Ileana Cotrubas

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For rights reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen seventy nine, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:30

This week, our castaway is the soprano Iliana Kotrubash.

Presenter0:35

Do you play records a lot at home?

Ileana Cotrubas0:36

N not not not not very much. I'm ashamed to say I don't listen to records and uh even to my own records I'm listen listening not very often, just when I'm uh receiving a record from a record company and just to to check if it's is all right or not and uh um most of the time I'm quite unhappy about it. I'm not very pleased with

Presenter1:00

How did you set about choosing your aide for the island?

Ileana Cotrubas1:03

Well, it was very, very difficult for me to choose uh only eight records from the vast uh literature of of music, and uh I think you you are quite mean to um to give us only just a small uh chance to to to take with us um some of the the beauties. And um well, uh some of the of the records uh uh uh they they remind me of some some incidents uh from my life.

Speaker 31:14

I know.

Ileana Cotrubas1:30

from my beginning in in in this uh profession.

Presenter1:32

What's the first one you've chosen?

Ileana Cotrubas1:34

The first one, uh I think it was Gluk or Feo, the flute uh solo from from the after the the

Presenter1:42

It's the dance of the Blessed Spirits, or something like that.

Ileana Cotrubas1:43

The blessed spirit. And I love it very much. And this moment of the solo flute, I think it w it will be very beautiful also to to have it on a desert island because uh I I can uh imagine a beautiful beach and uh very um lonely and um the sea and um a forest behind and so although I'm I don't have um much imaginations but uh this music uh I I can imagine something very beautiful.

Presenter3:19

The Dance of the Blessed Spirits, from Glux, Orpheus and Oridice, Jean-Pierre Rompal with Isolisti Vanity.

Presenter3:28

Now you're from Romania. From Bucharest?

Ileana Cotrubas3:30

I was born in Galatians, a small city on the Danube.

Presenter3:34

Mm-hmm.

Ileana Cotrubas3:34

And we came to to Bucharest in forty five because my father changed uh his um

Presenter3:40

He's a civil servant.

Ileana Cotrubas3:42

Yes.

Presenter3:42

Did you have um a lot of brothers and sisters? Did you grow up in a big family?

Ileana Cotrubas3:45

Just one sister. Just one sister. And she's an actress and um she's uh still in Romania and uh my father also. I I lost my mother three years ago.

Presenter3:47

Just one thing.

Presenter3:55

Was there a lot of music in the house when you were a child?

Ileana Cotrubas3:57

Well, my my parents, they were not uh not at all professionals. But uh my father was uh uh used to sing as a tenor in in uh in a chorus and uh m my mama uh she she sang f so at home uh cooking or uh dusting or doing her house uh work. And uh she told me later I I was uh singing uh from a very, very, very early um age.

Presenter4:20

Yes, you joined the children's choir.

Ileana Cotrubas4:20

Yes, you joined the children's choir. Yes, I was eight uh years old and I went to to this uh children's chorus at the radio in Bucharest and um I I gave an audition and uh they told me I will sing I will be singing as a soprano because I went with a colleague of mine, uh a friend of mine, and she uh she was the second soprano.

Ileana Cotrubas4:39

So it was a wonderful experience. I think it was a wonderful education for my profession later on.

Presenter4:44

The choir went abroad, I believe.

Ileana Cotrubas4:45

Yes, and we went to to Germany and to Bulgaria and uh we had many many uh concerts in in Bucharest as well and uh I was uh a soloist of this chorus for many years.

Presenter4:56

And in the Opera House as well.

Ileana Cotrubas4:57

The Opera House, yes, I started uh uh also very early, um, in the the small group of of children, to sing in Carmen, in Bohem, in Boris Godunov, in Tosca. And uh so I I was used to to to music and uh well, I loved music from very, very early.

Presenter5:16

Very early did you make up your mind you wanted to be a musician?

