Blanca Varela

The Cuban soprano Blanca Varela studied ballet, singing, and piano from an early age. At nine years old she was invited to sing tangos on the radio station CMJC, and later became the winner of a contest sponsored by the chocolate brand "La Estrella", which consisted of an invitation to travel to the city of Havana with her parents, to compete in the program La Corte Suprema del Arte, by José Antonio Alonso —where she didn't ring the famous bell and obtained second place, by applause, singing Escucha al ruiseñor, by Ernesto Lecuona—, and, the next day, at 12 noon, make a special presentation on the Cadena Crusellas, where she sang the romanza of María la O, also by Ernesto Lecuona.

Already graduated from the Music Academy of the Colonia Española de Camagüey, during her adolescence she took part in several opera recitals, where she performed the most well-known pieces of the repertoire and stood out especially in the Aria della pazzia, from Gaetano Donizetti's opera Lucía di Lammemour.

In the early 1950s she was hired to sing in variety shows in Havana, an occasion when maestro Gonzalo Roig heard her, who invited her to perform the main character in his zarzuela Cecilia Valdés. From then on she became the ideal singer for that work, as well as for María la O, Amalia Batista and other works from the Cuban zarzuela repertoire; on three occasions she was the Cio-Cio-San of Madame Butterfly, and also performed arias of the Micaela from Carmen and the Leonora from El trovador.

She successfully headed several productions at the Cabaret Tropicana, such as the versions of the zarzuela Luisa Fernanda and the operetta La viuda alegre that were created especially for her, and in 1961 singer and director Miguel de Grandy chose her to be the protagonist of six zarzuelas: Luisa Fernanda, Los claveles, La parranda, Amalia Batista, Cecilia Valdés and Katiuska; all under the direction of maestro Gonzalo Roig, for a new television program, called Viernes de gala.

In the middle of that same year she settled in the US with her husband and children, and in Miami the Sociedad Pro Arte Grateli requested her in 1968 for their second production, Luisa Fernanda, from which point on she became, along with her friend Marta Pérez, the great mainstay of Grateli, where she performed the vast international repertoire of lyric theater for more than twenty years.

She traveled to several countries in the Americas and to cities in the US to offer successful concerts that included lieder, zarzuela, opera and operetta, and in full vocal command she retired from the stage in 1987, to dedicate her art entirely to Christ, as she had been doing since 1969 with great devotion, but not on a full-time basis.

Later her voice could only be heard each week in some Christian congregation in Miami and its surroundings, the city where she lived, surrounded by her large family, the respect and affection of her companions from the world of lyric art, and a great number of admirers who treasure her recordings of Cecilia Valdés, María la O, Amalia Batista and selections from other beautiful musical compositions such as Los claveles, La parranda, Los aguinaldos, by Lola Cruz; Romanza de Soledad; Romanza de Sagrario, from La rosa del azafrán; Romanza de El clarín; Romanza de La hija del sol, and Pensar en él, from the Spanish opera Marina, by Arrieta, among many others; records all of which are conclusive proof of her marvelous, precise and exquisite voice of a light coloratura lyric soprano, with a most beautiful center, which allowed her to also sing with total brilliance more dramatic roles, such as that of Adriana, from the Spanish zarzuela Los Gavilanes, by composer Jacinto Guerrero.

In 189 countries her Christian songs can be heard on radio stations of that religious congregation.

Her childhood was very happy; she had wonderful parents, and her first "songs" were in the church that her mother took her to —at 5 years old, that hasn't been erased from me; I even remember the hurricane of '32 when it passed through Camagüey—. At nine, her mother put her to study piano and also enrolled her in ballet…, and can I tell you why I started singing tangos?, ah!, because I saw Libertad Lamarque in Ayúdame a vivir (Argentine film from 1936) and I liked it so much that I imitated her —back then Libertad sang with a higher pitched voice—, and her parents took her to the radio to sing tangos, until later on —at age ten— things changed completely, because her piano teacher commented to her mother that her voice was meant for singing lyrical things, not tangos, and she began to sing like a soprano.

Her own teacher staged Canto indio, by Ernesto Lecuona, for her, and later Escucha al ruiseñor, also by Lecuona. All the memories she has of her childhood are very pleasant, both with family and with music.

Since she was always singing the songs of the church I noticed that singing was my thing. I finished piano later —because of being in performance—, because I told myself: "I have to finish it", and I did, with my children already born, at the insistence of the same doctor who took care of them, whose advice I followed, since I understood that no matter what, time was going to pass, and it was better to take advantage of it the way he always told me.

