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Title: Leonard Warren: American Baritone (Opera Biography Series, No. 13) by Mary Jane Phillips-Matz, Tony Randall ISBN: 1-57467-053-0 Publisher: Amadeus Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: disappointingly poor biography of a great singer
Comment: Leonard Warren was certainly one of America's greatest singers, ranking only after Merrill & Tibbett when it comes to baritones. In the 40 years since his death on stage at the Met during a performance of LA FORZA DEL DESTINO this is the first full-length biography devoted to him. Unfortunately, he deserves better. Much better.
After having read other books by the author, I was surprised at the ill-flowing, disjointed narrative here. She relies far too much on family recollections instead of objectivity. She repeats the story of Jan Peerce's anger at Warren's cobersion to Catholicism far too often as well as relying on Warren's sister. The recollections of fellow artists are few, of little importance, and were made mostly in conjunction with articles written decades ago. Except for some anonymous recording sessions in 1940, early in Warren's career, there is nothing about later sessions when he made his complete operas. Did he just show up, sing, and go home? Usually there are interesting stories to repeat (they could have at least borrowed Culshaw's about the GIOCONDA sessions). Likewise, there is no comment on why Warren was used only once by Toscanini. Did something happen? Were Valdengo or Merrill easier to work with than Warren? The author is silent. She also spends an inordinate amount of paper and ink huffily asking why Warren didn't progress faster to stardom at the Met - then answers he own questions by telling about other (and far more seasoned) artists like Tibbett & Bonelli, both of whom had senority over the newcomer Warren.
The index is worthless since there are no references to any of Warren's roles or even an entry for "Warren, Leonard." Are researchers expected to plow through this badly-written book for themselves?
The discography is also poorly organized and touts commercial releases plus those sponsored by the Warren Foundation, a release of VAI from the 1940 sessions and their own 2-CD set. Other issues, especially a superb 2-CD set on Romophone or a competing CD of the 1940 sessions on Minerva, are ignored or merely mentioned in passing.
By the way, anyone interested in the 2-CD Warren Foundation set might first look on their shelves. Except for 4 tracks, everything is already available elsewhere. They missed an excellent chance to use live material.
It may be a long time before we get anotehr Warren biography but this one isn't worth the time or effort.
Rating: 3
Summary: this isn't the book we expected or deserve
Comment: It seems American publishers today are reluctant to touch any opera singers aside from three aging tenors. Amadeus Press is the notable exception. Stars such as Astrid Varnay, Martha Modl, Hans Hotter, and James King have had to turn to German publishers. In that atmosphere we opera fans should be happy to get ANY biographies of great singers. And, regrettably, this is probably the only biography of Leonard Warren we are likely to get for some time.
I use the term "regret" because Warren deserves a biography worthy of his stature as one of the finest singers America has produced. This isn't it. The writing style is more appropriate to a series of magazine articles than a smooth-flowing narrative. The content smacks more of a fan than an objective author. Too often we are bombarded by phrases from reviews and family memoirs. Why quote a family "review" of a Met performance that had Met manager Edward Johnson "almost falling out of his box" and a "five-minute ovation" when the newspapers presented a more restrained demonstration? The author also takes many pains to ask why Warren wasn't given starring roles earlier in his career when a more objective author would have been aware of the serious competition at the Met with Tibbett having considerable seniority as well as popularity. There are many aspects of Warren's career that the auhtor ignores (presumably because there was no family member present) such as the one concert with Toscanini and why Warren was never used again by Toscanini. Was Warren's arrogance at fault there as well? Recording sessions are ignored except for the first anonymous 1940 sessions. The index is terrible and almost useless. Entries are confined to names only, no works - and there is no entry for "Warren, Leonard" which limits this book as a reference. How are researchers to look up specifics about his life or career? They can't. Very lazy! The discography is equally difficult with such tables as combinations of studio plus "selected" live performances and studio sessions that include not only the complete operas but every time these were used in excerpts. The discography also fails to include several CDs of Warren's material (such as Minerva and Romophone that apparently compete with the 2-CD set from the Leonard Warren Foundation).
For most fans, this disappointing book will be self-recommending simply because there are no other Warren bios and none on the horizon. I'd put this on a par with the superficial Emmons treatment of Lauritz Melchior.
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Title: Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward ISBN: 074325547X Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 19 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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