PremiereOpera.com is having a DVD sale--every DVD is $5! They have great stuff--historical singers, stuff not available commercially (although one assumes it is legal for them to sell it), European stuff you can't see so much in the US. Go! Buy! Help them stay in business!

New blog post here

Here is my first post about the beautiful Virginia Zeani. It is still one of the chief regrets of my life that I didn't study with this lady when given the opportunity.

This is a lovely clip from I Puritani, my new favorite opera:



This clip, much later in her career, is from Aida:

I had never heard of this lady before this week, but I am amazed! I wish I had heard her live! Elinor Ross sang at all the big houses, with lots of big stars. She was buds with Callas. She retired from the stage in 1979, but she's still alive and kicking!



Here is the Wikipedia bio-blurb, but frankly, the Opera News article linked above is more informative.

OK, here's another video from the same 1967 Norma:



(Cross-posted here.)

This is the incomparable Mady Mesplé. I first encountered this lovely lady as a callow lad of 19 or so back in [**mumbles year**]. I picked up an LP recording of French coloratura arias sung by Mlle Mesplé, and my excitement knew no bounds! This was my first exposure to the Bell Song from Lakme, the Doll Song from Hoffmann, and quite a few other gems of the French coloratura repertoire.

Here, however, we have Zerbinetta's aria from Ariadne auf Naxos, quite a tour de force, which the lovely Mlle Mesplé sings as if it were as easy as breathing to her. Apparently this was in Aix-en-Provence in 1966. The video quality isn't terrific, but the singing more than makes up for it!



Although her Wikipedia bio-blurb states she did a lot of recording, it's not always easy to find those recordings.

Normally I wouldn't post Pavarotti--my focus is on lesser-known 20th century singers. But this clip is simply so amusing I had to share it. Pavarotti being funny and charming during a masterclass Q&A session. No date is given, but it looks very much like the 1980s.

Yeah it's been a while. Bite me. I present for your edification and delight Cesare Valletti singing one of my favorite roles, Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore:




Here is his Wikipedia bio-blurb. Quite a list of singers he shared the stage with, not to mention stages upon which he trod!

I present Aida starring Sophia Loren! Yes, you heard me right! It's the 1951 movie. Here is the famed duet between Aida (acted by Sophia Loren, sung by Renata Tebaldi) and Amneris (acted by Lois Maxwell of MoneyPenny fame, sung by Ebe Stignani) have their legendary cat fight. It doesn't get much better than this!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Grace Bumbry as Aida and Grace Bumbry as Amneris. At the same time.



At first I thought this was some modern wizardry, splicing together two performances from the same production (more than once she sang two roles in the same production run--at least once on the same night!), but no! According to the poster on YouTube, this is from a BBC documentary from 1973 in which they highlighted Ms. Bumbry's versatility and the fact that she was singing both mezzo and soprano roles and doing wonderfully. Imagine how difficult that was in 1973!

OK, here is Wikipedia bio-blurb, and here (lip-synching to her own recording in a movie), here (another 1973 TV show), and here (2003 at age 66) are more examples of the wonderful artistry of this woman, who, remarkably is still performing concerts and teaching.

Yes, I'm posting a lot this weekend. Don't know why. It is what it is.

I give you the amazing Martina Arroyo, singing the Libera me from Mr Verdi's Requiem:



It is quite unfortunate that Ms. Arroyo is not higher on the list of mid-20th century singers, because, well, listen to this (unfortunately truncated before it's over). And this. And this. Oh, and this especially!

Here is her bio on Wikipedia. Here is her own web site. I'm happy to report she is alive and kicking, and has created an educational foundation for helping young singers prepare for a career.

I give you Anita Cerquetti. There don't appear to be any performance videos available, but here is 1996 video of her hearing a 1956 pirated recording of her Norma in Jan Schmidt-Garre's film Opera Fanatic..



( Wikipedia bio-blurb )

Here is a link to another Cerquetti jewel on YouTube, "O re del ciel" from Agnes von Hohenstaufen. I know you don't know it, but go listen. It's terrif!

I give you Risë Stevens, the Carmen of the 40s and 50s, who turns 96 today!



