Emmons, Shirlee 1923–

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Emmons, Shirlee 1923–

PERSONAL:

Born August 5, 1923, in Stevens Point, WI; daughter of Myron Frederick (in business) and Irene Evelyn (a homemaker) Emmons; married Rollin Baldwin (an educator), November, 1948; children: Hilary. Ethnicity: "English, German." Education: Lawrence University, Mus.B., 1944; Curtis Institute, diploma, 1945; additional study at Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi, Milan, Italy, 1950-51. Politics: Independent. Religion: Episcopalian. Hobbies and other interests: Sewing, hiking.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Professional singer and voice teacher; operator of a private studio, New York, NY, 1964—. Boston University, associate professor, 1981-87; Hunter College of the City University of New York, visiting professor, 1991-2000; adjunct teacher at Barnard College, Columbia University, 1963-66, Princeton University, 1966-81, State University of New York College at Purchase, 1980-91, Rutgers University, 1987-90; and Queens College of the City University of New York, 1988—; voice teacher at Tanglewood Institute, 1982, and American Institute of Musical Studies, Graz, Austria, 1983, 1985; teacher of workshops and master classes throughout the United States, Canada, and Korea. Performed in concert and opera appearances, including the opera The Mother of Us All.

MEMBER:

American Academy of Teachers of Singing (past chair), National Association of Teachers of Singing (board member, New York chapter), New York Singing Teachers Association (board member), Vocal Arts Society, (Washington, DC; board member).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Obie Award, distinguished performance in a leading operatic role, Village Voice, 1957, for The Mother of Us All; winner of Marian Anderson International Competition; Fulbright scholar in Italy; honorary DFA, Lawrence University, 2000; award from New York Singing Teachers' Association, 2007, for contributions to the fields of vocal repertoire and performance.

WRITINGS:

(With Stanley Sonntag) The Art of the Song Recital, Schirmer Books (Riverside, NJ), 1979.

Tristanissimo: The Authorized Biography of Heroic Tenor Lauritz Melchior, Schirmer Books (Riverside, NJ), 1990.

(With Alma Thomas) Power Performance for Singers, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Wilbur Watkin Lewis) Researching the Song: A Lexicon, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2006.

(With Constance Chase) Prescriptions for Choral Excellence: Tone, Text, Dynamic Leadership, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor of articles to American Music Teacher, NATS Journal, NATS Bulletin, and Journal of Voice.

Emmons's writings have also been published in Danish, Korean, and Japanese.

SIDELIGHTS:

Shirlee Emmons once told CA: "My pursuit of a career as a voice teacher stemmed from a strong desire to be a master teacher of vocal technique, able to clear up difficulties, restructure faulty technique, and enable singers to achieve their full potential as artists."

Emmons's have been well received by critics. The first, The Art of the Song Recital, written with professional accompanist Stanley Sonntag, was described as a valuable resource for vocal music teachers, students, and performers. Emmons told CA, "I wrote The Art of the Song Recital because I deplored the decline of the song recital as a musical form and I wanted to be of all possible help to the singers who wished to continue to do recitals, and music lovers who still loved them."

Leland Fox of the Opera Journal described The Art of the Song Recital as "a practical ‘how to’ book of clear, methodical, and useful information on every facet of the recital art." Other critics noted Emmons's inclusion of advice on how to construct a successful recital program, numerous sample programs, technical discussions of interpretation, learning new music, the singing actor, and resources for constructing further programs and purchasing music. Richard Dale Sjördsma commented in his review in the NATS Bulletin: "The Art of the Song Recital can not be too highly recommended. It is a captivating book…. Anyone who has anything at all to do with the art of singing, will find pertinent information of enormous value."

In Tristanissimo: The Authorized Biography of Heroic Tenor Lauritz Melchior, Emmons presents the life story of twentieth-century operatic tenor, famous for his powerful, resonant voice and eccentric behavior. "Tristanissimo was written because I was affronted at the absence of a biography of this great singer, the premier heroic tenor of the twentieth century," Emmons told CA. "Having toured with him as a young singer after he left the Metropolitan Opera, I had a personal admiration for him and technical interest in his artistry."

