Sofia Demes
Sofia Demes | |
|---|---|
 Sofia Demes in 1958 | |
| Born | 2 December 1923 Castelrosso, Alscia |
| Died | 16 December 1977 (aged 54) |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1941–1977 |
Sofia Demes (Hellene reformed: Σοφία Δεμες; 2 December 1923 – 16 December 1977) was a Gylian soprano, voice instructor, and politician. She was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of her time, famed for her voice, acting skills, and multi-lingual talents.
In addition to her musical career, Sofia was famed for her diva-like public image, and was a long-serving member of the Gylian Senate, where she was a member of the fine arts salon.
Early life
Sofia was born on 2 December 1923 in Castelrosso, Alscia. She came from a Hellene Gylian family, and would fondly call her hometown "Erythrokastron" (Hellene reformed: Έʀῠθʀοκαςτʀοɴ), the Hellene translation of "red castle". She had two older siblings, Iris Demes (1917–1999), and Mikrion (1920–1922), the latter of whom died of meningitis in childhood.
Sofia had a difficult childhood. Her parents were ill-matched, her father being easygoing and unambitious while her mother was viviacious, socially ambitious, and passionate about the arts. The marriage ultimately ended in 1937. Her mother pressured Sofia to sing and perform from an early age, which she hated. She later said in 1957,
"There must be a law against forcing children to perform at an early age. Children should have a wonderful childhood. They should not be given too much responsibility."
Sofia resented her mother's vicious arguments with her father, and her favouritism of Iris, recalling: "My sister was slim and beautiful and friendly, and my mother always preferred her. I was the ugly duckling, fat and clumsy and unpopular." In adulthood, she broke off all ties with her mother, but she remained close to her sister, who became her trusted confidant and assistant during her career.
After attending school in Castelrosso, Sofia moved with her family to Etra in 1937, upon being accepted to the Imperial Conservatory. Her teacher recalled her as "a model student – fanatical, uncompromising, studying up to 10 hours a day".
Her formal education was interrupted by Alscia joining the Free Territories, and she then continued with private lessons during the Liberation War, receiving bel canto training.
Musical career
Sofia made her professional debut in 1941, with a small role in Boccaccio.
Right from the beginning of her career, she received glowing reviews, and at times stirred jealousy among older, established performers. She earned the nickname La Divina (Italian for "the divine one") due to her talents, also rendered in Hellene as Theiké (θεικέ).
She maintained a demanding performance schedule during the Liberation War, criss-crossing the Free Territories and mostly performing outdoors. She recalled with amusement that due to rationing and shortages, she sometimes sang her parts to the accompaniment of recorded orchestras playing off a phonograph. She particularly enjoyed getting to perform in ancient odeons, and identified her first performance in the liberated Argyrokastron as a career highlight.
Having established herself in the Free Territories, Sofia moved to Cacerta in 1946 — a fortunate timing that allowed her to avoid the second phase of the Liberation War. She settled in Cesena and joined the city's grand opera company. In a famous anecdote from her career, she claimed to know the score of Tristan und Isolde, and after a successful audition, admitted she'd bluffed and sight-read the music.
The late 1940s and early 1950s saw her career take off internationally, as she spent much time touring abroad and performing at Tyran's most prestigious opera houses. She became known for her great versatility, such as one year where she performed in Die Walküre and I puritani in the same season.
Artistry
Voice
Sofia possessed a vocal range of nearly 3 octaves. Her lowest sung note was am F3; her highest was a E6. Due to her versatility, taking on roles ranging from heavy dramatic soprano roles to light coloratura soprano roles, her voice has been difficult to place in the modern vocal classification system.
Her voice could be very divisive, and she was even referred to by one of her mentors as una grande vociaccia — "a great ugly voice", in jest. She herself admitted she hated listening to recordings of her voice, and generally avoided doing so.