Before going to Havana I had already been in Venezuela, Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico, because I developed my entire career in Camagüey until 1950, and the company of Mario Martínez Casado went there, and I can tell you that the Sociedad de Artistas de Camagüey required that every show that came to the society had to include local artists, something that probably didn't please Mario much, because he already had his show set up. When he heard her sing he came on stage amid applause and in front of the microphone said: "You're hired to continue with us on the tour throughout the Island, and later to visit other countries", which was something totally unexpected, because I already had my two children —a daughter eight years old and a son of six—; I never imagined that I was going to leave Camagüey, and it was very painful to have to separate from them, because I didn't conceive of it. Divorced from my first husband, I lived with my parents, and that helped me decide, because they told me: "Go, how could you not go?; we'll take care of our grandchildren".

So that tour concluded in Havana, at the Martí theater, where we performed for fifteen days, and after we got our visas we traveled to Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Upon returning to Cuba she moved to Havana with her children, so she wouldn't have to make trips between the capital and Camagüey each time the performances ended, and then I really had to figure out how to introduce myself into the world of lyric art in the capital, where there were so many figures and so much competition, and I was the newest.

I remember that the representative of Maruja González, a great Cuban soprano, took me to be seen by Rolando Ochoa, the host of Casino de la alegría (a CMQ television program), where I made a recording, and there they hired me right away and everything became easier for me.

This man who introduced me to the CMQ told me: "I'm going to take you to meet maestro Roig as well", and when we arrived the maestro was playing the piano and he began to teach me some of his pieces, and I, who already knew the Cecilia, sang the Salida for him, and he said to me: "There's going to be a new Cecilia as a tribute to Agustín Rodríguez (the author of the libretto), and you're going to be the protagonist"; imagine!, with this the doors really opened for me, because Cecilia is the best Cuban zarzuela, the most "coveted" by all the singers.

That time I premiered it with tenor Panchito Anaya, in the year 1954, and although Roig didn't ask me to, I sang Cecilia's entrance in the original key, but giving the final note in a natural D, higher than how it was written, which was a natural A, and the maestro liked it, he approved it for me, and from then on this set the standard for the other sopranos who could do it. Mara (the one from Orlando) said in an interview that I was to blame for the entrance having to be transposed down so that some singers could give a B flat or an A that sounds the way people expect.

Every time Rodney, the main choreographer of the Tropicana cabaret, was going to put lyric genre music in his shows he would call her, and she would accept because that way she could show off singing coloratura. He presented his shows with such grandeur…, and he put her as the lead figure, where she was the one who carried the vocal melody. I believe I was the precursor in bringing lyric genre to the cabaret, with selections from Marina, La viuda alegre, Luisa Fernanda; also with Cuban lyric songs, such as El cisne, by Ernesto Lecuona, where the classical ballet dancer Leonela González played the swan accompanied by Henry Boyer, who was her regular partner at that time. There were several productions, Luisa Fernanda was done by Rodney in the "chemise" style, I remember now; Rapsody in Blue, where Paquito Godínez played the piano; Tambores en La Habana…; in short, the Golden Age of Tropicana and of everything in Cuba during that decade of the fifties.

For Blanca the favorite zarzuela is Cecilia Valdés, because it's the one she has performed the most and the one that has given her the most success, accompanied by María la O. Cecilia is considered the best Cuban zarzuela; even Lecuona himself told Roig so when he played the complete score for him on the piano for the first time.

In 1961 her parents came with her children to the United States to visit a brother who was a doctor and had been living here since before 1959, but I couldn't come because I had married my third husband, who was also a doctor like my brother, and he had to work. With them already here the Urban Reform happened and the currency change, and they didn't return.

So I, who had just recorded the Katiuska which was censored, said: "I'm not singing here anymore", so as not to keep compromising myself, besides Miguel told me that other singers were already protesting about my six consecutive zarzuelas, which worked out well for me to justify my decision and be able to leave.

I believe no other Cuban lyric singer has been chosen to perform six consecutive zarzuelas on television as I was, and with maestro Gonzalo Roig no less; wonderful luck to end my stay in Cuba and leave a legacy of mine there.

Why retire so early from the stage, at the height of your artistic powers?

Well, you know that always companies and singers have differences and some disappointments are suffered, and perhaps I suffered a disappointment in 1987, so I made the decision to retire and dedicate myself to singing for Christ, as I had already been doing since 1969 without abandoning my career.

What's the greatest achievement of my life?: Having a large and very beloved family, because for me family has always been the most important, even though at times it may have been a brake on my career; just see how great it is, I have three children —the last one was born in 1962 here in the United States—, two grandchildren, now I'm going to have my fifth great-grandchild, and my first great-grandchild already made me a great-great-grandmother.