The late opera singer lifted the news show up to a sublime level, says Simon Courtauld
With interruptions by interviewers and sometimes transparent bias, Radio 4’s Today programme can be very annoying. But much was redeemed this morning, just before 9 o’clock, when we heard an excerpt from the aria ‘O Don Fatale’, from Verdi’s Don Carlos, in a tribute to the magnificent mezzo-soprano, Grace Bumbry, who has died.
The first black singer to perform at Bayreuth, she came to Covent Garden 60 years ago to sing the role of Princess Eboli in Visconti’s production of Don Carlos, with Boris Christoff and Tito Gobbi. I had forgotten that I first heard what became my favourite opera as long ago as 1963. Grace Bumbry played a large part in making the evening unforgettable for me, and no one has sung that famous aria better than she did.
The climax of ‘O Don Fatale’ can and should be a show-stopper. The opera critic Rodney Milnes used to say that it should not just be sung but ‘belted’ out. Grace Bumbry reminded us this morning that she could be the supreme ‘belter’; it is very rare for the spine to tingle and to be so moved listening to Radio 4 at breakfast.
