Josep Carreras

Well, again, we will appeal, we will try to sensibilize the German society through the MDR channel to make donations, that through the José Carreras Leukemia Foundation we can help and we can be part of that the patients can do better every day, that the patients can have better treatments, that the patient can have better quality of life during the treatments, and I expect again this wonderful solidarity, generosity we received for the last 14 years. This, I have to say, it has been overwhelming, the reaction and the support of the German population.

This year is the Puccini year, the anniversary of the birthday. You are one of the world's most famous Puccini interpreters. What is so special about Puccini compared to Verdi, Donizetti?

Well, I think Puccini was the king of melody. He knew how to create the right atmosphere under every dramatic situation, and the melodies are always extraordinary, the beauty of the melodies are extraordinary. He was a great, great man to orchestrate. He was a great orchestrator. He knew every instrument, he knew how to combine, how to amalgam of the instruments, and the Puccini music, it's very immediate, it's so passionate, it's something that it gets to you immediately, it grabs you because it's so intense and so so intense and so passionate.

sometimes it's hard not to get even too much involved during a performance.

Well, that's what I wanted to ask next. What do you care about if you sing Puccini? What's the special, what's the difficulty with Puccini arias?

Well, I think that it's important. The music is, of course, always the first thing, but in Puccini, it's important the text. It's important that together with the music, you try to deliver the text, every word, every feeling, every emotion in the text that is necessary because in this period, musical period, the end of 19th century, beginning of the 20th century, the verismo era, etc., etc., I think the text has a vital importance in the opera.

We know the Puccini arias as sentimental, sometimes melancholy, filled with melancholy. Is this attractive for the audience?

Well, it is attractive. The proof is that Puccini is probably one of the most represented composers in the opera world. I mean, there is no opera house that every year they do In the repertoire, they don't do a Puccini opera. You can name it: Bohème, Butterfly, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Turandot, etc., etc. So therefore, I think that Puccini is it's a must. Puccini is one of the audience's favorite composers.

Let me proceed about this. For a long time, Puccini was supposed to be too easy sometimes, too sentimental, he was laughed about that. Today, his operas are in the Every opera house in the world plays it. What do you believe is part of this success? What makes his music so successful?

Well, I think that this is what I said: this immediate contact you get with the music, this, in Italian, you would call immediatezza. So that means that it goes right there in your soul, in your heart, this kind of music. It's something that is not only intellectual, but visceral. It doesn't only get into you through the intellect, but through this passion, emotional, what we call soul. So Puccini touches the soul of the opera lovers, of the spectators.

So would you say Puccini is pure emotion?

It is pure emotion, yes, extremely. I consider myself a very privileged person because I had the possibility to sing his melodies, his music. And when you are singing, I don't know, the last act of Bohème, or you're singing Manon Lescaut, or you're singing Tosca, the artist, the singer has to participate in this music.

There's no escape, there's no way to escape. You get involved 100%.

Thank you very much. Thank you. München, 2003.