美国国家公共电台 NPR The Valkyrie Who Maxed Out Her Credit Cards: Christine Goerke Sings Brünnhilde

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Some of the most thrilling and iconic music in opera - maiden¹ warriors² delivering battle heroes to their fortress³ in the sky in Richard Wagner's "Ride Of The Valkyries."

(SOUNDBITE OF WAGNER'S "RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES")

SIMON: Of course the most famous Valkyrie of all - Bruennhilde.

(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA, "RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES")

CHRISTINE GOERKE: (Singing) Hojotoho, hojotoho, heiaha, heiaha.

SIMON: That's Christine Goerke, soprano, who makes her debut⁴ as Bruennhilde in the Metropolitan⁵ Opera production of Wagner's "Ring" cycle in New York City. She joins us from studios at the Met. Thanks so much for being with us.

GOERKE: It's a pleasure. How are you?

SIMON: Well, I'm fine. You're the one who's going to have to sing. Can - help us understand how demanding a role this is.

GOERKE: The thing is is that there are three different roles within the "Ring" cycle for Bruennhilde, and they are all very different. The stamina⁶ is really the biggest issue, so pacing is paramount⁷. And honestly, as you say, this is my debut singing the role here at the Metropolitan Opera. But it's also my debut singing the entire cycle in one go. I've sung all of the Bruennhilde roles before, but this is my first time doing all three of them consecutively⁸.

SIMON: And what's it mean to do this at the Met?

GOERKE: Oh, everything. I mean, anytime I'm here, this is - I'm a Long Island girl. And I was in the Young Artist Program here for three years, and they took a chance on me. And they nursed me when I was fledgling and not even anywhere near this repertoire⁹ yet. But everyone here always believed in me, and so this will always be home for me.

SIMON: What do you mean they took a chance on you?

GOERKE: Well, I mean, one never really can know when you are dealing¹⁰ with a young dramatic voice. When I started, I was not singing Wagner. I was not singing Strauss. I was singing Mozart. I was singing Handel. People heard this dramatic sound even early on in my early 20s. And without the Young Artist Program here, I'm not really sure I would have gotten where I'm going.

SIMON: I have been told you went through some trying times.

GOERKE: I did. It was trying because, in fact, the last thing you want to do as a performer is show anyone anything less than your best. And going from singing these Mozart roles and these Handel roles with a lighter¹¹ sound to these bigger dramatic roles, it's quite a big step.

(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA)

GOERKE: (Singing in German).

And I read about dramatic voices when I was younger. And I understood that probably in my late 30s, early 40s I would have to make a big switch and change my technique and the way I was singing and move into different repertoire. But it all started happening far earlier than I was expecting. I was about 32 or 33. And honestly, I just - I couldn't put two and two together that that's what was happening. I literally¹² thought I broke it (laughter).

SIMON: Break your voice.

GOERKE: Yeah. I mean, it sounded like a strange thing to feel. But once I went in and I changed my support and I allowed my voice the room to grow, it did what it was supposed to do. And it turned out to be far less of a bump¹³ in the road than it seemed - thank God.

SIMON: But you had real practical concerns, too, about making a living at it.

GOERKE: Well, I mean, of course. You know, I had just met my husband. We got married when my voice changed. I have two beautiful daughters, and I had just had them when this was going on. It was not an ideal time for this to happen. We went into quite a bit of credit card debt. Thank God they were there because we survived. We didn't lose our house. Everybody was fed. And thank God I'm still here.

SIMON: And your daughters who are - what? - 10 and 12 now are going to...

GOERKE: They are.

SIMON: ...See you onstage at the Met.

GOERKE: They are. They're going to come to, hopefully, one of the performances of "Siegfried." They like the idea of a dragon. And they're going to go to the movie theater, so they're going to be watching the HD. And I was told if I don't give them a shoutout, they're going to disown me so (laughter).

SIMON: Well, what are their names? Do a shoutout here.

GOERKE: Their names are Maggie (ph) and Charlie (ph). They are just the lights of my life honestly.

SIMON: Of course. Do you ever do the battle cry for them - just for grins¹⁴?

GOERKE: Oh, boy, have they heard it. They probably know it better than I do at this point.

SIMON: This is - I - we can't get you to do it for us, right?

GOERKE: Oh, no. No, no, no (laughter). I'm not warmed up enough to do that (laughter).

SIMON: Yeah, yeah. I think we have a recording¹⁵, which we're going to run now.

(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA)

GOERKE: (Singing) Hojotoho, hojotoho, heiaha, heiaha.

SIMON: Ahh, I'm scared to death.

GOERKE: (Laughter).

SIMON: And you seem so nice otherwise.

GOERKE: (Laughter) It just depends on the day, you know?

SIMON: Oh, mercy.

