Her portrayal, like some who have sung Amneris, accentuate the "royal imperious diva" aspect. She's haughty, vain, cruel, powerful. But I think that Verdi wrote the Judgement Scene as a character piece for Amneris' vulnerability. Radames whom she loves, is being sentenced to death. She's in tears but she also furious with righteous anger. All these emotions should be exploding and present in the performance. Cossotto doesn't do this.
ahaha..questa e' buona interprete piccina...Il teatro lirico non puo' essere giudicato come latre forme d'arte,ci sono fenomeni nei quali e' impossibile spiegare l'arte.Ci sono persone che si sbattono ad nterpretare e non danno emozioni,voci spelndide e no danno emozion...e voci che non necessitano di altro che di sentirle...vedi Callas vedi Cossotto...facendo lo spelling dell'artista trovi anche da dire,ma quando le hai davanti devi solo inginocchiarti.IL delirio del pubblico ne e' la prova
Platealissima! Voce, voce e ancora voce; ma non c'è l'ombra di un accento che non sia banale o altisonante. Grande voce e grande tecnica, ma interprete piccina.
I must add that I never compare. Cossotto was always exciting, perhaps not in the best taste but she was a spectacular vocalist. Obraztsova was another story. Obraztsova's voice is beautiful. She tended to thin her top notes in Amneris too. Nobody is perfect and we are speaking about 2 of the greatest mezzos in XX century. No singer is flawless, we are human beings.
I must add something. Gina Cigna counted the number of times that Cossotto repeated with different approaches the phrase L' ABORRITA RIVAL A ME SFUGGIA .....150 TIMES. Yes sirs, the lady stayed all class fixed on a single phrase till she achieved what she wanted !!! 150 TIMES SINGING " L' ABORRITA RIVAL A ME SFUGGIA ! " This proves that Cossotto was not only a great voice, but a great artisan of her voice !!!
@Greatfan2011 : I don't agree, yes she could repeat in her dressing room before the performace but it doesn't change my divorce with Fiorenza Cossotto, yes the voice was very big but volume has nothing to do wiht color, Cossotto is very fine Adalgisa, very fine Favorita yes but Amneris ? with what color ? Cossotto's Ameris high notes sounds like Querubino high notes.
Elena Obraztsova was a real drammatico, the great drammatic mezzosoprano of her generation
@foratti Did you hear Cossotto live in her prime ? In her absolute prime ? Her top notes which are captured as ' thin ' in recordings, were very brilliant and full . Cossotto's must surely be one of the less ' phonogenic ' voices in redording history. Recordings catch a certain hollowness which was part of her center and makes it much hollower and many top notes sound too light. I heard her as Adalgisa, here, with Sutherland and did not like it. Too much pressure...
@Greatfan2011 : I never heard Cossotto live I am 31 but did you ever heard Stignani or Fedora Barbieri live ? I am sure you didn't and and not that you cannot realize as a voice is (beyond the topic you talked about you are right that it seems many times microphone does not like big drammatic voiced sopranos, Nilsson, Tebaldi, etc) and Cossotto though a mezzo it happens the same too, BUT
@Greatfan2011 BUT I wanted to make a difference between color and volume. I know Cossotto voice was very big but she was not a real dramatic like Obraztsova or Fedora Barbieri or Stignani and in the theater she could be exciting but in recordings I am talking of "live" recordings , not disc, if you play any of her "live" Amneris audio CD from the late '60s or early '70s she sounds like a soprano
@foratti I know I'm joining in late in the conversation. One thing is color of voice and the other is presence. Some said Nilsson was not "mechanically big" like Leonie Rysanek, but the metal in her voice allowed her an unbelievable cutting power as to drown everyone else on stage without even trying. Perhaps Cossotto was similar in this regard. I heard her when quite young in 1983 as Azucena and thought of her as quite loud!
