going to be hard to avoid her as she made so many recordings!


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

I enjoy her recordings and her Four Last Songs of Strauss are worth checking out.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I think you assessment is pretty accurate. I heard her ages ago in Seattle in Faust and she was wonderful. My impression is that she didn't have a real dramatic soprano voice, but because she had a wide mask to the front of her face she was able to project the voice in the mask in such a way that it carried well. Chyrsothemes and Sieglinde were two roles I believe she excelled in. She wasn't Joan Sutherland by a long shot, but for being a larger voice she negotiated coloratura and notes above the staff better than one would have thought. My favorite bit I heard her do is of a piece the title of which escapes me but it is a modern American opera aria that they play on Sirius Met Opera Radio and everything about it is just sublimely beautiful. She was also a wonderful Elsa. Her Odabella, while not in the league of Sutherland's, was still really, really wonderful:


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

For me, Studer didn't need to try to be Sutherland. She had a rather unique approach that I appreciated.

I am a Sylvia McNair fan too btw.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

The recordings I have I like.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Beyond opera, she and Thomas Hampson did a nice collection of the complete songs of Samuel Barber.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I think you assessment is pretty accurate. I heard her ages ago in Seattle in Faust and she was wonderful. My impression is that she didn't have a real dramatic soprano voice, but because she had a wide mask to the front of her face she was able to project the voice in the mask in such a way that it carried well. Chyrsothemes and Sieglinde were two roles I believe she excelled in. She wasn't Joan Sutherland by a long shot, but for being a larger voice she negotiated coloratura and notes above the staff better than one would have thought. My favorite bit I heard her do is of a piece the title of which escapes me but it is a modern American opera aria that they play on Sirius Met Opera Radio and everything about it is just sublimely beautiful. She was also a wonderful Elsa. Her Odabella, while not in the league of Sutherland's, was still really, really wonderful:


Is _Susannah_ the American opera you're talking about?

Good insight about the wide facial "mask."

I have the CD of _Attila_ with her as Odabella, but I'm ashamed to say I haven't played it yet. I'll have to get it out now! The Sutherland "Santo di patria" I have on CD, and it's a favorite of mine; I couldn't imagine a better executed rendition.

Also, I just remembered that there's a whole chapter on Studer in a book I have called _American Opera Singers and Their Recordings_. I'll read it and tell you all what it says.


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## Yashin (Jul 22, 2011)

I quite enjoyed her Verdi roles that are on CD -Rigoletto , La Traviata and Otello.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)




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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Bellinilover said:


> Is _Susannah_ the American opera you're talking about?
> 
> Good insight about the wide facial "mask."
> YES! " The Trees on the Mountain" from Susannah. OMG, it is so beautiful and I can't imagine it done more beautifully than she does it.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Bellinilover said:
> 
> 
> > Is _Susannah_ the American opera you're talking about?
> ...


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

I did go back and read the chapter on Studer in the book I mentioned above. Basically, the author seems to think pretty highly of her while hinting that her unusually wide repertory was likely problematic for her long-term vocal health (the book was written in 2004, which I guess was the period when Studer's star was fading).


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Bellinilover said:


> Is _Susannah_ the American opera you're talking about?
> 
> Good insight about the wide facial "mask."
> 
> ...


Sorry it took me 5 years to see this, but the aria was from Susannah. What did you think of Santo di Patria? I heard it today. If one had never heard Sutherland she would have blown you away. I love love the vibrato and timbre of her voice.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

We haven't seen Bellinilover here for some time. Anyone know why?


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> We haven't seen Bellinilover here for some time. Anyone know why?


That occurred to me as well and he used to post almost as much as you do, Woodduck. I hope everything is well with him. He was a respected poster.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Studer was a very busy soprano for a while in the 80s and 90s. She has made many recordings in a wide repertoire. I love her *Semiramide* with Jennifer Larmore. While her live _Santo di Patria_ may not beat Sutherland's, I don't think Dame Joan sang in *Attila* onstage.

For some reason, she was the object of hate for some opera lovers. Here is a very versatile singer, able to sing beautifully the Contessa in *Le Nozze di Figaro* to Elsa in *Lohengrin* and Chrysothemis in *Elektra* and she gets flamed on social media.

