The heroic last days of an American mezzo-soprano

The heroic last days of an American mezzo-soprano

Opera

norman lebrecht

November 17, 2022

New York opera expert Paul Padillo shares memories of a great soprano who died 29 years ago, aged just 54:


One of the greatest concert performances of my life was a Giulio Cesare with Tatiana Troyanos partnered by the young June Anderson as Cleopatra. The audience response was near bedlam. If not the only singer to do so, Troyanos certainly must be one of the few who have sung both Cesare AND Cleopatra. I always felt there was nothing she could not sing: Handel, Purcell, Berlioz, Wagner, Rossini, Mozart . . . put it in front of her and she could most likely do it. And better than most.

Troyanos had a difficult childhood which appear to have plagued her with insecurities for much of her life, most of the time seeming to overcome them with something resembling superpowers. Home life was not good and very unstable in the tenements where West Side Story took place (and now Lincoln Center sits). At 7 or 8 she was placed in The Brooklyn Home for Children, which she would later describe as a “bleak but marvelous” place. It was there she began piano studies with Louis Petrini, principal bassoonist for the Met who recognized early on the girl’s gifts.

As a teenager she was moved to the Girls Service League, a home for “disturbed girls” on E. 19th Street. This whole chapter of life sounds like one of those Dickensian horror stories of misplaced children slipping through the cracks. She described her experience in her own words “[being there] I got disturbed. I felt there must be something wrong with me, too.”

Troyanos said she had always found comfort in music and here while at the Girls Service League she became obsessed with singing “I was attracted to the voice of Maria Callas and played her records all the time in my room. It was hypnotic . . . I always felt drawn, extremely drawn to music, and it has held me together. It spoke to my soul and spirit, the communication I had with it. I felt I was another person when involved with music. I didn’t know who I was . . . so I found identification in music, but there was difficulty in identification – my intensity comes from this. I figured if I worked hard and followed advice, it would work. It did, and it does.”

Her piano teacher, Petrini was eventually able to arrange for a piano scholarship to the Brooklyn Music School. Where she worked herself into a frenzy. “I put all my energies into music, which was healthy and positive. We also put on plays and I acted, danced and worked with costumes . . . took everything seriously, even ballet. I always won the prize for trying the hardest.”

Hers was a remarkable life. Even her death has something very special about it.

On the afternoon of her passing, Tatiana, in great pain, rose from her bed at Lennox Hospital, dressed, put on her make-up, and rolled – along with her I.V. pole – into the Cancer Ward’s waiting room. There, for about half an hour, sang an impromptu recital, cheering her fellow patients and their visitors with her gift and charm. One patient remarked it was the only time in three years she’d forgotten about her pain. Quietly, she returned to her room and shortly thereafter passed away.

The tale of her last day always gives me chills – and tears. What an amazing gift Tatiana Troyanos was to the world . . . right up until the very end, filling it with the joy and beauty of music.

Comments

  • Helen Kamioner says:

    Her Mahler was incomparable and so was she. Long live her memory

  • Chris Ponto says:

    One of my favorite singers; always compelling on stage, always committed and memorable on record. She is so sorely missed.

  • Philip F. Clark says:

    I will always remember her kindness on meeting her backstage at Carnegie Hall, after a concert performance of Ariodante. She was stunningly beautiful, and so kind in her welcome. I will never forget her extraordinary performances at the Met; resounding with a depth, dramatic intelligence, and her resonantly thrilling, lush voice. She remains with us in the documents of her recorded and filmed performances. Truly, a remarkable artist. Her act of giving, even on her final day, is evidence of her gift as singer and her gift in giving what she loved, to the end.

  • Greg Bottini says:

    Paul Padillo’s memoir of Tatiana Troyanos is touching.
    Thank you, Paul.
    Tatiana was truly one of the greatest musicians/singers/artists/actors of her era.
    It is a joy to listen to any of her many recordings, even so long after her passing.
    The two vids presented here are marvelous, but they just scratch the surface of her glorious but tragically short career.
    Evviva Tatiana!!!!