The first time I saw her was at Teatro Colón in Eboli. She is the only mezzo I have heard that could sing ALL the role as if singing a Lullaby, so effortless it was ! And she was a great worker. Gina Cigna in a Master Class told us that she used an entire hour of her classes just perfecting the phrase L' ABORRITA RIVAL A ME SFUGGIA. She could be competitive and mean. There are greater artists but, WHAT A VOICE, A PRESENCE & A TECHNIQUE !
stop to compare! cossoto feel ,and know every little mean of what she says,never ever will be the same for dolora,as for a native.plus Dolores have a big voice,but the large vibrato covr absolutly the smalt of the voice,and the long legato notes,is not what i wanna hear ina italian opera,plus the doppias in italian,i do not hear as well,vocaly,who says she getin better,is better learn about singin. about what is real sing,and great singer,good singer is a bit diferent. nicht war?
Cossotto knew her voice well and so could take enormous risks. She was never less than exciting. Even if the last note wasn't perfect on this occasion who cares? A magnificent performance. I just wish that people wouldn't keep bringing up the story of Callas' last 'Norma' in Paris. Cossotto deserved the chance to reply before Stassinopolous published that ugly story about A singer with this generous temperament is unlikely to be a bad colleague.
@chicagomarchingbands they certainly appreciated each other!!! You can see it also in the end at the curtain calls Fiorenza graciously collects a bunch of flowers and gives it to Leontyne!!!
Zajick (1988) can act even when she is not singing, only hearing, keeping the decision of the priests, thru movements and breathing, showing all the anxiety and desperate of the role. I don't see here with Cossotto, despite her great singing.
Never never never has any singer in the history of Opera brought so many fans to her performances (clacques) to support her as Cossoto was doing in ALL of her performances.
A big, huge! pile of shit this woman was and these days no-one even knows her name :)
@LohengrinT ...LOL! Years down the line, many years later, she still provokes discussion, vehemence and debate! Only a GREAT! VER GREAT artist could still wield that fascination and power over us all...MERCI! COSSOTTO! VIVA LA VERCELLINNA!!!
Please don't misunderstand: Frequently in the States, whistling is a sign of approval or great appreciation. (I know it has a different meaning in Europe.) I was at one of those performances at the Met, and I adored Cossotto, as did the audience!
everything a real verdi mezzp requires. her voice was beautiful in color only when she sang softly. check out the color in the dungeon scene of trovatore..ravishing! the one to take her place didn't happen with zajeck because of the wide vigrato in the middle voice. giada amparan is the only young new one on the scene who has everything to become the new dramatic mezzo
On the Met DVD, Zajick sings that last high note with far greater strength, and her acting is just as good. But Cossotto is clearly one of the all-time great mezzos.
In the Met DVD Zajick was in her 30s. Here Cossotto is 50. When Cossotto was in her 30s (look in the video from 1971, Japan with Corelli) she had at least the same strength up there are Zajick. Zajick today (I heard here last year) is still great (as Cossotto was still in her 50s) but again the high notes lost a bit of their security and power. Even so, they both have (or had) great high notes in their 50s that would not shame any soprano.
The other great Amneris in my memory is Giulietta Simionato. Check the new Opera News - there's a good article about the greatest Santuzzas and Cossotto,
Zajick and Simionato are all discussed.
Don't forget Fedora Barbieri as one of the greats too.
My heart goes to Zajick personally, because she's the very first amneris I ever saw/heard. However Cossotto is awesome here, why on earth did she cause "pandemonium" ?
yeah zajick is really good. shes gettin older but is still awesome. i havent seen her in person, but everytime i read of review of her amneris it usually details her as the one saving grace of the performance
I listen to this aria over and over again, and each time it becomes more and more fantastic. Cossotto looks and acts fantasticly, and her singing is so powerfull and dramatic. Operaart on the higest level, simply nothing less!!!Thank you for posting!
me inclino ante esta mujer!!! que seguridad y con que naturalidad ella canta!!!. i kneel myself before her presence, what a stage presence and so natural, BRAVA!! one of the best mezzos in the world, her Santuzza was chilling
Thank you for posting this video! I remember watching the simulcast in 1985 and thinking that Price was still a joy to watch, MacCracken was a shadow of himself in his prime and then we got to the judgment scene and Cossotto's performance was just legendary. It's hard to cry and hold one's breath at the same time, but I did it that night!
