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\u201cWhatever she did was excellent, you know \u2013 she didn\u2019t muck about.\u201d Lady Primrose Potter is telling me about her friend, Dame Joan Sutherland, the famed soprano whose career was so storied, her voice and vocal range so spectacular, that she was popularly known by the name \u201cLa Stupenda\u201d.<\/p>\n
Born in Sydney in 1926, by the time she retired in 1990, she had cemented herself as a legend of opera, having revived bel canto \u2013 literally \u201cbeautiful singing\u201d \u2013 repertoire in the operatic canon.<\/p>\n
Potter is a powerhouse of Australian philanthropy and a long-time champion of the arts, with a resume of directorships, trusteeships and patronage spanning a significant cross-section of the country\u2019s leading arts organisations.<\/p>\n
Sutherland and Potter were friends until the former\u2019s death in 2010, at the age of 83. This month, Melbourne Opera will be staging a production of Verdi\u2019s four-act opera Il Trovatore in honour of Sutherland\u2019s centenary. One of the company\u2019s founding patrons, Sutherland performed the role of Leonora numerous times across from the 1950s to the \u201980s.<\/p>\n
The stories start slowly at first, then they come quick and fast. There\u2019s the one about when Sutherland sang the title role in Donizetti\u2019s Lucia di Lammermoor and fully embraced the gore and tragedy. \u201cI loved it,\u201d says Potter. When Joan walked out [as Lucia] having murdered the husband, with blood all the way down the front of her dress, everyone went [sharp inhalation of breath]. It was lovely\u201d, she says with a laugh. \u201cOthers had little bits here and there, but she had the whole works.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another story is of when Sutherland and her husband Richard Bonynge were preparing to travel from New York to London she left all her luggage on the street corner. \u201cShe said, \u2018I washed the floor, I washed Ricky\u2019s shirts, I ironed them, I did this, I did that, scrubbed and cleaned\u2019, and then she said \u2018I dragged the four big suitcases down to the street level, and swept into the car.\u2019\u201d It wasn\u2019t until they arrived at the airport that they realised none of their baggage was with them. \u201cLuckily,\u201d says Potter, when Sutherland rushed back to the street corner, \u201cit was still there\u201d.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the story about how Sutherland extended her vocal range. \u201cShe said, \u2018…I was in the bath and I was singing to myself, and Richard shouted from the next door room, \u201cGo a bit higher\u201d,\u2019 and so she did, and he said, \u2018Yes, go a bit higher again\u2019, and that\u2019s what got her up to the soprano stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
All of Potter\u2019s stories about her friend paint the same image; of a warm woman at the top of her field, who was both practical and hands on.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just sort of cosy, you know. My friendship with her \u2013 I wasn\u2019t particularly interested in all the how-do-you-do\u2019s \u2026 opening nights and you know, people all dressing up and carrying on \u2026 I always went for her sake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their friendship stretches back so far that Potter, who is now in her mid 90s, can\u2019t remember how they first met, but she remembers how \u201cwe\u2019d sit and talk \u2013 but very little talk because she looked after her voice so well,\u201d she adds with a smile. \u201cWe\u2019d talk quietly about something and then stop and just sit nicely in the sun.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a really nice person. There was no grandeur about her. She got in there and sang. \u201d<\/p>\n
When someone slips into legend status, it\u2019s easy to forget the little things about them that made them an individual \u2013 it can be hard to imagine that the person the main stage in the Sydney Opera House is named after used to sit on the edge of the stage doing tapestry during rehearsals while wearing her slippers.<\/p>\n
Potter emphasises the fact that Sutherland was also a strong supporter of up-and-coming singers. She didn\u2019t feel threatened, or the need to be competitive? \u201cShe didn\u2019t need to be,\u201d Potter replies, matter-of-factly. She was the best.<\/p>\n