Margo, It has long been known in Scotland that Burn's didn't like his folk songs to be sung with vibrato, and this has been talked about in many books. Dr. Fred Freeman who produced the CD series, The Complete Songs of Robert Burns, says in Vol. 1 of the series:

"What interests me is that Burns himself, along with the early music theorists whom he knew and respected (William Tytler and James Beattie) was deeply involved in the self-same battle as the modern Scottish folk artists. Only his battle was (from their point of view historically) before the fact: with the advent of classical and early romantic trends he disapproved of for folk song - especially the more homophonic texture of the music; the heavier articulation and vibrato in singing; the less communal the character of performance".

He also wrote the song "Amang the trees where humming bees' which makes fun of the opera. He grew up with his mother, and another woman who stayed with them, singing all the old songs of the day. He loved that anybody could sing them, whether they were decent singers or not. Burn's was a peasant and wasn't a good musician or singer. His wife, Jean, would sing the songs for him, which was a great pleasure in his life.

The reason many people stopped listening to Scottish songs was that the record companies would only release records which had the likes of Peter Morrison and Moira Anderson singing on them. Yes, they are wonderful singers, but they aren't right for the songs of Robert Burns. People just got fed up with them. Now, thankfully, CD's like Dr. Fred's are coming out with singers who sing in a voice the way Burn's would have approved of.

By the way, I love opera, and in fact next week I'm going to see Lucia de Lammermoor! And I'm sure you sing the songs of Burns beautifully and I would hope that you seek out some of the obscure Burn's songs, which tend to be the most beautiful. Try Gloomy December or one of the many others.