If you have to answer the question of what to expect from a biography, I would answer that, in my opinion, two things: biography demands an object of study that should be very serious, and at the same time mateix provide a line of reflection About how someone has experienced the times of life: both who are bases, who are ideals, who are passions, who are difficulties. What did you know about the life of the soprano Victòria dels Àngels (Barcelona, 1923-2005) after receiving the magnificent biography of the journalist and musician Pep Gorgori? Molt poc, gairebé res. I remember Carlos Castilla del Pino, in his last few years, warning us to his friends his desire to have his fons la Nana from Falla sung by Victòria del Àngels en l’hora de la seva mort. Having friends, she faces the fact that the soprano is going to remain very withdrawn for the last few years from her life and with all her feelings she accepts most of her social life. She is going to keep massa retired. Why?
To conèixer the motives of his long allunyament, we arrive at Gorgori’s biography, which, per sort, goes beyond the related topics and reconstructs his vital and professional path. The book pivots, logically, on the singer’s years of training, the support she will have at the Liceu and her musical apprenticeship from José María Lamaña’s mother. Llegint Everything seemed so simple —a malenconió and epistolary comment addressed to his peers—, it is understandable the unanimous opinion of colleagues, critics and businessmen: the seva radiated a special humanity and the songs and the characters he performed were vibrant, and they were direct to the hearts of the listeners. . Now we know why: she bid the scenes of mig món imposant-se to the evil of knowing-se a fragile and brought dona, sovint vorejant la depressió, molt lluny de l’altivesa capritxosa atribuïda a los grans dives de l’opera.
Bid on the scenes of my impossibility, the evil of knowing, a fragile and broken dona, sovint vorejant the depression
Gorgori is not the singer’s first biographer. The musical critic of reference to any quarantining, Antonio Fernández Cid, friend and advisor of the soprano, wrote a first sketch in 1970 in agreement with the lligams affectius and the puritan canons of the time, entering where personal tragedy that would condition the soprano’s life. Gorgori, however, has been able to consult the documentation submitted to the ANC at the Foundation that bears the singer’s name, notably enriching her biographical perspective, to distinguish between her stages in her career. The point of her inflection lies at the beginning of 1958 (the soprano was only thirty-five years old) with the death of her father, Bernardo López, concierge of the University of Barcelona since 1919. A man that goes promote and protect it as much as possible. She is going to die without arriving to retire from the janitor’s tavern and feeling able to live her dream of retiring to her countryside, in Barcelona. In all cases, 1958 seems to be a completely decisive year – after the singer premiered Manuel de Falla’s posthumous cantata, Atlantis, to the Liceu; He will perform in Bayreuth (the Mecca of Wagnerism) in 1961 and 1962, and will have his first and desitjat fill, Juan Enrique, in 1963, after various avortaments—, he will donate keys for the first severe displays of sadness and dejection, and the truth is that the frequency of the six apparitions aniria diminished until the next time they disappeared: “The problem would be constant for the whole day, but this is my only consolation,” he wrote to the mother in reply to his activity. operatic, a month after the death of the father.
Victory of the Angels. Tot semblava so senzill
Pep Gorgori
Barcelona Llibres / Barcelona City Council
243 pages. 20 euros