( Bio-blurb courtesy of WIkipedia )

Leporello's catalogue aria, auf Deutsch!, at the opening of the Deutsche Oper Berlin:



And Don Pizarro's aria from Fidelio:



Walter Berry was a remarkably versatile bass-baritone (yes, I'm featuring a bass!) with a very long career. I'll spare you the cut-and-paste bio-blurb, but this link has a blurb (that surely began life in some other language) and some interesting pictures.

In compiling this modest blogette, I often have trouble choosing just one (or sometimes two) YouTube clip(s) to feature, but it's rare I have to make a very difficult choice between two clips of the same aria, and even more rare, two clips of the same aria from the same year! But choose I did, and I give you Montserrat Caballe, whom I can't even begin to describe with my humble words, singing "Casta diva" from Sr. Bellini's tour de force Norma in 1974 at the Theatre Antique d'Orange in Aix En Provence. The wind cooperated quite beautifully with the performance, and it picks up quite noticeably in the cabaletta that follows.



The other 1974 Norma was at the Bolshoi in Moscow--also vocally amazing, and the ovation lasts forever before she raises her hand to stop the audience so that the show can go on. Chills. I hope you'll look up that clip as well.

The story? Your typical Hatfields and McCoys star-crossed lovers. Capulets and Montagues, Egyptians and Ethiopian slaves, American Naval officers and Japanese geisha girls, Druids and Romans--it's all the same. That's why it works so well. Oh, did I mention he betrays her by cavorting with her gal pal?

Here is the touching "Qual cor tradisti" from the same performance. Oh, and by the way, John Vickers is in this clip.



One more--the final scene from the same performance. I can't resist. It's simply amazing.



I'm tempted to post all the Caballe clips! The Orange performance is considered by afficionados and by Sra. Caballe herself to be her finest--some say the finest example of opera on video anywhere. One of those instances where everything worked together to make magic. It's available on DVD. If any of you love me, you might consider buying it for me.

I normally would cut and paste the Wikipedia bio-blurb, but frankly, I can't be bovvered. I want to go back to listening to YouTube clips!

Today I give you the lovely Bidu Sayão:




( Wikipedia bio--plus a bonus )

Questions for my faithful readers: How can I get a wider readership for these posts? Is this the sort of thing that would make a good RSS feed? How would I make that happen?

So today I give you Virginia Zeani:



I'm sorry this one isn't actually a video, but rather a pastiche of images and text, but please do listen and read the narrative. This is an amazing recording!

For video, I'm afraid the only thing on YouTube is the following, in which Signora Zeani is singing Aida against along with Elena Cernei as Amneris.



[Edit: Spoke too soon. Out of synch but still great!]



Virginia Zeani (born October 21, 1925) is a Romanian soprano, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, especially the role of Violetta in La traviata.
( Bio-blurb from Wikipedia )
On a personal PagerNote, your intrepid reporter auditioned for Miss Zeani's studio when he was a student at Indiana University, and was invited to study with her, but foolishly listened to someone who advised him to study with a famous tenor also teaching there. Said tenor turned out to be a dolt.

Bio once again ganked from Wikipedia.

Ladies and gentlemen, today I give you Leyla Gencer, seen here in a 1963 production of Aida at Verona's outdoor theater, from Italian TV:




And another from 1966:




( abridged Wikipedia bio-blurb behind cut )

From the NY Times obituary (5/13/08):

Pre-empted by better-known contemporaries like Callas and Renata Tebaldi, Ms. Gencer did not have a contract with a major commercial record label. But her voice traveled the globe many times over in bootleg recordings, earning her the nickname the Pirate Queen.

If she “never made a lira” from these recordings, as Ms. Gencer told Opera News in 2003, they had other compensations.

“All the young people know me,” she said at the time. “They write me long letters. They tell me: ‘It’s as if we were in the theater. We see you. We hear you through your discs as if we were there.’ This is a great miracle!”

I give you Swedish tenor Gösta Winbergh. True, he's a little later in the 20th century than the mid-century singers I usually feature, but he was a very fine singer. And he's dead. He's a tenor I admired very much in my student days, and although my voice is a different sort than his (he later moved into heavier repertoire I, in middle age, remain a light lyric tenor), I admire his Mozart singing. These are two arias I studied and used as audition arias.





(Yes, I know the quality on this second video clip isn't good, but the singing is!)

( Wikipedia bio-blurb within )

Ask me some time how it came about that I saw him in his underwear.