(no subject)

[skygiants]

The last book I read on our vacation was Star on the Door, a memoir by opera singer Maggie Teyte, which Beth picked up from a dollar-book cart in Hay-on-Wye.

Teyte seems to have had sort of an up-and-down career -- she was quite successful as a hot young singer around the turn of the century, then had trouble finding a permanent position, got married, semi-retired, got divorced, struggled for a while to make a comeback, and eventually climbed back into success in the thirties and forties by making some gramophone records that became extremely popular and shot her back to celebrity status.

This summary of her life is gleaned as much from Wikipedia as from the book itself, which is as much a how-to manual of what sort of things you might want to think about as a midcentury opera singer (this is how you work with an accompanist; this is how you arrange a musical repertoire for a drawing room concert; these are my thoughts on how and when to utilize tempo rubato) as an actual description of events that occurred in Maggie Teyte's apparently quite eventful life. She talks extensively about her schooling and tosses off the vaguest referents to her marriages; sometimes she'll put in a whole set of press clippings about how spectacular she was in a role and equally often she'll remember an anecdote about a completely botched audition or performance -- "I have no press cuttings of this, which I think is as well, for it must have been awful!" -- but she also jumps over huge swathes of her career without a single word about it. At one point she says offhandedly "Activities outside music included the invention of a fire-extinguisher, which was taken up by the British Admiralty, and a much-publicized game of golf in America, in which I somehow managed to beat the then champion Francis Ouimet. There was also a mild scandal on a transatlantic liner when the captain refused to allow me to go ashore wearing trousers." None of this is ever mentioned again. Maggie! You invented a fire extinguisher! I'd like to know about all that!

My favorite chapter is actually the one that Maggie didn't write, which was provided by a friend who lived with her during WWII and is full of compelling descriptions of tiny middle-aged soprano Maggie enthusiastically chopping firewood and becoming a mechanic in order to drive an enormous truck for the army. "Maggie was assigned to a kind of large garage as an overseer to the female staff, but she didn't like this work. She hated having to keep other people in order, having a secret sympathy for breakers of rules in general. But she did enjoy a little highly successful detective work when one girl was discovered to be the leader of a Communist ring." Maggie, of course, never provides more information about any of this and in the next chapter we're back to talking about the difficult musical qualities of Schönberg. It's fair that she would assume that I'm here for, given that this is indeed billed as an opera memoir, but Maggie! You became a war mechanic and uncovered some sort of spy situation! I'd like to know about all that!

It was both an interesting and an idiosyncratic read and if we'd had more space in our luggage and fewer used books to bring home, I might have made the case to hold onto it in order to pass it along to someone else who might be idiosyncratically interested in turn. However, conditions being as they were, we asked qian during our (lovely!) brunch on the last morning in London if there were any convenient little free libraries in the vicinity where we might abandon it before flying home, and received the reassuring answer that the cafe we were eating in was a perfectly respectable place to leave it. I hope whoever picks it up from there enjoys it!

Comments

[wychwood]

Haha, that sounds amazing, and I've just recced it to my sister (who works in opera).

[skygiants]

I hope she enjoys it if she reads it, it definitely seems targeted towards people who know More About Opera!

[oracne]

That sounds like fun and also great fodder for future fiction!

[skygiants]

Definitely reading enough actor/performer memoirs has set all kinds of gears clicking away in my brain about writing some theater-based sff!

[musesfool]

Wow, where is the lightly fictionalized biopic of her?

[skygiants]

I feel like every time I pick up a biography I end up asking this question!

[osprey_archer]

She uncovered a spy ring and didn't even bother to write about it! MAGGIE! Whole memoirs have been written on less.

[skygiants]

But why would she take the time to tell us about this when she could use that chapter explaining when and how it's appropriate to try and imitate the vocal qualities of another singer?

[rachelmanija]

Yes, I want THAT.

[skygiants]

"opera singer turned war mechanic solves mysteries during WWII" seems frankly like a surefire historical fiction bestseller

[qian]

I don't know that I had authority to say the cafe was a correct place to leave the book ... that said, I wouldn't be surprised if it were still there now!

[skygiants]

It's too late, you're our trusted authority! [Though if anyone reading this from London wants to go and check if it's still there they're welcome to report back.]

[bookblather]

Maggie Teyte sounds AMAZING, and I am so amused by what she finds interesting about her own life. Which is really my thoughts on autobiographies and memoirs always; what do you find interesting about yourself? My mom wrote her own memoirs and there's three or four threads there she's really into. I read a memoir about someone's near-death experiences. Maggie is interested in Opera and nothing else. Love it.

[skygiants]

Yeah, my grandfather also wrote his own memoirs and what interests him is definitely idiosyncratic (he's much more interested in anything that might make a funny story than most of the extremely dramatic events he actually lived through.) It definitely always gives a strong sense of someone's personality!

[kore]

This sounds really interesting!

[skygiants]

Definitely a worthwhile experience for the one pound we paid for it!

[luzula]

In terms of chapter-worthy topics thrown away in an aside, this sounds a little like Naomi Mitchison!

[skygiants]

It's true, though Naomi to her credit is almost always talking about something that's directly relevant to my interests even if much of it doesn't make me do the HUGE DOUBLE TAKE that a couple of her throwaway lines do!

[chestnut_pod]

Well, this sounds delightful! THere's something about music memoirs, I think, and even music biographies, where these people clearly had wild lives beyond the musical sphere, but the writers think everyone is there strictly for the music, so they leave out eg fire extinguishers. A shame!!

[skygiants]

It's so fair and valid to write for your intended audience and ignore everyone else but perhaps your intended audience is also interested in the gossip, Maggie!

[aella_irene]

I really want to read this set against We Followed Our Stars by Ida Cook, in which she explains how she became a successful romance author as a side hustle in order to pursue her passion for opera, and then ended up using the money to help Jewish refugees escape from Germany, along with smuggling their valuables out for them. (Her tips: an expensive brooch on a cheap coat looks cheap, and if you make sure to leave by a different border post, no one will know you didn't wear that fur coat coming in.)