Gregorian Chant in SaddleBrooke: A Sacred Sound Revived
I am always delighted by discovery. So when I heard that a group had been formed to sing Gregorian Chants in SaddleBrooke, I set out to find who it is that still sings in Latin (outside of a monastery). I also wanted to meet the person who knew enough about this sacred music, sometimes referred to as plainchant, to bring a group together to present it.
So I arranged an interview with Madeleine Fiorino, of recent Gregorian Chant fame here in Tucson. I was expecting to meet a rather scholarly, serious person—definitely a Roman Catholic, in a home filled with Renaissance art and dusty first volume books. Boy, was I wrong!
The woman who is the catalyst for SaddleBrooke’s chanters sat across the table from me in her home — a light, bright, and airy space filled with Native American art. I teased her when she said she had once been an opera singer.
“You’re too little to belt out opera,” I said.
She laughed, and as we talked about her life, I realized I was with a genuine talent who I’m sure has held many an audience in the palm of her hand as easily as she was mesmerizing me. This is a woman who should sing Broadway show tunes, I thought — as I found the singer to also be a brilliant storyteller. Well, it turns out she has done Broadway as well.
Let’s start at the beginning. Miss Madeleine Turgeon (her maiden name) was, at the ripe old age of nine, a Canadian singing sensation. She started singing lessons at eight with Caruso’s singing coach.
“I grew up in a musical, French Canadian household,” she said. “And I could speak five languages, which means I could sing in them as well.”
The little soprano that had wowed audiences at home, by twelve, found herself in the Big Apple. Her first engagement was at the Blessed Sacrament Church on Lexington Avenue, and it was there in the congregation of that church that she met Kate Smith (known at the time as The First Lady of Radio).
It was through Smith, who was as awed by the little girl’s talent as everyone else, that she made her way to Radio City Music Hall. She was hired for $250 a month to be a regular singer on a radio program called “Coast to Coast on the Bus” hosted by Milton Cross.
“That was a lot of money at the time,” exclaimed Fiorino. “It was at Radio City Music Hall that a man in the audience approached me and insisted I should study at a prominent school of music in Manhattanville.”
The school was the Pius X School of Liturgical Music, and Fiorino was awarded a full scholarship. She also received a scholarship at Juilliard.
Her scholarship to the music school came from The Religious of the Sacred Heart, a French order founded by Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, which operated the Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart in Purchase, New York. That became the Pius X School of Liturgical Music. Priests, seminarians, organists, and choir directors came from all over the United States to attend this most prestigious school where Fiorino would live for 12 years of her life.
Classes were offered in Gregorian chant, chironomy (the conducting of chant), theory, harmony, liturgical singing, organ, voice, polyphony, music literature, and music education. Everyone sang in the choir. This was a world of Latin, traditional religious garb, and rosaries.
It is said that composer Richard Rodgers visited the school to hear accurate Catholic music as he prepared to compose the score for his Broadway show, “The Sound of Music.”
“I was young and far from home, so I lived with the faculty and just studied. I did not get to be with children my own age,” Fiorino said of the price one pays for such a serious and focused education at a young age. She was driven back and forth between Juilliard and Pius X.
“I was happiest when I was singing,” she continued. “The work paid off, as I made my debut at the Metropolitan Opera House playing the part of Michaela in Carmen at 18.”
Her skyrocketing singing career came crashing to earth when, soon after joining the opera, she developed a lung condition and had to return home to convalesce for a year.
Upon returning to New York, Fiorino entered the popular Major Bowes’ Amateur Hour. It is said that more than thirty thousand acts auditioned for the talent contest program. One of the successful acts was the “Hoboken Four.” The vocal quartet auditioned as “Frank Sinatra and the 3 Flashes.” Other Amateur Hour performers who went on to achieve stardom include Beverly Sills, Gladys Knight, Pat Boone, Jack Carter, Dorothy Collins, and Ann-Margret.
“I came in first, Lenny Bruce came in second, and Sarah Vaughan came in third,” said Fiorino with a laugh about the competition she was in. The win was great, she added, but her close and long-time friendship with stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, and screenwriter Lenny Bruce would be the real prize for her personally.
The man who was arrested three times for his choice of language on stage was not the person that Fiorino knew. “He told me never to compromise as an artist,” she said of Bruce. “He was a very moral person.”
It was Fiorino’s second stint in New York that brought her work on Broadway — first with Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun, and later with Shirley Jones in Oklahoma!
Eventually, Fiorino returned home to Canada and sang for national radio with her childhood friend Robert Goulet.
By 1950, Fiorino had already enjoyed a successful career, so when she met and married Lee Fiorino, she also made the decision to follow her heart instead of the stage. The couple moved to Colorado, where her husband got a job with a prestigious architectural firm.
Although she had some movie contract offers — “I have the old contracts put away somewhere” — and she sang with the Denver Opera Company and the Lyric Colorado, her life revolved around raising the five children she had with Lee.
“All our children are musical,” said Fiorino. “We have a ballet dancer, a drummer, and one that sings in a barbershop quartet. One of our sons is with us now and is singing in the Gregorian Chant group.”
When you have a passion, it draws you in, and although Fiorino was a busy mother she eventually found herself brought full circle as she worked for the church in Denver. A lot of her job revolved around teaching what she had learned at Pius X. She also taught a number of children’s choirs throughout the community, including an award-winning boys’ choir.
“It was different in the West, and as I became older I found myself embracing the spirituality from my Native American heritage,” said Fiorino, even though her work remained ecclesiastical.
It is an interesting bridge that Fiorino crossed, whose heritage is not only French Canadian but also Native American. She discovered that a piece of her ancestry comes from the Algonquins in Quebec, Canada — a culture that includes sacred chanting rituals.
Since moving to the West, Fiorino has worked tirelessly for Native American causes, and a few years ago the Blackfeet made her a member of their tribe. In tribute, they named her Asi Potaki, which means Good Flying Woman.
“I was so honored,” said Fiorino.
“Good music, soothing music, like chanting, crosses all boundaries. The unison of voices is so beautiful and reaches the spirit,” she concluded. “It is such a pleasure to teach it and perform it once again. I believe it touches people in a good way, regardless of their beliefs.”
Looking for Singers
Fiorino is looking to increase the number of participants in the Gregorian Chant group. Beginners are welcome. The group will start up again in the fall and meets once a week to practice at the Mountain View Country Club. They perform at local churches and for community organizations. If you are interested, call 520-825-7570.