Morag Beaton (2 July 19261 April 2010) was a Scottish-Australian
dramatic soprano
A dramatic soprano is a type of operatic soprano with a powerful, rich, emotive voice that can sing over, or cut through, a full orchestra. Thicker vocal folds in dramatic voices usually (but not always) mean less agility than lighter voices but a ...
who established her reputation as
Turandot
''Turandot'' (; see below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. ''Turandot'' best-known aria is "Nessun dorma", whi ...
, a role she sang in Australia more than any other soprano to date. She also sang Tatiana (''
Eugene Onegin
''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is a novel in verse written by Ale ...
''), Venus (''
Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (; gmh, Tanhûser), often stylized, "The Tannhäuser," was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and 1 ...
''), Abigaille (''
Nabucco
''Nabucco'' (, short for Nabucodonosor ; en, " Nebuchadnezzar") is an Italian-language opera in four acts composed in 1841 by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera. The libretto is based on the biblical books of 2 Kings, ...
''), Eboli (''
Don Carlos
''Don Carlos'' is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play '' Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Friedri ...
'') Santuzza (''
Cavalleria rusticana
''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; Italian for "rustic chivalry") is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 short story of the same name and subsequent play b ...
'') and many other roles. Her operatic career in Australia was relatively brief, lasting only from 1965 until 1983, with a final recital at the
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
in 1983.
Background
Today, Beaton's reputation rests largely on her appearances as
Turandot
''Turandot'' (; see below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. ''Turandot'' best-known aria is "Nessun dorma", whi ...
(recorded in live performance and now on compact disc), and her performance as Cathy on the complete recording of
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...
's only full-length opera ''
Wuthering Heights
''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moorland, moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their tur ...
''.
["Morag Beaton: operatic soprano"]
obituary in ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' Beaton's operatic career is also notable because she is the only singer in history successfully to have alternated the exacting soprano role of Turandot with the contralto role of Maddalena (''
Rigoletto
''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play ''Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had cont ...
'') in one season, and, in later seasons, sung the contralto role of Ulrica (''
A Masked Ball
''Un ballo in maschera'' ''(A Masked Ball)'' is an 1859 opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The text, by Antonio Somma, was based on Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's 1833 five act opera, '' Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué''.
The p ...
'') followed by more Turandots and another difficult soprano role – Abigaille in ''
Nabucco
''Nabucco'' (, short for Nabucodonosor ; en, " Nebuchadnezzar") is an Italian-language opera in four acts composed in 1841 by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera. The libretto is based on the biblical books of 2 Kings, ...
''.
After Beaton's final recital at the
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
in 1983, she occasionally sang for special events such as the 80th birthday gala for
Sylvia Fisher, and mentored many aspiring singers. The warm reception for Beaton at the Sydney Opera House in 1996, when she attended the gala to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the
Australian Opera Company
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of i ...
, was as much an acknowledgement of her past performances as it was a reminder of how much audiences had missed her on stage in the intervening years. In 2006, at a gala for one hundred guests in honour of Beaton's own 80th birthday, she sang two Scottish songs, accompanied by
Geoffrey Tozer
Geoffrey Peter Bede Hawkshaw Tozer (5 November 195421 August 2009) was an Australian classical pianist and composer. A child prodigy, he composed an opera at the age of eight and became the youngest recipient of a Churchill Fellowship award at 13 ...
. "Still rich and glorious" declared the guest of honour, the renowned Australian opera star
Lauris Elms
Lauris Margaret Elms (born 20 October 1931) is an Australian retired contralto, renowned for her roles in opera and lieder and as a recording artist.
Biography
She was born in Springvale, Victoria, the elder daughter of Harry Britton Elms and ...
, when she heard Beaton's singing on that occasion.
Early life
Beaton was born in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, Scotland, on 2 July 1926. As a girl, Beaton studied music with her mother, Margaret. Feeling the need to contribute to the war effort, Beaton enlisted in the army in 1945 and devoted the next three years of her life to military service, singing as much as she could. Whenever the opportunity arose, Beaton would sing for the troops while fulfilling a variety of duties on different postings.
["Interview with Morag Beaton", 5 January 2007, ''PWJ Archive'']["Morag Beaton" in ''From the Melburnian'', Ellikon Publishing, 2010]
Training
In Edinburgh after World War II, Beaton studied singing initially with a renowned teacher, Joyce Fleming. At Fleming's suggestion, Beaton also began to attend the
Collegium Musicum
The Collegium Musicum was one of several types of musical societies that arose in German and German-Swiss cities and towns during the Reformation and thrived into the mid-18th century.
Generally, while societies such as the (chorale) cultivated ...
sessions of Dr
Hans Gál
Hans Gál OBE (5 August 1890 – 3 October 1987) was an Austrian composer, pedagogue, musicologist, and author, who emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1938.
Life
Gál was born to a Jewish family in the small village of Brunn am Gebirge, Lowe ...
which were a "unique feature of Edinburgh's musical life". Gál became an important influence in Beaton's development. He was a brilliant musician, a composer, pianist and scholar of great distinction. In March 1938, like other Jewish refugee families anxious to escape Hitler and the Nazis, Gál fled to England with his wife Hanna and their two sons. Later Gál was offered a position as lecturer in Music at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
.
In 1948, just as Beaton's prospects were moving in a positive direction, her life changed. Quite suddenly, in April, her mother died at the age of fifty. From then, until 1962, with the help of her aunt Barbara McGillivray, Beaton served a very long apprenticeship in singing in London. During the late 1950s she won a series of scholarships and prizes that enabled her, at last, to study singing full-time.
