The Autobiography of Joan Sutherland: A Prima Donna's Progress [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Don't look to this book--a genuine autobiography, with no taint of the ghostwriter's art--for dirt and gossip, for hints on how best to interpret such bel canto roles as the heroine of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, or for help with developing a bel canto technique of one's own. The Autobiography of Joan Sutherland is a book for the true fans of the great Australian prima donna, one of the finest sopranos of all time, and one of the most hard-working and professional singers to appear in recent decades. Sutherland primarily chronicles her life as an operatic diva; she skips rather quickly through her childhood, even dealing with the trauma of her father's death on her 6th birthday in a single tight-lipped paragraph. You may find many more details than you need on her travels and performances, but what shines through is the portrait of a dedicated artist who readily acknowledges what she owes to her colleagues, and most particularly to her husband/coach/conductor, Richard Bonynge. Sutherland recreates a now-legendary time in the history of opera, and she does it with humor and a refreshing lack of pretension.

From Library Journal

Opera superstar Dame Joan Sutherland gives an exhaustive account of her performing and recording career over four decades. From her early years in Australia and with the Covent Garden company in London, to her daunting schedule at most of the major opera houses of the world, we read endlessly of where, when, and with whom she sang which roles. We're shown a sensible woman and a hard-working artist, with a healthy ego tempered by a sense of humor that is often self-deprecating. She quotes extensively from positive reviews of her performances, but she is frustratingly vague about her training and vocal technique. There are few backstage stories about the many famous singers, directors, and conductors with whom she worked and little insight into her professional or personal relationship with husband Richard Bonynge. There is remarkably little controversy of any type, and she fails to answer any of the critics who have faulted her diction and her acting over the years. Her many fans will welcome this book, but for a more revealing look, try Quaintance Eaton's Sutherland and Bonynge: An Intimate Biography (Dodd, 1987. o.p.).?Kate McCaffrey, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, N.Y.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing, Inc.; illustrated edition edition (November 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895263742
• ISBN-13: 978-0895263742
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #660,288 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive chronicle of an historic career., August 27, 1998

By A Customer

Fans of Joan Sutherland will welcome this book. The Australian soprano was, of course, one of the great singers of this century. Her career was a long and honorable one, throughout which she and her husband/colleague, Richard Bonynge, always strove to maintain the highest of vocal and musical standards. This book, her long- awaited autobiography, is subtitled, "A Prima Donna's Progress," and that is exactly what Sutherland gives us. Indeed, I cannot recall another singer's biography that gives so detailed an account of a career. Sutherland provides virtually a day-by-day record of what she sang, when, where and with whom, with occasional other incidents thrown in. One suspects that not a single operatic performance, recital, recording or television appearance has gone unmentioned. This is both the book's strength and its weakness. Often this autobiography reads as if Sutherland had simply opened up her old engagement calendars and scrap books and added some connecting prose. What we do not get is any real insight into what Joan Sutherland thought about any of this, nor do we get as much as we might like of personal anecdotes to flesh out the bare-bones facts. For example, other Sutherland biographies have given thorough accounts of that legendary first Lucia at Covent Garden in 1959. Here, we just get more of the same. One hoped for more from Sutherland herself. What was it like to work with Serafin? what did she learn from him? how did he rehearse and coach? Possibly, Sutherland's (by her own admission) notoriously bad memory prevented the inclusion of much information beyond what is in her own files and diaries. All the same, at times one feels exhausted and somewhat overwhelmed by the seemingly endless recitation of performances, recitals and recordings. In spite of the surfeit of factual information, one hungers for more personal insights into Sutherland's life. Surely, she was more than the sum total of her many engagements. But then, Sutherland has always been a very private person and, perhaps understandably, this book reflects that. Its tone is casual and breezy, leavened with flashes of humor, totally lacking in cattiness, and generous in praise of colleagues. In these respects, the book is a true reflection of the personality and character of its author. And perhaps the aforementioned sense of fatigue is deliberate. The author certainly gives a very clear sense of the enormous amount of sheer hard work involved in her career, and of the utter dedication and professionalism of Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge. Apparently, that is how they wish to be remembered, and it is a praiseworthy valedictory indeed.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A nice history book, if that's what you're looking for..., May 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A Prima Donna's Progress : The Autobiography (Hardcover)

To be quite honest, I haven't finished reading the book. I am a big fan of the great Joan Sutherland, but the autobiography was not what I expected. As an aspiring singer, I was hoping that Dame Sutherland might write about any challenges that she may have encountered in her successful operatic career. Sutherland has an enormous voice and such a wide vocal range of any soprano that I've heard. It would have been wonderful if she had written about her voice lessons with her mother and how she came to attain an almost perfect technique (she's a dramatic coloratura, if you didn't know). (There is, of course, the very small chance that she was a natural and didn't have to work on her technique...but I doubt that).

The book contains many facts and details about where and when she performed, but it does not convey what her life was like. There was no sense of her emotions or feelings throughout the first bit that I actually did read. From reading the other comments on this book, it seems that it didn't get much better thereafter (and I didn't miss much).

How unfortunate. Perhaps one day a biographer might be able to re-create her life with the warmth and colour that make people interesting to read about.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dull, dull, dull, July 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A Prima Donna's Progress : The Autobiography (Hardcover)

Seeing Sutherland interviewed on television, I didn't expect much insight into her career from her -- her husband is clearly better at it. I had hoped that given time for reflection, something better than this would emerge. All that you really learn is how busy she was traveling here and there for engagements. It almost makes you believe that she wouldn't have had a career if hadn't been for Bonynge.