  • Juan Feijoo says:

    It’s painful to hear of anybody’s death—- “For whom the bells toll?
    It tolls for thee!”
    However, her lethal disease and dying eas particularly painful for me.
    She had the vocal health to go on for many, many, more years into the future. I wanted her to continue being happy and enjoy being alive!
    I first learned of her when I took out of the Miami Public Library a compleye recording of Strauss’
    Ariadne auf Naxos.
    I enjoyed it so much, and I exclaimed to my Parents: “WOW! SHE’S THE HEALTHIEST VOICE ON THE ALBUM!!!!
    Then, I heard a broadcast over South Florida’s Classical Music Radio Station WTMI a recording of The Devils of Loudon by Krzyzhtof(sic) Penderecki. Then it was a recording of Giulio Caesare by Haendel, Then it was Werther by Massenet. This was an excellent rendition of the tragic and, REALISTIC, story with GORGEOUS VOCAL LINES!
    Then, she kept “getting better and better” when I saw at Spec’s Records her new recording of CARMEN—- another WOW and astonishing DRAMATIC GIFTS!!!!

  • Lars Jönsson says:

    Thank you for this wonderful and moving article.

  • Michael Cattermole says:

    A truly remarkable lady. Amongst her many splendid achievements, Troyanos’ recording of Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle – conducted by Boulez, and also featuring the great bass-baritone Siegmund Nimsgern – provides ample evidence of Troyanos’ intense and deeply moving artistry. A very great recording of a very great opera.

  • Fred Fisher says:

    She was in a class by herself. Seeing her perform was always a great privilege.

  • Mister New York says:

    Who could ever forget Troyanos as Princess Eboli with that eyepatch and her fiercely dramatic performance.
    Still miss her after all these years.

    • DG says:

      It’s amazing, and when you watch it on YouTube, you can hear the audience go bonkers at the end! Great stuff.

    • Tiredofitall says:

      I was just about to mention her Eboli…thank you. It is still burned into my memory all these years later. “Fiercely dramatic” is spot on. Ms. Troyanos never disappointed. RIP

  • John Pickford says:

    The photo is of another ‘trouser’ that she excelled as and recorded on video, Octavian in DER ROSENKAVALIER. However the 1983 cast was in New York, the MET Spring Tour included Elisabeth Soderstrom, Kathleen Battle and in Miss Troyanos’ role, Frederica Von Stade. Not bad at all! And of course, one of Miss Troyanos’ first recordings was the original Broadway cast of THE SOUND OF MUSIC starring Mary Martin. Miss Troyanos portrayed a ‘singing’ nun.

  • Brian says:

    I was honored to see her dazzling Octavian at the Met. A voice of seamless power and beauty, linked with truly great acting. Her passing was a terrible blow to the operatic world.

  • KCB says:

    I will never forget an Eboli at The Met (I was way up in Balcony or Family Circle). Troyanos ran off stage after a volcanic, thrilling “O Don Fatale” — and the audience absolutely went mad. I had never heard such an uproar. The conductor had to stop the opera. To this day, it remains perhaps the wildest, most passionate ovation I have ever been a part of in an opera house or concert hall. … Well, indeed, there were some Rysanek evenings that might have come close …

  • Joel Kemelhor says:

    In late February 1985, to mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of Handel, there was a concert performance of GIULIO CESARE at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
    Tatiana Troyanos sang the title role, with June Anderson as Cleopatra, Maureen Forrester as Cornelia and Paul Esswood as Ptolemy. Fine singing from all, but the audience knew how remarkable Troyanos was … and we responded accordingly.

    • Tim in SF says:

      Joel, thank you for sharing your remembrance. Do you know if there is a recording of that Giulio Cesare recording at Kennedy Center in Feb ‘85? So wonderful that you were there. It had to have been an astonishing concert.

  • Frank Schneider says:

    Wonderful heroic last day to be remembered by this great woman!

  • idia legray says:

    Thank you Paul (a true influence in my life and who shares my taste for beautiful voices). THis was a touching and interesting account of a special woman.
    (Idia Legray)

  • MacroV says:

    1993-1994 saw several magnificent singers die far too soon from cancer, all around age 53 or 54 – Tatyana Troyanos, Lucia Popp, and Arlene Auger.

    The Cherubino aria is exquisite.

  • Donna E. Mobile says:

    I met her in Riverside Park, in about 1974 at 83rd Street, right after she returned from Germany. she had her dog Schatzie and I had my Daisy Belle. She told me she was making her debut at the Met the next night. Saw her in many performances. When word got out how ill she was, I prayed and prayed. One day, while walking through Central Park, there she was, standing near Strawberry Field with a companion. She looked tired but as soon as I said hello, her glorious smile erased the pain and exhaustion of a moment before. I thanked her profusely for the great gift of music she gave to me, how I always looked forward to “Tatiana nights”! She chuckled and said our farewell. Soon after I heard the news, and I thought she was the only one in that generation who understood what Callas did, and usually outsang her colleagues by her great powers of interpretation. Rest in peace, Tatiana

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