I don't know what the gossip was about her vocal meltdown was, *but she's still singing* at near seventy (Mamma Lucia) in *Cavalleria Rusticana* in Germany. She apparently realigned her voice sometime ago, when her highest notes started to become difficult.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I'm a huge Studer fan. We all remember where we were when key tragic events happened, I will never forget the first time Studer came to my attention. It was the TV broadcast of the Met 25 years at Lincoln Center gala and she sang Gilda in act three of Rigoletto with Pavarotti and Nucci. It's a very distinctive voice and that's what first grabbed me, but she also sang with a commitment to the emotion and drama of the roles that made up her incredibly varied rep.

I started collecting her recordings from the early nineties when that Met gala was filmed and her sets were often the one I would choose over others. She always sounded superb in her recordings and she was equally astounding in both the Italian and German rep. Which other first rate Elizabeth, Elsa and Sieglinde was also a superlative Odabella, Lucia and Semiramide? (We can all imagine particular prima donnas excelling in all those roles, but Sutherland and Caballe didn't live up to expectations in German rep. Callas in her prime, would no doubt have been able to sing a lot of Studer's rep, but other than her you would have to go back to a Lilli Lehmann to find a singer who could convincingly sing Wagner and bel canto equally well.)

Studer was top of my list of sopranos I wanted to see live and I had the chance to do so in four complete operas and I saw her in two concerts. She was superb in all of them (although one of the complete roles was Adelaide in Arabella, where her voice had lost a large part of its earlier bloom). Her voice soared like few others in songs of Strauss and her Four Last Songs heard live was unforgettable. She was as accomplished a Countess in Nozze (perfect for that soaring, lyric instrument which made her very well suited for Mozart and Strauss) as she was a great Aida (not something I would have expected from her basically German lyric/spinto voice) and I saw her in both roles live. She certainly wasn't just a creation of the recording studio and I never heard a bad performance from her. She is supposed to have given a really bad Lucia and there is a recording of her in Trovatore on YouTube (whilst she was a very good Verdi singer, this role just wasn't right for her, despite her having recorded one of the arias well). The Vienna Trovatore reveals her out of sorts technically, was it a bad night? Or did she just need to take time out and rest the voice?

I saw what pretty much was her farewell recital in about 2006 where she sang much Strauss and sang it as well as she had at the La Scala recital I had seen her in almost ten years before. I don't think her voice went as such, but she did push it somewhat too far. Perhaps Trovatore would have worked in the recording studio, rather than on stage. All her recordings except two show how great an artist she was. Her complete Gilda may have been recorded too late and her coloratura in Caro nome is somewhat sloppy. The other role that didn't work was Madama Cortese in Il Viaggio a Reims where again the light coloratura is smudged.

As pointed out by MAS, she is still singing and now performs mezzo comprimario roles and I believe she lives in German and teaches singing there.

N.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

The Conte said:


> I'm a huge Studer fan. We all remember where we were when key tragic events happened, I will never forget the first time Studer came to my attention. It was the TV broadcast of the Met 25 years at Lincoln Center gala and she sang Gilda in act three of Rigoletto with Pavarotti and Nucci. It's a very distinctive voice and that's what first grabbed me, but she also sang with a commitment to the emotion and drama of the roles that made up her incredibly varied rep.
> 
> I started collecting her recordings from the early nineties when that Met gala was filmed and her sets were often the one I would choose over others. She always sounded superb in her recordings and she was equally astounding in both the Italian and German rep. Which other first rate Elizabeth, Elsa and Sieglinde was also a superlative Odabella, Lucia and Semiramide? (We can all imagine particular prima donnas excelling in all those roles, but Sutherland and Caballe didn't live up to expectations in German rep. Callas in her prime, would no doubt have been able to sing a lot of Studer's rep, but other than her you would have to go back to a Lilli Lehmann to find a singer who could convincingly sing Wagner and bel canto equally well.)
> 
> ...


 Thanks for that, Conte. My experience with Studer, besides her recordings, was a single *Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg*, an interminable opera I detest, at San Francisco Opera in the late '80s. I had to look it up, since I didn't remember it. Alas, it was her only appearance here.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

MAS said:


> Thanks for that, Conte. My experience with Studer, besides her recordings, was a single *Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg*, an interminable opera I detest, at San Francisco Opera in the late '80s. I had to look it up, since I didn't remember it. Alas, it was her only appearance here.


She's Eva on the Sawallisch _Meistersinger_ and an asset to that recording (which is one of the better _Meistersinger_s overall, with only Bernd Weikl a bit of a letdown as Sachs).