GOERKE: (Laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA)

GOERKE: (Vocalizing).

I just have the best job. You know? I get to be loud, pretend and dress up for a living. That's not so bad.

SIMON: (Laughter).

GOERKE: And then, you know, it's - I get to throw myself into a different world for a few hours and be someone else for a few hours. It's a mirror image of the reason that we all go to the theater. You know, we all want to escape the real world for a little bit. And I just get to do it in a slightly different way than everyone else.

SIMON: I want to hear another excerpt¹⁶, if we could. Let me set the scene imperfectly. We're nearing the end of "Die Walkuere," the second opera in the cycle. You're having an argument with your father, Wotan, king of the gods.

(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA)

GOERKE: (As Bruennhilde, singing in German).

UNIDENTIFIED PERFORMER: (As Wotan, singing in German).

GOERKE: When you take the gods and the dragons and the mermaids¹⁷ and the giants out of this, you have a father and a daughter and the father who can't see everything that his daughter can be and the daughter who thinks she knows better than everybody and is trying to do right but does everything wrong. It sounds simplistic. But in fact, the interpersonal relationships are at the heart of the "Ring" cycle.

SIMON: You're not even singing, and I have tears rolling down my face.

GOERKE: I just - it's beautifully written. And I mean, I encourage anybody who thinks, ugh, Wagner. I - you know, I can't be in the middle of that for 16 hours. If you can sit through a binge watch of "Game Of Thrones," I promise you this is much cooler (laughter).

SIMON: Do your daughters know what you do for a living?

GOERKE: Oh, yeah.

SIMON: I mean, they know you're an opera singer. But do they know what that means?

GOERKE: They do. You know, but the funny thing is when my kids were younger, my eldest¹⁸ especially - and I just was retelling this story to someone the other day. And I guess she was about 7. And we were in a grocery store, we were wandering around. And she said, Mama, why isn't anybody talking to you? I said, what do you mean why isn't anybody talking to me? And she said, well, don't they know you're famous?

SIMON: Aww.

GOERKE: And I just - it was adorable. And I laughed. And I said, well, sweetheart, not everybody knows about opera. And you know, she said, well, I - they should. And I said, well, I agree.

SIMON: Christine Goerke, soprano performing as Bruennhilde for the season's productions of Wagner's "Ring" cycle at the Met in New York City.

Thanks so much for being with us, and good luck.

GOERKE: Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

2 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

3 fortress   

n.堡垒，防御工事

参考例句：

• They made an attempt on a fortress.他们试图夺取这一要塞。
• The soldier scaled the wall of the fortress by turret.士兵通过塔车攀登上了要塞的城墙。

4 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

5 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

6 stamina   

n.体力；精力；耐力

参考例句：

• I lacked the stamina to run the whole length of the race.我没有跑完全程的耐力。
• Giving up smoking had a magical effect on his stamina.戒烟神奇地增强了他的体力。

7 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

8 consecutively   

adv.连续地

参考例句：

• He was actually too depleted to think consecutively about anything. 他已经打不起一点精神，根本谈不上好好思考一下。 来自辞典例句
• In any game, the right to serve shall pass consecutively. 在一局中，不错的发球挨次应该是。 来自互联网

9 repertoire   

n.(准备好演出的)节目，保留剧目；(计算机的)指令表，指令系统， <美>(某个人的)全部技能；清单，指令表

参考例句：

• There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。
• He has added considerably to his piano repertoire.他的钢琴演奏曲目大大增加了。

10 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

11 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

12 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

13 bump   

v.（against,into）碰，颠簸；n.碰撞，隆起物

参考例句：

• I heard a bump in the next room.我听到隔壁房间传来“砰”的一声。
• He got a bad bump on his forehead.他碰得前额隆起一个大包。

14 grins   

v.露齿而笑( grin的第三人称单数 )；露齿笑着表示

参考例句：

• How can you teach a child who just grins stupidly at you all day? 如果一个孩子整天都冲着你傻笑，你怎么能教他呢？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The grins of his friends discomposed Jack when he tried to make his speech. 杰克想要进行演讲时，他的朋友们咧着嘴笑，这使得他心里很慌乱。 来自《用法词典》

15 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

16 excerpt   

n.摘录，选录，节录

参考例句：

• This is an excerpt from a novel.这是一部小说的摘录。
• Can you excerpt something from the newspaper? 你能从报纸上选录些东西吗？

17 mermaids   

n.（传说中的）美人鱼( mermaid的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The high stern castle was a riot or carved gods, demons, knights, kings, warriors, mermaids, cherubs. 其尾部高耸的船楼上雕满了神仙、妖魔鬼怪、骑士、国王、勇士、美人鱼、天使。 来自辞典例句
• This is why mermaids should never come on land. 这就是为什么人鱼不应该上岸的原因。 来自电影对白

18 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。