Yes, I also remember watching the original simulcast and being very moved by this performance from Cossotto. Spot on! Perfection. Well acted as well as sung. But I also was thrilled by the wonderfully powerful performance of the orchestra for this scene.
1967: Princess Eboli in "Don Carlos" and Leonora in "La Favorita" .In 1968 as Adalgisa in "Norma" and as Azucena in "Il Trovatore". 1970 as Jane Seymour (Anna Bolena). 1971 as Amneris. I was also there for the famous Gala at Hamboug in 1971. 1972/73 Paris as Adalgisa and as Azucena. I can only say that she was EXTRAORDINARY. The GREATEST. A vocal fenomenon and a musicienne. BRAVA FIORENZA AND THANKS FOR THE MANY MOMENTS OF PURE PLEASURE YOU GAVE ME.
I still vividly remember watching the simulcast of this performance. Although Price and McCracken were fading, the Judgement Scene with Cossotto was one of the most amazing opera experiences I have ever had
I saw Zajick at the Met Tues 10/16, absolutely amazing, Cossotto has the best middle voice ever as well as acting chops, but Zajick's top is incomparable, Brown(Aida)) was in trouble in the 2nd act trio and Zajick leaped up to the extended high B flat,unbelievable. I am a great fan of Cossottos's Amneris, however, she is no longer peerless in this role.
Ho sentito Cossotto in teatro in Amneris, Azucena, Santuzza, Ulrica, Adalgisa, mezo del Requiem, Seymour, dal 1973. Mai avevo sentito e non ho mai sentito un mezzo con questa assolutamente incredibile musicalità, e con questa bellezza di timbro. In teatro, poi, il potere era incredibile. Io non la dimenticheró mai, e soffro terribilmente perchè nessun mezzo soprano al mondo mi dá oggi il piacere, la gioia, che ho sentito.
There was MUCH chatter before this performance as to whether Cossotto would upstage Price during this farewell taping, as she reputedly did to Callas in the final Paris Norma's.
In reality the performances of Price and McCracken in this Aida were SO banal, a second tier mezzo would have upstaged them.
The audience at LEAST got their moneys worth from Cossotto, who gave an unrelenting portrayal as the betrayed Egyptian princess.
She's wonderful. Altodivo is right that last 15 seconds was supurb. How anyone but a top-tier mezzo can sing that is beyond me. Cossotto was top-tier!
Indeed. The final curses delivered by Cossotto's Amneris are the culmination of frustrated royal fury which she built throughout the scene.
BUT notice how the smallest gesture is reflexed and timed precisely to each note for maximum drama. We are watching a BRILLIANT study of an opera characterisation. The realism is breathtaking.
Cossotto brought the house down and this performance has become legendary. Operaphiles around the world knew what happened that night: the very next morning.
I heard circa 50 performances of Cossotto since 1973: Amneris, Requiem, Azucena, Santuzza, Adalgisa, Ulrica. I never heard in theatre, before and after, a voice so beautiful, so powerful, so focused. Those who not heard her can't (CAN'T!!!) have an idea of what she was on stage!
I heard her onstage in 1970 when the Met toured here She sang Santuzza - beautifully focused powerful and ringing Not a flaw All that you say she was . To hear her live was an honor! Such technique and tone .Voice that carried like few others !
The Callas story, apparently isn't true, and Cossotto herself always said she and Callas were always good friends and coleauges. Opera News had something on it, where they listened to recordings of the performance, and Cossotto NEVER did do what she was accused of, and actually provided perfect support for Callas, who was not in good shape.
