American Soprano Beverly Sills: A Creative Coloratura

Beverly Sills sits at a table at the N.Y.C. Opera Company in the 1980s. Public Domain

If sunshine could sing, it would sound like Beverly Sills. Just as light bounces and sparkles, Sills’ liquid gold, lyric coloratura voice darted over the musical equivalent of rugged mountain terrain.

Coloratura embellishments of the musical line displays a singer’s ability. It contains many, mostly high notes in ascending and descending succession, all sung rapidly. Conductor Thomas Schippers once said Sills was “the fastest voice alive.”

Sills’ Backstory

Sills was born Belle Silverman in Brooklyn, New York, on May 26, 1929, to a mother with a life-long love of opera. The kitchen Victrola was in constant use, playing records of famous coloratura sopranos Amelita Galli-Curci and Lily Pons. By age 4, Sills had memorized all 22 arias on the Galli-Curci recordings. It’s no surprise that she was chosen to perform on New York WOR Radio’s weekly, “Rainbow House,” and, at age 7, on the nationally broadcast “Major Bowes’ Original Amateur Hour.” “Major Bowes Capitol Family Hour” and the radio soap opera “Our Gal Sunday” followed.

Major Edward Bowes poses for a publicity photo; the microphone indicates that "The Major Bowes Amateur Hour" aired through NBC. Public Domain

Thus began the unlikely story of an American singer building an American opera career. Between the 1940s and 1960s, American opera houses almost exclusively employed singers with foreign-sounding names. Milan-born Galli-Curci studied at the Milan Conservatory and sang in European opera houses before joining the New York Metropolitan Opera.  Similarly, French-born Pons studied at the Paris Conservatory and also sang in Europe before the same opera hired her as Galli-Curci’s successor.

In contrast to foreign-born singers who studied in Europe, Sills took voice lessons in New York with a teacher her mother found: Estelle Liebling. It was a wise choice, as Liebling is still considered the pedagogical authority on coloratura soprano training. Some of her famous students included Galli-Curci, and actresses Joan Crawford, Kitty Carlisle, and Adele Astaire.

When 7-year-old Sills and her mother walked into Liebling’s studio, Liebling thought she would be teaching Sills’ mother, not the little girl beside her. What followed was a lifelong professional and personal association that Sills’ credited with changing her life. Sills attended dinner parties at Liebling’s house, where she sang for some of the day’s biggest opera stars. Liebling knew practically everyone in opera and show biz. She picked up the phone and got her precocious student an audition with J.J. Shubert, the American theater owner, operator, and producer.

Shubert hired 15-year-old Sills to understudy Anne Jeffreys in the Broadway musical “Love in the Snow.” Sills signed a two-month contract to tour Gilbert and Sullivan operettas in Shubert theaters across the East and Midwest.

A 1956 portrait of opera singer Beverly Sills. Public Domain

As wonderful as the operettas were, touring seven operettas to 12 cities in two months was a rigorous schedule. Sills discovered her comedic talent in the role of the flaky milkmaid, Patience, in the operetta of the same name. The clumsier Patience became, the better audiences liked her. Her funny slapstick talent blossomed and became a hallmark of her comedic opera roles, which included “Marie” in Donizetti’s “The Daughter of the Regiment,” and “Rosina” in Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville.”

Her 1947 opera debut with the Philadelphia Civic Opera as the Spanish gypsy, Frasquita, in Bizet’s “Carmen,” began her stellar international opera career. Sills eventually sang in major opera houses: La Scala in Milan, Vienna State Opera, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, The Metropolitan Opera, and New York City Opera. Her picture graced the cover of Time Magazine as “America’s Queen of Opera,” and she appeared on numerous TV talk shows, including her own, “Not for Women Only.” A critic described her Metropolitan Opera debut as, “the culmination of a career without parallel in American operatic history.”

Sills got her big break in 1958 thanks to the New York City Opera’s two seasons of American operas. “The Ballad of Baby Doe,” an opera by American composer Douglas Moore, was based on the true story of Horace Tabor (1830–1899), a wealthy Colorado silver baron who caused a scandal when he left his wife to marry the young, beautiful Baby Doe. After rejecting over 100 sopranos, New York City Opera invited Sills to try out, even though she’d been told she was too big. Baby Doe Tabor was petite, and Sills stood 5 feet, 8 inches tall. She tried anyway, and landed the part. The opera was a tremendous success. Sills remembered opening night as the first time she sang a perfect performance. Critics rewarded her with the best reviews of her career.

Beverly Sills in 1969 in a performance of "Manon," a French opera. Public Domain

An ever-ready sense of humor and a generous, indomitable spirit informed a life filled with struggle, triumph, and heartbreak. Sills had a brilliant international career and a long, happy marriage to Cleveland Plain Dealer associate editor Peter Greenough. Together they had two special-needs children. Muffy, the couples’ deaf daughter, and Bucky, their autistic, deaf son were diagnosed within six weeks of each other. In her autobiography, Sills remembered being overwhelmed with depression and her children’s handicaps. But she kept on singing.

After retiring from performing, Sills became General Manager of the New York City Opera and saved it from bankruptcy. She held several performing arts-related chairman positions too.

Sills died on July 2, 2007 at age 78. Soprano Renee Fleming said, “She was funny, strong and intelligent, and I’ll never forget her ever-present, benevolent smile. Even in sadness, it was always there.”

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