Leyla Gencer - Assoluta - from Lyric Colorature to Contralto

[jocmuc]

gencer ist die primadonna assoluta des letzten jahrtausends. ihre intelligente rollengestaltung

und der unglaubliche farbenreichtum ihrer stimme macht sie über jede kritik erhaben.

ungesungene rollen liegen entweder daran dass man es ihr nicht anbot,

oder dass sie einfach kein interesse daran hatte. ich glaube nicht, dass es eine rolle gab,

die sie nicht hätte singen können.

auch wenn ich leider zu spät geboren bin, um sie noch auf der bühne zu erleben,

ich kenne ihr reportoire. phänomenal

[intelegentable]

Gencer had a marvelous technique and could color the voice incredibly well. I regret that I Only heard her on recordings and never live. Did she sing in the States?

[sezgin86]

@intelegentable She sang at almost every big opera house around the world except the Met.

[salmonfire]

her vissi d'arte is stunning!

[VladaSunlight]

Absolutely amazing vocal range!!!

[ioSonoCallas]

Madam Leyla Gencer was one very great artist whom I like very much, but this video is an aberration! You should not confuse color, and vocal register! Leyla Gencer was unquestionably what we call big lyric soprano but his artistic temperament allowed him to approach a vast repertory!

[sezgin86]

@ioSonoCallas I don't understand the reason why you call it aberration. This video shows the vocal color, register and timbre of Gencer. Her ability to adapt her voice to the roles is, for me, interesting. I just tried to show her assoluta soprano voice here.

[ioSonoCallas]

@sezgin86 I agree, this video is interesting but it's false to say when her voice is dark she's "contralto", in the middle she's "mezzo", when it's clear she's "lyric", when she vocalizes she's "coloratura".... Leyla Gencer had a soprano voice with dark and clear colors. She was "assoluta" yes, but she would never have been able to sing Dalila, Azucena, Ulrica or the queen of the night, Zerbinette, Blondchen.... Sorry if I was impolite, it wasn't my intention.

[ioSonoCallas]

Madame Leyla Gencer était une très très grande artiste que j'adore, mais ce montage vidéo est une aberration! Il ne faut pas confondre couleur et registre vocal! Leyla Gencer était sans conteste ce qu'on appelle soprano grand lyrique mais son tempérament artistique lui permettait d'aborder un vaste répertoire!

[sillyboydeux]

Thank you so much for this video. Gençer stayed completely focused on her art, right til the very end of an astonishing career. 

[harpguy18]

Gencer was never a nezzo soprano. She was a soprano who really knew how to use her chest notes right! unlike some sopranos today..

[sezgin86]

@harpguy18 And that makes her an assoluta singer. She was not a mezzo or contralto but used her chest voice and had a large timbre while singing low note. Just compare her low notes and Beverly Sills's low notes and you'll understand what I mean ;)

[TheRealAngelHeart]

@harpguy18 She could produce her lower range without using chest, as witnessed for instance in her Charlotte or even her 1960 Macbeth where she barely uses her chest tones. In that respect, her medium and low ranges were similar to that of a mezzo.

[Flaviat57]

Why, why, why, every time we are before great singers like Madame Gencer, someone LAWAYS has to bring out Callas? Agreed that she was good, but others, like Leyla Gencer, were just as great. I wish people stopped comparing artists. Every single one of them is unique, and most of them are just as good!

[sezgin86]

@Flaviat57 This what I also wonder very much. Everyone sees Callas ideal for every opera even thoug her voice is not appropriate for them. I hope everyone will see other beauties in the opera history and appreciate them.

[Flaviat57]

@sezgin86 I agree with you, totally.

[gery666]

Gencer had good quality of lyrico spinto soprano voice and as all those type of voices she sung a variety of roles even lyric coloratura. But she was never mezzo, mezzos have different vibrato. Callas started as a contralto and developed her high register. Callas voice was more heavy and powerful.

[sezgin86]

@gery666 Heavy and powerful are the qualities that make the voice dramatic or lyric. It's the timbre and the color and many other things that qualifies the vocal type. It's difficult to classify Callas's voice as she had a very wide timbre for a soprano. However, I read a book about the voices and it said the assoluta voice is neither lyric nor dramatic, something in the middle; with easy low and high notes and agile as a colorature. Gencer, for me, fits for this description better than Callas.

[raigekimaru]

@sezgin86

I agree. callas could sing spinto and dramatic soprano and mezzo/contralto quite well, but she was never a coloratura. the first recording of Callas I heard was her Tosca with Gobbi. I was new to opera and she actually made me think that Tosca was a contralto role! she had agility, but she was not coloratura soprano. Gencer is more balanced. all parts of her voice sound natural and easy. Callas could do it, but not naturally, hence her extremely short career

[ididete]

@gery666 you are deaf. Callas's voice was NOT powerful. Listen to Ofelia Hristova if you REALLY want to hear a powerful voice. It's abotu the size of 10 Callas's voice and 3 the size of Leyla Gencer (just because Gencer sang properly and Callas didn't but neither of them had a very powerful voice).

[gery666]

@ididete are you selling discs of Hristova? do you have a store?

[ididete]

@gery666 No, I only wanted to draw people's attention to someone I truly admire and from whom I think all sopranos should try to learn how to sing. You can try and get Hristova's discs through her channel. She is a one of a kind dramatic soprano.

[raigekimaru]

wow. her lyric coloratura sound is even bright.

[sezgin86]

@raigekimaru Her voice had a great feature at the beginning of her career(when she sang mostly lyric coloratura). It had a blooming beauty.

[vojta80]

She was great. I would not say she had voice of free female types.....she has sung in the times when was admired to have one voice from top to bottom. But she has sung so many different roles, that is true. As she have said, she admired Maria Callas, unfortunetly she was in her shadow. Leyla Gencer was great artist, musician, singer.....she was special. Thankyou a lot for posting her from tose piratic recordings!!!!

[sezgin86]

it wouldnt be wise to call her a total mezzo or contralto. however she was able to sing the lower registers easily as heavy as a mezzo or sometimes even as a contralto. so she was a assoluta. of course she could not sing carmen as a mezzo.

[vojta80]

Thank you for your answer. I understand what you mean. She used quite often voce di petto (in particural places, frazes or words) and I love it. She had dramatic colours and breathtaking pianissimi..everything....and she was very, very clever and wice woman. It is whole thing together......whole package!!!!

[operastud82]

This is great...but it's too much of a teaser!! Please post the full recordings in the future if possible...especially the Idomeneo at the beginning! I'm dying to hear her sing that!!

[sezgin86]

You can find most of the arias on youtube and Idomeneo is one of them ;)

[primohomme]

It's specially wonderful how she had different voices to sing more fragile characters such as Elvira or Lucia and also more darker hued tone to sing the more dramatic or stronger characters.

[sezgin86]

I read somewhere that she was in fact a lyrico spinto soprano and did not have a natural chest voice but adopted it later. Her ability to widen her tesittura is mesmerizing...

[primohomme]

Wonderful!! It's sad that she wasn't insterested in making commercial recordings and thus didn't become more famous.

[sezgin86]

Infact she was interested in making commercial recordings but the recording companies were not interested in her. It's due to her idiosyncratic quality of her voice (dark and cloudy), the reign of Callas and Tebaldi and she did not have a manager to make contacts with the recording companies... The short parts I used from various operas do not show the real color of her voice as they are recorded with primitive tapes...

[primohomme]

Well in an interview I read with the guy from Bel Canto Society I think she talks about her recording career.