@crewmantle She still sings occasionally too. She did a concert version of this scene in Japan in 2008 or so. Her voice is gone, high notes are all flat no breath support...but she can STILL convince you of what she is singing about. She's having fun now and doesnot care what critics think...and making a heck of a lot of money doing it.
I wish people would stop pushing Delores Zajick on this - sure she's a great Amneris - but here is another great Amneris who was at it long before Delores was out of her nappies- and she's done it more times than Delores has had hot dinners.
One more thing fer1179 (couer de lion) I have around 25 Aida's in my collection... knew it for decades, but I never GOT IT until I heard and saw Zajick as Amneris. Zajick RAWKS the casbah.
25! WOW quite a great collection I guess! I've just got around 10 (some of then are just highlights) I totally agree with you: Zajick's Amneris has never been unrivalled so far.
You can play Amneris on a sliding scale either of two ways to make sense of her; at one end as a petulant teenager or the other as a royal princess. Zajick went the first route, Cossotto the other end of the spectrum. Both brilliant Amneris' unrivalled today.
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Her portrayal, like some who have sung Amneris, accentuate the "royal imperious diva" aspect. She's haughty, vain, cruel, powerful. But I think that Verdi wrote the Judgement Scene as a character piece for Amneris' vulnerability. Radames whom she loves, is being sentenced to death. She's in tears but she also furious with righteous anger. All these emotions should be exploding and present in the performance. Cossotto doesn't do this.
OperaMystery80 1 week ago
Comment removed
OperaMystery80 1 week ago
ahaha..questa e' buona interprete piccina...Il teatro lirico non puo' essere giudicato come latre forme d'arte,ci sono fenomeni nei quali e' impossibile spiegare l'arte.Ci sono persone che si sbattono ad nterpretare e non danno emozioni,voci spelndide e no danno emozion...e voci che non necessitano di altro che di sentirle...vedi Callas vedi Cossotto...facendo lo spelling dell'artista trovi anche da dire,ma quando le hai davanti devi solo inginocchiarti.IL delirio del pubblico ne e' la prova
alessandro63145 8 months ago
Platealissima! Voce, voce e ancora voce; ma non c'è l'ombra di un accento che non sia banale o altisonante. Grande voce e grande tecnica, ma interprete piccina.
leprincebeaumont 9 months ago
I must add that I never compare. Cossotto was always exciting, perhaps not in the best taste but she was a spectacular vocalist. Obraztsova was another story. Obraztsova's voice is beautiful. She tended to thin her top notes in Amneris too. Nobody is perfect and we are speaking about 2 of the greatest mezzos in XX century. No singer is flawless, we are human beings.
Greatfan2011 10 months ago
I must add something. Gina Cigna counted the number of times that Cossotto repeated with different approaches the phrase L' ABORRITA RIVAL A ME SFUGGIA .....150 TIMES. Yes sirs, the lady stayed all class fixed on a single phrase till she achieved what she wanted !!! 150 TIMES SINGING " L' ABORRITA RIVAL A ME SFUGGIA ! " This proves that Cossotto was not only a great voice, but a great artisan of her voice !!!
Greatfan2011 10 months ago
@Greatfan2011 : I don't agree, yes she could repeat in her dressing room before the performace but it doesn't change my divorce with Fiorenza Cossotto, yes the voice was very big but volume has nothing to do wiht color, Cossotto is very fine Adalgisa, very fine Favorita yes but Amneris ? with what color ? Cossotto's Ameris high notes sounds like Querubino high notes.