Ileana Cotrubas5:16

Early det

Ileana Cotrubas5:19

Well, it was very um very strange because uh singing in this chorus for so many years, uh people they they they uh got used to my name, Iliana Kotrubash, uh soloist of this children's chorus, and uh everybody was uh was um very sure I will become a uh an opera singer. But uh when when I I um went to the Conservatory of Music, the teachers uh they told me uh I'll be a concert singer. My voice wasn't too developed and they didn't believe my voice will will carry enough in an opera house. And I was quite sad because I I loved very much opera being in in this uh small group of children at the opera house. I I watched all the time singers and uh um I was always in in love with with singing and and acting. And so I was quite disappointed when my teacher at the Conservatory of Music he said, Well, your voice is not uh it's not enough for the opera. And it was very funny later on when I came abroad for an international competition in sixty five in uh Holland, Hertogenboss, and uh I I um I had the first prize and uh then in sixty six another first prize in Munich uh at the radio competition. And from this point uh it was another step uh in my profession. And then I did an audition for an agent to to have an engagement. And my first engagement abroad was in Frankfurt and I auditioned for uh the conductor Christophe van Dognani and uh I was engaged at the opera house. And it was very strange because uh my myself I wasn't very sure I I will be uh um

Speaker 16:47

I

Ileana Cotrubas6:54

all right uh in the opera house. But it was a tremendous uh experience for me. And so I think uh slowly my my voice uh developed in in a in a in a good way. And so I became an opera singer because uh

Ileana Cotrubas7:07

Maybe I am talking too much. Do stop me, please.

Presenter7:11

Well, you've stopped yourself. Let's have another recognition.

Ileana Cotrubas7:12

Yeah.

Ileana Cotrubas7:14

Mom, I have to write a book about one.

Presenter7:19

So now we'll start watch our second record.

Ileana Cotrubas7:19

Now we're talking about it.

Ileana Cotrubas7:22

My second record, uh shall we uh have uh some Bach?

Presenter7:25

Yeah.

Ileana Cotrubas7:25

Uh because uh of this uh children chorus.

Ileana Cotrubas7:29

Uh when I when I was singing in this children's chorus, um a Romanian composer arranged uh the air of uh Bach from the D major suite for the chorus, and it was in in the in in a vocalized style, not with words. Uh so just a it was very beautiful and uh um I I recall a very beautiful uh moment of this um air.

Presenter8:51

The air from the Bach suite number three in D Major, the new Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Otto Klempere.

Presenter8:58

Now you joined the permanent company in Bucharest. What's the policy of the Bucharest Opera House? Are operas given in the original languages or in Romania?

Ileana Cotrubas9:07

No, mostly in in Romanian. And uh we have a um an international festival, Georgia Nesco, every three years and uh

Ileana Cotrubas9:15

We will give some operas in original language. So, for example, in 1964, it was my debut at the Opera House as a Leptitine Yorde in Palais Émile by Debussy. And I recall another beautiful moment that in the audience was Nadia Boulanger. And after the performance, she came in my dressing room and she congratulated me for my beautiful French. And I was very proud.

Presenter9:32

Clear.

Presenter9:39

Yes.

Ileana Cotrubas9:41

In Romania. I mean, for for uh us, for Romanian the it's uh quite a second um uh l m matern language.

Presenter9:48

Right. Well, let's have another record before we talk about your overseas career.

Presenter9:53

What shall we have? Number three.

Ileana Cotrubas9:54

Well, shall shall we uh hear a little bit of Mozart? Although I I I wanted very much to take an opera, but I I couldn't decide which one. Uh Marriage of Figure or uh Magic Flute or uh Seraglio I love so much and uh

Presenter9:57

Yeah.

Ileana Cotrubas10:07

I'm not very keen on in Don Giovanni, but uh I mean Mozart is Mozart and it's it's it's so beautiful I I could accept it also Don Giovanni. But I choose I I I I choose uh um a symphony, E flat major, and uh this is a record uh done by Carl Bohm with the Berline Philharmonica.

Presenter11:27

The opening of the second movement of Mozart's Symphony No. thirty nine in E flat

Presenter11:32

Karl Bohm conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Presenter11:36

Now, your first post in an opera company outside Romania was at Frankfort.

Ileana Cotrubas11:41

Frankfurt, yes.

Presenter11:42

What was your daily view?

Ileana Cotrubas11:42

It was Pamina in Magic Flood. It was a new production and actually I I wasn't uh uh casted for the for the premiere. It was Edith Mathis and she started the rehearsal with the the producer and I don't I think she became ill and so I I I was um lucky to to do the premiere.

Presenter11:44

It was a new prod

Presenter11:59

Yeah. It would stay there several years.

Ileana Cotrubas12:01

No, I was there for uh three years, but with a contract to just seven months a year, because I had uh uh in between to return to Romania to do also to to to sing there. And uh I had another another um position in Romania. I was an assistant at the Conservatory of Music for the lead and oratorio class. And so I had to to return uh quite often to Romania to to do my my duties.

Presenter12:23

Like most German opera houses, Frankfurt had a very big repertoire, I expect.