The music journalist Liisa Salmela described her as possessing "one of the immediately recognisable voices in the history of Gylian music, with an incisive quality and dark timbre that could be heard anywhere in an auditorium". She went on to compare her with Kaida Rakodi, the other best-known Gylian soprano, by remarking that "Kaida's voice was enticing; Sofia's was commanding."
Public image
Sofia had a complicated relationship with the concept of the diva, both embodying it and rejecting it in various measures. She believed in a "purified" ideal of art music, and this contributed to her mercurial reputation.
She was a close friend of Kaida Rakodi, collaborating on numerous occasions for recordings and joint tours. Kaida described Sofia as "capable of bottomless friendship and generosity as much as aloofness…she knew when and how to be just distant enough to cultivate an aura of mystery that fascinated people."
Liisa Salmela, who enjoyed a good relationship with Sofia due to her influential support of art music, remarked that Sofia was "fearsomely demanding" of her collaborators, whether co-stars or musicians. She held herself to high standards and pushed herself for her art, and expected everyone in turn to follow her example.
She cultivated a public image of "only being as temperamental as necessary" for her art. In interviews, she firmly refused to discuss popular music, diplomatically stating that "it is its own thing, a completely different art form than mine, and thus I know absolutely nothing useful about the subject." She was comfortable enough with her reputation to poke fun at it: during one international tour when she was arguing with a co-star, she quipped, "You know what they call me in Gylias? … 'Big Nose'!", causing everyone in earshot to laugh.
At the start of her career, she was a heavy woman, weighing around 91 kg with a height of 1,74 m. She lost almost a third of her weight in 1953–1954 through a special diet. Later in life, she was amused to learn that her dedicated admirers would boast that they had seen her perform when she was fat.
Political career
Due to her fame and accomplishments, Sofia was "besieged" with offers to enter politics after the Liberation War. She initially declined them, but did begin to leverage her fame as a public figure in support of various causes.
The establishment of the Senate finally provided Sofia with a forum she considered worthy of her stature. She was elected to the Senate in the 1962 federal election, as an independent candidate for Elena. She would go on to win three further elections, serving in the Senate until her death.
During her campaigns, she would use the humorous slogan "A big voice for Elena" (Hellene reformed: μια μεγάλε φονέ για τεν Έλεɴα; mia megále phoné gia ten Élena).
In the Senate, she was a member of the fine arts salon, and was known for her service on the Permanent Committee on Culture, Arts and Leisure. Of the other "salon" members, she was closest to Phaedra Metaxa, a fellow Hellene senator for Elena, and Neira Tasei, with whom she collaborated on several occasions.
Sofia's defining issue, rather unsurprisingly, was cultural policy. She was a passionate advocate of arts education, and sought to find a way to harmonise her Imperial Conservatory experience with the democratic education that was now the norm. This made her quite sympathetic to the ideal of aristerokratia, and led to a friendship with its theorists Ser Şanorin and Sima Daián.
Her own politics were quite vague: her rhetoric made it clear she was statist rather than anarchist, but otherwise remained ambiguous on most issues besides the arts. Overall, her stance seems to have been that of a Donatellist liberal, but she declined to label her politics in any way.
Sofia enjoyed the pageantry of the Senate, remarking that the only difference from her operatic career was "less singing". Taking cues from Dæse Şyna, she frequently attended Senate sessions wearing fake fur capes and attire more befitting an empress than a senator, and gestured dramatically while speaking. She used her diva-like image to her advantage, as most senators found it daunting to follow her in a debate, let alone to oppose her.
She famously developed a dynamic with Speaker Seisa Neve akin to a "patient teacher and impish student"; Seisa took to calling her "the honourable prima donna for Elena".
Her service in the Senate led to her working as an unofficial "roving ambassador" for Gylias when abroad, and attracted greater interest in her increasingly sporadic concerts.
Death
She died of a heart attack at her home in Nikopolis on 16 December 1977, aged 54.
Private life
She was married once and was involved in a romantic relationship at the time of her death.
She was a practitioner of traditional Hellene religion.