Elena Obraztsova was a real drammatico, the great drammatic mezzosoprano of her generation
foratti 10 months ago
@foratti Did you hear Cossotto live in her prime ? In her absolute prime ? Her top notes which are captured as ' thin ' in recordings, were very brilliant and full . Cossotto's must surely be one of the less ' phonogenic ' voices in redording history. Recordings catch a certain hollowness which was part of her center and makes it much hollower and many top notes sound too light. I heard her as Adalgisa, here, with Sutherland and did not like it. Too much pressure...
Greatfan2011 10 months ago
@Greatfan2011 : I never heard Cossotto live I am 31 but did you ever heard Stignani or Fedora Barbieri live ? I am sure you didn't and and not that you cannot realize as a voice is (beyond the topic you talked about you are right that it seems many times microphone does not like big drammatic voiced sopranos, Nilsson, Tebaldi, etc) and Cossotto though a mezzo it happens the same too, BUT
foratti 10 months ago
@Greatfan2011 BUT I wanted to make a difference between color and volume. I know Cossotto voice was very big but she was not a real dramatic like Obraztsova or Fedora Barbieri or Stignani and in the theater she could be exciting but in recordings I am talking of "live" recordings , not disc, if you play any of her "live" Amneris audio CD from the late '60s or early '70s she sounds like a soprano
foratti 10 months ago
@foratti I know I'm joining in late in the conversation. One thing is color of voice and the other is presence. Some said Nilsson was not "mechanically big" like Leonie Rysanek, but the metal in her voice allowed her an unbelievable cutting power as to drown everyone else on stage without even trying. Perhaps Cossotto was similar in this regard. I heard her when quite young in 1983 as Azucena and thought of her as quite loud!
Dymension 3 months ago
The first time I saw her was at Teatro Colón in Eboli. She is the only mezzo I have heard that could sing ALL the role as if singing a Lullaby, so effortless it was ! And she was a great worker. Gina Cigna in a Master Class told us that she used an entire hour of her classes just perfecting the phrase L' ABORRITA RIVAL A ME SFUGGIA. She could be competitive and mean. There are greater artists but, WHAT A VOICE, A PRESENCE & A TECHNIQUE !
Greatfan2011 10 months ago
@Greatfan2011 : Since around 1973/74 onwards Cossotto started to sing off pitch in the top register
foratti 10 months ago
stop to compare! cossoto feel ,and know every little mean of what she says,never ever will be the same for dolora,as for a native.plus Dolores have a big voice,but the large vibrato covr absolutly the smalt of the voice,and the long legato notes,is not what i wanna hear ina italian opera,plus the doppias in italian,i do not hear as well,vocaly,who says she getin better,is better learn about singin. about what is real sing,and great singer,good singer is a bit diferent. nicht war?
mmisaku 1 year ago
Cossotto knew her voice well and so could take enormous risks. She was never less than exciting. Even if the last note wasn't perfect on this occasion who cares? A magnificent performance. I just wish that people wouldn't keep bringing up the story of Callas' last 'Norma' in Paris. Cossotto deserved the chance to reply before Stassinopolous published that ugly story about A singer with this generous temperament is unlikely to be a bad colleague.
Tenortalker 1 year ago
If you look in my channel there are my fav 4 amneris: she, bumbry, verrett and zajick.
papagena92 1 year ago
e desafinatto in acuto finale.....e elementale nel palcoscenico...
gencerito 1 year ago
The man singing Rhadames is awful. The sound is hollow without any projection
MrSkylark1 1 year ago
@MrSkylark1: You're just a tad off--Radames does not sing in this scene, it is the high priest Ramfis...I agree though, his sound is pretty boring
strauss1987 1 year ago
credo che da quando Fiorenza non la canti più Amneris sia morta! Ma pure la povera Azucena non sta bene!
leporello1977 1 year ago
I wonder if her and Leo Price were good buddies.
chicagomarchingbands 1 year ago
@chicagomarchingbands they certainly appreciated each other!!! You can see it also in the end at the curtain calls Fiorenza graciously collects a bunch of flowers and gives it to Leontyne!!!
zampieriano 1 year ago
Magnanima como siempre.