Ileana Cotrubas12:27

Yes, and it was very good for me. I was uh in fact, I was very lucky and very, very um I had many chances because all my important parts from my repertoire, I have done it first in in Frankfurt, and it was very good for me.

Presenter12:39

It was also an important.

Presenter12:42

engagement for you because you met your husband in Frankfurt.

Ileana Cotrubas12:44

Yes, actually, yes, that's that's true. How do you know?

Presenter12:47

He was conducting.

Ileana Cotrubas12:47

He was conducted.

Ileana Cotrubas12:49

Yes, he was a conducting and he was a repertoire at the Opera Cause.

Presenter12:54

Yeah.

Ileana Cotrubas12:55

His journey is from Berlin.

Presenter12:57

When did you first sing in Britain?

Ileana Cotrubas12:59

My debut in England was in 1969 at the Glendbon Festival with Mélisande. And it was a very nice moment because an agent came to Frankfurt to hear me as Parmina and we had a talk and he asked me if I would like to sing Melisande in Glendbon. I said I would love to do it. And he said, but for this you have to give an audition for John Pritchard, who was the chief conductor of Gleibon Festival. And so I went to Munich when John Pritchard were there for some concerts and I gave an audition. I sang for him a little bit of Parmina.

Speaker 113:31

Yeah.

Ileana Cotrubas13:35

And uh a little bit of uh melisande. And um it was very, very sweet of him because after uh he heard me he said, You are my melisande and so I was engaged for Glenborn and it was my my first appearance in England and it was I think it was a very happy one.

Presenter13:50

Well of course you enjoyed Blindborn every time.

Ileana Cotrubas13:51

Very much, very much. In in fact, I will return in eighty-one to um to do a new production there.

Presenter13:57

And your first appearance at Covent Garden when was that?

Ileana Cotrubas14:00

It was in seventy one with uh Sir George Schulte in a new production of On Yegin done by Peter Hall. And um

Presenter14:08

Did you sing it in Russian or

Presenter14:11

In Rhi Romania do people learn Russian as now as a second language?

Ileana Cotrubas14:14

To second.

Ileana Cotrubas14:15

In my youth it was obligatory to to learn Russian at school.

Presenter14:19

At school.

Ileana Cotrubas14:21

Yes, of course, many songs by Ahmaninov Tchaikovsky, and I I can do Tatiana in Russian as well. And in fact, I was invited now in the next December to sing at the Balshoy in Moscow, Tatiana, and I'm very honored and pleased to do it. Yes.

Presenter14:27

And uh

Presenter14:36

That would be exciting.

Presenter14:38

Record number four. What not?

Ileana Cotrubas14:41

Well, we s we we we spoke about uh Pellaz uh by De Bussy. Uh it was a a happy uh moment for me uh because it was my my first debut in uh in the opera with the Lop Titin Yalt. And then it was another happy moment uh having the the first appearance in England. So we maybe we should hear a little bit of uh De Bussy.

Presenter14:59

Yes. Which little bit?

Ileana Cotrubas15:00

Uh the the um youtuer.

Presenter16:00

The overture to Tubusius, Pellias, and Melissande,

Presenter16:03

Ernest Onsome conducting the Suiss Romond Orchestra.

Presenter16:07

Now, looking down your your list of achievements, you've played, of course, quite a lot in in Paris. You made your debut at La Scarle, Milan, in rather a hurry, I believe.

Ileana Cotrubas16:16

Yes, I received a telephone call uh that uh La Scala uh needed a Mimi and um it was a revival of uh the beautiful production by Zeffirelli. The conductor was uh Georges Pretre and Mirella Freini was uh Mimi and Pavarotti Rodolfo, and Mirela became ill uh uh in in the dress rehearsal.

Speaker 316:35

This was just a little bit of a message.

Ileana Cotrubas16:35

And so she cancelled and I I was wondering after why they couldn't find uh a Mimi in in the whole uh uh Italy. But it was very nice because uh Luciano Pavarotti, who knew me from Chicago, we sang together the the same uh opera in seventy four, I think. And uh he said call Ilana Kotrubash because she will be able to to do it. But I was in London uh having uh um a test uh uh for my stomach because I wasn't feeling very well and my husband received the call. And so uh when I came home, it was eleven o'clock and he told me and uh I I asked well but when it's is this uh performance and he said it's tonight and I said well it's rubbish I can't I can't accept this it's it's it's not possible. And he said yes you can do it. I can't I can't understand why he was so sure I could I could he said I will not I will not think you will be able to sing Traviata for example or another another another part but Mimi you could and so we called back and we said yes we will and it was some troubles with the the the flight and I arrived at quarter to eight and the performance should start at eight thirty and it was another funny moment because instead to to arrive at the the um Linate airport which is the closest to Milano we we arrived in on another uh airport which is uh uh fifty kilometers uh um far from from uh from the center of Milan. And uh they waited for me with a car.

