
Balduína "Bidú" de Oliveira Sayão (11 May 1902 – 12 March 1999) was a Brazilian
opera
Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
soprano. One of Brazil's celebrated musicians, Sayão was a leading artist of the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...
in New York City from 1937 to 1952.
Life and career
Bidu Sayão was born on 11 May 1902 to a family of Portuguese, French and Swiss heritage, in
Itaguaí, Rio de Janeiro. Her father died when she was age 5, and her mother struggled to support her daughter's pursuit of a singing career. At age 18, Sayão made her major opera debut in Rio de Janeiro. Her performance led to an opportunity to study with the famous Elena Teodorini, first in Brazil, then in Romania; and then to study with Polish tenor
Jean de Reszke in Nice. During the mid-1920s and early 1930s, she performed in Rome, Buenos Aires, and Paris as well as in her native Brazil. While at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, she met impresario Walter Mocchi (1870–1955). After his wife, soprano
Emma Carelli, died in 1928, the two became romantically involved and were married. However, it did not last, and in 1935, Sayão married Italian baritone
Giuseppe Danise (1883–1963).
In 1930, she debuted at the
Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and in the next year, she sang as Juliette in
Gounod's ''
Roméo et Juliette'' at the
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...
. In the same year, she gained a great success with her debut at the Opéra Comique as
Lakmé. She soon became one of the leading lyric coloratura sopranos in Europe, especially in Italy and France. Her repertoire included
Lucia di Lammermoor, Amina in ''
La sonnambula'', Elvira in ''
I puritani'', Zerbinetta in ''
Ariadne auf Naxos'' and Cecilia in ''
Il Guarany''.
Metropolitan Opera
Bidu Sayão made her U.S. debut in a recital at
Town Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...
in New York City on 30 December 1935. Her U.S. operatic debut followed on 21 January 1936 when she and Danise sang in the penultimate production of the
Washington National Opera, a semi-professional company not associated with its modern namesake; the performance of
Léo Delibes's ''
Lakmé'' was marred by a fractious dispute in which the orchestra musicians declined to play without payment in cash, and ultimately the performance was accompanied by a portable organ, with some singers appearing in costume and some in street clothes owing to a similar demand by the stage hands and costume man.
[McPherson, Jim. "Mr. Meek Goes to Washington: The Story of the Small-Potatoes Canadian Baritone Who Founded America’s 'National' Opera", ''The Opera Quarterly,'' volume 20, no. 2, Spring 2004] She performed a few months later with the
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...
at
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...
singing ''
La Damoiselle élue'' by
Debussy
Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
. Her performance was under the baton of
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...
, who became her greatest supporter and lifelong friend.
She sang her first performance at the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...
as
Manon on 13 February 1937, replacing the Spanish soprano
Lucrezia Bori. The critics, including Olin Downes of ''The New York Times'', raved about her performance, and within a few weeks, she was given the lead in ''
La traviata'', followed soon thereafter by Mimì in ''
La bohème
''La bohème'' ( , ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '':wikt:quadro, quadri'', ''wikt:tableau, tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto b ...
''. She also contributed to the
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
revival at the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...
, becoming the pre-eminent Zerlina ''(
Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...
)'' and Susanna ''(
The Marriage of Figaro)'' of her generation.
She performed to much acclaim for the University of Michigan May Festival in 1948 with conductor Thor Johnson. She sang "Un Bel Di" from Madame Butterfly as an encore.
Brazilian composer
Heitor Villa-Lobos had an artistic partnership with the diva that lasted many years. She made recordings of a number of his compositions, including a famous one of
Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5.
Bidu Sayão and her husband Giuseppe Danise purchased an oceanfront property in Lincolnville, Maine. After 15 years with the Metropolitan Opera, her last performance there was in 1952. For the next two years, she was a guest performer throughout the U.S., and in 1957, she retired completely from public performance; two years later she made her final recording, as the soprano soloist on Villa-Lobos's world premiere stereo recording of his cantata ''Forest of the Amazon'' with the composer conducting the
Symphony of the Air.
Following her husband's death in 1963, Sayão lived quietly at her home in Maine. She returned to visit Brazil a last time in 1995 for a tribute to her during the
Carnival
Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras.
Carnival typi ...
in Rio de Janeiro. She died on 12 March 1999, aged 96, at the Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport, Maine.
Her ashes were scattered across the bay in front of her home.
Legacy
Following her last visit to her homeland, the government prepared plans to honor her memory. In 2000, the
Bidu Sayão International Vocal Competition was established to promote Brazilian operatic talent through a world-class competition. Sayão's portrait by
Curtis Ether hangs in the lobby of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.
Bibliography
* ''The Last Prima Donnas'', by
Lanfranco Rasponi, Alfred A Knopf, Bidu Sayão, p. 507 (1982);
References
External links
Interview with Bidu Sayão 1 April 1985
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sayao, Bidu
1902 births
1999 deaths
Brazilian operatic sopranos
Singers from Rio de Janeiro (city)
20th-century Brazilian women opera singers
People from Lincolnville, Maine
Columbia Records artists