Last Saturday, I watched Meryl Streep's 2016 portrayal of Florence Foster Jenkins on TCM. I had written a piece on Madame Jenkins' devotion to music for The Christian Review in 2016, emphasizing the amateur aspect of her story. Jenkins loved classical music; she had studied piano and wanted to pursue a career as a concert pianist when younger but her father threatened to disinherit if she did. When he died and then when her mother died, she inherited the family fortune, so became a great benefactress to the arts in New York City.
Then she pursued an operatic and classical music singing career in recitals, taking lessons, hiring the hall, paying accompanists and other musicians. The problem was that she could not sing; but the question of the movie is did she know she could not sing?
The movie is beautifully produced with 1940's Manhattan as the location: lovely costumes, gorgeous decor, etc. The problem with all the characters is that the viewer cannot trust them--except for Madame Jenkins's accompanist, Cosme McMoon. He is willing to say that she can't sing but a combination of blackmail by St. Clair Bayfield and his own sympathy for her disappointment in not being able to pursue her concert pianist career makes him stay with her and accompany her on the stage, even at Carnegie Hall. Everyone is deceiving themselves and willing to be deceived, perhaps for the right reasons (?).
The end of the movie is poignant and I won't give it away, in case you haven't seen it. It led me to think that she DID NOT know she could not sing arias or art songs.
Here's a documentary that offers many more details than the movie can/does.
At about the same time as the Meryl Streep movie came out in theaters, the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDinato starred in The Florence Foster Jenkins Story, in which what Jenkins sounded like and what she thought she sounded like are contrasted:
A mix between drama and documentary, the film explores the career of Florence Foster Jenkins. Called the worst singer in the world, she pursued a career as an opera singer, staring in the 1920s, in New York City. Despite her lack of natural talent, and vocal technique, she performed in prestigious venues, and recorded records that are still sold today. Cole Porter, Gian Carlo Menotti, Lily Pons, and Sir Thomas Beecham, were counted among her fans, while Enrico Caruso is said to have “regarded her with affection and respect.” She remains a fascinating figure to this day.
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