Presenter18:03

They were holding the curtain for you.

Ileana Cotrubas18:04

Yes, and it was such a such a uh uh attention in the audience because uh they they heard um uh somebody uh a guest will uh will come and she she she uh just arrived um five minutes ago. I don't know what I had to put. It was very strange because the costume and the the wig fitted uh very well because Mirela also is is a very uh sm not a very small person, but she is very petite and and uh slim and it was all right for for me. And I've met uh Zeferilli was uh was there and he he looked at me and uh uh he asked do you think you can sing it? And I was maybe I was in a dream or in I I wasn't uh in in my my senses. And I said, Well, yes, I I think I can I can do it. But uh j I I answered like like a mad person because I couldn't realize what I am doing. And it was really uh this is was m my my my happiest moment in my life, I think, because I realized what I've done after the performance and I couldn't sleep for four or three nights and every every time with my husband we had discussion, what I've done, how how did I how did I do it, how could I accept it?

Presenter19:08

How could I accept it?

Ileana Cotrubas19:10

No, no mistakes at all. My husband said I was so concentrated the whole evening and uh it was so such a uh a stillness in the audience in the in the audience and with the conductor was all right and uh so it was uh I don't know if the day uh um I had a success be sec success because uh I don't know, I can't explain why. Well done, it was a splendid

Presenter19:27

Well done, it was a splendid

Presenter19:33

Record number five.

Ileana Cotrubas19:34

Well, because we talk uh so much about Italy, shall we have uh Verdi?

Presenter19:39

Cause

Ileana Cotrubas19:40

So shall we hear a little bit of uh of the requiem, of the

Presenter19:43

The Switch Pot

Ileana Cotrubas19:45

Um while the injamisco with the tenor.

Speaker 319:51

Puerto Run Puan

Speaker 319:59

Marie worked for a story.

Speaker 320:04

Lord shall be home his hope.

Speaker 320:14

Yeah.

Speaker 320:33

Yeah.

Presenter20:44

The intramisco from the Verde Requiem Carlo Bergonzi.

Presenter20:48

You've been doing a lot of recording, of course.

Ileana Cotrubas20:50

Not a lot. No, not very many, I think. And uh I I will I don't have any wish to do very many. I'll be very happy to do all my my beautiful parts from my repertoire, for example, as I I I did uh Ratraviata and uh I'm doing now this summer uh Mimi from Boheme and then uh Gilda.

Speaker 321:06

Rumble.

Speaker 121:07

Uh

Ileana Cotrubas21:09

And what else? I would like to do a manot or Romeo-Juliette manoeuvre. Mano, certainly.

Speaker 321:10

Uh

Presenter21:14

What do you like to sing on the concert platform? What do you enjoy singing most in in recital?

Ileana Cotrubas21:19

Oh, I like very much singing Mozart and uh giving recitals with songs by uh Schubert, uh by Foray, Debussy, um Brahms, uh, I mean the the whole and of course uh

Presenter21:29

Undercourse at high school.

Ileana Cotrubas21:31

Georgian Esu, yes. He has a cycle of uh seven songs, uh uh text by Cl Clement Maraud, and they are very beautiful, they have a wonderful atmosphere, and so uh uh apropos, because we are talking about uh a Romanian composer, maybe another uh uh record what I would like to take with me on the this dreadful uh uh island.

Ileana Cotrubas21:52

Could be or should be um

Ileana Cotrubas21:54

with Dinu Lipati, uh a marvellous interpreter of uh Chopin, and um a Romanian pianist.

Presenter22:00

And what would you like to hear him play of of Chopin?

Ileana Cotrubas22:03

No, it is very difficult to to choose, but maybe we could hear um

Ileana Cotrubas22:07

The valves in Famajor, I am talking in Romanian now, Famajor F major.

Presenter22:11

Yeah.

Speaker 322:11

Yeah.

Speaker 122:12

Uh

Presenter23:14

Dino Lopati playing the Chopin Wolves number four in F major, opus thirty four, number three, a recording made at the Besancons Festival in nineteen fifty. Well now how are you going to manage on this island? You going to look after yourself? Would you be good at

Presenter23:30

cooking on a camp fire and building a hut.

