A denomination of divas
La Cieca was delighted, amused and infuriated (three of her favorite emotions) when she read yet another wonderful piece over at The Awl yesterday, a statistical analysis determining The Greatest Diva of the Past 25 Years. This treatise, by one Jay Caspian Kang, was limited in scope to ladies inhabiting the realm of popular music, so your doyenne was inspired to have a similar study done in our own field of Opera Diva. Now, in order to get the scientific ball rolling, she’s going to seek your assistance, cher public.
First, we’ll need a list of nominees from which La Cieca’s blue-ribbon panel will select the ten divas to be quantified. You, then, are invited to nominate your favorite opera diva of this generation. For the purposes of this discussion, “of this generation” shall be defined to mean “actively performing opera at some point during the period between 1980 and 2010.” For example, Leontyne Price would be eligible, even though she is now retired, because she last performed opera in 1985.
You may nominate as many divas as you like, and La Cieca notes that a paragraph enumerating each selection’s diva qualifications might well weigh in her favor when the time comes to winnow down the list to finalists. And, as always here at parterre, YouTube can speak even louder than words.
A final reminder: we are looking for Diva here; shrinking violets need not apply!
The above was in Munich in1981. In 1983 she came to the Met and her astonishing Isolde merited her to be called a SUPERSOPRANO by the NY Times.
And this is how gorgeous she looked at the Met:
http://www.fanfaire.com/behrens/isolde2.html
Is that a gorgeous diva or what!
Too bad about the hideous middle voice…
It must really hurt to see such gorgeously SLIM Wagnerian soprano, and producing such torrents of sound. Putting the lie to the canard that you need a lot of Haagen Daasz to sing Wagner, nu, Madame Nelli?
marshiemarkII – OK we get it, you like Behrens…
Who the fuck cared about her waistline when she sang so badly so much of the time? I am grateful to have heard a few truly great evenings with Behrens (several FIDELIO and WOZZECK performances) and she was certainly a thoughtful artist. But I heard her sing MISERABLY several times, with no hint of torrents of sound– or at least not sound that should have been on a professional stage. Ugly, ugly, ugly sound as Elettra and Tosca (with poor Italian added to the tonal horrors) and her empty-voiced, justly booed Sieglinde particularly. You can cite the TIMES’ “look in the file and see how we feel about her” reviews all you like, but I, like many on this site, heard her ups and downs and are not convinced by your posthumous ravings.
Word
I’ll first nominate 5 from the older generation:
- Gwyneth Jones (best Elektra, Turandot, Brunnhilde and Faebarin of her generation, still impressive as Queen of Hearts in 2007)
- Gundula Janowitz (her pure and crystalline voice is really exceptional)
- Mirella Freni (truly ageless and queen of lyric soprano for decades)
- Kiri Te Kanawa (a true diva both on and off stage)
- Ileana Cotrubas (a most sensitive and touching diva)
and then 5 from the newer generation:
- Cecilia Bartoli (brilliant singer with an inquisitive mind)
- Angela Gheroghiu (a true diva both on and off stage)
- Karita Mattila (glamorous image with a voice to match)
- Susan Graham (a great musician in every respect)
- Veronique Gens (a most elegant and musical singer)
One only need consult the diva totem for the answer:
http://jumpingclappingman.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/the-famed-diva-totem-pole/
Just kidding…unfortunately, my totem largely extends back past the 80s and doesn’t account for some change in taste since I created it. So, below I’ve discluded any divas who had a large part of their primes AFTER 1980 (begrudgingly leaving out Price, Caballé, Ludwig, etc.) So, here’s my revamped list:
Ileana Cotrubas
Limpid tone, truly affecting pathos.
Agnes Baltsa
Blazing coloratura, firm tone, balls-out ferocity.
Edita Gruberova
Unsurpassed range and career longevity.
Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson
An otherwordly, spiritual presence.
Arleen Auger
She’s a Veilchen, but NOT a shrinking one!
Olga Borodina
Most gorgeous, plush tone of past 3 decades.
Dolora Zajick
Has almost single-handedly kept Verdi alive for this generation.
Waltraud Meier
Fearless, passionate delivery. Gets lost in her characterizations.
