Opera

[tigerbob]

YouTube - Mario Lanza/Luciano Pavarotti: O sole Mio

O sole mio isn't opera. Nice though.

 

[tigerbob]

I went to my first opera when I was pretty young, around age 4 as I recall, so have probably been to the opera / ballet around 100-150 times. One of the things I desperately miss living in Detroit is Covent Garden.

I'll post a few of my favorite arias.

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[AquaAthena]

YouTube - Mario Lanza/Luciano Pavarotti: O sole Mio

O sole mio isn't opera. Nice though.

Ave Maria isn't either...[ it's a religious song ] but nice though...

" O sole mio is often referred to as a Neapolitan song. Neapolitan songs were songs written for an annual songwriting contest for the Festival of Piedigrotta, which began in 1830, in Naples, Italy." I put it up because I knew it would be familiar to some, here.

Thanks for your response, tigerbob...

 

[tigerbob]

Best Carmen I ever saw - Agnes Baltsa.

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[AquaAthena]

I went to my first opera when I was pretty young, around age 4 as I recall, so have probably been to the opera / ballet around 100-150 times. One of the things I desperately miss living in Detroit is Covent Garden.

I'll post a few of my favorite arias.

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What an interesting background. Thanks for sharing that. My first post to my own topic here contained the flower duet...lol, though I didn't put a video up. So many have sung it so beautifully....Love it so much..

 

[AquaAthena]

Best Carmen I ever saw - Agnes Baltsa.

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Beautiful! I have all these on my playlists..lol. Something like 38 arias and 22 more duets.

 

[tigerbob]

First grand opera I ever saw. When Scarpia signed the note authorizing Cavarodossi and Tosca to leave the country and then came to Tosca for 'payment', I though it was so cool when she 'kissed' him. Have loved opera since that moment.

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Cavarodossi's aria (E lucevan le stelle) on the battlements while waiting to be shot at dawn is one of my all time favorites.

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[tigerbob]

YouTube - Mario Lanza/Luciano Pavarotti: O sole Mio

O sole mio isn't opera. Nice though.

Ave Maria isn't either...[ it's a religious song ] but nice though...

" O sole mio is often referred to as a Neapolitan song. Neapolitan songs were songs written for an annual songwriting contest for the Festival of Piedigrotta, which began in 1830, in Naples, Italy." I put it up because I knew it would be familiar to some, here.

Thanks for your response, tigerbob...

I remember my mother singing Ave Maria (the Schubert one, which I much prefer) at a family funeral in the early 90s. She had been retired for 20 years by then but, my God, she could still sing.

 

[AquaAthena]

From 1962. Loved this.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fZRssq7UlM]YouTube - Maria CALLAS sings Carmen HABANERA in covent garden[/ame]

 

[tigerbob]

From 1962. Loved this.

YouTube - Maria CALLAS sings Carmen HABANERA in covent garden

What is it about Greeks and Carmen?

Callas is spectacular. Along with Flagstad, she is hands down the greatest soprano of the 20th C, though Callas will always be regarded as better by most people (to some extent because Flagstad was primarily known as a Wagnerian).

 

[AquaAthena]

O sole mio isn't opera. Nice though.

Ave Maria isn't either...[ it's a religious song ] but nice though...

" O sole mio is often referred to as a Neapolitan song. Neapolitan songs were songs written for an annual songwriting contest for the Festival of Piedigrotta, which began in 1830, in Naples, Italy." I put it up because I knew it would be familiar to some, here.

Thanks for your response, tigerbob...

I remember my mother singing Ave Maria (the Schubert one, which I much prefer) at a family funeral in the early 90s. She had been retired for 20 years by then but, my God, she could still sing.

I am so enjoying all your posts to this thread tigerbob. What beautiful memories you have regarding truly heavenly music. My mother would tuck my brother and me into bed, after we said our prayers with her, and then she would play Brahms Lullaby on the piano as we drifted off to sweet slumber.... I had Ave Maria, sung at her funeral. She loved it so.

 

[AquaAthena]

From 1962. Loved this.

YouTube - Maria CALLAS sings Carmen HABANERA in covent garden

What is it about Greeks and Carmen?

Callas is spectacular. Along with Flagstad, she is hands down the greatest soprano of the 20th C, though Callas will always be regarded as better by most people (to some extent because Flagstad was primarily known as a Wagnerian).

I didn't know that. I will check out Flagstad. As far as Callas, being the greatest soprano...as you said that is debatable. She was certainly one of the most dramatic and I loved her Tosca as well as many others.

