‘Tancredi’ Features Two Specialists of the Bel-Canto Repertory : For Horne, a Return to Opera in L.A.

While her friend and colleague Dame Joan Sutherland is starting a series of career twilight performances of Bellini’s “Norma” in Orange County, mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne is preparing to don the costume of a Renaissance knight--yes, knight-- and warble the bel-canto repertory that has made her an international star.

Horne will sing the title role of Rossini’s “Tancredi,” beginning tonight in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, in a co-production by Los Angeles Music Center Opera and Chicago Lyric Opera.

But Horne, 55, has no intention of hanging up sword and armor yet.

“1992 is the Rossini Year--Rossini’s 200th birthday--so I definitely want to be around for that,” she said in an interview. “(Then) we’ll see how it goes. I think a career like mine that has been rooted solidly in recitals and concerts as well as opera can take a while to run its course.”

Horne’s career has carried her far from Long Beach, where she grew up to study at USC with William Vennard and Gwendolyn Koldofsky.

But while she has been out impressing the opera world in general, could it be possible that Los Angeles has not seen her in an operatic role for 23 years?

“Yes, it is,” she said. “First of all, there hasn’t been much opera in Los Angeles. I’ve done a lot of recitals at Ambassador College and I’ve done a lot of recitals at UCLA, but I have not sung with the (Los Angeles) Philharmonic since 1975 and I’ve not sung in the Hollywood Bowl since 1978.”

Why not?

“I don’t think I’ve been asked--which is quite interesting,” she said. “Which is a bit sad for me because, for instance, an enormous part of my concert repertory is Mahler. I do all of the Mahler cycles . . . and I feel that they suit me very, very much. And I’m really sad that I haven’t sung them here.”

Although Horne began operatic life as a soprano, she steadily discarded the higher roles and began specializing in the lower mezzo and contralto repertory. Even then, she increasingly opted for roles once sung by mezzo and alto castrati.

“I’ve done 10 Rossini operas, seven of which are serious operas, and if I would do anything (more), I might do ‘Ciro in Babilonia’ or maybe ‘La Pietra del Paragone’,” she said.

Horne insists that these roles are going to remain in the active repertory and are not be seen merely as her personal vehicles.

“ ‘Tancredi’ is almost a repertory work, as is ‘Semiramide’,” she said.

Horne also feels that there are younger singers coming up who can take over this repertory, including mezzos Martine Dupuy, Lucia Valentini-Terrani and Kathleen Kuhlmann. Whether they will have her longevity remains to be seen, of course.

Horne said that she was “coming on to the 35th anniversary” of her opera debut and wanted to set the record straight about her age.

“I’ve just turned 55,” she said. “There are some fools who wrote not too long ago in some German book that I’m five years older, and that managed to get into Grove’s Dictionary for one edition until we protested vehemently. Come on, give me a break. I’m definitely not 60.”

She acknowledges few concessions to the passing of time, however.

“I do transpose, occasionally, things in (Rossini’s) ‘Bianca e Falliero.’ But that was written for a much higher voice than mine,” she said.

“One would hope that the understanding is greater through having lived, having experienced great tragedies in one’s life, having lost so many people that one has loved.

“I don’t think that we grow being happy. I think we grow in our tragedies and our sadness,” she added. Horne cited the loss of her parents and, particularly, her brother (“that was the big one”) 10 years ago in a plane crash in San Diego.

But she said there is no tragedy or strain in working with her former husband, Henry Lewis, who will conduct the Los Angeles performances of “Tancredi.”

“It’s great. It’s wonderful,” she said. “There is a familiarity so much with each other’s musical wishes that it’s a great pleasure.”

She said it was unlikely, however, that she would be able to visit or hear Sutherland, whose next “Norma” in Orange County was a few days off.

“(It’s) the day after my dress rehearsal,” Horne said. “The two days between the dress and the opening night, I stay quiet. I definitely rest the voice. I try not to talk too much.”