Eva-Marie Westbroek (breaking out)
Committed on the level of a Golden-Ager. Rare, ample instrument.
Luba Orgonášová (underrated)
Sutherland-like clarity of tone, and ease of fioriture.
Alessandra Marc (underrated)
Perhaps second only to La Price for beauty of tone.
Bernarda Fink (underrated)
Sadly now seemingly lost in DiDonato’s shadow. Also a genius in art song/lieder.
Waltraud can certainly “put it out”–brava Diva!!
As Kashania will attest, I was an early and very vocal support of La Luba.
Truly a great singer. I adore her.
Alessandra Marc does look astonishingly like comedienne Dawn French.
I am, of course, *hors de concourse*.
We would be hors de nos cotton pickin’ minds not to worship the fabulousness that is FQ.
PJ, I’m confused. Quivar is not FQ.
Here she is:
Really? I am so embarrassed. I saw the initials and thought a-ha!
It’s an old, old, old joke. REsnik had a difficult time at the MEt after Bing arrived. She was changing from wrecked soprano to patched up mezzo and Bing obviously didn’t think that much of her. So she sang a lot in Europe and developed a following there. But Bing used her as a cover and for student performances and other utilities and emergencies. He cast her a lot as MArcellina in figaro
So she reworked her career a second time and went into character roles (+ carmen) and finally got a lot of dates at the Met. So she made a second career of Quickly, Klytemnestra, Orlovsky, Herodias, and the Marquise in Frau.
All that somewhat muddled narrative is where “Famous Quickly” comes from.
PS, I saw FQ as Carmen and she sounded like a very old dragon.
Here she is in her greatest role, complete with the mother of all register breaks (think Grand Canyon)
But she was a very vivid performer onstage with a lot of presence. She was clearly a queen, even though a very decayed one, as Klytemnestra.
And Ms Quivar looks a little like Kathryn Grayson …
You can take the diva out of the Grand Concourse, but can you take the Grand Concourse out of the diva?
I have only a handfull of divas for whom i am ready to
travel, book a night in a hotel etc.
They are (were) Freni, Mattila, Anderson
and for a while to a lesser extent Bartoli and Cedolins.
And just yesterday a booked a room plus train to see Garanca after her glorious Carmens in Munich, where
she stole the show from Kaufmann.
A list of favourites from the Far East:
Agnes Baltsa
Hildergard Behrens
Ilena Cotrubas
Lella Cuberli
Mariella Devia
Edita Gruberova
Jessye Norman
Lucia Popp
Margaret Price
Katia Ricciarelli
Kiri Te Kanawa
Lucia Valentini Terrani
Bravi!!!
Brave!
Not mentioned so far as anybody’s top divas ( unless I missed them somewhere) are three of the Met’s top prima donnas for this season -
Deborah Voigt, which seems a bit odd to me as many posters here obviously go to the Met a lot and she has been a star there for years now. Are there people who adore her? Is anybody panting with excitement at the thought of her Brunnhilde in the new Ring? Or quivering with expectation for her Minnie?
Marina Poplavskaya, who will star in new productions of Don Carlos and Traviata, probably not known very well to many yet, but was Elisabetta in Don Carlos when the production was given at Covent Garden when there were many comments in reviews and blogs of her “glacial” and “icy” performance. But has anybody ween her and loved her?
Violeta Urmana, who will be Ariadne and Tosca, has sung for years at the Met now, I saw her as the Forza Leonora at Covent Garden, she was good, but did not thrill me – but is she on anybody’s top list?
Poplavskaya was even icy as Tatyana a couple of years ago. Imagine making Tatyana unsympathetic!
This thread has become tiresome.
perhaps Cieca should post a poll with 25 or so names of obvious choices, and have them very democratically and efficiently selected that way? it’s all just SO subjective…and some are stimm queens, whilst others are kunst queens, and it makes for a very complex stew.
Second that!!!
all this being said, my nominations are the finest.
haha.
ba-hahahahaha!!
ah-ahahaha-ahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!
Right. Zzxxxxzzzzzzz.
I HATE “Name-a-Soprano-Day”