David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote:
> EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:
>
>
>>David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote:
>>>I would take his comments with a pinch of salt, myself. (I wonder why he
>>>felt the need to change his name from Joseph van Damme?)
>>
>>IIRC, his voice teacher's advice, in the early days of his career. "Jose"
>>is a diminutive of Joseph (and was always his nickname), dropping the
>>final "me" of "van Damme" allowed his name to fit on a marquee more
>>readily.
>
>
> Oh, come _on_!
You don't think performers think about such things? (We're
talking the pre-computerized late 1950's, 1960's, when info
on theater marquees was still hand-set, using a finite
number of letter sizes.) Quite a few "stage names" were
created with that precept in mind - i.e. "the bigger the
better" - not just opera singers'.
>
>>(It's
>>certainly better than "Jose Damiant" which was the name he
>>used when he was seventeen and his first singing jobs were
>>in non-operatic venues!)
>
> His original name was fine.
But obviously he (or his advisors) did not think so!
(Remember, the man was only twenty when he signed his first
contract with the Paris Opera - young people don't always
exercise mature judgment, and tend to accept the opinions of
their mentors.)
>
>>> A Met gig is
>>>highly prized...
>>
>>Less so, I think, when one has already achieved
>>international fame - especially if the fame came BEFORE the
>>Met's imprimatur.
>
> Again, what is your source for this?
Any number of professional singers who have had perfectly
satisfactory careers - financially and artistically -
without even setting foot on our shores! (Beverly Sills was
doing just fine without the Met - according to rumor, it was
they who came to her, hat in hand.)
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