Beverly Sills "Spargi d'amaro pianto" Lucia di Lammermoor

[baritonebynight]

Sills was the mistress of diction. Other singers may have more naturally beautiful instruments which is a very subjective point anyway, but Sills' diction is near perfect no matter what language she is singing in.

[EveAffonso]

Oh my God, can there be a better Lucia?

[matthieusarah]

The only thing that one can dislike about Mrs Sills is... the color of her hair (IMHO)!

[MrAndredekock]

Has there ever been a better Lucia than Beverly Sills? The embellishments are just magnificent without ever detracting from Donizetti. Her portrayal of the character and her vocal interpretation is incomparable. Bravissima!

[niceguy6967]

Just Wonderful! Second only to Sutherland!

[msgdobes]

I love Sills' interpretation; very dynamic and powerful, technically correct and yet the trills and embellishments in the second 'verse' are captivating, emotionally moving.

.I haven't heard "Spargi d'amoro pianto" performed in such a way before...love it!

[cernernut]

Wonderful! I first heard Beverly Sills sing the Mad Scene from Lucia at a free outdoor concert in Golden Gate Park back in the mid 70's; I barely had heard of her, knew nothing about the opera at all, and just was swept away by her performance: have always been grateful to my friends for encouraging me to go that day; I remember borrowing a recording from the library of the entire opera and playing it over and over again---She was amazing!!

[chrisscruzzz]

ALRIGHT SILLS!!!! she really was the only one who could hold a candle to Sutherland.. RIP BEVERLY.

[attiliobandiera]

Wonderful voice but horrible taste.

[ferrykalos]

great

[halavey]

My very favorite coloratura, she could act and carry in volume with big tenor voices. Heard her on stage many times, her smile even when she sang was warm and genuine. she had emotion, great trills and a great voice from top to bottom a voice that lasted a long time from a child singing on . Her personal hardships with her family only made her greater and she had an IQ of over 140 and used it well. (Bubbles) Beverly Silverman was a great star and worked for it.

[thomastmwc]

interesting!!!!!!!!!!

[iskenderuna]

I have always found Sills' voice color too white for my personal taste. It isnt really an Italian timbre BUT: she definitely oozes musicality and feeling for sentiment - totally commited in everything she does. Her voice is extremely even and her technical abilities are amazing (listen to her normal 1-tone trill 2:20 and then her semitone trill 2:27. I dont think I have ever heard anyone a) differentiate and b) getting it so damn right!

[CantoSemper49]

@iskenderuna Sills' trills. gotta love'um. xD

[metopco]

What is this from? Is there actually a full-length video recording of Sill's Lucia out there somewhere???

[firefrau]

we should keep our opinion to ourselves, not to compare one singer from the other. they are excellent in their own ways. i bet those who disagree with me cannot sing, but great voice their opinion with great bravado as if they are specialist in this line. LET US SHUT UP AND JUST ENJOY THE GREAT SONG OF A GREAT SINGER..

[flouraki]

she is the greatest!!!

[filaredo]

the greatest brayer

[yesblanche]

Don't exactly know how la price entered the comments on this particular video, that being said I LOVE Beveraly Sills (as well as Miss. Price of course). Some critize Sills' sound as being shrill, however I find her voice incredibly warm, expansive, and thrilling. As an American I also celebrate the fact that she became a superstar on native soil and championed my home city's opera company, New York City opera. Mind you I'm not a professional, but I think she's marvelous.

[Andante735]

That's a load of crap about her voice being shrill, garbage. It was warm and technically magnificent. Everyone should listen to the live performance of her Siege of Corinth from La Scala - exquisite.

[jimthewriter]

Magnificent! The greatest Lucia that I have heard, sung by the greatest singing actress that I have heard. Brava Beverly!

[Frufrucucu]

I consider her (along with Callas and maybe Sutherland and Caballè) on of the best Lucias. She acts a lot better than most sopranos did or do nowadays.

[hisimperialmajesty]

I don't find this shrill at all. It's at a slower tempo than I prefer, and I don't like her trill very much, but over-all, it's a very good performance, and in typical Sills style, it's well-acted.

[Jabe88]

She's simply amazing... one of the best lucias

[ARReith]

this is fab!

[zzzxtreme]

nice

[isinglouderthanu]

i think that this video is the most beautiful performance that i have ever seen... as an opera singer i appreciate everything Sills does here. La Phenomina Viva!!! I have and always will love her... negativity will get you no where in a hurry.

[Laeliapurpurata]

I enjoy her Lucia very much.

[Alcisko]

She wants to much to make something brand new...:/

[petelovesbevsills]

I am not surprised Bev gave you a headache when you listened to her live! ANYONE who can listen to the likes of Jackie Wilson, Paragons and Velvet deserves nothing less than a thundering migraine! And well deserved too. Bev always used to say, with two severely handicapped children, the last thing that bothered her was who did not like her  voice!

[KenViewer]

Why do so many of her fans cite her disabled children as an excuse for her poor singing? She is perhaps a saint for raising her kids as well as she has; what does that have to do with opera?

[petelovesbevsills]

Because when people insult her the way you have they have no option but to retaliate. You like Leontyne Price, I don't, but would NEVER think of insulting that lady because her singing did not blow my hair back. You did not like Bev, great, just move on to the paragons and praise them . O.K?

[bjorlingfan]

I happen to have heard Leontyne Price murder the "mirror" scene from Thais. I wanted to leave the same kind of message that Kenviewer left for Beverly.Thank god I have grown up.

petelovesbevsills, I can't stand Leontyne either but just freak out for Beverly Sills. Was Beverly one of the world's poorest Opera Singers? I heard she had an apartment on Central Park, was one of the highest paid singers AND that she she was too involved with her family to care about did or didn't like her voiceLOL

[eyesk8er]

@bjorlingfan "...can't stand Leontyne Price....Was Beverly one one of the world's poorest Opera singers?....she was too involved with her family..." Maybe you haven't grown up as much as you think! Are such weird comments necessary? I would boldly suggest that you should have left your rating in the like/don't like box and refrained from written comment.

[bjorlingfan]

@eyesk8er the comments are only weird because you have chosen no to follow the thread that these comments emanated from. You may "boldly" suggest that I keep my comments to myself and I will "boldly" tell you you the answer to that is a resounding "no". I hope this doesn't displease you, whoever you might think you are, or hope to be.

[Ahdren]

@bjorlingfan I don't like Prices voice as he got older because it developed that turkey wobble sound. In her younger days it was thrilling. Sills sounded great to the end and had the most wonderful nature to match. No Prima Donna antics. There were plenty of great voices who remained without wealth. My personal Rita Hunter was in the same boat at the time of her death. Big dramatic voice and a wonderful lady. She and Sills sang at the Met at the same time in the 70's