<<  -- 5 --  Jennifer I Paull    CATHY BERBERIAN - NEVER KNOWINGLY MISUNDERSTOOD

There is more than a little mockery, lack of respect and indeed, facile sensationalism as though she were a 'circus freak' attracting the dregs of otherwise rejected compositions. To paraphrase Dorothy Parker, this potted biography covers Cathy from A to B and badly.

Yehudi Menuhin in the TV Documentary series on the history of music, illustrated Monteverdi opera by film of Cathy Berberian with Paul Esswood, accompanied by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. 'She could also intone classical music, and made a favourable impression ...' The condescending tones of the encyclopaedia touch upon two of her many, brilliant facets with barely hidden sarcasm, omitting any sincere praise and showing obvious unawareness of her true greatness. Cathy's masterclasses were given in many prestigious settings and institutions such as the Conservatoire national supérieur de Paris. They included (amongst so many others) Bizet, Massenet, Rossini and Verdi: the operatic roles of whom she had known by heart loved and sung, her entire life.

Berio's entry in the same book (page 87) includes mention of Cathy.

'In America he married an extraordinary singer named Cathy Berberian ... they were divorced in 1968 but magnanimously she continued to sing his music after their separation. Back in Italy, he joined the staff of the Italian Radio; founded the Studio di Fonologia musicale ...

... he permits himself to use the widest range of resources, from Croatian folk songs to objets trouvés. Berio uses in his work all the artefacts and artifices of popular pageants, including mimodrama, choreodrama, concrete noises (this surely means musique concrète!), acrobats, clowns, jugglers and organ grinders.'

The faults in the whole entry are too numerous to correct, but the most blatant here is the implication that he left his American wife in America. Berio married Cathy in Italy and she worked tirelessly (there), giving of her voice and capacities in the Studio di Fonologia musicale (not to mention his first born, Cristina).

Looking at the cited list of her studies and interests and the inspiration they obviously gave Berio (who studied law temporarily and then composition), one must sadly be aware of two facts: the ridicule that is poured upon the giver (Cathy) and the one-sided inaccuracy of much documented material. She it was who studied mime and dance and was most familiar with this listed menu. Berio did not pull his knowledge of mimodrama, choreodrama etc out of thin air. Such creations were hardly a part of the habitual curriculum at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi di Milano, at that time! They were part of Cathy Berberian.

Continue >>