Career
In 1962, she made her debut in Berlin singing in
Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first hal ...
's ''Atlantida''. After singing in Germany and England, having been invited by
Richard Bonynge
Richard Alan Bonynge ( ) (born 29 September 1930) is an Australian conductor and pianist. He is the widower of Australian dramatic coloratura soprano Dame Joan Sutherland. Bonynge conducted virtually all of Sutherland's operatic performances ...
, she toured Australia with the Sutherland-Williamson International Grand Opera Company in 1965. In 1966, she recorded the role of Cathy in the complete recording of
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...
's ''
Wuthering Heights
''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moorland, moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their tur ...
'', under the composer's direction. The same year, she made another recording, this time for
Decca Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label
* Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...
, with
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, (7 November 1926 – 10 October 2010) was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano known for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s.
She possessed ...
and another singer she also admired, the mezzo-soprano
Margreta Elkins
Margreta Elkins (born Margaret Ann Enid Geater; 16 October 19301 April 2009) was an Australian mezzo-soprano. She sang at The Royal Opera and with Opera Australia and other companies, but turned down offers to sing at the Metropolitan Opera, B ...
. Beaton sang with the Australian Opera from 1967 until early 1973, when she resigned and returned to London where she underwent surgery for a medical condition that had been troubling her for some time. She returned to Australia in 1976.
On 16 January 1983, at the Sydney Opera House, Beaton returned to public performance with a recital of operatic arias including "Voi lo sapete" (''
Cavalleria rusticana
''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; Italian for "rustic chivalry") is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 short story of the same name and subsequent play b ...
'') "Son pochi fiori" (''
L'amico Fritz
''L'amico Fritz'' () is an opera in three acts by Pietro Mascagni, premiered in 1891 from a libretto by P. Suardon ( Nicola Daspuro) (with additions by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti), based on the French novel ''L'ami Fritz'' by Émile Erckmann and ...
''), "
O mio babbino caro
"" ("Oh my dear Papa”) is a soprano aria from the opera ''Gianni Schicchi'' (1918) by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is sung by Lauretta after tensions between her father Schicchi and the family of Rinuccio, the boy she ...
" (''
Gianni Schicchi
() is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''. The work is the third and final part of Puccin ...
''), "Io son l'umile" (''
Adriana Lecouvreur
''Adriana Lecouvreur'' () is an opera in four acts by Francesco Cilea to an Italian libretto by Arturo Colautti, based on the 1849 play ''Adrienne Lecouvreur'' by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé. It was first performed on 6 November 1902 at t ...
''), "L'altre notte" (''
Mefistofele
''Mefistofele'' () is an opera in a prologue and five acts, later reduced to four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera with music by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito (there are several completed operas for which he was libret ...
'') and "Suicidio" (''
La Gioconda''). With Elizabeth Allen she sang the duets "
Songs My Mother Taught Me Songs My Mother Taught Me may refer to:
Books
* ''Songs My Mother Taught Me'', Audrey Thomas 1973
* ''Songs My Mother Taught Me'' (Marlon Brando book), an autobiography by Marlon Brando
* ''Songs My Mother Taught Me'', a collection of stories and ...
" (
Dvořák) and the "Barcarolle" from
Offenbach's ''
The Tales of Hoffmann
''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died ...
''. In three beautiful unaccompanied Hebridean songs with which she closed the recital, Beaton sang a homage to her late Aunt Barbara and in remembrance of her mother, Margaret.
Dr Peter Wyllie Johnston, the Australian writer and composer, said that although Beaton lacked the support systems that are typically required for an operatic soprano, she made up for this by her strong character and resilience, and the focus of opera as her whole life.
Turandot
On 22 July 1967 Beaton sang her first
Turandot
''Turandot'' (; see below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. ''Turandot'' best-known aria is "Nessun dorma", whi ...
to open the season at
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, ...
in Melbourne. For five years between 1967 and 1971 Beaton sang Turandot many times in the Australian Opera's production, in most capital cities around the country. Listening to the live recording of one of those performances from Sydney, it is easy to understand why critics such as
Felix Werder
Felix Werder AM (24 February 19223 May 2012) was a German-born Australian composer of classical and electronic music, and also a noted critic and educator. The son of a distinguished liturgical composer, he composed all his life. His published ...
, James Glennon,
Val Vallis,
John Cargher
Pinchas Cargher AM, known professionally as John Cargher (24 January 191930 April 2008), was a British-born Australian music and ballet journalist and radio broadcaster.
He was born in the Cockney area of London to a Jewish rabbinical family, bu ...
and Kenneth Hince among many others were enormously impressed as Beaton's big, dramatic voice created vocal fireworks for the audience. She was vocally spectacular and visually resplendent in the heavily jewelled, padded costume and headdress designed for the production, with the enormous peacock train which was twenty-eight feet in length.
Retirement
In retirement in Sydney, Beaton was for many years a frequent guest of Opera Australia for performances at the Sydney Opera House. She died in Sydney on 1 April 2010, aged 83.
"Dream role launched diva Morag Beaton on world stage"
by Peter Wyllie Joghnston, ''The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' (9 April 2010)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beaton, Morag
1926 births
2010 deaths
Musicians from Edinburgh
Scottish operatic sopranos
Scottish emigrants to Australia
20th-century Scottish women opera singers
20th-century Australian women opera singers