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

It is sometimes nice to bring back long dead and forgotten threads. The recollections of Mas and The Conte would get a formal bow out of me in person. I corresponded with her recently which is where I found out she was still employed as a singer in Berlin! I hadn't heard from her in years and her Susannah aria popped in my head and I put it on my list and played it in my weekly driving in the car music program for my friend Ellen yesterday. I don't know about you guys but after listening to singers for decades sometimes your perceptions change. She just blew both of us away. As in all singers I love, she sounds like no one else. She was a big deal back in the day and was interviewed a good bit. My favorite is Santo di Patria, where she is glorious. Nice to know I am not alone in my esteem of her. I loved her Coloratura album. Mas, if you hate Meistersinger and are an usher, that is one long m-----f-------- of an opera to sit through.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> Studer was a very busy soprano for a while in the 80s and 90s. She has made many recordings in a wide repertoire. I love her *Semiramide* with Jennifer Larmore. While her live _Santo di Patria_ may not beat Sutherland's, I don't think Dame Joan sang in *Attila* onstage.
> 
> For some reason, she was the object of hate for some opera lovers. Here is a very versatile singer, able to sing beautifully the Contessa in *Le Nozze di Figaro* to Elsa in *Lohengrin* and Chrysothemis in *Elektra* and she gets flamed on social media.
> 
> I don't know what the gossip was about her vocal meltdown was, *but she's still singing* at near seventy (Mamma Lucia) in *Cavalleria Rusticana* in Germany. She apparently realigned her voice sometime ago, when her highest notes started to become difficult.


I never much liked Studer, but really can't remember why. Maybe her very ubiquity put me off. But I recently listened to her Chrisothemis on the Sawallish *Elektra* and was really impressed. Reading all these posts on here has made me want to do a reassessment. I must listen to some more of her recordings.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Was she not a pretty good *Salome* as well?


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Barbebleu said:


> Was she not a pretty good *Salome* as well?


Yes, but only on disc (she never sang the role live).

N.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Message deleted (out of context without quote)


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Not true. Studer sang Salome (in concert) with Riccardo Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in February of 1997. It was broadcast over Dutch radio, too.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

ALT said:


> Not true. Studer sang Salome (in concert) with Riccardo Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in February of 1997. It was broadcast over Dutch radio, too.


I stand corrected, I had always thought it was only a studio portrayal (perhaps it was at the time it was released).

N.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

MAS said:


> *but she's still singing* at near seventy (Mamma Lucia) in *Cavalleria Rusticana* in Germany. She apparently realigned her voice sometime ago, when her highest notes started to become difficult.


In fact she is. The Cavalleria was done in Graz, Austria, not in Germany. The recording, with Studer as Mamma Lucia, was issued last year on the Oehms label.
https://www.amazon.com/Cavalleria-Rusticana-Pagliacc-Grazer-Philharmoniker/dp/B082PRBMHS


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

The Conte said:


> I stand corrected, I had always thought it was only a studio portrayal (perhaps it was at the time it was released).
> 
> N.


You are correct. At the time the Salome was recorded and released she had not sung the role live.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Albert7 said:


> I enjoy her recordings and her Four Last Songs of Strauss are worth checking out.


It is a wonderful recording indeed and very underrated. And the Wesendonck and Liebestod in it are just as wonderful. I wonder how many here know that she sang several complete Isoldes in the '00s in Germany. She also sang the Walküre Brünnhilde in concert, with Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Bellinilover said:


> I did go back and read the chapter on Studer in the book I mentioned above. Basically, the author seems to think pretty highly of her while hinting that her unusually wide repertory was likely problematic for her long-term vocal health (the book was written in 2004, which I guess was the period when Studer's star was fading).


Peter G. Davis' book was published in 1997, not in 2004. It was unbelievably irresponsible and tiny minded of him to write about her (and others) the way he did. A critic may be unhappy with certain artistic choices or about this or that but a critic with genuine class would never dismiss an entire career, now spanning close to 50 years, especially one from such out of the ordinary a singer, so cattily and so summarily. Incidentally, Mr. Davis passed away recently. We know who will be remembered.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> ..... Mas, if you hate Meistersinger and are an usher, that is one long m-----f-------- of an opera to sit through.


Depending on the assignment during an opera, we could end up standing throughout, hard on the feet, or sitting on the steps of an aisle, hard on the "seat." :lol:


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