https://www.wku.edu/music/volkman.php
It is difficult for me to talk about Ms. Volkman without talking about opera and the voice. Our relationship was based on music for obvious reasons. It reminds me of one of the most special aspects of studying a musical instrument. You are 1 on 1 in lessons with not only someone who is very accomplished in what they are teaching but also have a mentor who passes on wisdom to you in the lesson and in many discussions you have outside of that. They don’t get paid enough because the psychological support they provide you and how to handle being a musician and a person who is out there offering their souls to the world is priceless. Although I don’t know for a fact, but I’ve always assumed that her recommendation for me to Eastman, which is not something you necessarily know about, was very instrumental in my acceptance there. When your time with them stops they don’t stop being your mentor and friend. This is how it was with Ms. Volkman and I, and I dare say many others also had that experience with her. She wasn’t a weeping violet by any means. She was direct, to the point, honest, and extremely giving and kind in the process. She believed in being strong.I loved it.
We met several weeks ago just to catch up and I went over to her house and we talked for several hours about many things going on in her life. We had a common language from the world of opera performance and voice. I didn’t grasp some of what she taught when I was in college, but now I understand them. We were supposed to have dinner with friends one afternoon about a week later and I was surprised she wasn’t there. She had become ill but I had no idea it was from Covid until several days later when I was told she was in the hospital. I was concerned about her condition due to her recent medical conditions.
I hadn’t heard anything and since several weeks had passed and assumed she was on the mend. A friend of mine who was in contact with her said she thought that she was improving too.
She always had an open door for me and when we visited over a cup of coffee we laughed a lot. We weren’t on the same page at all politically or religiously in certain ways, but we never talked about that because it doesn’t really matter in personal relationships and we both knew very well where the other stood and respected that. The last piece of advice she did give me was “Seek God’s wisdom in choosing your path forward.” She said it with genuine love for me and I will never forget that.
She was emptying her house of things because of her upcoming move. She asked if I wanted some opera scores and said she wanted me to have them, which is an honor in itself. Tosca, Manon Lescaut, and Albert Herring. I wanted to talk about Tosca because I imagine she would have been the hammer at that but it was time to leave. I am so grateful to her for her always welcoming presence. She will be sorely missed and I send my deepest condolences to her family and friends.
The aria Vissi d’arte, “I lived for art” from the opera Tosca by Puccini.
I lived for art, I lived for love
I never did harm to a living soul
With a furtive hand so many troubles I encountered I soothed
Always with sincere faith my prayer rose to the holy tabernacles
Always with sincere faith I gave flowers to the altars, In my hour of sorrow
why, why, Lord, why do you repay me so?
I gave jewels to the Madonna's mantle and I gave my singing to the stars in heaven
which then shined more beautifully In my hour of sorrow
why, why, Lord, oh, why do you repay me so?
I can imagine Ms. Volkman's "Tosca" would be something like this.
A little collection of memories of Elizabeth Volkman...
The first time I saw Ms. Volkman was of her audition recital for the facutly position at WKU back in 1982 or so? I was just getting started in studying voice so her amazing stage presence, voice, and artistry were otherworldly to me. She reminded me somewhat of Anna Keith, the wife of First Baptist Church's former Minister of Music, Bill Keith, who was an amazing artist in her own right. I was like, "uh, yeah, hire her! Duh!"
I didn't become her student until the departure of Dr. Charles S. Hausman, and the retirement of Dr. Ohm Pauli, but she was always incredibly supportive and helpful at all times. When I finally did study with her, I found her to be completely serious professionally, very focused, and involved. She completely cared about you as a teacher and mentor. I didn't study that long with her because I left for Eastman shortly thereafter, but we worked very hard and she had so much real experience from which to draw.
They asked me to sing the West Side Story Suite with her with the WKU orchestra down at the old Bowling Green High School auditorium. This was my first time singing this of course and managed pretty well despite my experience. When we sang the duet "Tonight" I felt like Little Bo Peep next to her. Not that she was blasting away, I'm sure she was just coasting through the whole thing, but when we went to the high A at the end of the duet her voice took off like a rocket. I thought a bomb had exploaded next to me. I was like, you can't be serious, right?
I've been around a couple of singers who could have that effect. One experience I had was sitting next to the incredible bass-baritone Simon Estes in a church service in Zürich just singing hymns. That guy was the oracle in person. Another such singer was David Brown during choral rehearsals at the Stephen Foster Story way back in 1981. Singing as a first tenor next to him was a real experience because he sang that tenor part with such ease and purity of sound, and believe me it is high as 1st tenor choral parts go. Other singers who could have this effect on me were Janice Baird in Salome in Osnabrück and Frau Lorenz, can't recall her first name now since we were per Sie in rehearsals, in Bremerhaven as the Küsterin in Jenufa. She was a guest from the National Theater in Mannheim. These are singers that can lift the roof off of the theater. Ms. Volkman's voice was like that.
As the years passed when I was in Germany I would come home and visit with her over coffee and have a great time talking shop. She was always great to talk with on everything having to do with "the scene".
One day at WKU we had been working on "E luce van le stelle" from Tosca and she took me over to Sylvia Kersenbaum's studio and asked her if she would play for me and coach some on it, something Sylvia is maybe the best coach WKU ever had, especially considering she knows more about opera than most anyone I know, even though she is "just" a pianist, haha! Well, at that time Sylvia scared me to death, because as high a regard I held Ms. Volkman, it didn't come close to the musical respect, or maybe better said, fear I had for Sylvia. To me she was Goliath. Anyway, I gotta say I don't really remember the session as much as I remember being a bit scared to enter the Lion's den. Today, of course, Sylvia is just so great to be around.
When Ms. Volkman moved here she lived just 3 doors down the street. I remember one summer I think she came back from vacation and her freezer had died and she called and asked me to come help clean it out. I'll never forget the stench of doing that. I told her I was wondering if there were any conductors or directors diced up inside that thing and she said "No, but a couple of tenors!" and we had a good laugh on that joke!
She always came to whatever I was doing here in town and was always such a cheerful and enthusiastic person towards me.
I'm glad I thanked her for all she had done for me over the years when we last met because what a shame it would be if she didn't know how much I valued her over the years.