ILLANDEVIL 1 year ago
Zajick (1988) can act even when she is not singing, only hearing, keeping the decision of the priests, thru movements and breathing, showing all the anxiety and desperate of the role. I don't see here with Cossotto, despite her great singing.
Aldolinozinho 2 years ago
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littleapp 2 years ago
Comment removed
littleapp 2 years ago
Never, Never has an Amneris been applauded and acclaimed as Cossotto was here.....
senilangakali 2 years ago 8
@senilangakali
Never never never has any singer in the history of Opera brought so many fans to her performances (clacques) to support her as Cossoto was doing in ALL of her performances.
A big, huge! pile of shit this woman was and these days no-one even knows her name :)
LohengrinT 1 year ago
@LohengrinT ...LOL! Years down the line, many years later, she still provokes discussion, vehemence and debate! Only a GREAT! VER GREAT artist could still wield that fascination and power over us all...MERCI! COSSOTTO! VIVA LA VERCELLINNA!!!
senilangakali 1 year ago
@senilangakali
yeah sure she must have at least 100 people around the world who played her records once 20 years ago and never played them again
LohengrinT 1 year ago
perchè quelle capre americane fischiano la cosotto?????????
enrym86 2 years ago
@enrym86
Please don't misunderstand: Frequently in the States, whistling is a sign of approval or great appreciation. (I know it has a different meaning in Europe.) I was at one of those performances at the Met, and I adored Cossotto, as did the audience!
mikeya527 1 year ago
How amazing was her acting!
ahmad123987 2 years ago 8
everything a real verdi mezzp requires. her voice was beautiful in color only when she sang softly. check out the color in the dungeon scene of trovatore..ravishing! the one to take her place didn't happen with zajeck because of the wide vigrato in the middle voice. giada amparan is the only young new one on the scene who has everything to become the new dramatic mezzo
musedirec 2 years ago
On the Met DVD, Zajick sings that last high note with far greater strength, and her acting is just as good. But Cossotto is clearly one of the all-time great mezzos.
petegib7 2 years ago 4
In the Met DVD Zajick was in her 30s. Here Cossotto is 50. When Cossotto was in her 30s (look in the video from 1971, Japan with Corelli) she had at least the same strength up there are Zajick. Zajick today (I heard here last year) is still great (as Cossotto was still in her 50s) but again the high notes lost a bit of their security and power. Even so, they both have (or had) great high notes in their 50s that would not shame any soprano.
AmatureComposer 2 years ago 2
The other great Amneris in my memory is Giulietta Simionato. Check the new Opera News - there's a good article about the greatest Santuzzas and Cossotto,
Zajick and Simionato are all discussed.
Don't forget Fedora Barbieri as one of the greats too.
finylvinyl66 2 years ago
Can you give me a link please?
AmatureComposer 2 years ago
AGREE!!!!
My heart goes to Zajick personally, because she's the very first amneris I ever saw/heard. However Cossotto is awesome here, why on earth did she cause "pandemonium" ?
papagena92 2 years ago
yeah zajick is really good. shes gettin older but is still awesome. i havent seen her in person, but everytime i read of review of her amneris it usually details her as the one saving grace of the performance
moghedien13 2 years ago
Fiorenza Cossotto WAS Amneris - utterly convincing
zimnaya 3 years ago 4
Verdi is amazing--hard to believe that someone could conceive of this music--and it's wonderful that it is so well realize.
MichaelNewberry 3 years ago
Dear Palmerito! YOU are so absolutely right!!!
Thank you for a good comment!
Best gretings to you fra Bo Harding, Copenhagen, Denmark!
wellmeant 3 years ago
Greetings from Bo Harding. Copenhagen Denmark!