Bidding you a very good day, Tigerbob. Would like to know who your favorite tenor is. In addition to Caruso, I like Lanza and Domingo and of course the great Jussi Bjorling. Pavarotti could not hold the notes as long as others, but his voice could fill an opera house? lol.

 

[tigerbob]

Ave Maria isn't either...[ it's a religious song ] but nice though...

" O sole mio is often referred to as a Neapolitan song. Neapolitan songs were songs written for an annual songwriting contest for the Festival of Piedigrotta, which began in 1830, in Naples, Italy." I put it up because I knew it would be familiar to some, here.

Thanks for your response, tigerbob...

I remember my mother singing Ave Maria (the Schubert one, which I much prefer) at a family funeral in the early 90s. She had been retired for 20 years by then but, my God, she could still sing.

I am so enjoying all your posts to this thread tigerbob. What beautiful memories you have regarding truly heavenly music. My mother would tuck my brother and me into bed, after we said our prayers with her, and then she would play Brahms Lullaby on the piano as we drifted off to sweet slumber.... I had Ave Maria, sung at her funeral. She loved it so.

I have vague memories of my mother tucking me up in bed when I was very little and saying "Mummy's going out to earn pennies". It was only a few years later that I found out where she went, by which time she had retired from professional opera. I so wish I'd been able to see her perform. I have a few CDs / albums, and I saw her perform dozens of times in smaller productions after her retirement, but it would have been so good to see "the real thing".

Brahms lullaby is just beautiful, I remember it from my childhood as well, Debussy's Clair de Lune also.

Also, just to balance out the duets, I thought I'd throw in my favorite male voice duet (why are male voice duets so often overlooked?) - Au fond du temple saint from Bizet's Pearl Fishers.
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[tigerbob]

From 1962. Loved this.

YouTube - Maria CALLAS sings Carmen HABANERA in covent garden

What is it about Greeks and Carmen?

Callas is spectacular. Along with Flagstad, she is hands down the greatest soprano of the 20th C, though Callas will always be regarded as better by most people (to some extent because Flagstad was primarily known as a Wagnerian).

I didn't know that. I will check out Flagstad. As far as Callas, being the greatest soprano...as you said that is debatable. She was certainly one of the most dramatic and I loved her Tosca as well as many others.

Bidding you a very good day, Tigerbob. Would like to know who your favorite tenor is. In addition to Caruso, I like Lanza and Domingo and of course the great Jussi Bjorling. Pavarotti could not hold the notes as long as others, but his voice could fill an opera house? lol.

It's hard to judge someone like Caruso because of the poor quality recordings from his day. Even remastered, he doesn't sound as crisp as, for example, Domingo, but I am equally certain that the recording does not do him justice.

Lanza had a beautiful voice, and was perfectly suited to being a recoding artist as his voice was considerably less powerful than his contemporaries.

I was lucky in that I have heard the 3 tenors in person, though never in one of their "3 Tenors" shows, which would have been interesting. Saw Pavarotti in (you guessed it), Turandot, Domingo in Idomeneo, and Carreras in Carmen.

I love all 3 , but for different reasons. Pavarotti sings almost purely on emotion - sometimes a good thing, sometimes less so. Domingo is an unsurpassed technical singer (though for me he sometimes comes across as a bit cold, despite the fact that he's the best actor of the 3). For me however, and I'm generally in a minority, I like Carreras best. BTW, my mother (who forgot more about opera than I'll ever know) disagreed with me. Like you, she thought Domingo was the best of the 3.

I can't think of any tenor of the last 20 years that I like more than Pepe Carreras, though Roberto Alagna is close.

 

[tigerbob]

From 1962. Loved this.

YouTube - Maria CALLAS sings Carmen HABANERA in covent garden

What is it about Greeks and Carmen?

Callas is spectacular. Along with Flagstad, she is hands down the greatest soprano of the 20th C, though Callas will always be regarded as better by most people (to some extent because Flagstad was primarily known as a Wagnerian).

I didn't know that. I will check out Flagstad. As far as Callas, being the greatest soprano...as you said that is debatable. She was certainly one of the most dramatic and I loved her Tosca as well as many others.

Bidding you a very good day, Tigerbob. Would like to know who your favorite tenor is. In addition to Caruso, I like Lanza and Domingo and of course the great Jussi Bjorling. Pavarotti could not hold the notes as long as others, but his voice could fill an opera house? lol.

Kirsten Flagstad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's a link to Flagstad. Incidentally, I've just noticed my mother's name on that page as well, as she recorded with Flagstad in the 50s. I remember her telling me she had to stand a full 2 feet closer to the mike, such was the enormous power of Flagstad's voice!