Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The way Peter Pears sang the Agnus Dei was unbelievable.
I'm a singer myself and yet I can't imagine
how he could sing so divinely beautifully, with such inspiration.
That last phrase, Dona nobis pacem, reaches up to heaven.
I told him: I'll be hearing that when I lie dying.
I was supposed to sing at the premiêre of the War Requiem in Coventry.
I learnt my part and was completely prepared to sing there.
The plan was that at that time I'd be singing Aida at Covent Garden.
There were going to be six performances.
After Aida I was meant to go straight to Coventry.
Even before the trip to England there were difficulties.
The Minister of Culture, Furtseva, said I wasn't allowed to sing the War Requiem.
But I was going to be in England anyway. Why couldn't I do it?
She said: Look, you're a Soviet artist.
You can't stand next to a German on stage.
Our government doesn't want that, you being a Soviet woman.
The Englishman isn't that bad but this Fischer-Dieskau...
It's a war requiem, it's about the war. Englishmen, Germans, Russians...
No, we're against it. It would be an inappropriate political step.
I was really upset that Galina wasn't going to sing the War Requiem.
I went to the Ministry of Culture to plead.
The man I met seemed quite kind.
I said: Tell me, why won't they let her sing Britten's work?
He got very annoyed: We know what we're doing. Goodbye.
It would be a disaster, a scandal. The Queen was invited.
Another singer was going to have to learn the part,
which would be monstrously difficult.