I listen to this aria over and over again, and each time it becomes more and more fantastic. Cossotto looks and acts fantasticly, and her singing is so powerfull and dramatic. Operaart on the higest level, simply nothing less!!!Thank you for posting!
wellmeant 3 years ago
This is so fabulous!
strauss1987 3 years ago
Only FLO could upstage Leontyne at Leontyne's own Farewell.
NYCOF 3 years ago
Stunning Cossotto- always in a class of her own.
puppetoz 3 years ago
This is a very moving scene. I saw Mariana Pentcheva performing as Amneris.
horstb29 3 years ago
Yes this is as usual with her very fine, today Zajick is the great one and has been for quite a while. Fine post here.
pearlmuth3 3 years ago
me inclino ante esta mujer!!! que seguridad y con que naturalidad ella canta!!!. i kneel myself before her presence, what a stage presence and so natural, BRAVA!! one of the best mezzos in the world, her Santuzza was chilling
cantanteporsiempre 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
A was difficult
cek1111 4 years ago
COSSOTTO LA DEA!!! UNICA, SUPERBA!!!
olauu 4 years ago
Thank you for posting this video! I remember watching the simulcast in 1985 and thinking that Price was still a joy to watch, MacCracken was a shadow of himself in his prime and then we got to the judgment scene and Cossotto's performance was just legendary. It's hard to cry and hold one's breath at the same time, but I did it that night!
Thanks again!
Cnthonian 4 years ago 2
Yes, I also remember watching the original simulcast and being very moved by this performance from Cossotto. Spot on! Perfection. Well acted as well as sung. But I also was thrilled by the wonderfully powerful performance of the orchestra for this scene.
Palmerito 3 years ago
1967: Princess Eboli in "Don Carlos" and Leonora in "La Favorita" .In 1968 as Adalgisa in "Norma" and as Azucena in "Il Trovatore". 1970 as Jane Seymour (Anna Bolena). 1971 as Amneris. I was also there for the famous Gala at Hamboug in 1971. 1972/73 Paris as Adalgisa and as Azucena. I can only say that she was EXTRAORDINARY. The GREATEST. A vocal fenomenon and a musicienne. BRAVA FIORENZA AND THANKS FOR THE MANY MOMENTS OF PURE PLEASURE YOU GAVE ME.
fazendasantoexpedito 4 years ago
Divine!!!!
Ricardootje 4 years ago
I still vividly remember watching the simulcast of this performance. Although Price and McCracken were fading, the Judgement Scene with Cossotto was one of the most amazing opera experiences I have ever had
Cnthonian 4 years ago
I saw Zajick at the Met Tues 10/16, absolutely amazing, Cossotto has the best middle voice ever as well as acting chops, but Zajick's top is incomparable, Brown(Aida)) was in trouble in the 2nd act trio and Zajick leaped up to the extended high B flat,unbelievable. I am a great fan of Cossottos's Amneris, however, she is no longer peerless in this role.
mm9913 4 years ago
Ho sentito Cossotto in teatro in Amneris, Azucena, Santuzza, Ulrica, Adalgisa, mezo del Requiem, Seymour, dal 1973. Mai avevo sentito e non ho mai sentito un mezzo con questa assolutamente incredibile musicalità, e con questa bellezza di timbro. In teatro, poi, il potere era incredibile. Io non la dimenticheró mai, e soffro terribilmente perchè nessun mezzo soprano al mondo mi dá oggi il piacere, la gioia, che ho sentito.
Grazie COssotto!!!
JOQUINHA9 4 years ago
You're right. !@#$ing brilliant, esp. at the end!
Ruffiello 4 years ago
There was MUCH chatter before this performance as to whether Cossotto would upstage Price during this farewell taping, as she reputedly did to Callas in the final Paris Norma's.
In reality the performances of Price and McCracken in this Aida were SO banal, a second tier mezzo would have upstaged them.
The audience at LEAST got their moneys worth from Cossotto, who gave an unrelenting portrayal as the betrayed Egyptian princess.
