parterre box

29 comments

• MontyNostry says:

  I would be grateful for some insights on Albanese from Parterre aficionados who are well acquainted with her work.

  Having only heard a few short extracts of her singing, I can’t quite see what makes it so special … Could someone explain her particular appeal? Was she maybe one of those singers you had to see rather than simply hear?

  on July 23, 2009 at 4:43 AM
• Ruxton says:

  Monty Nostry- although others more knowledgable than I could give you greater insights into Licia, it is worth noting the history of her career speaks volumes.
  In short, she did more Traviata’s, Butterflys and Mimi’s at the Met and SF Opera than any other soprano before, or since. It is also said she elicited more tears from her audiences than any other singer- they loved her. The gal sure musta had something!

  on July 23, 2009 at 5:35 AM
• Jay says:

  For MontyNostry

  You probably should judge any singer based on a few brief hearings.

  As for Licia, try listening to her Nedda in Pagliacci on Naxos…or any other live performance for that matter. She a very distinctive voice. Just as you knew it was Zinka or Callas or Tebaldi, you knew it as Licia. In other words not a generic voice.

  She also, and this is more important truly acted with her voice. Every phrase meant something. It wasn’t to show off.

  I could go on and on but she is just a great singer and great lady.

  on July 23, 2009 at 7:36 AM
• Jay says:

  Of course I meant “shouldn’t” not “should” in my reply to MontyNostry. Sorry.

  on July 23, 2009 at 7:37 AM
• richard says:

  Monty, a few comments re Albanese to add to those that already posted.

  It is a distinctive voice, easy to recognize; not the most glamorous or sensuous, maybe a bit guttural .

  She stressed the words more than the notes but would also sometimes do some really creative things with the musical phrasing. One example could be her Senza Mama recording, where she phrases over the end of one phrase into the next one without pausing. Very nice.

  I saw her a number of times in concert and also as Tosca or Liu. She wasn’t particularly
  dynamic on stage although she did have some charisma. These were late performances, I can’t say what she was like in the main part of her career.

  I’ve always been fond of her but I’m also aware that for a lot of listeners coming to her today for the first time, she’s a bit of a puzzle, the timbre has put off a number of newbies that I know. It sounds “croaky”.
  A bit of personal history, my father’s family is from Calabria and I grew up with many first generation Italians around me that spoke in the manner of Italians from that region, it IS a kind of croaky articulation, a bit harsh, very different from the smooth speach in the north.
  Albanese hails from Bari, and I suspect that
  the people of her generation where she grew
  up spoke the same way and for that matter sang with the same kind of production.

  on July 23, 2009 at 9:03 AM
• djedushka says:

  MNOGAYA LETA!!!!

  (GOD GRANT HER MANY YEARS!)

  on July 23, 2009 at 9:34 AM
• Tamerlano says:

  My god, that dress is GORGEOUS. What a great pic.

  on July 23, 2009 at 9:53 AM
• iltenoredigrazia says:

  I’m very glad to have seen Licia Albanese once towards the end of her career. She was Liu in Turandot and her death scene remains etched in my mind. I’m seeing and hearing her as I write this. Somehow she WAS Liu at that moment. The inflection of the voice, the articulation of the words. She believed in what she was singing. Her pain was real. There was something transcendental in her interpretation of the role.

  Happy Birthday and thanks for a happy memory and a lesson on how Italian opera should be sung.

  on July 23, 2009 at 10:16 AM
• judycadanna says:

  back in those days, a gal knew how to do big hair, how to to curtsey all the way to the floor in heels, and how to pick a dress with wings in case she needed to leap off the top of the Castel Sant’Angelo after the concert.

  on July 23, 2009 at 2:21 PM
• parpignol says:

  I had not realized (till I checked the Met data base) that Albanese was still singing her signature roles right up to the final days of the Old Met in the 1960s (singing opposite regular partner Barry Morell); my first thought was, wow, she must have been so old. . . but, in fact, she was roughly the same age that. . . Renee Fleming is now. . .

  on July 23, 2009 at 3:41 PM