Posted on 08/14/2016 9:54:47 AM PDT by Rummyfan
When the dust of history settles an amateur opera singer from the 1920s may come to symbolize the American presidency of a century thence. Florence Foster Jenkins was a Pennsylvania socialite who aspired to be a diva. The trouble was she couldn't sing a note. "From her recordings it is apparent that Jenkins had little sense of pitch or rhythm, and was barely capable of sustaining a note. Her accompanist, Cosmé McMoon, can be heard making adjustments to compensate for her tempo variations and rhythmic mistakes. Unfortunately, there was nothing McMoon could do to help conceal the glaring inaccuracy of Jenkins' intonation: the notes she sang were consistently flat and their pitch deviated from the sheet music by as much as a semitone. Her dubious diction, especially in foreign languages, is also noteworthy. Additionally, the technically challenging songs she performed, requiring levels of musical skill far beyond her ability and vocal range, served only to emphasize these deficiencies."
However her reputation was very skilfully burnished by what would today be termed spin-doctoring. "Despite the vocal and musical inaccuracies of her performances, which took place mostly at small salons or recital halls, Jenkins became popular for the amusement she unwittingly provided. Audience members sometimes described her technique as 'intentionally ambiguous', which may have served to pique public curiosity; for example, 'Her singing at its finest suggests the untrammeled swoop of some great bird.' Attendance at her rare recitals was by personal invitation only—and invitations were never extended to mainstream music critics. As a result, until her one public performance, at Carnegie Hall, objective critiques never appeared in the legitimate press. Favorable articles and bland reviews, published in specialty music publications such as The Musical Courier, were most likely written by her friends, or herself."
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
It's frightening and not a little sad. Wait. The high note is yet to come
Good article. And I hate to give Hollywood my money, but that movie looks good!
Interesting the same title for two different articles...
Was she a fat lady?...........
Ah, so it was the same article, just two different sources...
Florence Foster Jenkins is a hilarious story. She really thought she sounded fine but, OMG. Her contemporary today would be Jeb (Please clap) Bush.
Nope.
I would rather hear Jenkins sing than Hillary give a speech.
I thought the article was getting ready to compare a talentless fat lady to HRC.
i’ve seen the ads for the movie & heard the singing. Her voice sounds similar to Hyacinth Bucket on the British comedy “ Keeping up Appearances”.
Anyone who is familiar with that show knows exactly what I mean. Hilarious.
She was a wealthy socialite and nobody dared tell her she sucked for fear that they’d wind up in Ft. Marcy Park.
Just as if someone in the “mainstream media” threw down on Hellery! She’d do what she could to ruin them.
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