And for that, I say; BRAVA Cossotto!
crewmantle 4 years ago
She's wonderful. Altodivo is right that last 15 seconds was supurb. How anyone but a top-tier mezzo can sing that is beyond me. Cossotto was top-tier!
sirmercutio99 4 years ago
Indeed. The final curses delivered by Cossotto's Amneris are the culmination of frustrated royal fury which she built throughout the scene.
BUT notice how the smallest gesture is reflexed and timed precisely to each note for maximum drama. We are watching a BRILLIANT study of an opera characterisation. The realism is breathtaking.
Cossotto brought the house down and this performance has become legendary. Operaphiles around the world knew what happened that night: the very next morning.
crewmantle 4 years ago
I heard circa 50 performances of Cossotto since 1973: Amneris, Requiem, Azucena, Santuzza, Adalgisa, Ulrica. I never heard in theatre, before and after, a voice so beautiful, so powerful, so focused. Those who not heard her can't (CAN'T!!!) have an idea of what she was on stage!
JOQUINHA9 4 years ago
I heard her onstage in 1970 when the Met toured here She sang Santuzza - beautifully focused powerful and ringing Not a flaw All that you say she was . To hear her live was an honor! Such technique and tone .Voice that carried like few others !
lpvcrcd 2 years ago 3
The Callas story, apparently isn't true, and Cossotto herself always said she and Callas were always good friends and coleauges. Opera News had something on it, where they listened to recordings of the performance, and Cossotto NEVER did do what she was accused of, and actually provided perfect support for Callas, who was not in good shape.
Shahrdad 4 years ago
@crewmantle She still sings occasionally too. She did a concert version of this scene in Japan in 2008 or so. Her voice is gone, high notes are all flat no breath support...but she can STILL convince you of what she is singing about. She's having fun now and doesnot care what critics think...and making a heck of a lot of money doing it.
baritonebynight 1 year ago
She never stops acting. The last 15 seconds are brilliant, most just stand there like a penguin.
altodivo 4 years ago
I wish people would stop pushing Delores Zajick on this - sure she's a great Amneris - but here is another great Amneris who was at it long before Delores was out of her nappies- and she's done it more times than Delores has had hot dinners.
Ruxton 4 years ago
One more thing fer1179 (couer de lion) I have around 25 Aida's in my collection... knew it for decades, but I never GOT IT until I heard and saw Zajick as Amneris. Zajick RAWKS the casbah.
crewmantle 4 years ago
25! WOW quite a great collection I guess! I've just got around 10 (some of then are just highlights) I totally agree with you: Zajick's Amneris has never been unrivalled so far.
fer1179 4 years ago
I really liked it, but I still prefer Dolora Zajick's performance.
fer1179 4 years ago
You can play Amneris on a sliding scale either of two ways to make sense of her; at one end as a petulant teenager or the other as a royal princess. Zajick went the first route, Cossotto the other end of the spectrum. Both brilliant Amneris' unrivalled today.
Good choice fella! Bravo 2 U for getting it!
crewmantle 4 years ago
she is amazing...blows me away everytime
Italia1987 4 years ago
OMG...this woman is utterly amazing
Dramaticmaleprano 4 years ago
It's from Leontyne Price's farewell, isn't it?
AmatureComposer 4 years ago
Yes it is.
MarkoBGD78 4 years ago
Then, it should be mentioned that in spite of the audience's enthusiasm, Cossotto is 50 here, and past considerably her best (which was 1965-75).
AmatureComposer 4 years ago
Great Callas was not an angel as well.
01music01 5 years ago
No, she wasn't but she was a professional and never take advantage over her partners on stage.
PakoChile 5 years ago
Cossotto is the best mezzo of all times!!!
01music01 5 years ago
A showstopper!
Orfeus80 5 years ago
she is amazing
Puppyizzy 5 years ago
That's how good she was when she wasn't even at her absolute best.
operachad 5 years ago