Ileana Cotrubas23:35

No, I think I'll be very well it's it's very so difficult for me to to be uh

Presenter23:35

And all those things

Presenter23:39

Of course it'll be lonely, but

Ileana Cotrubas23:40

And no no other no other people at all, just myself with animals and insects.

Presenter23:44

With animals.

Presenter23:45

Animals and insects.

Ileana Cotrubas23:46

No, no, then I would prefer to die.

Ileana Cotrubas23:49

No, I don't know. I will I could not uh uh um survive uh um I think uh maybe a day, but uh when the night is uh is coming I will uh f from fear and uh anguish I will uh I will have a heart attack or uh I don't know what uh

Presenter24:03

This is awfully sad. I'm feeling very mean now at having marauded you. Would you try to escape during the twenty-four hours that you were there?

Ileana Cotrubas24:12

Well, escape I mean, I'm not good in in swimming. Could I have any possibility to to fly or um?

Ileana Cotrubas24:18

To try like like e car to do some uh

Presenter24:20

Because

Presenter24:23

He came unstuck, didn't he?

Ileana Cotrubas24:26

Yes, he didn't have enough uh.

Presenter24:28

I shouldn't try that.

Ileana Cotrubas24:29

Um no. Then I don't know. Um

Presenter24:32

I will not

Ileana Cotrubas24:33

I will not try to escape, I don't think so. I will wait or I will I will sing and I will cry for help. Maybe somebody will uh hear me.

Presenter24:39

I do hope so. What's your seventh record to be?

Ileana Cotrubas24:42

Schumann for me is very beautiful, it's very romantic and I uh as a as a as a young student I sang a lot of uh songs by by Schumann. But I chose the uh again uh something without the voice, uh a symphony.

Ileana Cotrubas24:53

the fourth symphony, uh done by Furtwengler, I think. And uh I would like to hear the the transition from the third part to the fourth.

Presenter26:00

Part of Schumann's Fourth Symphony, the transition from the third movement to the fourth, Furtwengler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Now your last record.

Ileana Cotrubas26:11

The last record, I thought uh to take some Schubert with me. And I wanted very much uh to have uh some songs by Schubert, but uh I wanted to to have it uh interpreted by myself. It's not possible because uh I wasn't given the chance from any uh record companies to to to make such a record. And uh so

Presenter26:14

Yeah.

Ileana Cotrubas26:31

If I don't have uh this possibility to to have mice singing Schubert, then I thought to take uh uh Alfred uh because I want enter, I'm sure I will do such a record in in in the future, maybe in five years where I'll be no more good, uh to make such a record with Alfred Brendel as uh accompanist. Uh so I I thought to take uh now uh a Schubert uh with Alfred Brendel. And I thought uh now for um to hear um uh impromptu in E-flat with Alfred Brendel.

Presenter27:59

Alfred Brendel playing the Schubert Impromptu, number two in E flat, D nine four six. If you could take just one disc out of the eight you played us, which would it be?

Ileana Cotrubas28:10

I think I would uh prefer to take um verdiriquem.

Presenter28:13

the Verde Requiem and you're allowed to take one luxury to the island with you.

Ileana Cotrubas28:18

Well, I would like to have Capella Sixtina t taken with me. Am I allowed?

Presenter28:22

To have

Ileana Cotrubas28:23

Capella sixteen

Presenter28:24

Sistine Chapel. Yes, it it's it's it's beautiful, it's gorgeous. You would have to promise not to live in it, I mean just to have it to look at.

Ileana Cotrubas28:30

Yes, look at it. Yes, yes, of course. Yeah. If you will not be there, I could live in it as well.

Presenter28:35

Oh no no no no no no, we have to trust you.

Ileana Cotrubas28:37

Trust me.

Presenter28:40

Right. So you've got that. And and and one book apart from the Bible and Shakespeare and big encyclopedias.

Ileana Cotrubas28:46

Well, I would like to have the whole history of the world from the beginning.

Presenter28:50

Yeah.

Ileana Cotrubas28:51

The date

Presenter28:51

The most complete world history, yes.

Ileana Cotrubas28:52

The most complete world history, yes, ya.

Presenter28:54

All right, you shall have that.

Ileana Cotrubas28:56

Thank you. That's kind.

Presenter28:56

Okay.

Presenter28:58

And thank you, Ilyana Kostubash, for letting us hear your desert island disc.

Ileana Cotrubas29:00

Thank you.

Ileana Cotrubas29:02

Thank you.

Presenter29:03

Goodbye everyone.

Speaker 129:11

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.