A Prima Donna's Progress: The Autobiography of Joan Sutherland

Rating:
Summary: The Voice of the Century authors a less than Stupenda book
Review: "A Prima Donna's Progress: The Autobiography of Joan Sutherland" is an interesting combination of scrapbook clippings and travel itinerary. Dame Joan waited until she had retired to write about her extraordinary career as the "Voice of the Century" and her fans have to wish she had not waited this long, because certainly they would be happier if the great soprano covered less in more detail. This autobiography does have the virtue of having actually been written by the subject, but it is rather devoid of the passion and artistry that defined her opera singing. For example, she mentions: "I paid a short visit to Noel Coward to check the Chalet Monet and met Charlie Chaplin and his wife Oona," and leaves it at that. Of course, readers are left to wonder about the meeting between the woman known around the world for her phenomenal singing voice and the world's greatest silent comedian. Time and time again she glosses over the sort of intimate details that one longs for when reading such a book. When Sutherland goes into her response to the famous reception she received during her debut performance of "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Metropolitan Opera, that is the exception rather than the rule. I have to think that Sutherland would have benefited from either a ghostwriter or an editor who would have shaken her reliance on displaying an encyclopedic knowledge of which hotels she stayed in and where parties were after performances. But Sutherland clearly leaves it to her press clippings, her impressive list of recordings and our still vivid memories to recall the fire of her tremendous career. Still, this is the diva recalling her life in her own words and therefore a required read for her legion of fans.

Rating:
Summary: The Voice of the Century authors a less than Stupenda book
Review: "A Prima Donna's Progress: The Autobiography of Joan Sutherland" is an interesting combination of scrapbook clippings and travel itinerary. Dame Joan waited until she had retired to write about her extraordinary career as the "Voice of the Century" and her fans have to wish she had not waited this long, because certainly they would be happier if the great soprano covered less in more detail. This autobiography does have the virtue of having actually been written by the subject, but it is rather devoid of the passion and artistry that defined her opera singing. For example, she mentions: "I paid a short visit to Noel Coward to check the Chalet Monet and met Charlie Chaplin and his wife Oona," and leaves it at that. Of course, readers are left to wonder about the meeting between the woman known around the world for her phenomenal singing voice and the world's greatest silent comedian. Time and time again she glosses over the sort of intimate details that one longs for when reading such a book. When Sutherland goes into her response to the famous reception she received during her debut performance of "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Metropolitan Opera, that is the exception rather than the rule. I have to think that Sutherland would have benefited from either a ghostwriter or an editor who would have shaken her reliance on displaying an encyclopedic knowledge of which hotels she stayed in and where parties were after performances. But Sutherland clearly leaves it to her press clippings, her impressive list of recordings and our still vivid memories to recall the fire of her tremendous career. Still, this is the diva recalling her life in her own words and therefore a required read for her legion of fans.