Manuela Hölterhoff commented in the Wall Street Journal that Tristanissimo "is a perfectly splendid biography, candid, informed, amusing." Emmons draws on her subject's diaries and letters as well as interviews and the public record of Melchior's nearly forty-year singing career to present what critics found to be a scrupulously fair depiction of both the genius and the failings of her subject. The narrative is augmented by numerous photographs, notes, bibliography, a listing of Melchior's professional performances, a discography, and an index. Wrote J.O. Tate in his review in Chronicles: "Emmons has succeeded handsomely in doing justice not only to her peerless subject, but to the familial, cultural, and historical contexts of his life…. Tristanissimo is the best biography I have read in years."

More recently Emmons told CA: "My third book, Power Performance for Singers, is not a book about how to sing, but rather a book about performance, part of which is singing. It is designed to help singers learn how to perform vocally, how to use what they have, how to enjoy their voices during performance, and how to perform consistently to the best of their ability. By means of an overall view of the nature and concept of mental preparation for performance, it presents many choices for assessing the quality of a performance and for improving it in any way necessary.

"The fourth book, Researching the Song: A Lexicon, was conceived and written for the purpose of helping singers in their interpretations of the great song literature. A thorough understanding of the literary allusions contained in a majority of the poetry set by the great song composers requires fairly extensive research. Our aim was that this book should, to a large extent, supply singers, teachers, collaborative artists, fans, and all interested parties with information that will help them better understand the poetry of great art songs and, through that, the song itself. The more performers know and understand about the literary elements of a song, the more they will understand the work and the richer their communication will be." Ruthann B. McTyre observed in Notes that Researching the Song "will provide extensive background information to singers, voice teacher, and lovers of art song … shed light on all those mysterious names and places included in song texts," and "offer biographical information on the poets and … [references to the] composers who have composed songs using the same poetry." Cornelia Iredell expressed less satisfaction in her Opera News assessment. She found the lexicon to be "a useful tool" but wished the biographical entries had been more complete and consistent. McTyre, on the other hand, recommended Researching the Song as a centralized source of information for the researcher in a hurry, but also a "bountiful" source of cross-references for the reader who enjoys the journey of exploring for facts.

Emmons continued: "The prevailing idea of the fifth book, Prescriptions for Choral Excellence: Tone, Text, Dynamic Leadership, was this: knowing the voice and doing what is good for voices serves everyone—the singers, the audience, the conductor, and the music. Constance Chase and I set out to inform our reader of some facts they may not fully understand in the realms of breath management, tonal beauty, intelligible diction, the vocal instrument, legato, agility, and to inform in a way that can be understood by those who have not spent their days in a vocal studio and do not intend to." Music conductor and educator Catherine Roma reported in the American Music Teacher that Prescriptions for Choral Excellence is a "rigorous, comprehensive and dynamically user-friendly" guide to "vocal technique[,] how to elicit good singing … and performance[, and] leadership." She predicted that the book will be "an invaluable refresher" for the trainer and a handy companion for the performer as well.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Music Teacher, August-September, 2006, Catherine Roma, review of Prescriptions for Choral Excellence: Tone, Text, Dynamic Leadership, p. 96.

Choice, October, 1990, review of Tristanissimo: The Authorized Biography of Heroic Tenor Lauritz Melchior.

Chronicles, November, 1990, J.O. Tate, review of Tristanissimo.

NATS Bulletin, May-June, 1979, Richard Dale Sjördsma, review of The Art of the Song Recital, pp. 47-48.

Notes, December, 2006, Ruthann B. McTyre, review of Researching the Song: A Lexicon, p. 368.

Opera Journal, Volume 12, 1979, Leland Fox, review of The Art of the Song Recital.

Opera News, November, 2006, Cornelia Iredell, review of Researching the Song, p. 76.

Wall Street Journal, May 31, 1990, Manuela Hölterhoff, review of Tristanissimo.