rugiadose? odorose? albanese?
Cher public, you have striven valiantly but no one of you has managed to accomplish what was most likely an impossible task: the identification of 14 singers of Violetta in only a few notes. As a group mind, though, you came awfully close. And so, to put an end to this particular source of stress, La Cieca now reveals the mystery voices in this clip:
- Beverly Sills
- Maria Callas
- Pilar Lorengar
- Magda Olivero
- Joan Sutherland
- Renata Scotto
- Renée Fleming
- Lily Pons
- Anna Tomowa-Sintow
- Natalie Dessay
- Virginia Zeani
- Cheryl Studer
- Kiri te Kanawa
- Amelita Galli-Curci
Ha! Son vindicata alfin! Olivero exposed, uh, transposed! Actually, Kiri sang a beautiful, if bland Violetta at the Met in 1983 I believe — always with the E-Flat (AFAIK). Many people think of Kiri as a lighter voice because she never learned to grind the middle register — but she started as a mezzo and always had a very velvety coperto resonance. As for Dame Joan’s E-flat: we all have our days!
Love the Quiz Madame LC and Thank you Lindoro for keeping us working to maintain our fabulosity.
And for everyone who got 12 or even 10 I was impressed and proud of you all. You are all queens of my heart!
As I didn’t even attempt to put in a vote on these as much as I was thrilled by it I can’t even be a lady in waiting. I would love to officially be the Erstegeiger (Lieber Konzertmeister) of the Queen’s Band!
A violinist can dream.
Best,
Drew
As a relative newcomer to the world of opera, I was only able to get 4 myself. All of you who only missed one or two are quite impressive! Thanks for the great audio challenge!
I, too, was convinced that Te Kanawa was L. Price. Anyway, it was a fun quiz as always. Thank you Lindoro and La Cieca.
Well, Netrebko’s missing from the list. Her star rose and fell so quickly, leaving nothing to be compared to! Olivero owned Adrianna and Tosca. I’don’t know about her Violetta.
Many years ago, in the dark ages before cds, I found a cassette of Kiri made when she had just won a competition in New Zealand or Australia, before she became a star. Everything was in English (if I recall), and included Una Voce Poco Fa. HEr coloratura was sparkling and none of the bad habits that crept into her voice in the later years had arrived yet. I thought she should have stuck with repertoire.
Te Kanawa was great in her middle London years (around 1980). Quite dramatically focussed, lovely sound and clear diction. Her Amelia Boccanegra sticks in my mind as the most purely beautiful singing I have ever heard (launching the council chamber ensemble with carrying soft singing and a marvellous trill). And the sort of voice that although not huge, could be heard easily in the whole house at all dynamics. The real exception that I heard was a boring Violetta – received with politeness by an audience that had almost certainly come to cheer, so I wasn’t the only one that was disappointed.
Even sadder than Kiri’s Violetta were a run of Marschallins in San Francisco, where even the Generalissimo McEwan was quoted as saying, “Someone should tell her what it means.” Strange that she sang such a memorable Arabella and such a papier-mache Marschallin.
Te Kanawa, along with Sills, Callas, and Pons, was rather easy to identify. I can’t believe it was Sutherland that stumped me and I too thought Zeani was #4 (Damn, how fast was the tempo in that one, too?).
That was quite a quiz!
Aha. I was right! I’d know Dame Kiri’s voice anywhere.